Smart ParenTHINK #03

Issue 3, Aug 2018 - Jan 2019

Musical Instruments Other Than The Piano And Violin

Understanding Myopia Understanding Behaviour

Fidgeting

Planning For Our Children - What Is Essential

A WARM WELCOME

CONTENTS 04

HOM FOCUS Gathering Data Through All Senses

08

Planning for Our Children What is Essential?

12

Character Story Encouraging Elly

14

Understanding Myopia

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Musical Instruments other than the Piano and Violin that Your Child will Appreciate

Parenting is an art that requires skills, experience and forethought. While most parents do acquire skills and experience, they often overlook the third strategy of forethought.

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Understanding Behaviour: How Art Therapy Can Benefit You and Your Child

Forethought is giving thought to how you as a parent are going to respond when your child’s behaviour does not meet your expectations. Forethought is also required in designing and shaping your child’s mindset.

Forward planning and discipline is required — and we are talking about the parents’ behaviour, not the kid’s.

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Why Fidgeting is Good for our Kids

This is the third issue of Smart ParenTHINK, a new magazine designed specifically for parents of young children.

Parents often ask me how they should be managing their children’s behaviour. Indeed, one of the biggest challenges parents face with their children is managing difficult or defiant behaviour.

These behaviours can manifest in many forms: not wanting to eat, refusing to put on shoes, throwing full-blown tantrums, etc. There is no easy answer. Many parents find themselves at a loss to respond in an effective way.

Happy ParenThink!

Published by: Dr Henry Toi CEO, Nurture Craft International (A member of Global EduHub)

Nurture Craft International Pte Ltd 73 Bukit Timah Road #02-00 Rex House Singapore 229832 www.nurturecraft.com email: info@nurturecraft.com

Gathering Data Through All Senses Arthur L Costa, Ed.D and Bena Kallick, Ph.D Nothing reaches the intellect before making its appearance in the senses.

Latin Proverb Does this quotation shock you? Or should we say, shock your senses? Perhaps it is surprising to realize that your brain reduces the world to its elementary parts — photons of light, molecules of smell, sound waves, vibrations of touch, etc — first.

These elementary parts send electrochemical signals to individual brain cells that store information about lines, movements, colours, smells and other sensory inputs. All external information gets into your brain through one of these sensory pathways: •

•

Auditory : The sounds you hear through your ears Gustatory : The tastes you gather through your mouth

• Olfactory : The smells you inhale through your nose • Tactile : The sensations you feel through your skin • Visual : The sights you see through your eyes • Kinaesthetic : The positions you take through your movements and posture

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Those whose sensory pathways are open, alert and acute absorb more information from the environment than those whose pathways are withered, immune and oblivious to sensory stimuli.

We gather data from internal sources as well.If you are in touch with your own emotions, you are also in touch with the physical sensations in your body.

For example, you know that you are fearful because your heart rate begins to speed up, your stomach clenches, and your hair stands on end.

You sense what other people are experiencing or feeling by sensations that arise in our own bodies.

The Five Traditional Human Senses Feelfree777 | Dreamstime.com

And it is not the single input of any one of these but the interplay within and between all of these systems that determines how your brain functions. When one of these pathways is either blocked or compromised, the others are heightened so that you can make sense of the world.

Most linguistic, cultural, and physical learning comes from the environment by taking in through the senses. An apple, for instance, must be eaten to know its crispness and sweetness. To know a role in a play, it must be acted; to know

the game of soccer, it must be played; to know a goal it must be envisioned. The more we experience the world the more we deepen our knowledge of it.

Sometimes we are afraid to touch, get our hands ‘dirty’ or feel some object might be ‘slimy’ or ‘icky’. When this happens, we are operating within a narrow range of sensory problem-solving strategies, wanting only to ‘describe it but not illustrate or act it’, or ‘listen but not participate, to look but not to touch.’

Another aspect of brain function that helps us understand why multiple sensory inputs are important is that the brain does not store a memory in a specific location. Rather, it is stored all over the cortex in a sort of neural circuit: sound in the auditory cortex, images in the visual cortex, etc.

When you recall the memory, the brain reactivates or reconstructs the circuit in which it was stored.

The more sensory modalities that were activated when the memory were recorded, the more triggers the brain has for reactivating the circuit.This suggests that concrete experiences you encounter that activate several

of the senses can enhance your recall of the information at a later time.

