Can Martial Arts Help Your Child Who Has Disabilities?
By Deb Fjeld
As parents, we want to help our children in any way we can. When we are parenting a child who has a disability, this feeling is amplified. Typical children have many opportunities to learn and grow in sports, youth groups and team activities, but children who have social and behavioral concerns have limited opportunities.
What do you do when your child can't handle being touched by others without becoming agitated or anxious? What if your child can’t stand still for 30 seconds much less 30 minutes in a group activity? What if your child’s social skills are significantly lower than her peer’s and it is evident because all the other kids avoid her? Problems like these usually translate into a poor sports/team experience for a child.
Martial Arts training may be an option for your child with disabilities. Karate can be a positive sport for any child, but martial arts programs are designed to help the more challenged child be successful for many reasons.
Exercise
Exercise is proven to reduce stress and anxiety in all individuals. Exercising is also beneficial to maintain and even improve brain function. Karate helps create a strong core of muscles and is a challenging workout. Students learn better balance and coordination and have a better understanding of their body in space (which can help students who have difficulty with spatial boundaries and sensory inputs).
Family
In what other activity can you stand shoulder to shoulder and participate with your child, as equals? Participating with your child in karate can help foster attachment and is just plain fun. Instead of sitting in the bleachers watching our kids, we can be on the floor participating. Kids enjoy competing with their parents if the playing field is even. And in karate, the playing field is slightly tipped to the younger crowd, because parents aren’t usually as physically flexible as their children.
Predictable
A child entering a karate program begins class in the same manner each session. The student works on a particular form, or pattern of moves within their belt ranking. Additionally, the student will work on combination moves and specific kicks. The day to day classes are not identical, but the student knows the expectations each day for the class and what to work on to be successful. This can help reduce the anxiety in a child and provide enough predictability for the child to learn and grow.
Repetitive
As stated above, the student enters the class and works on the same kicks, punches and combinations of form until the student graduates to another level. Children who have difficulty remembering steps and sequencing can succeed in martial arts because there is significant repetition in the classes. Not only does this repetitive pattern help children improve in memory and sequencing, but Dr. Bruce Perry at ChildTrauma.org states that Pattern Repetitive Stimulation is the most beneficial activity to help the brain recover from trauma. Brain trauma can be caused by injury, neglect and trauma, and inutero exposure to teratogens. Engaging in repetitive pattern stimulation can help heal brain dysregulation.
Builds Self-Confidence
Martial Arts training offers a unique experience in that the student performs their sport to the best of their ability, without being compared to all others in the class. It can be a completely individual experience, within that group setting. This is important to note, as many children with disabilities do not “pick up” on the inherent skills needed for group play. The groups are mixed age. Everyone enters as a white belt, no matter what age the student is, and every new group has a wide range of ability. A student with lesser athletic ability does not particularly stand out in the class. Skills are built incrementally, and in many dojos, instructors use colored tape to mark the progress for the student. A student is recognized for making forward progress toward the skills within that belt. This is important, as the student is earning tape for the skills he is acquring, even though he has not yet mastered the skills. This keeps the student interested and motivated to earn the small pieces (tape) that work up to the whole (new belt). When all the skills within the belt requirement are learned, the student graduates to another belt color. In many dojos, the student graduates to a new belt level in a formal ceremony where family and friends are invited to watch the student exhibit their belt requirements, in all belt levels.
This slow, steady, and positive approach to success helps build self esteem in the student. Classes are often broken into smaller belt ranking groups and the students work on their requirements, without having to watch the students of higher rank performing what looks like impossible kicks and forms. Emphasis is placed on executing correct kicks and forms, instead of racing to the next higher belt.
Good instructors concentrate on positive motivation for the student, and the classes as a whole have a positive team building attitude. Students are expected to cheer for other students and encourage them during their performances. Practicing forms in front of a crowd is a frightening experience for most students, but with encouragement and practice, the student learns more confidence performing in front of others. This confidence-building skill transfers to school and other speaking and performing environments.
Positive Mentorship/Leadership
As a student progresses in belt ranking, they slowly progress from the role of student and add the role of leader. Students as young as 11 and 12 can help lead the instruction of newer belts. For many children, this is the first time they have the opportunity to take on a leadership role in their lives. It is a tremendously positive experience. All students are encouraged to mentor lower belt students. In fact, in many classes, the instructor matches higher belt students as mentors with lower belt students regularly. Higher belts are expected to behave appropriately and model what a karate student should be. Students that have a disability can also be leaders and help teach others.
Teaches Self-Control
Instructors work to help students develop and maintain self-control. This can be as basic as practicing a “ready stance” or as difficult as controlling a kick during a sparring match. Students work each day on practicing and improving their self-control. For students with ADHD and other disabilities where control is an issue, instructors help the child learn better focus and sometimes offer activities that can help the student further develop these skills.
Respect
One of the tenets of martial arts training is the importance of respect. Instructors require abundant “Yes, sir’s” and “Yes, Ma’am’s”. Failure to provide respectful and immediate responses translates to lots of pushups and conditioning exercises. This philosophy is a core principle in martial arts training. Respect to parents and all other authority figures is also expected, and this tenet is constantly reinforced. Parents are often the happy benefactors of this positive influence of martial arts.
Calming/Meditative
The calming and meditative effects of practicing martial arts have been proven. It can be an excellent tool for stress management and can promote effective coping skills for children and adults. Some martial arts like Tai Chi are more meditative in form and philosophy. Most metropolitan areas offer a variety of dojos from which to choose.
Cool
Studies from parents and professionals show that children with disabilities often have difficulties in social areas. They may have difficulty making and keeping friends. The ways children “show off” may be inappropriate. The kids tend not to be successful in other areas like school and church activities. Karate is somewhat unique, because not all kids are involved in martial arts, and it has a high “cool factor”. And, as long as the child is not practicing kicks on other kids, it can be an appropriate and fun way to gain attention.