141SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
In this book, we have attempted to demonstrate that the ancient
tradition of yoga, which is the union of the mind, body, and spirit,
is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance speech, language,
and communication development in children. We have suggested
that because of its flexibility in formats, including types of
sessions, yoga can meet the needs of different children across the
ages from birth to about twelve years of age (and beyond)—both
typically developing children and those with neurodevelopmental
challenges. Among the special populations that we have discussed
are children with speech sound disorders, language disorders,
intellectual disability, autism spectrum disorders, and attention
deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD).
Amidst its growing popularity over the past twenty years,
educators and clinicians in various allied professions have
reported that yoga calms and organizes children’s bodies and
minds for effective learning, targets multiple pathways, and aids
in the retention of new skills. However, as we have stressed, the
contributions of yoga have rarely been examined from a speech-
language perspective. As speech-language clinicians and yoga
practitioner-teachers, we have repeatedly observed that yoga
sessions are language-rich contexts. We have identified six areas
of development related to speech, language, and communication,
which we firmly believe yoga can facilitate—namely prelinguistic