Learning about the ways that your brain gathers and stores information can help as you are learning. Many people find that listening to the arts and music improves their mental functioning. Forming mental images is important in mathematics and engineering; listening to classical music seems to improve spatial reasoning.

So remember to gather data through all of your senses to enrich your intellect!

All of us are like walking antennae, receiving and registering the felt experience of those around us. Some of us are better at this than others. To accurately register this kind of information requires being in touch with our own emotional responses.

Both internal and external data gathering is a blend of automatic responses to stimuli and actions guided by our knowledge and expectations.

As long as the sensory receptors (the eyes, the ears, the skin, etc) are in good working order, they will automatically, unconsciously and simultaneously take in all the stimuli bombarding them at any given moment in time.

20 August 2013: The 9th Ponte de Lima International Garden Festival of Ponte de Lima, Portugal, themed ‘Garden of Senses’, comprising the creation of 12 temporary gardens using innovative perspectives of public spaces.

Manuel Novo | Dreamstime.com

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Planning for Our Children - What is Essential?

Tey Ghee Kwan, Branch Manager, finexis advisory Pte Ltd

The earlier you begin to save for your child’s tertiary education, the greater the compounding effect, and the larger the benefit you see.

It is never too early to start financial planning. In fact, if we truly understand the time value of money, the earlier we start planning the more benefits we can enjoy. Parents can help give their children a significant head start in life by planning early.

Here are some areas which we should consider when planning for our children.

Health Insurance A major illness or injury can wipe out all our Medisave funds and even our life savings. In an article in The New Paper on

19 October 2012, a three-yearold meningitis patient incurred a $130,000 hospitalisation bill which shocked the family, as they could not afford to settle even the first $30,000.

In the end, the family did manage to come to an agreement with the hospital on the settlement of the bill — but it meant that the family had to carry a heavy financial burden for the next 42 years!

This is only one of numerous similar cases happening around us daily. With escalating health costs, a hospitalisation plan is undoubtedly the most critical and essential type of protection for anyone. A typical hospitalisation plan would help cover most or all of the hospitalisation, surgical, and outpatient expenses that are related to the hospitalisation or the surgery.

However, we need to have such a policy in force well before, not after, being diagnosed with any medical condition. Therefore, hospitalisation plans should start as early as possible before the onset of any medical condition, to ensure future insurability. One month after birth is ideal.

As the annual premium — which can be partly paid using Medisave — is only about $350, I advise parents to choose a plan that provides the best medicaltreatment coverage for their children. There are also plans available in which children are covered for free if both parents are insured.

Personal Accident Plan The chance of an accident happening to us may seem remote — but it can happen,

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and usually does when we least expect it. Even a simple accident can cost you much more than you expect.

For example, treatment for a torn ligament resulting from a fall could cost approximately $10,000. This can be a financial burden for a household paying off housing loans while managing monthly expenses.

Personal-accident-insurance plans are designed to be affordable while easing our financial burden in case of an accident. They can be considered a lowcost supplement to our life insurance as they cover accident-medical-expense reimbursement, something which is not a feature in most life-insurance plans.

In addition, some insurers include coverage of conditions — such as insect bites, Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD), Avian Influenza, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), and Dengue Fever — which children are susceptible to.

Having personal accident coverage therefore serves to ease our worries of a financial burden from accidents, leaving us in a better state of mind to care for our children when they need us most.

Education Plan At the rate education costs are escalating even without inflation, tertiary fees can become exorbitant by the time our children are ready for the university or polytechnic.

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We estimate that tuition fees for local universities rise by 3.5 percent per annum; for overseas universities in the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, the annual increase can range from 4.8 to 5.9 percent.

Get a hospitalisation plan for your newborn as soon as possible to protect your family from potentially large medical bills.

If we include the living expenses and airfare cost required for education abroad — also rising at an estimated 3 and 5.3 percent per annum respectively — the total amount required can become a big financial strain if proper planning is not done. We have estimated that the total cost for a four-year university degree by 2030 will be as follows:

Average Tuition Fees (S$)

United States

United Kingdom

Australia

Singapore

309,080

263,357

194,211

67,261

Average Living Expenses (S$)

86,396

129,937

160,432

84,901

Airfare (S$)

34,763

24,349

10,012

NA

Total EstimatedCost (S$)

430,239

417,643

364,655

152,162

Source: AIA 2010 Estimated Education Costsfor a 4-year University Degree by 2030

Hence, when it comes to planning for our children’s education, start early with an education plan — essentially an endowment policy where we receive regular pay-outs over the period our children are having their tertiary education.

