Wylie Elementary Launches Experimental Fitness Program

Students at are practicing a radical new way of learning through the school's Bal-A-Vis-X program.

Created by a language arts teacher in Kansas, Bal-A-Vis-X is a series of balance, auditory and vision exercises of varied complexity, most of which are deeply rooted in rhythm. These exercises require full-body coordination and focused attention, according to Wylie teacher Walter Keppler.

The program utilizes beanbags, racquetballs, balance boards and multiple principles and activities rooted in kinesiology — the science of human movement.

Keppler said students begin the exercises with beanbags thrown to a partner in a special rhythm and pattern, in that the beanbag crosses the midsection of the body.

"It stimulates the brain to create pathways. It helps develop reading patterns, because reading is a rhythm," Keppler said.

Keppler said the program is taught to students in kindergarten through eighth grade.

"I'm using it along with a reading program, and other buildings are doing it more as a warm-up in physical education," he said.

Sandra Sloan, speech and language pathologist at Wylie, said the program forces  both sides of the brain to communicate.

"The whole body has to work," she said. "The language center is on the left side of the brain, and different skills are on the right side. They need to talk to each other.

"Bal-A-Vis-X targets all of these skills," Sloan said.

One of the reasons Bal-A-Vis-X is important to teach is because children are not getting enough movement on their own time anymore, she said.

"Kids used to be given an extended number of hours to run around and jump, swing and run," Sloan said. "Nowadays, a kid might play soccer for four hours a day, but they don't turn upside down. It's not the freedom of movement. It doesn't allow for holistic development," she said.

On the surface, Bal-A-Vis-X looks like someone tossing and catching one or more beanbags — or bouncing and catching one or more racquetballs — in specific ways, with specific rhythm, on or off a balance board.

Keppler said he credits the program for improving focus and concentration in students. He said students noticed that they were able to concentrate better on the Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test this year and attributed it to the Bal-A-Vis-X program.

"It helps them block out distractions," he said.

For more information on Bal-A-Vis-X, visit the website.