Downward Dog for the Underdogs: Yoga for Kids with Special Needs

While we may look back at childhood with rose-colored-glasses, kids often have to deal with significant stress and frustrations, which even an adult would find challenging. And, for children with developmental disorders, such stresses can be tremendously difficult to deal with.

Yoga teachers working with yoga for kids with special needs report that yoga can inspire confidence and a greater sense of ease i children’s lives, including kids struggling with autism or Dow’s syndrome.

Children with autism process information differently from other children. They have a hard time communicating with other children, and the frustration from this often makes them resort to angry or emotional outbursts.

According to Dallas-based yoga instructor, Lynne Silberman, yoga can help improve communication and foster a sense of group dynamics in children, who are often unable to participate in sports or other organized team activities. By working alongside each other as they practice yoga, the kids develop a sense of community along with greater physical awareness, mind-body coordination, and inner peace. Many children, Silberman also gain greater confidence and begin to speak more.