This eases our worry of not having sufficient funds to pay for education fees in the future.

Another benefit of such an endowment policy is the coverage and the payer security that it provides. If the parent that is the payer of the policy 10

passes on, is permanently disabled, or is struck with a major illness, all future premiums of the policy will be waived. The child still gets the maturity amount at the end of the policy.

Life Insurance Life insurance is not essential for young children since they do not contribute financially to the family. However, parents who are already fully covered can purchase life insurance for their children as a gift of love.

The most important reason for this is to ensure their children’s insurability.

Getting life insurance once you have been diagnosed with a medical condition becomes difficult, so parents should secure life insurance for their children while the children are still healthy. Begin with a basic plan: typically, a basic sum assured of $100,000 covering Death, Total and Permanent Disability, and Critical Illness (including early critical illness).

Will Children while growing up are totally dependent on their parents. In the unfortunate event that both parents pass on, say in a traffic accident, who will take care of them? Where will they live? Who will help them manage and safeguard their inheritance, including insurance pay-outs?

These are important concerns, but not those that many parents give much thought to.

The following illustrates the advantages of having a Will:

With a Will, we have a say over how we want our children to be cared for if we are no longer around.

Also, it is important to consider the practicality of leaving children with a lump sum when they are still young, immature and vulnerable. Rather than risk having a lump-sum payment squandered by unscrupulous relatives or mismanagement by children themselves, we can include a Testamentary Trust in the Will, an arrangement where the children receive periodic allowances from the inheritance

for their day-to-day expenses and maintenance till they come of age.

A Testamentary Trust can also be used as a form of motivation when we are not around. We can specify that our children will receive a higher allowance if they achieve certain qualifications or goals.

This will deter them from being overly reliant on the inheritance, and help to ensure that they will be capable of supporting themselves even after the inheritance has been depleted.

With a Will

Without a Will

Able to name your beneficiaries and their portion of the inheritance

Distribute inheritance according to intestate law, hence no control over distribution

Faster legal process (2–3 months) with less hassle and cost

Lengthy legal process (6 months or more) with higher cost

Able to specify legal guardianship of children

Disputes possible withother family members over guardianship of children 11

Sophia

Kiang

Optometrist, KJ Optometrists

What is Myopia?

Myopia Control

The most common question we optometrists get asked by parents is, “Has my child’s power gone up?”

Myopia severity increases[2] on average about -0.59Diopter Sphere (DS) a year until the child reaches the teenage years, meaning that after 10 years the degree of myopia becomes almost -6.00DS. High myopia values (more than -6.00DS) are linked to higher risks of eye conditions such as Retinal Detachment and Glaucoma. With the aid of myopia-control methods, myopia progression can be reduced by 30-50%, reducing the risk of becoming blind.

Myopia, or short-sightedness, is when the length of the eyeball is longer than normal, causing an image to be focused in front of, instead of on, the retina. While near vision is still clear, distance vision becomes blurry without correction. Myopia is a common condition all over the world.

Types Of Myopia Control

Studies[1] show that myopia rates for Singaporean children are 20% at seven years of age (when they begin their primary education), and go up to over 70% for youths (after they have completed tertiary education).

Singapore has one of the highest rates of myopia in the world.

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1) Atropine Atropine (0.01% to 1%) is prescribed by ophthalmologists to slow down the progression of myopia. Atropine has shown positive results, but higher doses require patients to be prescribed with photochromatic lenses (lenses that are clear indoors but change colour under sunlight or UV light) or progressive lenses (lenses which change in power from top to bottom, usually used by people aged 40 and above with presbyopia, a problem reading small print) to ensure comfortable vision under sunlight or when doing near work.

3) Orthokeratology lenses These are rigid lenses that are worn overnight to flatten the cornea, allowing you to see without glasses in the day, making it a reversible procedure: the power returns to the original when the lens is not worn.

refraction but not a full eye examination.

The optician must clearly advise or refer the patient by letter to undergo eye examination by an optometrist or ophthalmologist when he encounters a condition that is beyond his or her competence or legal scope to manage.

