All Things Autism – Alli Golding

Hello, it's Anna Kennedy, and I'm talking all things autism on women's radio station, Voice of Women Worldwide. So today my guest is Ali Goldin, who's the founder and creative director of Movement Works. But before I go over to Ali, she's going to talk a little bit about what I've been up to. So the weekend I had such a great event. I went to the AIRA Awards, which was at the Hilton in Canary Wharf, and I presented one of our Autism's Got Talent performers, Marie Gorton. She sang Ideale by Tosti, and she got a standing ovation. I was so proud of her. It was a bit stressful at first because the program kept changing, but she just really, she just did amazing. I was so proud of her and her mama. I could see her face was glowing. And also some exciting news. Casey Ainsworth, who is our charity ambassador, she received the special recognition award, and she couldn't make it, so I went up to collect it for her. So that was all things great for Anna Kennedy online. So. Hello, Ali. How are you? Are you okay? I'm good, thank you. So, yeah, fine. When did we meet? Was it a couple of years ago? Two, three years ago? Something like that. And that was at the Autism Expo. And last year you spoke for us, didn't you? So you did a presentation, which was great because I remember you had a white coat on. Did you wear glasses? Yes. Science glasses. Yeah. Yeah. So that. That was received really, really well. So we both have a love of dance. So can you tell me, can you tell us a little bit about your background and why you have a love of dance? In terms of why I have a love of dance, I think it's always just been there. I have been involved in dance for over 30 years. Most of my career has been as a choreographer. Okay. So I've been fortunate enough to cross several bridges, unusually sometimes for a choreographer. So I've worked in film, I've worked in television. I've done a lot of stage work. I've done trade shows, fashion shows, and pop promos. But I decided that I wanted to have a look at the dance science side of things a few years ago, and I went back and did a master's, and ever since then, I've been very involved in research and more sort of academic work as well as the practical application of that. So why did you want to work with autism, the autism spectrum condition? So what made you want to go down that route? It was really the result of applying this knowledge in practice. Okay. So applying A scientific approach to dance and seeing. Exploring really the relationship between. What I'm really interested in is this relationship between movement and cognition. Okay. And working in a fully inclusive way in delivering this dance work in mainstream schools and in special schools. The result of that came back very clear that children with special needs, but in particular children with autism, do especially well with this work. And there's lots of educational and scientific reasons, both in theory and in the background of that research, that starts to explain why that might be. I just think everyone should learn to dance. I love dance. I started dancing when I was about six years old. It was tap dancing. I loved the rhythms. It's just something that I feel that everyone should do because it teaches you so many different skills as well and it's great for the body. We met. Well, I met Joanne Lara last year who's the executive director of Autism Works. So what's your link with Joanne? Because she's obviously got a love for dance and you can just see in some of the photographs the way she poses. You can just so see that she's a dancer. Yeah, well, we got introduced through me presenting some research at the Occupational Therapy show several years back. It was the sort of first wave of the research aspect of the work that we do at Movement Works. And actually somebody on the autistic spectrum who's an occupational therapist, who's quite well known because there are several TED talks that he has done, introduced us through email, and the rest is as it. As it turns out is sort of the. The upshot of that relationship. So Joanne has a program called Autism Movement Therapy. Okay. Which is a fantastic complement to the dance movement program called Developmental Dance Movement that I have created. And we now present both together sort of internationally. We've just come back from Harvard, a fantastic conference called Movement is okay, which hopefully I'll get a chance to talk a little bit more about. And we at Movement Works, we now use both of the programs very specifically to enhance children's cognition. And this is in a mainstream setting and in several autism specific settings. So the younger kids in the school get the developmental Dance movement program and then they transition, or they can do it independently as well into the Autism Movement therapy program. So the developmental dance movement program is for early years foundation stage primary kids up to key stage one, and then they transition from about seven or eight into the autism Movement therapy program. Okay. When I first set up Hillingdon Manor School, Obviously we had 19 children and both of my boys went to the school because there was just nothing for them at all. And I wanted to do dance with the children. And I thought, I don't know how it was gonna go. I just thought, you know, I'd never taught children with autism to dance before. So we started doing a little bit of exercise and we started dancing. And you know what? It was the best feeling ever. And I just really used to look forward to the session every week. And we put on a little show for the parents. And then parents started messaging me saying that they'd gone to a wedding