COVID-19 

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Active Robins is currently suspended. This notice will be updated if the situation changes.

What is Active Robins?

Active Robins is an exciting partnership between Red Robin Therapy and Just Active Gym. We provide a fun, affordable activity programme in a mainstream environment, designed specifically for children with co-ordination difficulties. It is run by Clare, and Debbie Logan, a qualified fitness instructor, at Just Active Gym.

Who can attend?

The classes are designed for P1-P7 primary school-aged children with DCD or co-ordination problems associated with Autism Spectrum Disorder (including Asperger's syndrome) and mild attention deficit disorders. The early school years provide an excellent opportunity to develop basic skills, while the older children work on more advanced skills in keeping with their age and level of development.
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What does Active Robins offer?

At Active Robins, we offer a fun, non-therapy environment for children to practise a range of fundamental co-ordination skills. Core therapy goals include:

• Pelvic stability: many children with co-ordination difficulties have core weakness around the pelvis and hips.  This makes it difficult for them to stand on one leg, kick a ball, hop, or skip. They may find it difficult to jump taking both feet off the ground at the same time, and balance may be poor.
• Shoulder stability: core weakness around the shoulders makes it difficult to hold the arms up above the head, for example to get dressed or throw a ball. Holding a pen/pencil properly may be difficult, and writing can take a long time. Handwriting is usually poor, and gets worse when writing for a long time. Children may lean too heavily or too lightly, and scissors may be hard to manage.​

• Bilateral integration: this is the therapy term for being able to use both sides of the body together in a co-ordinated way. Many kids with co-ordination difficulties never crawled as babies, therefore missed out on practising the pattern of using their right leg and left arm together, and left leg and right arm together. This translates into all activities requiring the co-ordination of both sides of the body – throwing and catching, doing buttons, and laces, and using a knife and fork.
• Stamina: because many children with co-ordination difficulties use greater effort to move, they can become tired quickly.​​​​

• Sequencing: many children may have difficulty understanding the correct order in which to make a series of movements, or how to move from one activity to the next.
• Attention: many children may have difficulty staying focused on the activity in hand. This can be a coping mechanism to disguise poor motor performance, or can be a separate problem.
• Memory: many children may have difficulty remembering more than one or two instructions at a time.
• Auditory processing: this is the therapy term for processing spoken information at the speed needed to make a suitable action or spoken response. When children have difficulties, instructions need to be broken down into small bits and time for response allowed.
• Perception: this is our ability to make sense of the world using all our senses. Children with co-ordination disorders can struggle with spatial awareness (judging depth and distance). This contributes to them tripping, bumping, standing too close etc. it can also translate into poor reading skills – following the text lines can be hard for some children.
• Confidence and self-esteem: may be low in children with co-ordination disorders because they are aware of their differences. They may be made fun of or bullied. ​

What will my child be doing?

Six - eight sessions (depending on the time available within school holidays) of activities are packed into the programme which has been designed to meet the therapy goals using a mixture of fun individual and partner games, animal games and gym time using real gym equipment. We aim to increase in difficulty a little each week where possible, so you and your child can see the difference! Your child will have therapy, but most of all, your child will have fun!
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Further information

For further information about your child's suitability, abilities, or the therapy offered, please use the Contact RRT page to get in touch discuss your child's needs with Clare.
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Ten ordinary things...

If you want more information about the activities used as therapy, or to book a place for your child, please contact clare@redrobintherapy.com or call on 07790 361220.

For children with developmental co-ordination disorder, day to day activities can be physically challenging. The basis of addressing co-ordination issues is about getting both sides of the body working effectively together, strengthening the core muscle groups at the pelvis and shoulders, and improving balance and body awareness. There are many ordinary activities you can encourage your child to do on a day-to-day basis which will do just these things. For a FREE guide to the ordinary things which will help your child, visit our Downloads page.

Shoelaces

If your child has difficulty with shoelaces, download our FREE guide here.