WHEN a child has difficulty in mastering one of the basic skills such as reading or writing, the first step is usually to increase the amount of time focused on developing this particular ability. Although extra teaching does help, new research suggests that time devoted to developing specific motor skills might be equally important.

A recent study carried out at the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in Chester, found that a group of children diagnosed with dyslexia all had significant problems with balance, co-ordination, eye movements and shape recognition. Each of these difficulties can affect the ability to read, write and copy. However, several independent studies have now shown that if these physical problems are corrected, performance in the classroom improves in several ways and teaching becomes more effective.

The Chester institute has now compiled a short test battery designed to be used with children aged seven and above, to identify problems with co-ordination and balance. The test battery has been combined with a series of exercises that can be used in schools after one day’s training in management of the programme. Exercises are carried out for 10 minutes a day, every day, over one academic year.

The movements take the child back to the very beginning of learning to control the body, starting with something as simple as holding the head and shoulders off the ground while lying on the tummy, and gradually progressing to rolling, sitting and crawling. Whereas many other motor-training programmes start with the assumption that sitting and standing balance are well established, these exercises take the child through the preparatory stages of co-ordination for the body control needed for sitting in a classroom, writing, standing and moving.

Informal results from several schools in Germany, Sweden, Ireland and the UK where the project has been piloted, have revealed consistent and significant changes in skills related to co-ordination, writing, reading, drawing and ability to sit still and pay attention.

“On average, we need 10 to15 minutes each day to do the exercises,” says Maren JAndling, the teacher who supervised the project in one of the German schools. “After the exercises, the pupils are much more concentrated and easily make up any time ‘lost’ during the lesson.

“They are more relaxed, motivated to learn and they show more consideration towards each other. In PE especially, the children with dyspraxia show great improvement.” In the UK, Mellor primary school in Leicestershire has recently completed a formal study using the programme as part of a Best Practice Research Scholarship offered by the Department for Education and Skills.

The exercises have been used with 16 children aged eight and nine. The results mirror the earlier informal findings but also show accelerated improvement in reading ability in both children with and without reading problems.

Helen Pettman, who carried out the study, described how “during the second and third terms, the children regularly told me about their handwriting improvements and I learned first hand what developmental exercises can achieve”.

The programme is also currently being used with more than 30 eight and nine-year-olds in two schools in an education action zone and a further 15 children at a Beacon school, all in the Birmingham area.

Such studies provide increasing evidence for the importance of physical development in education and suggest that rather than detracting from academic progress, regular time set aside for specific physical development in the school day may be an essential part of the foundations for learning and achievement.

Sally Goddard Blythe is based at the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology, 4 Stanley Place, Chester CH1 2LU Tel 01244 311414 Email: inpp@virtual-chester.net