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Sunday, January 23, 2005 9:14 AM

Minds in motion
By LIZ JANES-BROWN, Staff Writer

Back in 1986, when Karen Peterson’s 2nd-grade son was having some problems with reading, she enrolled in her first Brain Gym class in Denver, Colo. Impressed with the effectiveness of the program in her son’s life, she went on to become a licensed instructor. Now on Maui, Karen has used the Brain Gym method to develop an intergenerational program called Giving Back Mentoring, Kupuna & Keiki Together.

Earlier this month, a class of 17 seniors was involved in a two-day training program at Kaunoa Senior Center in preparation for going to Pukalani or Kamali’i elementary schools for a semester of one-on-one Brain Gym mentoring.

Brain Gym was developed on the Mainland about 30 years ago by educator and reading specialist Paul E. Dennison. According to the Brain Gym Web site, developmental experts know that movement enhances learning. Dennison researched the movements and developed a new way of understanding the learning process. The field is called Educational Kinesiology or Edu-K and the movements Dennison developed along with his wife, Gail, are called the Brain Gym movements.

“To explain how Edu-K works, the Dennisons describe human brain function in terms of three dimensions: laterality, focus and centering. Successful brain function requires efficient connections across the neural pathways located throughout the brain. Stress inhibits these connections, while the Brain Gym movements stimulate a flow of information along these networks, restoring the innate ability to learn and function with curiosity and joy,” the Web page states.

Back at Kaunoa, the enthusiastic seniors were practicing some of the movements as the class drew to a close. They did the “elephant,” “gluing” the head to the shoulder, arm outstretched and making a figure 8 with the torso, head and arm functioning together. Some even made a few elephant sounds for fun.

An activity that actually involves noise is the “owl,” described in the training manual Karen developed like this: “Grasp the right shoulder muscle, near the neck, with your left hand. Squeeze the muscle firmly. Inhale and turn your head to look back over your right shoulder. Continue to rotate head as you inhale and exhale. Make the ’whooo’ sound as you exhale.”

“The kids love this one,” Karen said to a room full of movement and hooting.

There are lengthening exercises to release parts of the body that contract when the brain feels distressed, she told the class. Midline movements connect up the right and left brain. Energy exercises help clear the brain, relieve stress and provide clarity, she explained.

While Brain Gym has been used for individuals of all ages, Karen’s Giving Back program is the first intergenerational mentoring use of the technique.

“I’d never done Brain Gym with seniors, but one day I made an appointment at Kaunoa,” she said. She was hired to go to lunch sites all over the island and work with the seniors there.

“I was working every day with lots of different people,” she went on.

The idea of Kupuna & Keiki Together and the Giving Back organization was inspired by Hawaiian culture, which reveres the elderly for their knowledge and wisdom and treasures children as the future.

“I like to have something I’m working on,” Karen said about developing the two-year pilot project for the program. She established Giving Back as a nonprofit organization and wrote the manual.

“At a Brain Gym convention, Paul (Dennison) loved the manual and gave me $1,000 for Giving Back,” she enthused.

“Movement is the door to learning,” Karen said noting that young children move around a lot and learn rapidly, but at some point children are expected to sit quietly and learn only through listening and seeing.

Some children have problems with this resulting in poor performance and disruptive behavior often diagnosed as Attention Deficit Disorder. Brain Gym can help.

Karen does more than teach the seniors the movements, she helps them realize they have something to give.

“Part of the process of training is to get together to talk about their gifts,” she said.

She also teaches the elders that they’re not going in “to help” as they have throughout their lives.

“If they see a difference in their own lives, then it becomes a part of them,” she said of Brain Gym. Benefits for all ages include better coordination, balance and memory.

To illustrate the effectiveness of the exercises, Karen has trainees perform an activity such as serving a tennis ball concentrating on how it feels and what could be improved, then do a Brain Gym exercise, then repeat the activity again paying attention to how it feels. In most cases, there’s improvement.   Some of the seniors in the class seemed excited about the upcoming first meeting with the children they would be mentoring but a little apprehensive too.

Karen gave them some pointers on how to make a connection, advising them to ask about the child’s family, pets, likes and dislikes but always respecting the child’s privacy. It’s important to take the time to build a relationship, Karen believes, and that doesn’t happen overnight.

“The kids love it,” she told them. “That’s the best part. The rest is so easy.”

After the class, many of the students made it a point to come up and say how much they enjoyed it and how much they had learned from Karen.

Wilma and Ray Sailor, married for 48 years, are among the seniors who have been involved in the program for some time and sat at a picnic table at Kaunoa and chatted about their experiences with Giving Back.

“We have three grown children and we may never have grandchildren,” Wilma said, explaining why it would be unlikely any of their offspring had plans to make them grandparents. “It’s a way to get into contact with kids. They’re so innocent, so special.”

The first child Ray mentored had behavioral problems. “He was a very difficult child,” Wilma said. “He was always boxing; he’d even growl at you.”

During one session, the little boy ran away and climbed a tree. Ray went up after him tucked him under his arm and brought him back to continue the exercises. Now, a couple of years later, whenever the boy sees him, he greets him with “Hi, Uncle Ray” and a big smile.

“They learn to focus. That’s the biggest thing,” Wilma said.

Karen has the program evaluated each year by an independent researcher at Northwestern University in Chicago. Findings show significant increases interpersonal strengths, significant improvement in reading skills (an average of one-half year in 2003), decreases in problematic behaviors, improvements in attention/cognition among boys and improvement in self-esteem among girls.

Along with the Giving Back program, Karen also has held workshops for teachers who receive professional development credits for the course and is a learning specialist tutor at the Maui Farm. She plans an eight-hour class for parents in Kahului March 5. She’ll be teaching a course in Denver April 1 and 2.

But it’s the Kupuna & Keiki Together program that is closest to her heart because it unites the strengths of seniors and children giving them more self esteem, self efficacy and emotional well-being.

This was the program that won the Paradise Flower Farms nonprofit lei giveaway contest in celebration of the company’s 25th anniversary, a gift of 250 lei.

Many of the lei will be used for the Double Honoring Ceremony at the end of the school year.

In that ceremony on the final day which includes a going away party, the children will form a circle and the kupuna will form another circle around them. Each senior will have a special memento for each child and will present a lei and say,”I honor you.” Each child will present his or her mentor with a lei saying the same words.

“I can never explain it without crying,” Karen smiled, wiping away a tear.   “When they come together, it’s magic,” she said. “There’s something between those age groups that just works.”

Contact Liz Janes-Brown at lizjanes@mauinews.com