and their kids got up and they started dancing at the wedding. They would never, ever do anything like that. And since then, we now employ a full time street dance teach at the school. And we have created the most amazing street dance crew called Autism with Attitude. And they came second in the UDO Championships, the street dance championships. And they're doing so well. They're dancing all over the country. And I just think Jonathan, who's the teacher at the school, he's just got such a way with these kids and it's because he's cool as well. And they got jackets made and it's just there's a buzz about them when they're about to perform. And they performed for the first time on Autumn's Got Talent, and they've been performing every year since then. So it's because of Autumn's Got Talent that the street dance crew started and now they're doing so well. So again, I think that all schools should teach dance. It's a great stress buster. It's great for movement and it's great for socialization. It's just great for everything. So could you tell me a little bit about the parental workshops? Because I think it's a great way for children and parents to interact, to have dance, have fun together. So can you tell me a little bit about what you do at the parental workshops, what they're all about? Yeah, the parental workshops are part of the whole offer that we give to the schools that we deliver the programmes in. I think one of the. If I can backpedal a little bit. One of the essential differences is that both programs are very specifically an intervention. Okay. So we do offer a progression of performance, but for the most part it's not with a performance objective. It's very much a process. So the kids go through a process of learning that is delivered through dance. The importance of the parental workshops and also what we also deliver to the staff who are involved in, in the classes where the children are participating is delivering really the science and the theory behind the approach that we, that we do so that the staff are on board. Because you're absolutely right. On the surface it looks like a really fun dance class. And of course the fun aspect is a very essential and social aspect is very, very essential part of it. But actually what's underpinning it is some very clear learning objectives that are based on science and they're ev. So it's imparting that knowledge and it's really important that the parents can understand it too because then they can take that knowledge and start to support their children with movement based practice at home, which just enhances the effects that they get during the class time. So how's it been going with the parents then? Have they been embracing it? Have they found it difficult? Absolutely no, they have been embracing it. And what's really lovely about the opportunity is that because we essentially have up until now delivered the work mainly in schools, although we are starting to branch out into community based classes now as well. But what's lovely about it is it gives an opportunity to have those discussions directly with the parents. Because sometimes the effects that the children, the beneficial effects that the children are having can be seen at home. But without those conversations, that part of the journey is often lost. So it's great because otherwise the school is the gatekeeper between us and the parents. And we all benefit from knowing that the children are now able to do things maybe in their home environment that they couldn't have done before. So are the sessions just purely for the parents or is there a little bit of interaction with the children at some point or is it just purely for parents? And how long is a session? The sessions are usually they're quite what I call sort of light touch. So they're about half an hour to 40 minutes. And what they look like is a sort of practice based workshop seminar between myself and the parents of the children who are participating in the program. And then they get to, with the underpinning of that understanding, then they get to observe the children in the context of the session. And as I say, even though it's not always performance led some of the schools where the work is well established now, they get to watch their children performance at the end of the year. And that's been hugely successful. And you know, it's tangible, the journey that the children have been on. That's great. Is there anything you could share that parents have said about how it's maybe changed their interaction with the children? Is there anything you could share? I tell you what I can share. I can share this wonderful conversation that I'VE had from a lady on Twitter. Okay. She says, I've been following you on Twitter for quite some time now with huge interest and I'm very interested in developmental dance movement. I have a son who started ballet five years ago. A long story and a common one. Delayed language and social skills and learning a disaster dancing has completely turned his life around and now he is training pre vocationally. There is no doubt in me that dancing demonstrably improves his language ability, mental health and obviously, very obviously reduces ticks and stuff stimming. But I can also say that this is not a goal for us. And I'm not. I never have been actively seeking to reduce autistic characteristics, only relieve stress and unhappiness. The improvement in his expressive and receptive language is dramatic. That's great. Thank you very much, Ali. And we're going to be talking more on women's radio station Voice of women worldwide. Talking all things autism, wrs Women's radio station, Voice of Women Worldwide Sarah's Universal Soul Show. What does your soul or spirituality mean to you? Welcome to future classical women awards with me Stefania Passamonte on women's radio station. Welcome back. I'm Russ Cain. You're listening to in conversation with on women's radio station. I'm Angie. And I'm Patsy. And we're open. To see what other programs we have on women's radio station head to our website womensradiostation.com I'm Isabel Manavy, an executive coach. Do you want to change a negative into a positive? We can do this by coaching you to rewire your brain using simple visualization techniques. In 20 years of practice I seen this transform lives. For more information look on women's radio website. Call me on 079-84422 171 I'm listening. Mirae B Limited. