The need to provide positive developmental conditions for inner-city, minority children has been a profound concern of the human services professions for decades.  While many research studies have shown that preschool interventions yield positive developmental outcomes, preventions were expensive and labor intensive.

The premise of this paper is that “hands on” relaxation training for preschool children enables them to enter into a psychosomatic state of learning readiness.  As they relax and regulate muscle tension, their innate motor capacities become more accessible and their distractibility is reduced, thereby making their interactions with their environments more productive.  The relaxation training, by increasing children's physical comfort, would then increase their patience, self-regulation, and cognitive ability.

The program described in this paper, Kids’ Wellness, designed by Voght (1999) focuses on body-mind relaxation training for preschool children for easy implementation in classroom settings, with minimal staff training and minimal costs required.  A brief preliminary report includes a rationale for the program, a description of its design, and presentation of evaluation data.

Preliminary results suggest that relaxation programs for inner-city preschool children, while little used currently, have great potential.  Commonly recognized developmental issues in at-risk preschoolers, such as inattentiveness, lacks in social skills, inadequate physical and mental self-regulation, gaps in language development and imagination, anxiety, and tension that impede learning are addressed.

The following are currently indicated for future development:

·         Formal training in delivering relaxation programs for children for child and youth care workers.

·         Routine practice of relaxation programs: more time spent on relaxation activities over a long period. Continued evaluation of these programs to further determine what positive outcomes are associated with particular components and time formats.

This book is a playful, child-friendly, pro-active model for guiding the development of healthy, creative learning habits in young children. Its sixteen(16) playful Imagination WorkOuts™ teach children how their bodies speak to their brains, and how to physically exercise their imaginations.   Ten(10) Wellness Kid characters are presented in physical postures to bring quick identification and reinforcement for the ten Wellness Skills™: muscle awareness, healthy breathing, concentration, imagination building, sensitivity, positive attitude, body movement, balance, mind-body connectivity, and their playful re-play.   For More Info

This book is an alphabet primer that playfully facilitates the active learning of language and early literacy skills for children between the ages of 3 and 6 years. Alphabet exercises with Professor Alphabet™, and kid-like action letters, affectionately called AlphabeTykes™, link language to children's brains through the physical actions of muscle play. Children of all backgrounds and abilities learn to synchronize their body muscles to the shapes and actions of their A, B, C's.   Healthy communication, learning, and fitness skills link up when muscles and minds share letters and words. Confidence grows as children develop early familiarity with language through large-muscle letter activities, prior to small-muscle reading and writing skills.   For More Info