Releasing Educational Potential Through Movement: A Summary of Individual Studies Carried Out Using the INPP Test Battery and Developmental Exercise Programme for use in Schools with Children with Special Needs

Abstract

This paper provides a summary of findings from a series of independent studies that have been undertaken separately. The studies used a specific developmental test battery*/the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology (INPP) Developmental Test Battery for use in schools with children with special educational needs*/with a total of 810 children, the object being to assess whether neurological dysfunction was a significant factor underlying academic achievement. All children were tested using the INPP Developmental Test Battery together with additional standard educational measures to assess drawing and reading at the beginning and end of the programme. The progress of 339 children aged four to five years of age was tracked through the school year to see whether children with higher scores on the INPP Developmental Test Battery (indications of neurological dysfunction) performed less well academically at the end of the school year. A smaller number of children in mainstream classes (235 children) aged 8Á/10 years undertook a specific programme of developmental exercises (The INPP Schools' Developmental Exercise Programme) for 10 minutes a day under teacher supervision over the course of one academic year. Two hundred and five children aged 8Á/10 years also underwent the INPP Tests but did not take part in the Developmental Exercise Programme. The third group acted as a control group. No pre-selection was made among these groups at the beginning of the study. One study included a fourth group of 31 children who were given non-specific exercises for the same time period each day as the experimental group (INPP exercises) to see whether general daily exercises were more or less effective than the specific INPP exercises. Children in this study were seven to nine years of age. The results showed that the children who participated in the daily INPP exercises made significantly greater improvement on measures for neurological dysfunction, balance and coordination. Children who had scores of more than 25% on tests for neurological dysfunction and whose reading age was less than their chronological age at the outset also showed small but significantly greater progress in reading than children who did not take part in the programme.

Sensorimotor Therapy: Using Stereotypic Movements and Vestibular Stimulation to Increase Sensorimotor Proficiency of Children with Attentional and Motor Difficulties

“…The Physiological Test, the focus of which is motor function, indicated that the training of stereotypic developmental movements integrates the asymmetric tonic neck reflex on all fours (Ayres' test), the symmetric tonic neck reflex, Schilder's test, upright asymmetrical tonic neck reflex, and the tonic labyrinthine reflex upright, which support previous studies (McPhil- Goddard Blythe, 2005;Wahlberg & Ireland, 2005). The current study also showed for the first time that the tonic labyrinthine reflex prone, the tonic labyrinthine reflex supine, Schilder's test, upright tonic labyrinthine reflex, the asymmetric tonic neck reflex supine, Moro reflex, spinal Galant, palmar, and rooting and suck reflexes become inhibited by similar training.…”

Sensorimotor therapy: Physical and psychological regressions contribute to an improved kinesthetic and vestibular capacity in children and adolescents with motor difficulties and concentration problems

“…The children were also given a comprehensive sensorimotor test, Retraining for Balance-Physiological Test (RB-P; , on which their deviation from appropriate age levels on each subtest was noted on a quantitative, 5-point scale ranging from 0 to 4. Similar 5-point scales were used by McPhillips and Sheehy (2004) and by Goddard Blythe (2005). The test is used to measure the sensorimotor maturity of the participants with regard to primary reflexes, postural reactions, gross motor milestones, and vestibular ability.…”

A Case Study of Unfounded Concepts Underpinning Controversial Practices: Lost in “Space Dyslexia”

“…Intervention should thus be directed at the underlying disorder, and the reading, academic and other supposedly related difficulties would be cured. There are various memeplexes centred around this overarching idea with differing explanations such as cerebellar or cerebellar/vestibular malfunction and the persistence of primitive reflexes (Goddard Blythe, 2005;Levinson, 1980Levinson, , 1994McPhillips, Hepper, & Mulhem, 2000;Reynolds et al, 2003). The specific meme, which has been adopted by many of those supporting such memeplexes, is that of space dyslexia.…”