Strength and Fitness in Homeschool Children

Strength and Fitness in Homeschool Children:  Pediatric Exercise Science published research on 75 homeschooled children ages 8-11 years old comparing them to public school children with regards to muscular strength and cardiorespiratory fitness.  Each participant completed the curl-up, 90° push-up, and Progressive Aerobic Capacity Endurance Run (PACER) portions of the FitnessGram® to assess abdominal and upper body strength and endurance as well as cardiorespiratory fitness.  Data analysis revealed the following:

• homeschool children showed significantly lower abdominal and upper body strength and endurance.
• there was no significant differences between the homeschool and public school children in cardiorespiratory fitness by total PACER laps or estimated VO2max.

The researchers concluded that homeschool children showed significantly lower levels of both abdominal and upper body muscular fitness compared to their age and gender matched public school peers but no difference in cardiorespiratory fitness.

Reference:  Kabiri, L. S., Mitchell, K., Brewer, W., & Ortiz, A. (2017). Muscular and Cardiorespiratory Fitness in Homeschool versus Public School Children. Pediatric Exercise Science, 1-19.

If you need more core strengthening activities for children check out:

The Core Strengthening Handbook:  This download includes 50+ activities including:

• Quick and Easy Core Strengthening Activities for Kids
• Core Strengthening Exercises With Equipment
• Core Strengthening Play Ideas

FIND OUT MORE.

The Core Strengthening Exercise Program: This digital download includes exercises to help make core strengthening fun and entertaining for kids while promoting carryover in the classroom and at home!  FIND OUT MORE.

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Aerobic Fitness in Middle School and Changes in Academic Achievement

Aerobic Fitness in Middle School and Changes in Academic Achievement – Pediatric Exercise Science published research examining the changes in 52 adolescents (6th – 8th grade) in aerobic fitness and academic achievement in reading and mathematics during middle school.  Each student completed PACER tests measuring aerobic fitness and ISAT academic achievement tests in reading and mathematics.

The results indicated the following:

• changes in aerobic fitness between sixth and eighth grade were positively related to changes in academic achievement in both reading and mathematics between sixth and eighth grade.

The researchers concluded that changes in aerobic fitness may modulate changes in academic achievement.

Reference:  Raine, L. B., Biggan, J. R., Baym, C. L., Saliba, B. J., Cohen, N. J., & Hillman, C. H. (2017). Adolescent Changes in Aerobic Fitness are Related to Changes in Academic Achievement. Pediatric Exercise Science, 1-21.

25+ Bilateral Coordination Exercises digital download is a collection of bilateral coordination exercise sheets including QR codes with links to video demonstration of exercises.  A QR code is a black and white image with squares, that stores website links for reading by the camera on a smartphone.Each exercise page includes picture images and step by step directions of a whole body bilateral coordination exercise.  Also included, is a link to a You Tube video with a demonstration of the exercise along with a slow motion video of the exercise. Parents, students or teachers can simply use a QR code reader app on their smart phone or tablet to go directly to the video demonstration.

This exercise packet allow therapist to send home therapeutic exercise ideas including video demonstration. There is also a hand out to give to parents explaining bilateral coordination skills and how to use the QR codes. None of the exercises require any equipment.

These activities encourage: bilateral coordination, aerobic fitness, motor timing, motor planning, muscle strengthening and balance skills. FIND OUT MORE.

The post Aerobic Fitness in Middle School and Changes in Academic Achievement appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Fresh Air Fitness Aerobic Activity

It is almost that time of year, when we can start heading outdoors everyday to enjoy the fresh air (although today when woke up it was only 14 degrees out).  While we dream of warmer days, try this Fresh Air Fitness routine from the Spring Packet.  Practice it indoors until you can bring the kids outdoors to perform this short work out.  This activity makes a wonderful brain break for during the school day, pre-homework exercise to get the brain ready to work or just some plain, old aerobic fitness that requires no equipment.

FRESH AIR FITNESS – head outdoors if possible.  Complete the exercises in place, if indoors.

1. March with knees high for 2 minutes
2. Jog for 2 minutes
3. Mountain climbers for 30 seconds
4. Lunges for 1 minute
5. Side to side jumps for 1 minute
6. Arm circles while marching for 1 minute
7. Run for 2 minutes
8. Jumping jacks for 1 minute
9. Squats for 1 minute
10. Take 10 deep breaths

DOWNLOAD THE FRESH AIR FITNESS ROUTINE.

Spring Sensory Motor Packet – Practice fine motor, gross motor, visual perceptual activities with this NO PREP, fun, Spring themed packet. This is an excellent activity packet for in class activities, therapy sessions, class parties, carry over activities, brain breaks, early finishers and indoor recess.  FIND OUT MORE.

The post Fresh Air Fitness Aerobic Activity appeared first on Your Therapy Source.

Physical Activity and Executive Control in Children

Pediatrics published research on 221 children (7-9 years old) who were randomly assigned to either a 9 month after school physical activity program or a wait list group. Following the intervention various measurements were recorded: changes in maximal oxygen consumption, electrical activity in the brain and behavioral measures (accuracy, reaction time) of executive control.

The intervention was every school day for two hours. Each session included at least 70 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

The results indicated the following:
1. fitness improved more among intervention participants from pretest to posttest compared with the wait-list control group.
2. inhibition and cognitive flexibility improved more in the intervention group from pretest to posttest compared with control.
3. only the intervention group increased attentional resources from pretest to posttest during tasks requiring increased inhibition.
4. improvements in brain function on the inhibition task and performance on the flexibility task correlated with intervention attendance.

The researchers concluded that the physical activity intervention enhanced cognitive performance and brain function during tasks requiring greater executive control. These findings demonstrate a causal effect of a physical activity program on executive control.

