A Dance and Tumble Class?

As a homeschooling family, we are always looking for opportunities for our children to learn skills that we value but cannot provide ourselves. For our family, we seek out physical activities for our very busy and precocious children. We suggested that my dad give the girls dance/gymnastics classes for Christmas for this very reason. Today was C4’s first “Dance and Tumble” class for the winter session at the YMCA.

Not only did we want C4 to join a gymnastics/dance class for physical education and dance skills, but we also knew that there would be social, emotional, and neurological benefits from the class.

~C4 has Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), and she is definitely a sensory seeker. The activities in this class provide lots of proprioceptive input, which will help her with motor planning and balance. There are plenty of deep pressure activities in the class as well such as rolling, hopping, and jumping.

~This class gives C4 the opportunity to make some friendships outside of our current circle of friends. I hope that she can connect with other little girls who share her interest in dancing and gymnastics. The class gives her a topic to discuss with her friends, shared experiences, and time away from me and her sister to establish new friendships.

~I hope that the experiences she has will build her confidence in her physical abilities resulting in a better sense of what she can do independently. She often tells me that she is unable to complete a task that I have seen her do a dozen times. I suspect that her frustration is a result of her SPD sometimes and other times is part of her limit-testing as a strong-willed child. Perhaps she will gain better control over her proprioceptive function through her dance class and maybe learn a little about following the rules.

~Most of all, I hope that C4 has fun in this class. Today she was so excited that she was going to her class that she simply could not nap. As we got ready to leave the house, she kept telling A2 about how she was going to a special dance class that Papa gave to her for Christmas. When we arrived, she ran right into the room. She dove into the class. She smiled. She laughed. She was thrilled by the end of class. She made sure to tell Daddy all about her experiences.

I have high hopes for this little class!

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