Brain Gym
Encyclopedia
The Brain Gym program is based on the concept that learning challenges can be overcome by carrying out certain movements, the use of which will create pathways in the brain. The repetition of the 26 Brain Gym activities (each of which takes about a minute to do), is said to "activate the brain for optimal storage and retrieval of information."
The Brain Gym website refers to more than a hundred pilot studies and anecdotal reports, done with people of all ages, that explore the effects of the activities in such areas as reading, writing, memory, self-reported anxiety, and computer-related eye-and-muscle strain, to name a few. Numerous books have been written describing anecdotal studies in which use of the Brain Gym activities has benefited specific populations. The 1994 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition was repeatedly criticised (see below) for the lack of a scientific basis in some of its statements, and the absence of peer review research that doing the activities has an effect. A new edition of the book was published in 2010, with updated references to educational and neuroscientific theories, and anecdotal stories from around the world as to how people are using the activities to create dynamic learning.
John J Ratey, in "Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain," suggests that research increasingly supports the efficiency of Brain Gym and programs like it.
Brain Gym's founder, educator Paul Dennison, writing his early books on Brain Gym in the 80s and 90s, then hypothesized his explanations for the efficacy of the Brain Gym program. Modern scientific researchers are invited to confirm his empirical findings. The Brain Gym 26, used by people of all ages, have been incorporated into many educational, sports, and business programs in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. They are also widely used in British state schools.
The Dennisons say that Edu-K drew primarily from the educational philosophy of Jean Piaget
and the sensory-integration
works of educators Maria Montessori
, Anna Jean Ayres
and pediatrician Arnold Gesell
. Some of the specific movements the program uses were, according to the Brain Gym website, developed from Paul Dennison's "knowledge of the relationship of movement to perception, and the impact of these on fine motor and academic skills." Others were adapted from movements he learned during his training as a marathon runner, his study of vision training
(learned from developmental optometrists with whom he shared referrals in the 1960s), his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure), and his study of Touch for Health (a form of kinesiology
developed for laypeople by chiropractor John Thie).
The Dennisons present their program under its current name in their books, e.g. Brain Gym: Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning (1986) and Brain Gym: Teacher’s Edition, 1987, 1996, and 2010.
The Brain Gym activities are now used in more than 87 countries; the Edu-K works have been translated into more than 40 languages.
. The repetition of specific activities is said to "promote efficient communication among the many nerve cells and functional centers located throughout the brain and sensory motor system." There are 26 of these exercises, which are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more."
Educational Kinesiology draws on basic anatomy in teaching that movement occurs along three planes of motion, each plane describing the axis along which an action is performed. These three planes intersect to create three movement dimensions. Brain function is defined in terms of three dimensions: laterality being the ability to co-ordinate the left and right sides of the body, focus being the ability to co-ordinate the front and back of the body, and centering being the ability to co-ordinate the top and bottom of the body. The Brain Gym activities are said to work by moving to interconnect the body in these three dimensions. According to Brain Gym, people can use the three dimensions to learn more easily; for example, they can use their lateral movement (left to right co-ordination) to improve their ability to move and think at the same time. As another example, the Belly Breathing activity can be used as a reminder to breathe instead of holding the breath during focused mental activity or physical exertion. The activity teaches how to expand the rib cage front to back, left to right, and top to bottom. When breathing is shallow, lifting only the scalenes, oxygen to the brain is limited.
The Brain Gym instructor program is open to anyone. To become qualified as a consultant there is a four-stage training program that consists of fourteen courses of between twenty-four and forty hours, in which students experience the use of intentional movement to improve sensorimotor skills and achieve personal goals. The trainee must also complete fifteen case studies and attend six private consultations with a qualified instructor.
and education published by the UK Economic and Social Research Council
's Teaching and Learning Research Programme
. The Dennisons have since published the 2010 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition which offers explanations based on the latest thinking on movement, learning, and neuroplasticity.
The UK report noted that doing any exercise can improve alertness, and exercise systems like Brain Gym, may help for that reason. According to the Dennisons, “ . . . the Brain Gym 26 aren’t exercises in the usual sense . . . they’re more oriented to balance, alignment, and coordination than to muscle building or cardiovascular toning. . . . they’re often more subtle than traditional exercise—for example, when they involve directional skills, fine-motor dexterity, or visual and auditory attention.”
