98 Yoga for Speech-Language Development
The instructions for yoga poses contain many verbs. Verbs are a
particularly challenging type of word for children with specific
language impairment (Leonard 2014). The poses typically
begin with an initial verb such as “sit,” “stand,” or “lie down.”
The directions also include other verbs, which code the actions that
accompany the subsequent movements of a particular pose. In
moving into yoga poses, children are often directed to bend,
stretch, lift, squeeze, extend, and touch various body parts
while they are reminded to breathe in and out. For school-age
children, the verbs “inhale” and “exhale” could be used for the
direction of the breath. For example, in an adaptation of lizard
pose, children begin by lying prone on their abdomens with hands
under their shoulders and fingers stretched out. The toes are bent
forward; arms and legs are straight. Shoulders are drawn back and
away from the ears. To add more vocabulary—and some fun—
children could be instructed to stick their tongue in and out in
hope of catching a bug for a snack (Wenig 2003). For school-age
children, the more sophisticated verbs “protrude,” “retract,” and
“extend,” as well as the noun “insect,” could be used to enhance
children’s lexicon during this activity. Figure 7.1 illustrates a boy
in lizard pose hoping to catch a bug!
Figure 7.1 Lizard pose