Karate and Autism | Autism PDD
We too have done karate with John. He took it for about 2 years at a center here. They were WONDERFUL with him! He took private lessons (everyone agreed a whole class would overwhelm him). They worked with us to design the lessons, pecs, and they even created their own reinforcement system for him! We used it to help him to settle, focus, and process directions. We ended up stopping as they changed locations and it made it tough to get there. I HIGHLY recommend it for our kids!I would like to put Sarah in something like this..or yoga which is good for self control and calm herself..They had a big report here on the benefits of yoga for kids with high anxieties that have gone from being medicated to funtioning very well without them after learning yoga. I have a girl and want her to be able to protect herself though..dont thing yoga can do that:P
My son took karate for a while. The only problem he had was the same problem he has with everything he does. He can not keep up with his peers. He could not earn the belts as quickly as his friends and got very frustrated. He was in a class of about 15. I can see where the smaller class would be better. My son is 10 and took dance from the time he was 4 until he was 9. He did it all even ballet even though his dad was totally against it. He had the grace problems that I think most boys have but he loves ballet and is going to start back next year. He has been the only boy that has ever taken from his teacher, but he does not care. he thinks it makes him special. I am now going to look at resuming his karate in the fall. Thanks for the advice.
Lori
In Karate we teach the students how to find calmness of the mind and the body. The mind controls the body and this is one of the first things that we teach each and every student before that do any exercises, warm-ups, kata, kicks, punches, combinations or anything. What we have them do is called Saiza which means sitting on feet. In order to be successful in school and get straight A's you have to do more than just work hard, study, pay attention, and focus. These are the 4 things that most people say you have to do in order to get straight A's but what we tell them is that they have to have a calm mind and calm body. The students tha don't sit still and figit get worse grades than those that sit really still. You're right, Yoga cannot teach her (Sarah) how to defend herself. Lori said her son didn't like karate because he couldn't keep up with his peers. The one thing that we (Green's Karate) does not do is pressure kids to earn belts but let it be more there idea. Parents all the time ask me "When can my son or daughter test". If I say that they should test and they test and they fail then I'm responsible for setting them up for failure. If I say no they cannot test then I could be holding them back. But if we let the student decide then it becomes more of their decision and their fate if they pass or not. If a school is stressing fast testing and you see 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 year old black belts then that school probably is not for you. There are schools that teach that are more about money than the students. Sometimes people don't see that though when they are training. It's important to find a instructor that cares, is good with students, enjoys what he does and leads well. Good luck on finding a good instructor for your children. Don't just go to one school but many and compare all of them and decide which one is best for you. Sometimes though the first one can be the best one for you. A parent decided that last week while she started her 5 year old daughter at my school. Thank you for your comments!
Wow that is awesome, We need more people like you with patience and dedication to help these children. I WISH YOU WERE HERE IN HOUSTON!!! I would surely send my son to be taught by you. Keep up the good work and God bless you.
Cool! Thanks for posting the story that was done on your 2 ASD students. I have actually heard that martial arts are recommended for autistic kids. It's supposed to be good for proprioceptive input. Wishing you and your students much success.
Thank you Sparkysmom and Wimomof2 for your very nice comments. Sparkysmom, if I did live in Texas I'm sure you would enroll your child with me. Maybe in the near future I will be able to teach other instructors how to do exactly what I do. WImomof2, martial arts is good but I truly believe that not all martial arts will benefit a child with autism. There is Karate, Tae Kwon Do, Kung Fu, Ju-Jitsu and many more. Of the ones I mentioned, they are all really different from each other. I think that the best martial art is Traditional Karate because of the curriculum and the structure of the class.
To John, congradulations of your son Nicholas on doing a good job by trying hard on finding a school for your son. I understand what you mean by when you say that he doesn't want to go but once he is there he loves it. How I was able to produce a student in less than one year to qualify for the Karate Nationals in the non-handicap division was simply this. The dad wanted to do Karate with his son and I told the father let me work with him and build him up. So for 5 months we did only one 30 minute lesson per week and after 5 months the father joined with his son. 4 months later they earned their yellow belt together. 2 months later, Alex competed against regular kids at a entry level tournament and earned 4th out of 7. The next month at his second tournament he earned 2 silver medals and qualified at the same tournament as Brandon did a year later. Brandon qualified again this year. Brandon was a accident and we didn't plan or didn't know about Brandon being the first one in history until 2 weeks before the National tournament. Brandon had actually qualified a year earlier but we didn't know it then and it was the first tournament I took my students to here in Tennessee. I have had a couple of schools before in Alaska and went to tournaments up there and competed there. After only 18 months though, Brandon placed 5th out of 15 and we didn't fill out the paperwork. Not one of my students did because we were just going to the regional tournament/qualifer as a warm up for future tournaments.
Sparkysmom, WImomof2, and John. Again thank you for your imput and compliments and please spread the word of what I'm doing and all I want is to imspire that one family that is losing hope or is frustrated. There are 3 things that you must have to teach anyone anything. They are: Time, Consistency, and Patience.
Thanks; I just thought I would put my 2 cents in. Nicholas has been taking Karate for about 7 month now. He is 5 and half years old. It took me a couple of schools to find one that fits. The dojo is awesome. His masters work really well with him. The have a few ASD children in there classes. The owner has a brother who has Down syndrome, so he is passionate about children with disabilities. They re- focus him all the time and keep someone close to him at all times. He always says he doesn’t want to go but once he is there he loves it. He is doing better and better, I also feel that it has helped him with his focus and self esteem.
