Teaching Martial Arts to Those with Special Needs Provided by Kathy Olevsky
The segment of students with Special Needs is a very big population. As a matter of fact it is referred to in many arenas as Special Populations. There are some great tips for working with both children and adults who have Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, ADD, ADHD and other similarly classified learning challenges. If you understand the difference between a visual learner, an audible learner or a tactile learner, as well as the actual deficit the student has, you will be a much more capable instructor. Some martial arts instructors are afraid to take on a visually impaired or hearing impaired student. Similarly, we need to know what to do to teach someone in a wheelchair if they want to learn martial arts. The steps listed below are for teaching different types of students and to eliminate the doubt of how to adapt your current curriculum to meet their needs.
What kind of teacher are you?
Are you the kind of teacher who likes everyone to follow your directions with no distractions? If this is the case, you would need to teach no children and only adults with no learning or physical challenges. If you can adapt your curriculum and your mindset, you can teach anyone.
Aspergers and Autism
Aspergers students in general don’t make eye contact. Some have difficulty with over stimulation (loud kiais and lots of fidgety people can be triggers). Most are great rule followers and most do not get the average sense of humor in social situations. When one student may pick up on another student’s subtle non-verbal signals, an autistic or Asperger’s student will miss it. Children who fall into any category within the array of Autism are often referred to incorrectly as disruptive undisciplined children. Successful adults with Asperger’s have been called eccentric.
“Merely watching someone else’s continuous movements will not allow me to mimic them—I have to have the steps broken down sequentially, much like how I must have explicit directions on how to get to a new place rather than trying to follow a continuous map.” – Dr. Lars Perner (Assistant Professor, Clinical Marketing, University of Southern California)
ADD/ADHD
Attention Deficit Disorder or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder are two disorders that are very common and doctors are referring their patients to the martial arts for therapeutic reasons. The most important thing to find out about these students is if they are on medication and what time they take their last dose. If they are on medication, it can work wonders, but can also make them lethargic when they are going through changes in the medication. Also, if the parent gives them the medication inthe morning and none after school, they often will be quite wound up and excitable by the time their after-school martial arts classes start. In case the physical activity is the recommended therapy, rather than medication, you really have to know how to help them help themselves. Children with ADD benefit greatly from an instructor standing in front of them, counting and keeping their attention with loud constant commands. Students with ADHD will enjoy the physical workout as long as the instructor keeps them constantly busy. These are not the type of students that benefit from a class structure that includes some students sitting and watching other students.
Visually Impaired
Working with the visually impaired simply challenges the instructor to define the exact execution of any technique. The instructor must learn to describe a technique with words. Direction and speed have to be taught with words as well. In most schools, with the right philosophy, the other students will rise to the occasion to assist a visually impaired student in learning the martial arts. Since it is such a contact activity, it works well with the visually impaired. During sparring or team drills, use voice cues to help the student understand the direction and location of their partners.
Hearing Impaired
Working with the hearing impaired is simply a matter of staying in front of the student and developing a bond so that you learn to understand each other. Most students with hearing impairment are comfortable with instruction manuals as a learning aid. If your school has a wooden floor, the student can learn the tempo or “beat” of an activity by the vibrations in the floor. Mirrors are very important so the student can watch for cues to help with the count or execution of some technique. Frequent hands-on corrections help in the earlier phases.
Students on Wheelchairs
Working with students on wheelchairs is not as hard as many think. There are many wheelchair sports already in existence. Some students will need to stay in their chairs for all activities, while others will become comfortable with getting out of their chairs to work on Judo/Jujitsu type activities. Most basic Karate curriculums can be modified easily to allow the students in wheel chairs to mainstream into the regular classes. There are modified push ups, modified crunches and modified stretching exercises that are simple to learn and to teach. Students with paraplegia have a good bit of use of their upper body and blend well into regular classes. Students with quadriplegia require more specialized classes, depending on the mobility of their upper body. Quadriplegia does not mean they cannot use any of their upper body. There are varying degrees of Quadriplegia.
It is important, however to determine what the individuals restrictions are for their personal medical situation. Some diseases and spinal cord injuries can limit the contact and participation in the martial arts.
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