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar, we update your client database. We take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077-868-48998 for further information. Mirabe Limited making the life of the business owner successful. Let women's radio advertise your brand or business. It's so affordable and effective. Reaching out to all women. Call us on 020-743-7706 66 now. Are you struggling with money? Turn to us as a National charity helping people struggling to make ends meet. Job loss, illness or bereavement can cause a real financial crisis. We give practical help to get people back on track. Whether you're thinking of having a baby, trying to get out of an unhappy relationship, or just unsure what benefits you may be entitled to, we can help. Visit turntous.org.uk I'm Angie. And I'm Patsy and we're open to share our own personal stories dealing with life events. Staying positive through the tough times. Share your stories too. What worked, what didn't. Join us each week for Open. We know you're going to love it. Women's Radio Station is a not for profit, community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. Hello, this is Anna Kennedy at Women's Radio station talking all things autism. So we're talking about dance and movement and therapy and this is the time for Strictly. So a little bit of light hearted conversation at the moment. So I'm a big fan of Strictly, as you know and I just wanted to share with you that the Robin Windsor tour, which is the Last Dance and I'm really sad to see Robin's moving to St. Lucia. Boo hoo. I love Robin. I danced with Robin on the People Strictly three years ago. So he's doing his tour, which was like the final tour. So I think he's got 25 dates that he's traveling all across the country and I'm going to be dancing with him for five of them. So I'm so excited. We need to start training soon though because I haven't done the Charleston for about three years. So we're going to be starting training actually next week, so we're just going to have a three hour session and I'm sorry, so worried about it because then it's going to be the show. So I'm going to keep watching the video. So he's going. The ones that I'm dancing at actually is going to be Potter's Bar, which is the first one in October. Then I'm going to my hometown of Middlesbrough and everyone's really excited about that. Then I'm off to Braintree, Peterborough and the last one I'm most excited about is at the Novello Theatre, which is the final one, which is called the Last Dance. And I'm going to be dancing there with Robin and he's got guest performers who've danced with him in the past. So we've got Alison Hammond, we've got Deborah Meaden, we've got Chizzy and we've got Gabby Roslyn. And there's going to be a few more announcements soon of who else is going to be joining us. So that's going to be exciting. So that's November 25th. You can actually book tickets online at the Novello. So come along if you can because it's going to be exciting. And there's going to be an after party. So I'm gonna look. Looking after. Looking forward to that as well because don't really go to that many parties. So I can let my hair down a little bit. So Strictly's on at the moment. So I watched the very first show. I'm getting quite excited and it was really quite good. So I've got Ali with me. Ali. Apparently you know somebody that's on Strictly at the moment. So who is it that you know and how do you know this person? I do. And also I know Alison Hammond too, so do say hello to her when you see her. I choreographed a show called Dinky Dancing when she was presenting on Good Morning quite a few years ago. Okay. But I know Danny John, Jules. Oh, I love him. Who opened the show last Saturday in bright pink. Yes. But he's just so nimble on his feet. Totally carried it off, didn't he? Yeah, he did. Absolutely stunning. So Team Danny, everybody. Support Team Danny. So how do you know him? We danced together yesterday. Oh, did you? Yeah, yeah. Oh, well, I'm gonna be rooting for him then. And I'm also gonna be rooting for Charles Venn. Cause I met Charles last year, a really nice chap and I really thought he did really well. Even though that Craig thought it was a bit disco y but I loved it. But we don't listen to Craig. No. He's actually not as awful as he appears to be on TV when I met him. He's really lovely. No, no, of course. So let's works. So if you can tell me a little bit more about the sessions in school. So what can people expect if they want to book a session, say in a school? Well, we deliver two complementary dance programs. The first is called Developmental Dance Movement and it's for early years Foundation Stage and key Stage one. So how young would you say? The youngest in an autism specific school we usually work with is reception and nursery. Nursery. Nursery and reception. They're often smaller classes, so we find that often they're co joined. Right. And the