Such advice or referral must be documented in the patient’s ophthalmic record.

Hyperopic Defocus

2) Ophthalmic lenses (used in spectacles) Here are a few lenses of this kind: a) Myovision by Carl Zeiss The lenses correct the central vision while moving the peripheral image in front of the retina, causing hyperopic defocus (image falls slightly in front of retina) and preventing the eye from growing longer. b) Myopilux Max by Essilor Prisms are added to the lens to reduce eye strain when looking at near objects.

Ortho-K-Effects - Before, During and After

Daily Activities On top of the myopia-control options listed, spending more time outdoors — allowing children to look at objects far away, ultimately relaxing the eyes — significantly reduces myopia progression, according to studies[3].

Other steps to help the eye be more relaxed and prevent unnecessary eye strain include ensuring good lighting; doing near work at least 30 cm away; and regular breaks after 30-40 minutes of near work.

You can visit us at: KJ Optometrists 10 Eunos Road 8 #B1-121 Singapore Post Centre Singapore 408600 Tel: 6844 2555 KJ Optometrists 68 Orchard Road #04-52 Plaza Singapura Singapore 238839 Tel: 6333 0280

Our opening hours are 11am to 9pm daily. To book an appointment with us: Via our Website www.kjoptoms.com

1.2.4. No optician, even if qualified to perform refraction, shall refract any child below 8 years old.

All this means that it is important for parents with children aged seven and below to ensure that their children’s eyes are checked by a qualified optometrist.

Via our Facebook page www.facebook.com/kjoptoms/

References [1] Anon, (2001). Myopia in Singapore: taking a public health approach.

LWW. (2018). Factors Related to the Progression of Myopia in Singaporean ... : Optometry and Vision Science.

[2]

Getting Your Eyes Checked According to the Professional Practice Code and Guidelines by the Optometrists and Opticians Board Act[4]: c) Myopilux Plus by Essilor Power reduction towards the bottom of the lens relaxes eye muscles when doing near work.

1.2.3. The optician shall inform every patient that he or she can only perform

Rose, K. (2018). Myopia, Lifestyle, and Schooling in Students of Chinese Ethnicity in Singapore and Sydney.

[3]

Healthprofessionals.gov.sg. (2018).

Legislations & Guidelines | OOB. Zeiss.com.sg. (2018). MyoVision™ – the innovative spectacle lenses for myopia control | ZEISS Singapore.

Infocuseyecare.com.au. (2018).

Orthokeratology | Optometrist Cherrybrook Eye Doctor Sydney Orthokeratology.

[4]

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Musical Instruments other than the Piano and

Clarinéo has the same basic fingering arrangement as the clarinet, a child old and big enough for a B-flat clarinet or

even a saxophone can transition immediately to these instruments when she is ready.

Figure 2: Clarinéo

Violin that Your Child will Appreciate

While this century has seen piano and violin courses become the rage for children, the piano and violin are not necessarily the most ideal instruments for every child.

Some kids are more fascinated with the “buttons” than the strings or making sounds by playing the violin.

In this article, I will share with you three alternatives to the piano or violin that a five-yearold can learn to play.

created plastic ‘jFlutes’ which are lighter than metal and easy to blow through. Since they are made of plastic, kids find them easy to maintain.

Jupiter, another company, has developed a Waveline flute that makes it significantly easier for kids to transition to an actual flute. This is by far the best children’s flute in the market.

Educator Kathy Blocki has designed a very popular comprehensive syllabus and tools designed specially to teach the flute to young kids. There are now flute resources aplenty; as a result, there’s been a resurgence in kids as young as five taking up the flute.

Clarinet In 1998, a clarinet teacher known as Graham Lyon launched a child-friendly clarinet known as the Clarinéo. The instrument is now distributed

by Nuvo Instrumental.

It took Lyon and a team of experts many years to design the Clarinéo, and the results are worth it: the instrument is lighter, easier to manage, ready to play straight out of the case, highly resistant to rough treatment, and waterproof.

The Clarinéo is so easy to play that children as young as five can play a proper tune, with sound quality close to that of a traditional clarinet. Since the

Saxophone Because of the size and weight of conventional saxophones, most children start the instrument only when they are at least nine years old. Things changed in 2015 when Nuvo Instrumental came up with the jSax, an instrument friendly even to four-year-olds. The jSax sounds just like a saxophone, despite it being made of plastic

and being very small.