In 2008, Sense About Science
published a briefing document in which thirteen British
scientists responded to explanations taken from the 1994 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition. Each rejected a hypothesis as to why an activity was effective; overall, the statements given were described as "pseudo-scientific". The Dennisons wrote a public response addressing each concern, and also updated the statements in question in their 2010 version of the teacher's edition. One of the scientists, Professor of neuroscience Colin Blakemore, said that "there have been a few peer review
ed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills." Based on concerns about the 1994 version of the book, Sense about Science, along with the British Neuroscience Association
and the Physiological Society, wrote to every Local Education Authority
in Britain to warn them about the program.
In 2007 Dr. Keith Hyatt of Western Washington University
wrote a paper in which he analysed the available peer-reviewed research into Brain Gym, as well as citing research from the 1970s and 1980s into its theoretical basis: the field of Perceptual-Motor Learning
, including Vision Training
. He concluded that Brain Gym's theoretical basis does not stand up, and that the work is not supported by peer-reviewed research. The paper also encouraged teachers to learn how to read and understand research, to avoid teaching material that has no credible theoretical basis (such as that of perceptual learning). In their latest book, the Dennisons refer to the work of several scientists who, in their writings cite more recent evidence of the brain's plasticity for perceptual (sensory- and motor-based) learning.
of The Guardian
's Bad Science pages, who found no supporting evidence for the assertions put forward by Brain Gym proponents in any of the main public research databases. Upon learning that the program was used at hundreds of UK state schools, he called it a "vast empire of pseudoscience" and went on to dissect parts of their teaching materials, refuting, for instance, claims that "processed foods do not contain water", or that liquids other than water "are processed in the body as food, and do not serve the body's water needs." (For further discussion regarding the assertion that some liquids are processed as food and not water sources, see the item on Newsnight, below.) Many teachers responded by writing letters in support of Brain Gym based on their first hand experience and its effectiveness in classroom settings. Goldacre reiterated his point that exercises and breaks were good for students, and that he was merely attacking "the stupid underlying science of Brain Gym".
Again in 2006, in a separate column, Guardian writer Philip Beadle sided with him, adding that Goldacre's "argument is with what Dr Barry Beyerstein
, a professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University
in Burnaby, Canada, describes as 'commercial ventures promoted by hucksters who mislead consumers into thinking that their products are sound applications of scientific knowledge'."
In early April 2008, Newsnight
did a piece on Brain Gym which included an interview between Jeremy Paxman
and Paul Dennison. During the course of the interview Dennison was questioned as to why some of the statements in the 1994 version of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were "arrant nonsense". Dennison said that he "leaves the explanations to the experts", and, when challenged on his assertion that "processed foods do not contain water", his defence was that such foods do not contain "available" water
." The Dennisons refer to biologist Carla Hannaford, who states that: “ . . . fruit juice, soda and milk are high in sugars and salts, which bind up water in the body, depleting the supply available for maintaining electrolyte levels in the nerves. The body treats these as food rather than water sources. . . .”
In April 2008, Charlie Brooker
, also writing in the Guardian, expressed incredulity that the Department for Children, Schools and Families
is supportive of Brain Gym, despite its broad condemnation by scientific organisations, and despite it sounding "like hooey".
The Brain Gym website refers to more than a hundred pilot studies and anecdotal reports, done with people of all ages, that explore the effects of the activities in such areas as reading, writing, memory, self-reported anxiety, and computer-related eye-and-muscle strain, to name a few. Numerous books have been written describing anecdotal studies in which use of the Brain Gym activities has benefited specific populations. The 1994 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition was repeatedly criticised (see below) for the lack of a scientific basis in some of its statements, and the absence of peer review research that doing the activities has an effect. A new edition of the book was published in 2010, with updated references to educational and neuroscientific theories, and anecdotal stories from around the world as to how people are using the activities to create dynamic learning.
John J Ratey, in "Spark, The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain," suggests that research increasingly supports the efficiency of Brain Gym and programs like it.
