Sally Goddard Blythe invited to speak at this year’s Hay Festival 1st May 2012
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Running concurrently with the Hay Festival, HowTheLightGetsIn 2012 is a ten-day festival of live music and philosophical debate in Hay on Wye.
School doctors ’should check infants are ready for lessons’ All children should be assessed by a school doctor before starting full-time education amid fears too many infants are unfit for the classroom, a leading academic has warned. 23rd April 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9218511/School-doctors-should-check-infants-are-ready-for-lessons.html.
Please note that I have never claimed to be a “leading academic” as stated in this article.
I do however, stand by the research that has been carried out in schools using the screening tests formerly known as The INPP Test Battery and Developmental Exercise Programme for use in Schools with Children with Special Needs and recently published as Assessing neuromotor readiness for learning.
This programme provides teachers with simple tests to help identify children who would benefit physical intervention programme(s) in school.
12th April 2012 Publication of Assessing Neuromotor Readiness for Learning 12th April 2012
Based on more than 18 years of research and practice in schools in the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Mexico and other parts of the world, and previously a restricted publication only available through training, the INPP school programme became available to all professionals involved in education or child development from the 12th April 2012.
The publication contains two simple screening tests to identify signs of neuromotor immaturity in school-aged children, together with an intervention (physical movement) programme designed to be used in schools.
Neuromotor readiness describes a range of physical skills including control of balance, posture and coordination, which are essential to support the ability to sit still, coordinate the hand and eyes when writing, control the eye movements needed for reading and aligning columns correctly in arithmetic, and the body control involved in succeeding at games in the playground and on the sports field.
Until thirty-five years ago, all children in the United Kingdom were seen by a school doctor at the time of school entry. Simple tests were carried out to assess a child’s balance, motor skills, vision and hearing. These tests were phased out in the mid-1980’s with the result that there is now no national screening programme to identify children who might be “at risk” of under-achieving as a direct result of immaturity in the motor skills needed to support learning in the classroom.
Research carried out in schools in the United Kingdom and Europe over the last 12 years has revealed that a significant number of children in mainstream schools show signs of immature motor skills, with the incidence being higher amongst children already identified with a specific learning difficulty or speech and language delay, and that there is a relationship between immature motor skills and educational under-achievement. Research has also shown that the introduction of a specific daily movement programme into schools can improve motor skills.
It is hardly surprising that children fail to achieve expected levels in literacy and numeracy if they enter the school system lacking the tools needed to support learning. While good teaching and a general supportive learning environment are also key elements for educational success, until children’s education also takes into account children’s physical abilities and nurtures the physical foundations for learning, children will continue to fail within the education system. This important new publication is a first step to addressing this problem.
The Book
The manual is organized into three sections:
1. Screening tests for children age 4-7 years
2. Screening tests for children from 7 years of age.
3. Developmental movement programme designed for use with whole classes or smaller groups over the course of one academic year. Publication is supported by online access to INPP video training materials.
About the Author
Sally Goddard Blythe is Director of The Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology
(INPP). She is the author of several books and published papers on child development
and neuro-developmental factors in specific learning difficulties, including Reflexes,
Learning and Behaviour (2002), The Well Balanced Child (2003), What Babies and
Children Really Need (2008), Attention, Balance and Coordination - the A.B.C. of Learning Success (Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), The Genius of Natural Childhood (2011) and the Screening Test for Physicians (2012)
mail@inpp.org.uk or 01244 311414
Reviews / Features / Interviews
For further information, or to request a review copy, please contact:
Katkinson@wiley.com or call Kathy on 01865 476699.
Why the floor is baby’s best playground 1st March 2012
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Why don’t parents practice tummy time? Why does tummy time matter? When is is safe to start tummy time? Help, my baby cries during tummy time How long should my baby have tummy time? Why don’t parents practice tummy time? Until research identified…
Pupils exercise their way to good results 15th December 2011
To read this article in full, please paste the link below into your web browser.
http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Pupils-exercise-way-scores-SATs/story-14142323-detail/story.html
Coming soon. Assessing neuromotor readiness for learning. The INPP Screening Test and School Intervention Programme INPP 6th December 2011
Assessing Neuromotor Readiness for Learning is a substantially revised and
expanded edition of a long established INPP training manual that has been
consistently proven in practice. The package includes tests for children, a
developmental movement programme, and online access to INPP video training
materials.
Based on the proven INPP model for neuro-motor development screening and
intervention, which is unique in having been rigorously evaluated in research and
practice
Expands and revises an INPP manual which has previously only been available to
training customers, and which is a foundation stone of the overall INPP approach
Places emphasis on assessing children’s physical development and how
neuro-motor skills provide the foundations for learning success.
The package includes batteries of tests for younger and older children, a
developmental movement programme, and online access to INPP video training
materials
Due to be published February 2012 by Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester.
“Go with the flow” - advice on poetry from Michael Rosen 22nd November 2011
Article on the value of poetry for children by Karen Faux.
Nursery World 15-28 November 2011
The Genius of Natural Childhood - why movement matters 22nd November 2011
Article in “First Steps” Australia Issue 74 2011
Recently published results based on the INPP programme in schools 5th October 2011
Goddard Blythe SA, 2011.Neuromotor maturity as an indicator of developmental readiness for education. In: Movement, Vision, Hearing - The Basis for Learning. Kulesza EM (Ed). Wydawnictwo Akademie Pedagogiki Specjalnej im Marii Grzegorzewskiej. Warsaw.
Abstract:
Two independent projects were undertaken by teachers with 64 children in schools in Northumberland and 6 children in Berkshire to investigate whether: a) retention of three primitive reflexes (indicators of neuromotor immaturity) was present in children in mainstream schools in the United Kingdom; b) there was a link between immature motor skills and lower performance in reading, writing, spelling, maths and drawing; c) retained primitive reflexes responded to a developmental movement programme (The INPP Programme for Schools) .
88.5% of children aged 7-8 years and 40% of children aged 4-6 years in the Northumberland sample had residual primitive reflexes. Higher scores on tests for retained primitive reflexes correlated with lower performance on the Draw a Person test. Children in the INPP group showed a significantly greater decrease in scores for abnormal reflexes than children who participated in a general movement programme.
Six children who followed the INPP Programme in the Berkshire sample had significant decrease in abnormal reflexes and improvements on the Salford Sentence Reading Test compared to six children who did not take part in the INPP Programme.