Movement ABC's: An Inclusive Guide to Stimulating Language Development

Young children love to move, manipulate, explore, and experiment. It's how they learn—and have fun.

Imagine combining movement and sensory experiences to help young children and children with disabilities develop language skills—all while having a good time. That's what the refreshing new Movement ABCs: An Inclusive Guide to Language Development is all about.

The book presents a novel and fun way to develop language, movement, and cognitive skills in young children. It helps you teach the “whole” child, but it doesn't stop there. Recognizing how little time teachers have, the author includes many features that make the ideas easy to implement.

Movement ABCs: An Inclusive Guide to Language Development provides a wealth of developmentally appropriate movement activities tailored for children ages three to six. The book features an integrated curriculum approach, incorporating a variety of creative themes that will appeal to many professionals.

The detailed lesson plans are organized around the letters of the alphabet, and each lesson is divided into six parts: music suggestions, warm-up, opening, stations, closing, and teaching tips, including adaptations for different levels of abilities.

Each letter serves as a theme for exploring inner language concepts such as body parts, body movements, directions, and numbers. Children also are invited to explore a variety of tempos, colors, shapes, words, nouns, verbs and names.

Movement ABCs: An Inclusive Guide to Language Development provides a valuable framework for understanding the approach, planning guidelines, and tips for appropriate implementation as spelled out by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.

Here are some more of the book's teacher-friendly features:

- 150 fun and inviting drawings that illustrate movements, games, and activities
- 26 chapter openers with reproducible art—great for use in class with kids and as ready-made posters
- 8 reproducible parent handouts—one for each month of the school year—that extend the life of the lesson by keeping parents involved
- A selected list of manufacturers and companies for locating music and equipment used in the book

Everything you need for success is here in this complete, developmentally-appropriate movement guide. You'll have in your hands an all-inclusive, ready-to-use program that can be individualized to give children choices. Best of all, you and your children will enjoy every fun minute.

Jolanda G. Hengstman is a physical educator at Sedgefield Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina. From 1992 to 1999, she was an adapted physical educator and athletic director at Metro School in Charlotte, a public school for students with developmental disabilities. Her physical education program was awarded the distinction of Demonstration School for Physical Education by the Governor's Council for Physical Fitness and Health and the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. She also received the Governor's Council for Physical Fitness and Health's Youth Fitness Award for her efforts in 1998 and 1999. Hengstman is a Special Olympics coach and instructor of aquatics and adapted aquatics. She earned her master's degrees in adapted physical education from East Carolina University at Greenville and physical education from the Academy for Physical Education at Arnhem, Netherlands.