Brain Gym - History

History

What became the Brain Gym program began with Paul Dennison’s work as a public school teacher and reading specialist in the 1960s, researching more effective ways to help learning disabled children and adults. At that time, he worked in East Los Angeles with the innovative educator Dr. Constance Amsden, Director of the Malabar Reading Project for Mexican-American Students, which focused on the development of individual sensory modalities (visual, auditory, and tactile skills) for reading instruction. In 1975, at the University of Southern California, Paul received the Phi Delta Kappa award for Outstanding Research; he was granted a Doctorate in Education for his research in beginning reading achievement and its relationship to cognitive development and silent speech (thinking) skills. His familiarity with research from behavioral optometry and sensorimotor training that showed the effects of movement upon learning " . . . led him to extrapolate this information into quick, simple, task-specific movements."

In the early 1980s, Dr. Dennison began a teaching and writing partnership with Gail Hargrove, later to become Gail Dennison. They call their field of study, which they founded during this period, “Educational Kinesiology” (Edu-K). They define Edu-K as “learning through movement".

The Dennisons say that Edu-K draws from the educational philosophy of Jean Piaget and the sensory-integration works of educators Maria Montessori, Anna Jean Ayres and pediatrician Arnold Gesell, as well as the work of movement pioneers F.M. Alexander and Moshe Feldenkrais. Some of the specific movements the program uses have been, according to the Brain Gym website, developed from Paul Dennison's "knowledge of the relationship of movement to perception, and the impact of these on fine motor and academic skills." Others are adapted from movements he learned during his training as a marathon runner, his study of vision training (learned from developmental optometrists with whom he shared referrals in the 1960s), his study of Jin Shin Jitsu (a form of acupressure), and his study of Touch for Health (a form of kinesiology developed for laypeople by chiropractor John Thie).

The Dennisons present their program under its current name in their books, e.g. Brain Gym: Simple Activities for Whole Brain Learning (1986) and Brain Gym: Teacher’s Edition, 1987, 1996, and 2010.

The Brain Gym activities are now used in more than 87 countries; the Edu-K works have been translated into more than 40 languages.