Yoga Teacher Training Forum

Can Yoga Reduce Child Learning Disabilities?

There are many disabilities that can be helped by yoga. Physical disabilities are perhaps the first to come to mind, as yoga improves physical health overall. People with psychiatric disabilities can benefit greatly from yoga as well, and yoga can be utilized to help cope with emotional problems. Learning disabilities, too, can be improved through the regular practice of yoga in both adults and children who are affected by a variety of disorders. While it may seem strange to some, yoga can be one of the most effective methods of reducing the signs and problems associated with learning disabilities.

Learning disabilities that also affect behavior are common in many children, but the impact of these can be reduced through practicing yoga. Children who act out because of their learning disabilities, whether it is directly caused by the disability or by their own frustration with their disorder, can learn how to appropriately interact with others. Yoga is a calming practice and helps decrease reactive behavior. Children learn to manage the effects of their disability on their own when they become more self-aware, as yoga will help them to do. Many children with learning disabilities are mocked by their peers, and yoga can help them learn to accept and love themselves in spite of this.

The biggest area of a child's life that learning disabilities affect is, naturally, academics. Children with learning disabilities struggle in the classroom, and while some schools and teachers make large efforts to help them, there are significantly more institutions that simply overlook them. When it comes to school, many children get lost in the sea of students. Their grades suffer, as does their confidence and sense of self-worth. They may begin to feel poorly about themselves, and this is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a child with learning disabilities. Once the negativity is there, they often believe that they are not capable.

Yoga helps children regain their confidence, which helps them overcome their academic obstacles, which results in better academic performance. Children who practice yoga are better able to retain the information that they are taught despite their learning disabilities. While yoga cannot completely remove a child's learning disability, it can help the child better learn to deal with having the disability, as well as it can improve their academic scores and performance in school. Learning disabilities can have a major impact on a child's life, but practicing yoga can help to combat this.