Welcome back and thank you for continuing to watch
our workout video series about how to impact the lives
of individuals through autism through exercise
Rachel. Well what you've got here is
is this lovely form of foam rollers
which are basically like, looks like pipes
but they are actually much more soft because they made out
like
foam
Right and so
what we found and actually I should say I found this out
after working with many different adults, kids
all different ages on the autism spectrum is that
these foam rollers provide sensory feedback
not only the exercises and routines that Rachel is gonna show you here in a second
but by choosing different types of foam rollers
can really impact your child or students and let me explain
so this first black foam roller is really dense
and really tough and if your students, you know that they require a lot of
sensory feedback you may want to try them on this
however it can be more
challenging to their
muscles and sensory systems as well so if you're starting off
you may want to start with something a little bit softer and what were you going to
mention about that?
These are basically, can make a little sensory
buttons thing
Which your child or adult might feel them
and depending on the reaction, either you could transition to another thing
or still keep this which good thing Dave is gonna
introduce you to this foam roller
So this one this is just the opposite
very dense very tough was the black one and then this white one
is one of the more softer versions which can
definitely not have such a high sensory feedback for
your children, adults or student and Rachel
you did this completely independent on your own
I want you explain what you did
Oh yay!
Also this is a foam roller my mom got
from an estate sale this, yet any foam roller can cost from
like ten dollars to about 15
to be safe. When it's right
and I know my creativity is
never stopping, I created all this using
dressing it out like what I like, what I
what favorite words I would like to say and I
added the day that I did it on and my birthday
So she did this back in May in 2012 but I came into her house she showed me this
and I thought it was amazing because she took ownership
made it her own and this is also what you can view
maybe if you're a school and you're looking for grants on
you can and purchase these foam rollers
and then have your students again make it their own and be creative with it
and that can better engage them in exercise and activities
so again awesome thing that she did
and so brilliant that she can share and be creative and now share with you
so as we mentioned very dense
very soft softer and that this is kinda like the middle foam roller
which they vary in color and
shapes sometimes there's half foam rollers but this is kinda like middle-ground
of how tough and
sensory feedback you may get from it, but we're going to just show you
a few exercises that you can do with this
and also this was true about Flora because she tends to think
foam rollers are a big sausage. Yes
and if you saw Rachel's other segment
about how to include your dog, like Rachel said
Flora has chewed this to bit but that's okay. I might create a foam roller too
Yes. Not the black one because I think you should keep that one
I do. I gotta keep one Flora free
Alright Rach will you put your head here? Okay. So what she's doing
and you may have seen in other shows or other segments and we're doing this
I do this with a lot of my kids because again it helps them from a sensory standpoint
and
physically helping their abdominals, reducing stress and
in their neck and even improving the range of motion
in their shoulder, girdle or arms
and back area. And posture too
Beautiful. One of the 5 components
right Rach? Posture very important. Very good Rachel
So Rach can you just put your arms out to the side
and just hold it? OK. Yep. So this is exercise 1
just simply holding and laying there
is an exercise in itself for some of your students and kids
and not only is it impacting their posture
but it's also helping even their abdominal area and
calming their sensory systems. Rach why don't you take them through
which one do you want to do? I think snow angels
Alright angels in the snow. This may be good in case you're like sick or whatever
So it's basically you would move your arms
if you wanted to do it fast or slow
But always start slowest because if you do fast
then you might be hitting your pet, which is not good
So yes like Rachel said if there's a pet in the room
or something so you may wanna go slower with your arms
but if you're just trying this with your children or your students just go
nice and easy
it may not look exactly perfect like the way
Rachel or a visual support card will show you
but that's okay again we just want to keep them moving
and in the snow angels we're not moving our legs, we're keeping them planted in the ground
as you can see just using the arms. Alright so you did snow angels
What's next Rach? Do chops. Perfect
Okay this might make you think you
I'm actually trying to get my abdominals
at more or less clogged up. Good
What also if you may be have to prompt
you're student in order to help them or the child or adult you may be working with
so sometimes I have to work with
students and have them grasp their hands like Rachel just did
and physically give a prompt so they know where I want them to reach their hands
to
and back and this can again
is another way just help them
understand what you may be asking so you wanna give
physical prompts and then
there you go so that was the chops. What's next?
this might make your tantrums look a little less childish
Good. But please don't do it when you're angry
So you're doing alternate chops?
one after the other and nice and slow
Sometimes I'm gonna correct Rachel or other
kids as I'm working more but if you're just starting these things
don't worry about correcting. Remember, getting our children moving is half
the battle
if you've done that you've done your job you've done a great job. We could
always work on the coaching piece later so that's why sometimes throughout all of
our videos you don't see me correct
right away. Okay? Nice job. Did I do it
fast or slow? That one? I think you did like medium
Eh medium's fine. And let's show them the the claps
Okay now this is one I'll start
the lock stretch with. And Rach I'm gonna show them how sometimes
I start with other individuals, okay?
So sometimes I may start, here Rach come up here
clap the hands, bend down
clap, clap, sometimes I gently push again to give another prompt
push clap and then ooh
sorry! That's okay. And then the ultimate goal is to
have the student or child do it independently
so I tried to fade those prompts as quick as I can
And Rachel does a great job. Yep. Alright
so there's a few routines, a few exercises you can do on the log
with your students at home
in the classroom or in a gym setting
You have anything else you want to say Rach? I think after on a foam
is your back is very straight
it may help you like
on posture on stand up or sit down you. If you have questions
if you have comments let us know fan mail send Rachel a letter
don't forget challenge autism with exercise
we'll see you next time. Bye bye!