Brain Gym's founder, educator Paul Dennison, writing his early books on Brain Gym in the 80s and 90s, then hypothesized his explanations for the efficacy of the Brain Gym program. Modern scientific researchers are invited to confirm his empirical findings. The Brain Gym 26, used by people of all ages, have been incorporated into many educational, sports, and business programs in the United States, Canada, and throughout the world. They are also widely used in British state schools.
History
What became the Brain Gym program began with Paul Dennison’s work as a public school teacher and reading specialist in the 1960s, researching more effective ways to help learning disabled children and adults. At that time, he worked in East Los Angeles with the innovative educator Dr. Constance Amsden, Director of the Malabar Reading Project for Mexican-American Students, which focused on the development of individual sensory modalities (visual, auditory, and tactile skills) for reading instruction. In the early 1980s, Dr. Dennison began a teaching and writing partnership with Gail Hargrove, later to become Gail Dennison. They call their field of study, which they founded during this period, “Educational Kinesiology” (Edu-K). They define Edu-K as “learning through movement".The Dennisons say that Edu-K drew primarily from the educational philosophy of Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget
Jean Piaget was a French-speaking Swiss developmental psychologist and philosopher known for his epistemological studies with children. His theory of cognitive development and epistemological view are together called "genetic epistemology"....
and the sensory-integration
Sensory integration
Sensory integration is defined as the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Specifically, it deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory modality inputs into usable...
works of educators Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was an Italian physician and educator, a noted humanitarian and devout Catholic best known for the philosophy of education which bears her name...
, Anna Jean Ayres
Anna Jean Ayres
Dr. Anna Jean Ayres , often referred to as "A. Jean Ayres", was an occupational therapist and developmental psychologist known for her work in the area of sensory integration dysfunction, a term she coined in the 1960s to describe a theory used in occupational therapy. She is the author of several...
and pediatrician Arnold Gesell
Arnold Gesell
-External links:* Gesell's ; *...
. Some of the specific movements the program uses were, according to the Brain Gym website, developed from Paul Dennison's "knowledge of the relationship of movement to perception, and the impact of these on fine motor and academic skills." Others were adapted from movements he learned during his training as a marathon runner, his study of vision training
Vision training
Vision training is the training of visual perception and recognition, and is used throughout the optical world as a method of training the eye...
(learned from developmental optometrists with whom he shared referrals in the 1960s), his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure), and his study of Touch for Health (a form of kinesiology
Kinesiology
Kinesiology, also known as human kinetics is the scientific study of human movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, mechanical, and psychological mechanisms. Applications of kinesiology to human health include: biomechanics and orthopedics, rehabilitation, such as physical and occupational...
developed for laypeople by chiropractor John Thie).
The Dennisons present their program under its current name in their books, e.g. Brain Gym: Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning (1986) and Brain Gym: Teacher’s Edition, 1987, 1996, and 2010.
The Brain Gym activities are now used in more than 87 countries; the Edu-K works have been translated into more than 40 languages.
Premises
The program is based on the premise that all learning begins with movementMotor learning
Motor learning is a “relatively permanent” change, resulting from practice or a novel experience, in the capability for responding...
. The repetition of specific activities is said to "promote efficient communication among the many nerve cells and functional centers located throughout the brain and sensory motor system." There are 26 of these exercises, which are designed to "integrate body and mind" in order to improve "concentration, memory, reading, writing, organizing, listening, physical coordination, and more."
Educational Kinesiology draws on basic anatomy in teaching that movement occurs along three planes of motion, each plane describing the axis along which an action is performed. These three planes intersect to create three movement dimensions. Brain function is defined in terms of three dimensions: laterality being the ability to co-ordinate the left and right sides of the body, focus being the ability to co-ordinate the front and back of the body, and centering being the ability to co-ordinate the top and bottom of the body. The Brain Gym activities are said to work by moving to interconnect the body in these three dimensions. According to Brain Gym, people can use the three dimensions to learn more easily; for example, they can use their lateral movement (left to right co-ordination) to improve their ability to move and think at the same time. As another example, the Belly Breathing activity can be used as a reminder to breathe instead of holding the breath during focused mental activity or physical exertion. The activity teaches how to expand the rib cage front to back, left to right, and top to bottom. When breathing is shallow, lifting only the scalenes, oxygen to the brain is limited.