There is also the baby saxophone, a mini version of an Alto saxophone, small enough for a child’s hands to reach and light enough for a child to carry. With the baby saxophone, it is now possible for kids as young as five to learn the saxophone!

Figure 3: Nuvo jSax

Flute In the past, most children would start learning the flute from eight years of age onwards. Because they needed something suitable for their small hands, they would use the curved ‘head joint flute’.

Figure 1: Jupiter Waveline Flute

Q: What are the starting prices for these instruments for children?

A: These instruments are very affordably priced at S$250 dollars and up.

Q: Can my child learn these instruments if she is teething?

A: If teething affects their playing, simply suspend classes until the permanent teeth have grown.

Lin Shumei, Hons. BMus, PGDE, Flute and Music Academy

Do you face difficulties sending your reluctant child to piano or violin classes, or do you constantly have to nag your child to practise on the piano and violin?

Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: How long does it generally take to learn these instruments?

A: The music syllabus is the same for all instruments (piano, violin, flute, clarinet or saxophone), so the same ground must be covered. However, because these childrenfriendly instruments are easier to learn, most children learn faster on our instruments than with the piano or violin.

Q: How do I know the ‘right’ instrument for my child?

A: If your child: 1) Likes instruments with “buttons”; 2) Has a lot of lung power; 3) Can focus for 20 – 30 minutes; There’s a good chance your child will like one of our wind instruments.

Since 2010, however, many innovations have emerged that have made flute accessible even to kids from five years of age. Nuvo Instrumental has

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with your child is through art.

Understanding Behaviour:

How

Can Benefit You and Your Child Dawn Then & Rachel Yang, Art Psychotherapists and Counsellors, Daylight Creative Therapies

A Therapist’s Response Art

All children have their moments of extreme outbursts: screaming, shouting, kicking, throwing items, or punching people or objects around them.

During these difficult periods, parents experience feelings of frustration, embarrassment, or anguish in figuring out how best to support and help their child manage her feelings.

Regular, difficult behaviours such as aggression or withdrawal may suggest that your child is facing a myriad challenges in several areas of his life. Finding the time and appropriate resources to help with these behaviours often 20

Images have a way of getting to the heart of an emotion.

Depicting our emotional life in the form of art has the benefit of accessing our psyche in a vastly more intuitive manner, paving the way towards a more accurate portrayal of an experience, especially those that cannot be expressed by words. Children — for whom the first mark on the world is typically symbolic and visual

better. Art Therapy allows for a safe release of emotions, symbolically through artwork, from engagement with different art media, movement, and play as the artwork is created. Engaging your child through art therapy is a whole-brain approach.

Using creativity, symbolism and imagination, art therapy involves co-creating new models of living with a child and helps develop an increased sense of selfawareness and self-acceptance

Art as Healing

adds to an already overwhelming list of things that need your attention.

As a parent, you want your child to not only survive but also thrive in a world where they can feel good about themselves, perform well at school or work, and build sustainable and healthy relationships. Extensive research suggests that the cornerstones of a balanced childhood are empathy and attunement, a process of being aware of the feelings and reactions within ourselves and in others without being judgemental.

Early childhood experiences of

attachment and attunement are imprinted in our bodies. In other words, our experiences affect our emotions; they are eventually conveyed through our actions. We can understand children’s behaviour not as enduring traits but rather as temporary states that require empathy and engagement.

Difficult feelings and behaviours cannot be banished with a simple snap of the fingers.

Learning how to understand and relate to your children is the gateway to helping them manage and regulate their emotions. One way of exploring feelings and difficult situations

Dyadic art therapy sessions have numerous therapeutic benefits, including: 1. Enhancing the child’s understanding of his feelings and reactions through joint engagement with the parent as they create art together.

Reflections

— often breeze through this process.

for overall enhancement of emotional well-being.

Art is a tool for selfexpression. Art encourages the development of language and motor skills, and encourages visual learning and critical thinking. Getting children to tap into symbolic expression via art helps them to engage and channel their sensory experiences.

Our lives are constantly shaped by choices: ours, and those of the people around us. Difficult behaviours in children can be caused by either the environment or the people around them. The therapeutic relationship inherent in art therapy supports and attunes to the inner experiences of a child, enabling her to explore and integrate maladaptive behaviours into regulated patterns of behaviour.

