Book review: Dion and Stacey Betts’ “Yoga for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders”
by Beth
My husband loves doing yoga. Mike can spend an hour stretching on a mat and end up feeling relaxed and invigorated.
And me? After just two minutes on the mat, I’m frustrated. Rather than relieving my stress, yoga gives me more anxiety — it just confirms how uncoordinated I am!
I picked up Yoga for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders hoping it might change my attitude, you know; make me “more flexible.”
No luck.
But if you enjoy yoga the way Mike does, and you would like to maybe share your interest in yoga with your child, this book could be a good resource. The book provides a guide to basic yoga poses along with suggestions of modifications for the children.
One of the authors, Stacey Betts, has a son with autism. She and her sister Dion are yoga fans, and they encouraged Stacey’s son to join them on the yoga mat. Dion and Stacey Betts don’t intend their yoga routine to “treat” autism. They just hope it might do the same thing for children with autism that it does for them — help reduce stress and anxiety and increase balance. They believe yoga could also help children with autism improve flexibility, lower sensory defensiveness, and generally feel better in their own bodies.
I’m sure there are children with autism who will like (and benefit from) yoga the way my husband Mike does. For them, this book could be helpful. As for the rest of us? I guess we’ll just keep searching for our mantra.