Feel the moves

Dance therapy is changing life for a mother and her two sons. Rebecca Blithe pays them a visit.
Two bright-eyed boys whirr around, turning cartwheels and attempting handstands. In this quiet setting, the home-schooled brothers are comfortable and talkative. But this is not their usual state.
Their mother, Alida Venter, smiles at her son Phillip, 8, as he launches off a platform, arms askew in aeroplane mode. "You can see how social he is now but as soon as you get other kids into the room he's totally different."
Mrs Venter's boys, Phillip and brother Hanco, 10, both have a range of disorders. Both have neuro-developmental delay and auditory processing disorder. Phillip has mild Asperger's and Hanco mild autism. They struggle with standard learning practices and can be withdrawn socially. As Mrs Venter explains, the physical blocks from neuro-developmental delay hamper their learning.
Mrs Venter says, as mainstream schooling grew increasingly difficult, she found little aid or funding. "Because their conditions are not considered severe enough for them to be in a special school, they go under the radar, or through the cracks.
"With GSE (group special education), the school could partly fund teacher aid. But Hanco wasn't high-need."
So Mrs Venter contacted dance therapist Anaia Treefoot in the hope of improving her sons' conditions. Ms Treefoot had just returned from a year-long internship in New York, to begin a YStar dance therapy programme at Mt Albert YMCA.
Ms Treefoot's classes are a form of pyschotherapy in which dance and movement work help children such as Hanco and Phillip identify and translate emotions, increase motor-neuron skills and gain confidence to overcome social barriers imposed by their conditions.
"They experience the world in a different neurological way," says Ms Treefoot.
"Their sensory input is such that they can be completely overwhelmed in social situations.
"For kids with special needs, it's hard for them to sit down and say, 'Okay, this is what's going on'. But, with dance and role-play, they can express themselves. That's where their emotions come out."
Ms Treefoot, who has a masters degree in cclinical arts therapy, has worked with about 100 children using movement tools, art materials, instruments and toys. In New York, she worked with a 3-year-old boy who could say only a handful of words.
"His Mum said I was the first person outside his family who he'd bonded with.
"After that his language just really took off," she says. "Working with children and seeing them blossom is a real privilege."
More information on YMCA Star: Anaia Treefoot, ph 021 184 9676, or email: anaia@xtra.co.nz
Leaps and bounds
Dance therapy began in America in the 1940s when dancers worked with catatonic patients in psychiatric units. These patients had barely moved or spoken for years but, after the dance therapy  they became talkative and mobile.