The first years of a child’s life are vital. In those first few years of school, getting a handle on reading is one of the most important objectives –and how those goals are reached will impact the child through the rest of their life.
There is a program aimed at helping kids in Mississippi by adding a physical element to literacy.
STEP is a personalized, school-based physical literacy program aimed at students aged 7-13 with the optimum year groups being grades 2 and 3. It is completed twice per day during the school week, overseen by a trained teaching resource such as teacher assistants or additional support staff.
“The premise of the program is that certain types of exercise done repetitively over a long period of time can improve the processing for young children,” said Conor Davey, Founder and CEO of STEP. “There is a link between exercise and cognitive ability.”
STEP can be part of a school’s curriculum or intervention program, and impact reporting demonstrates improvements at individual, school, district, and state levels.
Davey said Mississippi is catching on to the program.
“We’ve had fantastic response from schools across Mississippi and individuals across Mississippi,” said Davey. “I’ve found Mississippi to be very receptive to the idea that the traditional ways of teaching may not do it for all children.”
For more information about the STEP program, click here.
