Technique improves when the task interests us
A month or two ago I wrote a blog post about how I had stumbled across a balance game that consistently caught the attention of the kids in our program for children living with autism. Today something happened that follows along a similar line. I'd like to tell you about it.
Today I did a session with a boy. We'll call him James (not his real name). We started out playing a game of dodgeball. This was the first time that I had seen him throw a ball. I quickly noticed that his throwing technique wasn't particularly refined. It looked quite uncoordinated.
By coincidence I had planned to end our session with a challenge that involved throwing balls at a moving target. When we came to the challenge I gave James the opportunity to start by throwing at the target while it was stationary. When he did this, his throws looked similarly uncoordinated as he had during the game of dodgeball.
After several minutes I started swinging the target in a pendulum-like motion. I swung it slowly, but it was definitely moving.
Guess what happened?
Jame's throwing technique immediately improved. It didn't become perfect, but it became much much better.
Why did that happen?
Based on what I talked about a couple of months ago, I think that it was because the swinging target caught his attention in a way that the stationary target didn't. I could see him following the swing, working out the timing and then throwing at the right moment.
What's the significance of this?
To improve our movement, we need to be working at or near our current limit. James' initial throws weren't at or near his limit, so they probably weren't doing much to improve his skill level. But the throws to the moving target were much closer to what I guess his best possible throws are. Importantly, he was able to produce them of his own accord, doing something that he enjoyed. I didn’t have to make him throw better, he did it of his own accord.
Long story short -> when working with children (or adults for that matter) prioritise activities that catch their attention because this brings our the best from their current abilities, and that in turn helps to develop those abilities further.
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