Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting [Paperback]

Nancy Williams (Author), Leslie White (Illustrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2010

Yoga therapy can be a hugely rewarding approach for children with a wide range of special needs. This accessible guide contains simple yoga techniques that can be used with children of all abilities. The author provides gentle yoga postures and exercises that can help to promote relaxation, flexibility, strength, coordination and body-awareness. Each posture is accompanied by a line drawing, and the author offers advice on how each posture appropriately supports the individual child's needs and abilities. Practical tips for incorporating creative fun and games into yoga sessions are included, and the author outlines the specific benefits of yoga for a wide range of conditions, including Attention Deficit Disorder, ASD, Cerebral Palsy, social communication difficulties, Down's syndrome, and scoliosis. The book concludes with child and parent reports of how yoga therapy has changed their life. This wonderful resource is ideal for parents, therapists and instructors who want to use simple yoga exercises with children with special needs.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Nancy Williams has been a yoga therapist for 9 years. During this time, she has worked with children with a wide range of special needs, including Autism Spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, sensory integration disorder and Down's syndrome. Nancy also works as a pediatric Speech Pathologist, and is a certified Neuro Developmental Treatment Therapist, Zero Balancing practitioner, Yoga instructor and Reiki Master Teacher. Nancy owns Therapeutic Bodyworks, a studio in Tucson, Arizona where she teaches yoga therapy classes to individual and small groups of children. Nancy also offers consultations and conducts training workshops.

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Singing Dragon; 1 edition (January 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848190271
• ISBN-13: 978-1848190276
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #436,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic Tool!, January 2, 2010

By 

Yoga Teacher "I LOVE yoga and anything that b... (OM-aha, Nebraska) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I have a Masters Degree in Psychology, and I'm a kids yoga teacher. This book beautifully brings the two fields together in order to work with special needs populations. I have been hoping for a book like this, as I am sometimes asked to work with children living with ADHD, Autism, Downs Syndrome, etc.
There are many new ideas in this book, that I have not seen in other books. I love her use of blowing bubbles to work on breathing. She also used instruments, and props which I have also found to be useful in my work.
There is a fantastic section called "the yoga program", in which she describes yoga poses effective for special needs children and children in general. She has a picture of each pose, a written description of the poses, lists of benefits, and special considerations. There is also a section on games, chakras, and information for parents. I especially like a section called "yoga is for everyone" in which she lists many different issues (ADHD, PTSD, Autism, etc.) and the yoga postures and techniques that are most useful for that particular issue.
This book would be great for a yoga teacher looking for techniques and appropriate yoga postures to do with varying populations of children. It will also be a nice choice for a parent of a special needs child, if they also use it in consultation with a yoga teacher.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Special Needs, March 18, 2010

By 

C. Breedlove (Deep South) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting (Paperback)

(What's this?)

I work as a special ed teacher. One of my students has some physical problems related to a condition. The stretches help loosen up her hamstring. Her PT (not knowing I had just read this book) recommended the same exercises as this book.

Since I'm not a medical doctor, I gave the book to the PT who immediately wanted to buy it. Her boss, in turn, also wanted a copy. So apparently this book is what the doctor ordered.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well Organized and Needed Book, December 28, 2009

By 

William Bagley (Ashland, Oregon) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Yoga Therapy for Every Special Child: Meeting Needs in a Natural Setting (Paperback)

(What's this?)

This yoga book has some beautiful line drawings. Having drawn cartoons, I can appreciate these kinds of pictures a lot, especially when they are detailed enough to get the sense of the asanas (poses) and yet very efficient in the sense of using very few lines. The book outlines a way of teaching children how to do yoga, focuses on their special needs. I have not seen a book about child yoga go into the depth of this book. The book keeps the language simple, but does use a few technical terms, like "extension", but they are explained in the glossary. I found that the book gave the feeling that yoga can be simple and helped me to unlearn some of the overprecision of the Iyengar approach (those alignments are important still, but sometimes they make yoga feel more complex than it should be). I also liked that the book acknowledges that yoga is good for kids and can help them. Having done a lot of bodywork with others, I can validate that this is true. Children do need help from time to time, like when they are learning how to walk for the first time.