The brain, contrary to old belief, is a highly adaptable organ even in adulthood. Studies have shown that positive relationships rewire the brain, changing behaviour for the

their parents in a joint arttherapy session, mediated by an art therapist, designed to facilitate reflective discussions between parent and child.

As a parent, you can also explore art therapy with your child. Dyadic art therapy involves children and

2. Promoting parental insights into their own childhood and how it may influence their perceptions and expectations of their children 3. Understanding and attuning to the child’s inner world through shared storytelling by relating to the meaning behind metaphors, symbols and characters within the story of their art creation.

4. Support by the art therapist of the parent and child within a safe environment to encourage non-judgement and open communication to strengthen the relationship.

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Why

Fidgeting

is Good FOR our Kids

Gerald Ong, Certified Facilitator of LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method

anxious or stressed. Twirling a pen around your fingers (a common sight in classrooms across our island) or squeezing a stress ball can help a student to ‘project his restlessness’ onto the gadget, serving as a release from anxiety or stress.

Indeed, more and more studies on fidgeting have emerged demonstrating the positive effects of fidgeting on both attention and concentration.

A study published in The Journal of At-Risk Issues in 2006 showed that allowing sixth-graders (11-12-year-olds) in a Georgia, US, school to use stress balls during instruction or

In 2017, a Straits Times article, “Fidget toy not allowed in some classrooms”, reported that some schools had banned students from bringing fidget toys called ‘spinners’ into classrooms because they were disrupting learning in the classroom.

All this has led to the rise of a therapy called LEGO® Therapy: using LEGO® Bricks as a therapeutic approach in counselling to allow kids to share their emotions.

LEGO® Therapy is an intervention, based on collaborative play, that aims at improving skills to begin and maintain interactions with fellow players. Specific target skills are verbal and non-verbal communication (eg, selfinitiated interactions), turntaking, sharing, reciprocity, and collaborative problem-solving.

Method comes with core processes which need to be strictly observed: 1. Posing the Challenge Question 2. Building the Answer 3. Telling and Sharing the Story 4. Reflecting and Learning Parents, teachers and schools can play a supportive role by allowing kids to fidget. Through proper classroom-management and classroom-discipline measures in class or during co-curricular activities, using designated fidgeting boxes,

The results of several studies indicate that LEGO® Therapy is a promising intervention in improving the initiation and duration of social contact with their peers in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

This step by schools sounds reasonable. Fidgeting — described as the generation of small movements because of nervousness or impatience — can be very distracting and hard to bear for other students trying to focus.

When students are trying to focus on what the teacher is doing, having a classmate fidgeting — e.g, constantly pressing the buttons of his mobile phone, clicking a pen alternately open or closed, or shaking her legs when seated — next to you can be highly annoying.

a class, it doesn’t help those who need fidget toys — such as jumping clay, Rubik’s Cubes, etc — behooving us to look for more inclusive solutions.

Studies have identified four main reasons for fidgeting:

2. To focus, when increased attention and focus is desired; 3. To explore, so the mind can go wandering, or to provide mental rest; and 4. To stay active, if bored or under-stimulated.

While the intervention by schools may be good for the majority of students in

1. To relax, i.e. to decrease stress and anxiety;

Experts state we tend to become restless when we are

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modern, highly-competitive societies. Some research shows their use as a creative tool for metaphorical model building promotes reflective thinking.

Fidget Spinner

independent practice resulted in a decrease in the frequency of distraction. Attitude, attention and writing ability also improved.

Fidget toys, so long as they are not noisy, can become a form of engagement for kids prone to anxiety and stress, two conditions both of which appear to be growing in

In their 2014 book Engaging Imagination: Helping Students Become Creative and Reflective Thinkers, authors James and Brookfield, referring to LEGO® Bricks, state that “Studies have shown that its use as a creative tool for metaphorical model building promotes reflective thinking.”

Here, adapting an established and developed method from the business world has been usefully adapted for use with kids. It’s called the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® Method.

Boy Playing With LEGO® © Heather Rushton | Dreamstime.com

teachers can allow fidgeting in class, helping students who need to fidget to stay relaxed, focused and active, while not being disruptive to their classmates.

The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® 23