How Therapeutic Fitness Can Help Your Exceptional Child: with Guests Ty & Hilary Krueger of Behavior Change Collective
Helping others improve their quality of life and discover the best version of themselves is what I (Ty) live for. I'm not 100% sure when this passion started for me, but my mom often tells a story of me as a first grader that may explain it…
Growing up, my mom was a special education teacher in the Milwaukee Public School District, so it made the most sense for me to attend the school that she worked at. For those of you not familiar with Milwaukee, the majority of the public schools in the district were pretty rough and the kids, even rougher. As a 7-year-old though, I didn't think anything of it and I was stoked to make some new friends at my new school. Being the social and friendly little dude that I was, I quickly made friends with the coolest kids in the class. At first quarter conferences, my teacher breezed through my academic progress stating how proud she was of the progress I was making in reading and math and then came a “BUT”. She went on to express her concern with the "friends" I had made during the first quarter. She told my mom that she had no issues at all with MY behavior, but the friends that I had chosen to make were all the "naughty kids". To my mom's surprise,\ she looked over to me and asked me, "Tyler, why are you hanging out with all of the naughty kids?" and I responded, "Well mom, the naughty kids need friends, too!"
So, apparently, my passion for challenging behavior has been alive and well since the 2nd grade and, fortunately, I was blessed with the opportunities and resources to turn that passion into education. You see, shortly after that conference, my mom made the decision to pull me from the public school system and move me to a private Catholic school. This was a tremendous financial sacrifice that my parents made for me as we didn't really have the money for private schools, but they somehow made it work and for that I am eternally grateful.
For those of you who have been following us at Behavior Change Collective for a while, you may be aware of the type of work I do; but if you're new to this party - first of all, Welcome! And second of all, let me break it down for you really quick. My wife, Hilary, and I live in Green Bay, WI with our three children. Together, Hil and I run a parent coaching and behavioral consulting platform called the Behavior Change Collective. Our services include generating free content through our podcast (Behavior Buff) and our free parenting Facebook group (Behavior Change Collective Parents), remote parent coaching, both 1-on-1 and in a group setting, and in-person professional behavioral consulting for both individuals and school districts.
Additionally, we are in the second year of running our CrossFit gym called Packerland CrossFit with our business partner, Derek. My role in the gym is definitely multifaceted, but it includes personal training, group class coaching, and running the back end of the business with Hilary.
While I absolutely love CrossFit and the amazing changes it does for our 100+ adult members, one of the main reasons I agreed to open this facility with Derek was to launch a dream program of mine…
Therapeutic Fitness
So many times have I seen the positive behavioral benefits of working out, or even just moving your body for a few minutes! Resources like large gross motor rooms or access to gym equipment were becoming a staple in the proactive supports section of any treatment or behavioral support plan that I would write. The kids that I would find benefitting the most from the workouts were the kids whose motors seemed to run the hottest…
- The kids most commonly labeled as ADHD or “hyper”.
- The kids who were constantly getting in trouble for not sitting still, tipping on their chair, and fidgeting with the stuff on the shelf next to them.
- The kids who everyone described as having a short fuse or going from 0-100 with NO warning.
- The kids who were too rough at recess and claim to not know their own strength.
Those are the kids I wanted to build this program for.
While fitness is a key component to this program, it is only one of three legs of this stool of awesomeness.
You see, fitness, when delivered with the correct programming, coaching and intensity, will open up a window PRIME for learning with increased attention, emotional stability, and improved cognitive functioning. My personal experience and various research articles have shown this window to last anywhere from 30 to 90 minutes and here-in-lies the dilemma. Most of my clients do not have access to that level of coaching and equipment every hour of the day. Thus, we need to equip these children with other tools they can lean on in times when fitness isn't an option. Those other tools fall into two main skill sets…
- Social Skills
- Emotional Regulation Skills
I say social skills because kids with more social skills are more likely to succeed in unstructured situations. It was becoming a pattern that my clients would begin doing really well in all of their structured settings (school, therapy, even sports) but then you throw them in recess or a crowded lunch room and the wheels fall off. They weren't able to read nonverbal body language, successfully enter an ongoing conversation, relate to their peers or hold a conversation, and ultimately, they weren't able to make real, sustainable friendships. This level of social isolation leads to frustration, depression, and in the worst cases, aggression. The answer soon became obvious: we need to work harder on social skills.
Emotional regulation skills are the final leg of this stool because it is those skills that the kids are going to need to have in their back pocket to “slow their roll” when they feel themselves about to blow. Skills like controlled breathing, mindfulness, muscle relaxation, and gratitude are all useful to some kids in some situations. Not every skill works for every kid but the more tools we can give them, the better the chances they will pick up on one and then use it when they need it.
After years of planning and dreaming I finally was able to put this program into words...
Therapeutic Fitness combines the teaching of both social and emotional regulation skills through the lens of a fun and engaging fitness class. Using physical fitness as a vehicle to teach these skills, captures the biological and neurological benefits of fitness itself (e.g., stress reducing, endorphin releasing, energy burning, etc.) while generating a safe and supportive group environment where naturalistic opportunities will be presented for kids to learn and then practice key targeted skills.
Now I know that's a lot of words, and words are just words - but action is what makes the world go ‘round AND I am so stoked to report that we officially launched our first Therapeutic Fitness Group at Packerland. I had 11 children sign up and opening night… 15 showed up! Fortunately, I have two amazingly qualified friends to help me run this first 6-week program and night one was an amazing success!
If you are reading this now and thinking, “WOW! I'd love for my child do this, because now you can see that every kid can benefit,” then send this information to your local gym owner. I'd love to connect with them and show them how to start this in their gym so your child can experience all that it has to offer. I really mean it.
Or, if you are a gym owner or a coach, or maybe you own a facility that can hold something like this and want to get the ball rolling on starting this up... let's chat, let's help some kids with busy bodies and actives minds. Seriously!
Email me at [email protected]
Find us on our website at behaviorchangecollective.com
Instagram: @behaviorchangecollective
Additionally you can listen to our podcast, Behavior Buff, wherever you stream your podcasts!
Ty & Hilary Krueger
Behavior Change Collective
