Jasmine's Beat®- An Adaptive Dance Company for Persons of All Abilities

We are so honored to be voted Best of Business 2022 in Serving Customers through Frisco Style Magazine!

We’ve added a new addition to our Jasmine’s Beat® Adaptive Fusion classes! TAP! As exciting as it sounds, you may be wondering how it will help your neurodiverse loved one. There are so many ways we can modify and adapt this portion of our class. The best part about this summer is that it will be taught by a fellow Recreational Therapist, Caroline Graves, who has many years of experience with tap, among other dance styles as well. How can Tap benefit your child’s development?

* Tap Dance engages many parts of the brain and helps to improve the capacity for learning.

*Percussion instruments like Tap shoes help students develop coordination and gross motor skills.

*Tap classes thrive on rhythmic harmony or understanding individual parts of a whole, and improves musicality.

*The musical training in tap, as well as other dance styles, has been found to improve overall academic achievements.

*Students face and conquer challenges and improve self-esteem in a group setting.

*Students improve balance, pointing and flexion of the feet.

It’s not too late to join us! Just come on down to Next Step Dance at The Star in Frisco, and come find out what all the buzz is about!

If you are like me and have been having issues sleeping this past year, you are NOT ALONE!  Simply staying to specific places have an effect on the brain and body as well.  Here are a few tips I’ve been given along the way.

1. Sleep routine.  Have a pre-bedtime routine every night.  It triggers the brain to start calming down.
2. Avoid caffeine, nicotine and alcohol.  All interrupt quality of sleep.
3. Use the bed only for sleeping.  Keep work and T.V. off of it. This one is a tough one for me!
4. Having a hot bath 1-2 hours before bed will raise your body temperature, causing you to feel sleepy as your body temperature drops again.
5. Exercise, stretch & eat light before bed.
6. Darker and cooler space work best for relaxing.
7. Try to get some Vitamin D from sunlight every day!  This effect can be seen in toddlers as soon as they have a couple hours in the sun how quickly they nap afterwards.  It’s the same for adults!
8. Affirmations and not thinking about stressful items in the middle of sleep. There is a “5 second hack” I recently learned about.  Once the stressful or distracting thoughts come into the forefront of your mind, count out loud “1,2,3,4,5” and refocus on what you need to think about, i.e., sleep, comforting thoughts, affirmations, etc. It really does work!  Thinking about how to positively uplift your day or week in order to create or meet your affirmations is a great last thought of the day.
9. Using white noise or guided meditation without looking at a blue screen can help.  Some of my kids rely on this to calm down quicker for the night.  This is also a great way to encourage closing the eyes and resting them.
10. Journal or talk to someone.  Having an outlet about your thoughts and feelings to a third party with no judgement is super important.  Can’t get a person? Start journaling.  It’s a great way to re-prioritize your wants versus needs and helps you realize your sleep is way more important than you think.

~Hope this helps you get some re-energizing Z’s tonight!~

Thanksgiving break is around the way and here’s a great way to have some family fun! Watch a show about Moana & friends from the comfort of your laptop! Go to www.ntpa.org/starcatchers to purchase your tickets for “The Wayfinder”! We had the pleasure of choreographing and assistant directing this show. The hard work of these actors is undeniable! Don’t miss it! This weekend only!

Adaptive Fusion Dance involves including many different types of dance styles, techniques, and music. Jasmine’s Beat recognizes this form of instruction and uses an introductory level of these for most adaptive fusion dance classes provided. Currently, adaptive fusion dance has taken choreography based on foundations of ballet, jazz, bollywood, and hip-hop. We are currently looking for ways to include tap, ballroom, african dance, polynesian dance, and many others in the future. Adaptive Fusion Dance also uses contemporary music as well as traditional dance music for instruction, as well as recitals. Adaptive Fusion Dance also welcomes inclusivity of all abilities and all ages, therefore promoting inclusion towards all dance arenas. Whether you’re in a wheelchair/bed or if you’re physically able but need more mental breaks, this class is adapted for you! Ideas/Questions regarding this? Feel free to reach out to us: jasminesbeat@gmail.com.

If you have kids at home like me, let alone kids that have extra needs, being forced to stay home with the same walls can be boring or annoying. But, safety first! We can always show our kids how strong we are with the current time, and make use of the time given to us to bond or spruce up the house or better ourselves. Of course, it all cannot start without a deep breath, parents! Kids are like sponges, so they can sense if we are stressed. We can always take some notes from the kids as well.

Routine is BEST! As far as I am concerned there is NO WRONG way to schedule your homeschooling day! As long as you hit the main points.

1. My child is learning and progressing.

2. My home is not stressed and anxious everyday to meet our goals.

3. Have 5 or 10 minute brain breaks after 30 minutes.

DAILY SCHEDULE

Wake up!

