Bal-A-Vis-X : Rhythmic Balance/Auditory/Vision eXercises for Brain and Brain-Body Integration

Bal-A-Vis-X is a series of Balance/Auditory/Vision eXercises of varied complexity, most of which are deeply rooted in rhythm. These exercises require full-body coordination and focused attention. The Bal-A-Vis-X program utilizes racquetballs, sand-filled beanbags, balance boards, and multiple principles from Educational Kinesiology. It demands cooperation, promotes self-challenge, fosters peer teaching. It is school-friendly and just plain fun. Part One, THE STORY, is a narrative, experiential account of this program's evolutionary development over 20 years in public school classrooms. The reader is a silent witness to one teacher's trial-and-error journey, in grades 1 though 8, FROM an uninformed, intuitive grasp of some link between physical and mental (in) abilities TO assimilation of the most recent brain research and theory, especially as applied to physical movement's crucial connection to cognitive function. Along the way the reader will encounter, with him, the many people and ideas which lead to understanding, then point the way to Bal-A-Vis-X. This is also a story of hundreds of students, in particular the Lab Kids of Hadley Middle School in Wichita, KS where the Bal-A-Vis-X program was born in 1997. Both annecdotal and "hard" test data accompany their collective/individual stories. Part Two is a series of accounts by educators and parents who have personal experience in the use of Bal-A-Vis-X. Part Three consists of step-by-step instructions for the more than 200 Bal-A-Vis-X exercises.