44 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
Classes for children with special needs
Neurodevelopmental disorders represent a group of varied
conditions that involve impairment in the growth and
development of the central nervous system, specifically the brain,
occurring early in the developmental period (American Psychiatric
Association 2013). The terms “developmental disabilities”
and “special needs” are often used in clinical and educational
settings to refer to individuals with these unique challenges.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(2016), approximately one in six children in the United States
now present with a developmental disability. The prevalence of
developmental disabilities increased 17.1 percent from 1997
to 2008, which correlates to about 1.8 million more children
diagnosed with developmental disabilities. These disabilities can
include impairments in cognition, communication, social skills,
and adaptive functioning.
Sonia Sumar (1998) was the first yoga instructor and
author to address the use of yoga with children diagnosed with
developmental disabilities. Her pioneering work in yoga therapy
focused on positioning and movement for the improvement of
motor coordination, physical strength, and cognitive ability, first
with her own daughter with Down syndrome and then primarily
for other children with intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy,
learning disabilities, and attention deficit disorder (AD/HD).
Sumar suggests that because yoga works on so many subsystems
of the body, it can assist children with developmental disabilities
to improve in the motor, cognitive, and communicative domains.
While her work did not directly address the use of yoga for
speech-language development, she noted improvement in her
students’ communication skills with the yoga practice.
Subsequently, other clinicians including Cuomo (2007),
Williams (2010), Ristuccia (2010), Goldberg (2013), and