Organizational structure
Brain Gym International / the Educational Kinesiology Foundation is a non-profit educational organization, established in 1987 and based in Ventura, California. The names of the members of the board of directors are listed on the Brain Gym website. Brain Gym is a registered trademark of Brain Gym International.The Brain Gym instructor program is open to anyone. To become qualified as a consultant there is a four-stage training program that consists of fourteen courses of between twenty-four and forty hours, in which students experience the use of intentional movement to improve sensorimotor skills and achieve personal goals. The trainee must also complete fifteen case studies and attend six private consultations with a qualified instructor.
Scientific criticism
In 2007, statements from the Dennison's 1994 edition of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were criticized as being unscientific in a review of research into neuroscienceNeuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
and education published by the UK Economic and Social Research Council
Economic and Social Research Council
The Economic and Social Research Council is one of the seven Research Councils in the United Kingdom. It receives most of its funding from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, and provides funding and support for research and training work in social and economic issues, such as...
's Teaching and Learning Research Programme
Teaching and Learning Research Programme
The Teaching and Learning Research Programme is the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council's largest investment in education research. It was initiated in 2000 and is expected to end in 2011. The programme incorporates 700 researchers in 70 projects, which cover all education...
. The Dennisons have since published the 2010 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition which offers explanations based on the latest thinking on movement, learning, and neuroplasticity.
The UK report noted that doing any exercise can improve alertness, and exercise systems like Brain Gym, may help for that reason. According to the Dennisons, “ . . . the Brain Gym 26 aren’t exercises in the usual sense . . . they’re more oriented to balance, alignment, and coordination than to muscle building or cardiovascular toning. . . . they’re often more subtle than traditional exercise—for example, when they involve directional skills, fine-motor dexterity, or visual and auditory attention.”
In 2008, Sense About Science
Sense About Science
Sense About Science is a British charity that promotes the public understanding of science. Sense About Science was conceived in 2002 by Lord Taverne, Bridget Ogilvie and others to promote respect for scientific evidence and good science. Sense About Science was established as a charitable trust in...
published a briefing document in which thirteen British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
scientists responded to explanations taken from the 1994 Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition. Each rejected a hypothesis as to why an activity was effective; overall, the statements given were described as "pseudo-scientific". The Dennisons wrote a public response addressing each concern, and also updated the statements in question in their 2010 version of the teacher's edition. One of the scientists, Professor of neuroscience Colin Blakemore, said that "there have been a few peer review
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
ed scientific studies into the methods of Brain Gym, but none of them found a significant improvement in general academic skills." Based on concerns about the 1994 version of the book, Sense about Science, along with the British Neuroscience Association
British Neuroscience Association
The British Neuroscience Association is an scientific society with more than 2000 members. It was relaunched in 1997 from the former Brain Research Association. Beside publishing a scientific journal, it offers a variety of benefits to members, including discounts on books and reduced registration...
and the Physiological Society, wrote to every Local Education Authority
Local Education Authority
A local education authority is a local authority in England and Wales that has responsibility for education within its jurisdiction...
in Britain to warn them about the program.
In 2007 Dr. Keith Hyatt of Western Washington University
Western Washington University
Western Washington University is one of six state-funded, four-year universities of higher education in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located in Bellingham and offers bachelor's and master's degrees.-History:...
wrote a paper in which he analysed the available peer-reviewed research into Brain Gym, as well as citing research from the 1970s and 1980s into its theoretical basis: the field of Perceptual-Motor Learning
Perceptual learning
The term perceptual learning refers to the process of long lasting improvement in performing perceptual tasks as a function of experienceand practice . According to Eleanor Gibson , it refers to the experience-induced changes in the way information is extracted following sensory experience...
, including Vision Training
Vision training
Vision training is the training of visual perception and recognition, and is used throughout the optical world as a method of training the eye...
. He concluded that Brain Gym's theoretical basis does not stand up, and that the work is not supported by peer-reviewed research. The paper also encouraged teachers to learn how to read and understand research, to avoid teaching material that has no credible theoretical basis (such as that of perceptual learning). In their latest book, the Dennisons refer to the work of several scientists who, in their writings cite more recent evidence of the brain's plasticity for perceptual (sensory- and motor-based) learning.
