Resilient Martial Arts in Midlothian, Virginia, is proud to announce that we have added Spectrum Skillz to our class offerings! This program was designed to target children ages 7 and up who are on the autism spectrum. The program introduces specialized skill-based training for children who have limited physical, intellectual, social, and emotional abilities. With that said, more emphasis is placed on building fundamental skills training with a strategic balance of Martial Arts.
By understanding the needs of these children, we have selected 8 skills that make up the Spectrum SKILLZ Program. The third skill we cover is Observing. Observing is a skill that kids on the spectrum struggle with. If you’ve ever worked with someone on the autism spectrum, then you understand exactly what I mean because you can see them constantly looking around even though they’re supposed to be watching you.
So, it’s our job in this program to help them learn how to observe the things in their actions that they should or shouldn’t be doing. We break observation down into four main parts.
- Observing Our Partners – When we do this, we’re going to be having them working with another individual, it can be a teammate or even an instructor, and having them do things with that partner while staying focused on that partner so that way they can pick up the things that both the student and their partner may be doing right and the things that they could be doing wrong.
- Observing Basics – This is something that Spectrum Skillz kids get to do with an instructor. The student’s goal will be to get to identify different basic techniques that are being demonstrated. This will help build the student’s active memory because they will start seeing things going on and challenging their brain to help them remember exactly what the move is called. This may be difficult at first with all the different moves that they have to remember, being able to tell which one is which and observing it to name it.
- Observing in Groups – Group observation is one of the biggest challenges for SPectrum Skillz students because now, instead of just watching one person as in a one-to-one partnership, we want them to be able to watch multiple people at a time. This is so that they can start to see the differences and the similarities that can be shared between others. This will be a challenge for them, but it will also help them boost their observation skills.
- Self-Observation – This will be an enjoyable one because this will be where they’re going to get to demonstrate moves themselves and be able to detail the things they think they’re doing well or enhance the things they think they may have missed.
When we help the kids put all these techniques together, they will start to take their focus up to the highest level possible. With our spectrum kids, it’s our goal to keep setting them up for success during class, but it’s also our job to maintain a high-energy and fun format so that they’re excited and want to stay focused.
As you can see, we take Martial Arts training to a whole new level! Be sure to check our blog for articles on the other seven spectrum skills.
Ready to get started? Click here to book your child’s free 1-on-1 session with one of our instructors.