Is meal time a struggle at your house ?
Summit ’ s Pediatric Feeding Clinic can HELP ! Warning Signs that may indicate a feeding disorder :
— by Ashley Hirtzel
Yoga Yields Benefits for Kids with Disabilities
32 WNY Family August 2018
Yoga is a discipline that focuses on breath control , simple meditation , and is widely practiced for health and relaxation . Yoga is being implemented for just those reasons for children with disabilities . The practice that includes stretching and poses such as down dog , child ’ s pose , and warrior one are helping young people ages 5 to 21 learn how to calm their “ busy body .” Kids with disabilities are seeing major benefits from the calming effects of therapeutic yoga .
Cantalician Center for Learning began implementing yoga as part of its therapy sessions and during classroom instruction . Since bringing yoga into the classroom , the teachers are noticing that students who often struggle with emotional or behavioral issues are getting better at finding their inner calm .
Is meal time a struggle at your house ?
Summit ’ s Pediatric Feeding Clinic can HELP ! Warning Signs that may indicate a feeding disorder :
End The Family Food Fight !
Accepting NEW PATIENTS
Most insurance plans accepted .
Call 629-3400 for more information and to schedule an appointment . www . TheSummitCenter . org
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Food refusal Food selectivity
Gagging , vomiting , difficulty swallowing , and / or choking during meals
Continuously spitting out food or holding food in the mouth
Failure to eat age-appropriate textures
Concern about aversive consequences of eating
Failure to meet nutritional / energy needs
Feeding tube dependency
Empower
Inspire
Ability Advocate
Special Needs
Potential Thri� Growth Strategies
Vito Gigante is the Head of Occupational Therapy at Cantalician Center . He and his wife Sarah Gigante have also held classes at the organization through their personal business venture Flowering Light Yoga , LLC to train human service professionals , educators , caregivers , and families how to teach therapeutic yoga to kids with disabilities . A number of teachers and therapists at Cantalician Center are now trained to teach children ’ s yoga within the school setting . The educators strive to make it fun and educational for the students . They have the younger students do the poses that emulate animals like a gorilla or lion . When they ’ re focusing on their poses it takes their mind off the fact that their body doesn ’ t always cooperate with them .
“ Some of our older students are learning health and wellness concepts through more adult yoga experiences and are even being challenged to assist in leading some classes . The concept of training teachers as opposed to teaching students has been an important concept to the integration of yoga into our School Age curriculum ,” said Vito Gigante . “ The goal of doing yoga with children is to keep it fun and to help them to better understand their body . We are really able to integrate yoga into academic concepts , while also teaching tools for living healthy and happy . Through the incorporation of movement and breath , students get the opportunity to experience a continuum of sensory experiences and emotional responses as well as begin to learn the art of selfregulation .”
However , the idea of integrating yoga into therapy sessions is not a new concept , as many therapists have been