The Benefit of the S.M.A.R.T. Program
Activities of SMART may appear to be typical of those found in other schools and child centers. SMART developers drew from the latest brain research and a variety of developmental programs and activities in order to create a purposeful, enriching environment. The organized and structured program provides a frequency and intensity of stimulation greater than what occurs routinely in normal child develop.
SMART activities include:
Balance--
The purpose is to encourage balance and body awareness, and where it is in space.
Class relevance--
Body awareness helps children sit in a chair and remain in their chair.
Additionally this skill leads to understanding one’s own left and right, and, in turn, having the ability to read from left to right. Children who have problems with body awareness may fall out of their chairs; have a short attention span, reverse letters or words.
Mini trampoline (rebounder)--
The purpose is to encourage development of the proprioception system. When a child jumps on a mini-trampoline, the muscles, joints, ligaments, bones and tendons in the body are stimulated. This helps the child’s body understand the orientation of the body parts and movements.
Class relevance--
A mature proprioception system is necessary for a child to perform in the classroom. This skill teaches the child’s body how much muscle tension is needed to sit still in a chair properly and how to grade muscle movement appropriately.
Overhead Ladder--
The purpose is to encourage eye teaming. When a child is moving across the bars, he/s must look at and grasp the rungs one by one. In doing so, the child’s eye must work as a team to fuse together the image seen by each eye into a single image or the child misses the rung and can’t get across
Class relevance--
Eye teaming is an extremely important skill for reading. Children who have problems with eye teaming may fatigue easily, show a decline in comprehension when reading and even avoid academics entirely. When reading the eyes must also work as a team to fuse the image seen by each eye or the child will see the text as double.
Spinning--
To encourage body awareness. When a child is spinning, the fluid in the inner ear is moving and sending information about where the child’s body is in space. At the same time it is stimulating the same part of the brain that popular impulse control medication stimulates. This produces a calmer, more focused child.
Class relevance--
Body awareness helps children sit still and remain seated in their chair. Additionally, this skill leads to understanding one’s own left and right and, in turn, having the ability to read from left and right.
Eye-hand coordination--
The purpose is to integrate vision with the motor system to reproduce complex patterns. This means handwriting.
Class relevance--
Eye-hand coordination is the motor component for learning language.
Children who have problems with eye-hand coordination may have poor handwriting, drawing, cutting and other fine motor skills.
Visual Acuity--
Many visual acuity activities are used in the SMART program, several of which involve the focusing and relaxing of eye muscles and lens. By doing these activities, the child is able to see more clearly both in the distance and at a near point, or reading range.
Class relevance--
Visual acuity is extremely important for academic success. A child working at a desk must be able to see the work clearly and maintain that clarity for the duration of the assigned time. He/s must also have the ability to see the white board clearly and finally shift the focus from the board to the desk quickly and accurately.
Children who have problems with visual acuity may squint, blink or rub their eyes, complain of headaches, take longer than necessary to complete assignments or avoid reading assignments entirely.
Fine Motor Skills--
The purpose is to develop small muscles in the hands and fingers in preparation for holding writing tools.
Fine motor skills are enhanced and developed as a child works with his/her hands to manipulate small objects. Additionally, sensory stimulation on hands through the activity of crawling open hands and lays the foundation of good fine motor skills.
Class Relevance--
Fine motor skills are a prerequisite for writing. A child must be able to hold the pencil properly to produce or reproduce the necessary information. Holding the pencil properly involves the proper amount of tension and the proper hand placement on the pencil. Children who have problems with fine motor skills may have poor handwriting, drawing, cutting or other fine motor tasks.
Spatial--
Involves crawling and rolling. The purpose is to develop normal internal and external spatial concepts that are used to interact with and organize the environment. These skills are necessary for a child to build an awareness within his/her body of concepts such as left and right, up and down, front and back as well as to make judgements about the location of objects in reference to other objects and to the child’s own body. Once that is accomplished the child can then project that understanding onto an inanimate object like a book or worksheet.
Class relevance--
Children who have spatial relation problems may confuse similar letters or words, misalign digits, reverse letters or words and have improper spacing between letters or words.
Primitive Reflexes-
The purpose is to integrate retained primitive reflexes, which in normal development are expected to be integrated by the end of the first year of life. Activities related to these reflexes require only two minutes per day throughout the school year and children who are then able to integrate these reflexes enjoy the freedom of writing with ease and sitting still comfortably in their chair.
Class Relevance--
Retained primitive reflexes can influence how the child holds a pencil and whether or not he/s has the ability to sit in a chair. Children with retained primitive reflexes can display a range of difficulties in the classroom including using too much pressure when writing which causes the lead in pencils to break, holding material to one side when reading and/or writing, the need to sit with the legs straight and arms bent or legs bent and arms straight and even hyperactivity.
The SMART program prepares and organizes the brain for formal learning.