Reference: Effects of the FITKids Randomized Controlled Trial on Executive Control and Brain Function. Charles H. Hillman, Matthew B. Pontifex, Darla M. Castelli, Naiman A. Khan, Lauren B. Raine, Mark R. Scudder, Eric S. Drollette, Robert D. Moore, Chien-Ting Wu, and Keita Kamijo. Pediatrics peds.2013-3219; published ahead of print September 29, 2014, doi:10.1542/peds.2013-3219

Just 12 Minutes of Exercise Improves Reading and Attention

A recent Dartmouth study of 85 participants (ages 17-21 years old) compared selective visual attention, reading comprehension and stress levels of low income and high income students following 12 minutes of jogging in place in the individual's target heart rate zone.

The following results were recorded:

1.  both groups saw improvement in selective visual attention up to 45 minutes after exercising

2.  the low income group showed great improvements than the high income group in selective visual attention

3.  low-income students improved on tests of reading comprehension following the physical activity, whereas the high-income students did not

4.  low income participants did report more stress than the high income participants

Reference: Tine M. Acute aerobic exercise: an intervention for the selective visual attention and reading comprehension of low-income adolescents. Front. Psychol., 11 June 2014 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00575

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Mini Movement Breaks:  This download is a collection of 60+ quick sensory motor activity cards. The mini movement breaks are quick and require no equipment. The movement breaks can be done indoors. Most of the movement breaks can be done with one child or a group of children. It does not get any easier than this to encourage sensory motor activities in the classroom or home.  Find out more at http://yourtherapysource.com/minimove.html

4 Free Summer Printables for Motor Skills

Need a summer motor activity in a hurry?  Check out these freebies:

1.  Watermelon Multisensory Handwriting Activity Page at http://yourtherapysource.com/mssummerfreebie.html

2.  Hand Out on Fun Physical Activities for the Summer at http://yourtherapysource.com/summerfree.html

3.  Summer Tic Tac Toe at http://yourtherapysource.com/summerfitnessfreebie.html

4.  Outdoor Bingo at http://yourtherapysource.com/fmsummerfree.html

Happy Summer!

Higher Aerobic Fitness and Improved Language Processing

Brain and Cognition published research on event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in children to determine the relationship between aerobic fitness and language processing.  ERPs were recorded while children read normal sentences and those containing semantic or syntactic violations.The following results were found:

1.  higher aerobically fit children exhibited greater amplitude when processing semantic information and shorter latency across all sentence types.

2.  higher fit children exhibited a larger effect for syntactic violations.

The researchers concluded that higher fitness may be associated with a richer network of words and their meanings, and a greater ability to detect and/or repair syntactic errors.

Reference:  Scudder, M et al. The association between aerobic fitness and language processing in children: Implications for academic achievement. Brain and Cognition. Volume 87, May 2014, Pages 140–152. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandc.2014.03.016

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Get Moving Flashcards

By: Your Therapy Source

Summary: Powerpoint presentation and PDF of flashcards with physical
activity breaks

Find out more information at http://yourtherapysource.com/getmovingflashcards.html

Sprint Interval Training for Young Adults with Intellectual Disability

Clinical Rehabilitation published a randomized control research trial on the influence of sprint interval training on body composition, physical and metabolic fitness in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability.  The 54 participants with intellectual disabilities  (average age 17 years) in the study were randomly assigned to one of three groups: sprint interval training, continuous aerobic training or control group (did not participate in any exercise).  Sprint interval training consisted of three blocks of 10 minutes at ventilatory threshold (blocks 1 and 3: 10 sprint bouts of 15 seconds, followed by 45 seconds relative rest; block 2: continuous training) twice a week for 15 weeks. Continuous aerobic training consisted of three blocks of 10 minutes continuous training. Following eight weeks, intensity was increased to 110% of ventilatory threshold.  Prior to the training period and after the training period, body composition, physical and metabolic fitness were evaluated.  

The following results were recorded:

• sprint interval training showed a significant positive evolution for waist circumference, fat%, systolic blood pressure, lipid profile, fasting insulin, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, peak VO2, peak Watt, ventilatory threshold, 6-minute walk distance and muscle fatigue resistance when compared to the control group with no training.


• sprint interval training group demonstrated significant improvements for fat%, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein, fasting insulin, peak VO2 and peak power and ventilatory threshold when compared with continuous aerobic training. 

The researchers concluded that sprint interval training has stronger beneficial effects on body composition, physical fitness and metabolic fitness than no exercise or continuous aerobic training.

Reference:  Pieter-Henk Boer et al.  The influence of sprint interval training on body composition, physical and metabolic fitness in adolescents and young adults with intellectual disability: a randomized controlled trial Clin Rehabil March 2014 28: 221-231, first published on August 20, 2013 doi:10.1177/0269215513498609

Check out Locomotor Games at http://yourtherapysource.com/locomotor.html for activities to get kids moving!

Reference Values for Aerobic Fitness for Youth with CP

Physical Therapy published reference values for aerobic fitness in children, adolescents, and young adults who have cerebral palsy and are ambulatory. Three hundred six youth (ages 6-20), who were classified as Gross Motor Function Classification System levels I and II, were tested on the 10 m shuttle run. Based on the test scores, 4 reference curves were established. For any therapist working on aerobic fitness in children with CP, this article would be helpful to compare the children to a homogeneous group.

Referene: Verschuren, Olaf, Bloemen, Manon, Kruitwagen, Cas, Takken, Tim
Reference Values for Aerobic Fitness in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults Who Have Cerebral Palsy and Are Ambulatory PHYS THER 2010 0: ptj.20090318

Read more on exercise and cerebral palsy.