When balance balls were originally developed in the 1960s for physical therapy purposes, who knew that one day they’d be recommended for children who have trouble focusing in school? But today, that’s just what’s happening. Balance balls might be just what the doctor ordered to help children reach their full potential in the classroom, especially for those with sensory processing disorders, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, or just a strong need to fidget. Around the same time that fitness fans began using balance balls (also called exercise balls, stability balls or therapy balls) in their exercise regimens as a way to strengthen abdominal and back muscles, ball chairs were developed as a way to strengthen core muscles and improve posture while sitting. During the 1980s, some occupational therapists began recommending them to educators for classroom use, deeming them particularly helpful for children with special learning needs. Then in 2003, a study was published in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy concluding that in students with ADHD, sitting on therapy balls improved behavior and legible word productivity.
In other words, students using ball chairs were able to sit still, focus, and write more words clearly. Mayo Clinic in Rochester seconded those findings in 2007 with a study on the benefits of a chairless classroom. In the Mayo study, which focused on improving learning and reducing obesity by making children more active, researchers found that the ability to move around more while sitting made the students more attentive. Mayo Clinic communications consultant Bob Nellis told the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune that he believes this is because kids are able to burn off excess energy by bouncing on a ball. “Generally speaking, people don’t sit still,” says Diana Henry, an occupational therapist who travels the country in an RV to offer school-based and individual occupational therapy services. “They are always wiggling around. The littlest kids are even more wiggly because their sensory systems are still developing.” That’s why children need recess at school.
“Running and jumping and spinning and twirling and swinging,” says Henry. “Those activities are very important for the development of children’s central nervous systems, their brain, and their body.” Some kids need more movement than others. And for some kids with a sensory processing disorder or ADHD, being in motion allows their brains to be engaged. “There is a neurological pathway that goes from your body’s balance and movement system to your alert system in your brain. Movement actually allows for alertness and attention,” says Henry. That’s where ball chairs come in. In response to the ball’s instability and in order to remain balanced while sitting on one, the body instinctively — and continually — engages core muscle groups. Constant movement is required in order to stay seated on the ball. And that movement, however slight, helps them focus. “Ball chairs are very good for children who need to move a lot,” says Kay Barrows, a retired elementary school teacher from Monument, CO. Barrows had such success in her classroom using a ball chair for one special needs child that she pushed for and was awarded a district grant to get ball chairs for her entire class.
“The chairs were helpful for special needs students in particular, but I also saw a big difference in kids who were just always rocking in their chairs and needed to move.” When a child sits on a ball chair, they are able to direct their natural kinesthetic energy and need for movement in a positive way, because the child on a ball chair has to constantly move his body on the chair to maintain his balance. So rather than squash a child’s innate need for movement, ball chairs channel their physical energy in a positive way, allowing them to focus on their work more completely and reach their full potential as learners. Darcy Lewis, a mother of two sons with ADHD in Riverside, IL, has started using a ball chair at home. “They feel less fidgety and more relaxed when they sit on a ball and, by their own assessment, are more able to concentrate, whether on homework or dinner conversation with the rest of the family,” says Lewis. Parents like Lewis are utilizing the concept of classroom ball chairs and allowing their child to use one in a home setting.
To this end, a ball chair can be a great tool for your child, however, it is extremely important that a small child doesn’t sit on an adult size ball. “It’s important that the ball fits the child,” says Henry. Strive for a 90-degree angle in the knee bend when the child is sitting comfortably on the ball. A regular sized chair or ball may be fine for an older or taller child. Or try a child-sized ball chair. You can act on this research whether or not your child has SPD or ADHD. As Henry and Barrows both note above, every kid has a need for movement. With or without a real ball chair, here are some things you can do to give your children more wiggle room while doing homework or other seated activities at home: After reading this article (originally published in September 2010) and reviewing more research recommending balance balls as a strategy to help students focus in school, second grade teacher Lana Ray in Connelly Springs, N.C., convinced her school’s principal to let her purchase six ball chairs for her classroom.