Activities of SMART may appear to be typical of those found in other schools and child centers. SMART developers drew from the latest brain research and a variety of developmental programs and activities in order to create a purposeful, enriching environment. The organized and structured program provides a frequency and intensity of stimulation greater than what occurs routinely in normal child develop.
SMART activities include:
Balance--
The purpose is to encourage balance and body awareness, and where it is in space.
Class relevance--
Body awareness helps children sit in a chair and remain in their chair.
Additionally this skill leads to understanding one’s own left and right, and, in turn, having the ability to read from left to right. Children who have problems with body awareness may fall out of their chairs; have a short attention span, reverse letters or words.
Mini trampoline (rebounder)--
The purpose is to encourage development of the proprioception system. When a child jumps on a mini-trampoline, the muscles, joints, ligaments, bones and tendons in the body are stimulated. This helps the child’s body understand the orientation of the body parts and movements.
Class relevance--
A mature proprioception system is necessary for a child to perform in the classroom. This skill teaches the child’s body how much muscle tension is needed to sit still in a chair properly and how to grade muscle movement appropriately.
Overhead Ladder--
The purpose is to encourage eye teaming. When a child is moving across the bars, he/s must look at and grasp the rungs one by one. In doing so, the child’s eye must work as a team to fuse together the image seen by each eye into a single image or the child misses the rung and can’t get across
Class relevance--
Eye teaming is an extremely important skill for reading. Children who have problems with eye teaming may fatigue easily, show a decline in comprehension when reading and even avoid academics entirely. When reading the eyes must also work as a team to fuse the image seen by each eye or the child will see the text as double.
Spinning--
To encourage body awareness. When a child is spinning, the fluid in the inner ear is moving and sending information about where the child’s body is in space. At the same time it is stimulating the same part of the brain that popular impulse control medication stimulates. This produces a calmer, more focused child.
Class relevance--
Body awareness helps children sit still and remain seated in their chair. Additionally, this skill leads to understanding one’s own left and right and, in turn, having the ability to read from left and right.
Eye-hand coordination--
The purpose is to integrate vision with the motor system to reproduce complex patterns. This means handwriting.
Class relevance--
Eye-hand coordination is the motor component for learning language.
Children who have problems with eye-hand coordination may have poor handwriting, drawing, cutting and other fine motor skills.
Visual Acuity--
Many visual acuity activities are used in the SMART program, several of which involve the focusing and relaxing of eye muscles and lens. By doing these activities, the child is able to see more clearly both in the distance and at a near point, or reading range.
Class relevance--
Visual acuity is extremely important for academic success. A child working at a desk must be able to see the work clearly and maintain that clarity for the duration of the assigned time. He/s must also have the ability to see the white board clearly and finally shift the focus from the board to the desk quickly and accurately.
Children who have problems with visual acuity may squint, blink or rub their eyes, complain of headaches, take longer than necessary to complete assignments or avoid reading assignments entirely.
Fine Motor Skills--
The purpose is to develop small muscles in the hands and fingers in preparation for holding writing tools.
Fine motor skills are enhanced and developed as a child works with his/her hands to manipulate small objects. Additionally, sensory stimulation on hands through the activity of crawling open hands and lays the foundation of good fine motor skills.
Class Relevance--
Fine motor skills are a prerequisite for writing. A child must be able to hold the pencil properly to produce or reproduce the necessary information. Holding the pencil properly involves the proper amount of tension and the proper hand placement on the pencil. Children who have problems with fine motor skills may have poor handwriting, drawing, cutting or other fine motor tasks.
Spatial--
Involves crawling and rolling. The purpose is to develop normal internal and external spatial concepts that are used to interact with and organize the environment. These skills are necessary for a child to build an awareness within his/her body of concepts such as left and right, up and down, front and back as well as to make judgements about the location of objects in reference to other objects and to the child’s own body. Once that is accomplished the child can then project that understanding onto an inanimate object like a book or worksheet.
Class relevance--
Children who have spatial relation problems may confuse similar letters or words, misalign digits, reverse letters or words and have improper spacing between letters or words.
Primitive Reflexes-
The purpose is to integrate retained primitive reflexes, which in normal development are expected to be integrated by the end of the first year of life. Activities related to these reflexes require only two minutes per day throughout the school year and children who are then able to integrate these reflexes enjoy the freedom of writing with ease and sitting still comfortably in their chair.
Class Relevance--
Retained primitive reflexes can influence how the child holds a pencil and whether or not he/s has the ability to sit in a chair. Children with retained primitive reflexes can display a range of difficulties in the classroom including using too much pressure when writing which causes the lead in pencils to break, holding material to one side when reading and/or writing, the need to sit with the legs straight and arms bent or legs bent and arms straight and even hyperactivity.
The SMART program prepares and organizes the brain for formal learning.