Controversy in the media
In 2006, some concepts in the 1994 version of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were heavily criticized by Dr. Ben GoldacreBen Goldacre
Ben Michael Goldacre born 1974 is a British science writer, doctor and psychiatrist. He is the author of The Guardian newspaper's weekly Bad Science column and a book of the same title, published by Fourth Estate in September 2008....
of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's Bad Science pages, who found no supporting evidence for the assertions put forward by Brain Gym proponents in any of the main public research databases. Upon learning that the program was used at hundreds of UK state schools, he called it a "vast empire of pseudoscience" and went on to dissect parts of their teaching materials, refuting, for instance, claims that "processed foods do not contain water", or that liquids other than water "are processed in the body as food, and do not serve the body's water needs." (For further discussion regarding the assertion that some liquids are processed as food and not water sources, see the item on Newsnight, below.) Many teachers responded by writing letters in support of Brain Gym based on their first hand experience and its effectiveness in classroom settings. Goldacre reiterated his point that exercises and breaks were good for students, and that he was merely attacking "the stupid underlying science of Brain Gym".
Again in 2006, in a separate column, Guardian writer Philip Beadle sided with him, adding that Goldacre's "argument is with what Dr Barry Beyerstein
Barry Beyerstein
Barry L Beyerstein, Ph.D. was a noted scientific skeptic and professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia...
, a professor of psychology at Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
in Burnaby, Canada, describes as 'commercial ventures promoted by hucksters who mislead consumers into thinking that their products are sound applications of scientific knowledge'."
In early April 2008, Newsnight
Newsnight
Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades....
did a piece on Brain Gym which included an interview between Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Paxman
Jeremy Dickson Paxman is a British journalist, author and television presenter. He has worked for the BBC since 1977. He is noted for a forthright and abrasive interviewing style, particularly when interrogating politicians...
and Paul Dennison. During the course of the interview Dennison was questioned as to why some of the statements in the 1994 version of Brain Gym: Teacher's Edition were "arrant nonsense". Dennison said that he "leaves the explanations to the experts", and, when challenged on his assertion that "processed foods do not contain water", his defence was that such foods do not contain "available" water
Water activity
Water activity or aw was developed to account for the intensity with which water associates with various non-aqueous constituents and solids. Simply stated, it is a measure of the energy status of the water in a system...
." The Dennisons refer to biologist Carla Hannaford, who states that: “ . . . fruit juice, soda and milk are high in sugars and salts, which bind up water in the body, depleting the supply available for maintaining electrolyte levels in the nerves. The body treats these as food rather than water sources. . . .”
In April 2008, Charlie Brooker
Charlie Brooker
Charlton "Charlie" Brooker is a British journalist, comic writer and broadcaster. His style of humour is savage and profane, with surreal elements and a consistent satirical pessimism...
, also writing in the Guardian, expressed incredulity that the Department for Children, Schools and Families
Department for Children, Schools and Families
The Department for Children, Schools and Families was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education...
is supportive of Brain Gym, despite its broad condemnation by scientific organisations, and despite it sounding "like hooey".
See also
- Alternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilitiesAlternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilitiesAlternative therapies for developmental and learning disabilities include a range of practices used in the treatment of dyslexia, ADHD, Asperger syndrome, autism, Down syndrome and other developmental and learning disabilities. Treatments include changes in diet, dietary supplements, biofeedback,...
- Kinesthetic learningKinesthetic learningKinesthetic learning is a learning style in which learning takes place by the student actually carrying out a physical activity, rather than listening to a lecture or merely watching a demonstration. It is also referred to as tactile learning...
- Sensorimotor learningSensory integrationSensory integration is defined as the neurological process that organizes sensation from one’s own body and the environment, thus making it possible to use the body effectively within the environment. Specifically, it deals with how the brain processes multiple sensory modality inputs into usable...
- Experiential learningExperiential learningExperiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience. Simply put, Experiential Learning is learning from experience. The experience can be staged or left open. Aristotle once said, "For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them." David A...