Researchers from New York University have highlighted the use of yoga to help combat negative behaviour patterns in children suffering from autism.
Lead researcher Kristie Koenig studied the results of two groups of autistic children's behaviour over 16 weeks, during which one group would do about 17 minutes of yoga a day, 5 days a week. The other group would just do their normal classes.
The children in the yoga group were encouraged to follow the pattern of taking the mats out, breathing deeply, doing the yoga poses, tense and relax the muscles, to end they would sing together. “We found that teachers’ ratings of students who participated in the daily yoga routine showed improved behaviour compared with teachers’ ratings of students who did not,” said Koenig, assistant professor of occupational therapy. “Our aim in this research was to examine the effectiveness of an occupational therapy yoga intervention. Our research indicates that a manualised(sic), systemic yoga program, implemented on a daily basis, can be brought to public school classrooms as an option for improving classroom behaviour.”
With Autism being recognised in many more cases than ever before, and a prediction that numbers could rise, giving hope for normality through a short daily exercise programme is great news. In the USA, President Barrack Obama has called the epidemic rise in numbers 'a growing public health issue'. So this new research gives further hope to allowing those suffering from autism to lead a somewhat ordinary life.
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Lead researcher Kristie Koenig studied the results of two groups of autistic children's behaviour over 16 weeks, during which one group would do about 17 minutes of yoga a day, 5 days a week. The other group would just do their normal classes.
The children in the yoga group were encouraged to follow the pattern of taking the mats out, breathing deeply, doing the yoga poses, tense and relax the muscles, to end they would sing together. “We found that teachers’ ratings of students who participated in the daily yoga routine showed improved behaviour compared with teachers’ ratings of students who did not,” said Koenig, assistant professor of occupational therapy. “Our aim in this research was to examine the effectiveness of an occupational therapy yoga intervention. Our research indicates that a manualised(sic), systemic yoga program, implemented on a daily basis, can be brought to public school classrooms as an option for improving classroom behaviour.”
With Autism being recognised in many more cases than ever before, and a prediction that numbers could rise, giving hope for normality through a short daily exercise programme is great news. In the USA, President Barrack Obama has called the epidemic rise in numbers 'a growing public health issue'. So this new research gives further hope to allowing those suffering from autism to lead a somewhat ordinary life.
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