Hello Everyone,
I would first like to introduce myself to this forum. I'm very exciting to give you good news about the advances of Karate and Autism. I have read several postings about how Karate make a child with Autism aggressive. I disagree because that's not what happen's in my Karate schools. Theres must be something wrong about the way the class is conducted or the instructor not telling students proper time and place and being very consistant with that. I offer a absolutely free special needs class for children with Autism, Aspergers, Blind, Deaf, Spinal Bifida, and all special needs. You might wonder what kind of experience do I have to make such a claim.
Last year, a boy named Brandon Earnshaw was featured on CNN news "American Morning" for being the "1st person in history with autism to qualify for the Karate Nationals in the non-handicap division". The story aired around the world and many people might have thought that this was a fluke but what everyone will soon find out is that this is not a fluke because there is another boy that was inspired by Brandon and has only 1 year training and is going to the Nationals this year. Alex Davidson has also qualified for the Karate Nationals this year as well as Brandon again.
You can see the video at http://wdef.com/node/3719.
Back to about the Karate making a child with or without autism aggressive. It is definately possible for a child to become aggressive without having the correct teacher. If your child is in a class with more than 5 children then I can see your point. Some schools think that they can just simply put them in class with 12 to 25 other students and that's not the solution. The curriculum needs to have structure and discipline.
I really feel that I have a solution to help children with autism and would like to help on a much wider scale than I presently do. Presently I just don't have the resources at this time to help other people/teachers/instructors figure out how to really connect with a child with autism . I also feel that it's becoming easier for me to teach a child with autism and to have faster results each and every time. After teaching 17,000 classes I feel that I have gotten the hang of it. I teach at 3 soon to be 5 afterschool programs as well as 2 studios soon to be 3 and 2 day cares. BTW, my first student I ever taught when I was 18 years old (11 years ago) had one arm, one leg, and one hip. 4 months after starting, the 6 year old boy named Octavian Mosesian earned his yellow belt. I thought at the time. If this kid can do it any kid can do it. Please tell other parents about this link and please comment when you can. I really do enjoy talking and meeting new people. If you have any questions for me please don't hesitate to respond to this memo or email me at greenskarate@msn.com or call me at 423-432-5280
Sensei Corey Green Green's Karate BTW, kickboxing is not Karate. There is many different forms of Kickboxing. Karate is from Japan but kickboxing can be from American or even Thailand depending on the style. I hope this helps I have to say- Jeremy goes and watches Jake 2x a week. We go at 530pm 2x a week- and the time of the class is PERFECT. It is far enough after school to wind down and do homework. This class is constant, and consistent- so it never stops. My little one, Jake LOVES it! We will prob sign Jeremy up. As for making sure I get the right Karate....- this is Vermont- and there is one place- but the place has a great rep, and the sensai's are very nice, and there are ALOT of them instructing the class. Thanks. Gail Hello Gail, Thanks for your reply and I'm happy that you have found a good school. BTW, I personally teach about 99.5% of all the classes by myself. In our school there is only one instructor and maybe some assistances but not ALOT of different people teaching because there are too many bosses. Have you got a chance to check out the site www.wdef.com then type in karate and watch video titled "Local autistic Kids qualify for Karate Nationals". Again I'm happy that you have found a good school and best of luck. Take Care Sensei Corey Green so funny this thread is on- my NT son, Jake is taking Karate. Jeremy just recently started to go to watch- and is talking about maybe doing it...i want him to watch for now. I think Jeremy has such excellent discipline- that Karate would benefit him greatly!!!!! the issue i think we may have- but it may help alot too- is Jeremy is a LONG TIME TOE WALKER. His tendons are SHORT!!! His legs are TIGHT! I think it would be good for him- we may sign him up in the fall. Gail Gail, Thank you for your comment. I teach a variety of stretches from Japan, China, and Korea. Make sure that when you sign up for karate that it really is karate though. There are many schools that say they teach karate but don't. There are over 220 different types of Karate. My preference is Traditional Karate and the specific style is called sh*to-Ryu. There are 17 version of this style alone. As for stretches other than the regular: While you are sitting put your feet out in front of you with your legs straight. The reach and try to touch your toes without bending your knees. Here is a stretch that he will really feel in his tendons. This is what you do: You put your left foot in front of your right (while standing up) The you lift the front part of your front foot (raise ball part of foot off ground) Then you take your right hand and put that hand on the back of your head. Then you try to touch your elbow to your foot. You are allowed to only bend one of the knees though and it is not the one that is in front. You have to keep the leg with the foot that has the ball part of your foot off the ground (Make sure your front heel is on the ground at all times). The leg you may bend as much as you want is the one that is firmly on the ground. Try it yourself. You should feel the stretch in the back of your heel. Sometimes people think that this is the same as putting your left hand behind your head and do the same thing but it will not feel the same. Also putting your hands on the wall and leaning forward trying to stretch the achieles tendon (spelling) is not the best stretch. If you are confused then write back and I'll try to explain more. Good Luck! I wanted to say that Jeremy is starting Karate on Tues of this week. He is very excited- he took a class a few weeks back and we let him decide if he wanted to do it. I have to get his Gi on Monday, and we are psyched. My 8 yr old, Jacob is getting his orange belt in Dec, so Jeremy will get to sit with the rest of the class and watch. Both my kids will be in the same class. This is cool Gail
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