Many of Ray’s students have ADD or ADHD; shortly after the chairs arrived, she started noticing marked behavioral improvement from students on the days they got to sit on the ball chairs (Ray rotated the chairs around the classroom so that each of her 16 students got to sit on a ball chair every third day). One student even stuttered less when he sat on the ball. Ray’s local paper covered the story, raising awareness among other educators and parents.A “body safety” class for elementary school students in Montgomery County prompted an 11-year-old girl to report how a longtime teacher at the school allegedly had been improperly touching her for 18 months, according to recently filed court documents. The girl’s disclosure led to a police investigation, which led to county detectives speaking with the girl and with a friend. On Monday, police charged third-grade teacher John Vigna, 49, with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and five counts of third-degree sexual offense, authorities said.
Vigna had taught at Cloverly Elementary School for 24 years before being put on administrative leave this year. He also helped run an after-school computer club and the school’s student safety patrol. According to a police document filed in court Monday, Vigna forced one of the students to sit on his lap and held her there when she tried to leave. He also allegedly squeezed her buttocks at times when she hugged him goodbye. With the other student, Vigna is alleged to have improperly rubbed her while hugging her. “I know that you agree that the behavior alleged in the charging document is both disturbing and disappointing,” Melissa Brunson, Cloverly’s principal, wrote in a letter to students’ parents Monday, adding that such actions “will not be tolerated or ignored.” Vigna turned himself in to authorities Monday morning. He was booked at the county jail and released on bond later in the day. Vigna could not be reached by phone or email, and court records do not indicate whether he has retained an attorney.
Vigna began working for the school system in 1991at Cloverly Elementary, near the intersection of Briggs Chaney Road and New Hampshire Avenue. In a 2001 article in the Montgomery County Gazette, Vigna spoke about creating writing assignments designed to help students highlight caring behaviors. “I spend a lot of time with them on developing their character,” Vigna said in the article. He also helped on variety shows, according to a Cloverly PTA posting. Late last year, the PTA approved a motion to give Vigna up to $200 toward a new rocking chair for his classroom, according to meeting minutes. With an enrollment of 466 students, Cloverly is a diverse school — 30 percent white, 23 percent black, 21 percent Hispanic, 18 percent Asian, and 9 percent two or more races. In recent years, Vigna also spent time at Paint Branch High School, where he was as a junior varsity baseball coach during the 2014-15 school year, and was the school’s bocce coach from 2011 to 2015, according to school officials.
In February, an 11-year-old student at Cloverly took a standard “personal body safety class,” which consists of three 45- to 60-minute lessons. Among the objectives: “Identify feelings and physical signs associated with good, bad and confusing touches.” Similar classes have been around for a while but have been emphasized since last year, when policy and practices on recognizing and reporting child abuse were revised, said Derek Turner, a Montgomery schools spokesman. After the class, the student then told a teacher about the alleged behavior by Vigna. Detectives were informed and talked to the girl, who told them the events dated back 18 months and included times when the student was not in Vigna’s class but had stopped by at the end of the day to say goodbye to him, according to police charging documents. On one such visit, the student told detectives, a friend of hers, who is 11, accompanied her. “The children in the classroom were talking or playing, not paying attention to them,” detectives wrote.
“Vigna was at his desk. When [the friend] hugged him, Vigna used his hand to touch and rub [her] buttocks.” Susan Burkinshaw, a Montgomery County parent and member of a district-created group that examined child-abuse issues last year, said the case points to the critical role of awareness in schools. “It completely underscores how important uniform training is and that we all need to speak the same language — students, parents, teachers, administrators — and know how to report incidents,” she said. In her letter to Cloverly parents, Brunson emphasized that school officials placed Vigna on leave as soon as they were made aware of the allegations. Details were not broadly shared, the principal wrote, to avoid prejudicing the investigation. “We take the safety and security of our students seriously,” she wrote, “and we will continue to work every day to ensure that we are providing a safe learning environment. Investigators are asking anyone with information about Vigna to call 240-773-5400.