8:00  Breakfast/ Dressed/ Tidy Up

8:30  At the Table Ready to Work

9:00  Prayer/Hand Wake Up

9:30  First Block

10:00  Second Block

10:30  Snack/ Mom Reading

11:00  Third Block

11:30  Fourth Block

12:00 Lunch/Free Hour

1:00-3:00 Big Projects/ Arts and Crafts/Free Time

3:00 Chores DONE then Tech Allowed

5:00 Dinner

6:30 Bedtime Routine

Here are some online links that may surprise you for their capabilities to help!

Just Dance 2020 (Have a dance party!)

https://www.travelandleisure.com/attractions/museums-galleries/museums-with-virtual-tours

Virtual tours of museums from around the world (Discover art from home!)

(Stretching & Warm-ups)

https://takelessons.com/live/singing/daily-vocal-exercises

(Vocal warm-ups)

(Create your own Dance Charades and stay ACTIVE!)

Elf, Jr Choreography!

Beauty and the Beast!­­­­­­­­­­­

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Relaxation music with some familiar tunes!

Download the Headspace app or Calm app for deep breathing and meditation!  This is not an advertisement, just a suggestion from a current user.  Any apps that provide guided imagery works!

http://www.clistudios.com/keepdancing?fbclid=IwAR29162ivpH6g6CHDBgZO7x4JGI2-p_916t7NTVRJAC0B4UTprzipdW_5Tk. ONLINE DANCE CLASSES!

https://fluencyandfitness.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw3qzzBRDnARIsAECmrypS0EodgshUMSTvPKqLhtXlm3440x1OIx0b1ymAEOyThbb43C0E1kgaAitUEALw_wcB. -Literacy & Math for K-2

http://www.amazingeducationalresources.com/
-Online resources!

http://www.openculture.com/2019/02/download-free-coloring-books-from-113-museums.html -Cool coloring books for free!!

Project ideas for Elementary school kids.

Interview a family member.

Measure the area and perimeter of each room in your home.

Graph the types of birds that frequent your yard or windows.

Be completely silent for 60 minutes, then write about the experience.

Write and mail a [real] letter to your teacher or principal or classroom penpal.  Address the envelope yourself.

Build a “fable fort” out of blankets and chairs.  Camp in it all day while you create stories to tell your family over dinner.

Learn morse code and use it to communicate with your siblings through walls and floors.

Alphabetize the spices in your kitchen.

Stay up late and stargaze.

Call a grandparent or older relative.  Ask them to teach you the words to a song from their childhood days.

Using household materials, build a working rain gauge, barometer, and wind vane.

Determine and chart the times that different liquids require to turn solid in the freezer.

Design and build puppets that perform a show about multiplication.

Construct a family tree.

Learn ten new big words.  Write them in marker on your bathroom mirror.

Draw a map of your home.

Sit silently for 15 minutes while you write down every sound you hear.   When you are done, classify the sounds (high/low pitch, high/low  volume, manmade v. naturally occurring, etc.).

Create a Venn  Diagram that compares and contrasts two people in your family, your  neighborhood, or your church, mosque, or temple.

Learn, practice, and perform a magic trick.

Learn, practice, and tell three new jokes.

Use household materials to make and play stringed, percussion, and wind instruments.

Learn to shine a pair of shoes.

Collect leaves from ten different (non-harmful) plants.  Sort them by size, color, and texture.

Put your favorite book, toy, and keepsake on a small table in sunlight.  Draw or paint a full color still life.

Find, pick, and dissect a flower.

If you have stairs, walk up and count them.  Walk down and count by twos.  Walk up and count by threes.  Continue through tens.

Determine the volumes of ten containers, them display them in order on your porch.

Write a poem on your sidewalk using chalk.

Classify twenty everyday objects by shape, size, color, height, mass, and material.

Measure the length of your bed using five different nonstandard units.

Call a person who speaks a language you do not.  Ask them to teach you five common words or phrases.

Create and use a secret code.

Using one type of paper (constant), build three different paper  airplanes (independent variable) and test to see how far they fly  (dependent variable).

Set a clock three hours and seven minutes  ahead.  Whenever someone needs to know the time, help them figure it out  by subtracting.

Write down every adjective you say for one full day.

Learn three new jokes.  Tell them to an aunt or uncle.

Design a map of every state ever visited by people in your family.

Write or tell a story titled “What if humans had to leave the Earth and no one remembered to turn off the last robot?”

Find ten rocks smaller than a dime.

Using paper, tape, and string, design, build, and test a device that warns you when someone opens the kitchen cabinet.

Imagine, create, and fly a full size flag that tells the world about you

I will keep adding to this blog post if I come across more accessible activities we can do from home! Enjoy your families and stay healthy!