Therapeutic Programs
The Shire School utilizes therapeutic programs and activities throughout the course of the school day.
Due to the strong connection between movement and learning, students are moving a great deal during the day. Movement includes specialized BrainGym activities and a sensory- motor curriculum developed by professionals. The students swim once a week at the Providence Recreation center with a special swim instructor. Students go to a large gym twice a week to work on large motor skills and to augment the sensory motor work done at the school. Our motor curriculum emphasizes exercises for balance, strength, perceptual motor development and motor planning. At least one afternoon a week the children walk to the local playground and library.
The Shire School is one of the first schools in the country to incorporate The Integrated Listening Systems into the regular academic program. The Integrated Listening Systems program effectively "re-train" parts of the brain involved in learning, communicating, and moving. Combining a Tomatis-based auditory program with specific visual and vestibular stimulation, ILS strengthens neurological pathways and improves our ability to learn and to process information. A well-modulated vestibular system is essential for controlling the nervous system’s level of arousal. The vestibular, cochlear and visual are our three main systems for organizing sensory input, and they are very interrelated. Stimulating all three simultaneously trains the brain to become better at processing multi-sensory input.
Please visit the following sites to learn more about what has inspired our program.