sessions are 45 minutes long. Okay. And they work with the underpinning of an evidence base and a scientific approach. So they are very much a therapeutic intervention that uses dance to promote optimal cognition. Okay, so if you've got a child, obviously a lot of our children have got overlapping conditions. So if they've got ADD or ADHD, can you contain them for 45 minutes or is it like a gradual build up transition? We start off usually with they build up to 45 minutes. We find that through this very structured program session. It's a very structured session and we find that even our youngest kids can cope with 30 minutes each activity. It has got a very specific purpose. Just like a regular dance class. You would expect there to be a warm up sequence, you would expect there to be some choreographic content. We then work with something that we call a developmental movement game. So it's presented in the context of a game, but with a very specific learning objective. And we might have one or two or three of those as the session develops. And then as you would expect in any dance class, then we would finish with some kind of cool down. So, and very, very early on, the children get used to the structure of the session and they. We use some visual aids at the beginning to help with that. But very, very soon, just like you would go into a regular ballet class, any anxiety gets taken away immediately because you know what to expect. And that's one of the beneficial aspects of the way that the sessions are structured. And when the children transition to autism movement therapy, it works in a very similar way. It's a very structured approach and the children know exactly what to expect. And we work with, you know, we work with a whole range of children with autism. So maybe children who can't access a regular kind of dance class, like a street dance class or a ballet class, can totally cope with this session and they really, really benefit from it. So do you actually train the staff or is it that you've got to give the sessions every time or is it that the staff. Do you work with staff? No, we have a team of specialist practitioners that are certified and trained and come in and deliver the work. But it's really important that the staff, we, as part of the offer, we train the staff through cpd, through continued professional development, so that they understand the underpinning and objectives of the session, so that they are able to support those children in an optimal way within the context of the session, which may be slightly different to the way that they might interact with the children in their regular classroom context. So, for example, we want to promote independent movement because we know that independent Movement through motor planning is going to be working at an optimal level from a cognitive point of view. So what we, what we want is for them in the session, for example, to be a great model for the children, especially if they're working as a kind of one to one or close ratio support. But what we don't want is for them to actually sort of move their arms and legs or do it for them, because what we're working for is for them to be independently involved in that process. So what sort of feedback have you got back from schools that you've been working with in the start? We find that once we start a working relationship with the school, we return year after year because the staff and the school can see the benefits. And as I've said, we also offer parental workshops as well because that also gives us a very valuable piece of knowledge about how the children are benefiting in their home environment from the movement work. Absolutely, yeah. So you can contact us through infooovementworks.org and the website is www.movementworks.org. and there's information about the Developmental Dance Movement Program, which is the Early Years and Primary program. And there's information on Autism Movement Therapy, which is for the older children. So when's your next event? Got another event coming up. I've got a fantastic and exciting conference that I'm going to be part of with a team of colleagues. We're going to Delhi in November and then to Bangladesh in December. Involved in a conference using all the arts to support children with autism. And I believe you've done a TEDX talk as well. So if someone's interested in listening to your TEDX talk, where could they find that? Yep, you'll find out a lot more detail about the the Developmental Dance Movement Program and why and how it supports children with autism. And that is why movement works for learning. Tedx Kingston how did you find the TEDX talks? I know when I did mine in Scotland, I was so nervous and I actually changed the way I delivered my talk and I don't know why I did that because I know that sometimes I think I've probably got ADD or ADHD because my brain just works so fast and I just thought I'm going to slow down and not speak so quickly. So my sister came with me and I delivered the talk and I slowed down the talk. And then I was thinking to myself, this is not working for me. I need to be how I normally am. And even my sister was looking at me thinking, what are you doing? But everyone I've Got really positive feedback. I got something like think 50,000 views on YouTube. But I just thought, I'm never gonna do that again. I'm just gonna be me. This is the way that I present my talks. And I'm just not gonna change it. But I just remember dying on the stage thinking, oh, I wish I hadn't done this now. But I met so people then. I met so many different people who were actually giving talks as well on the same day. So how did you find it? I found it. Okay. But I have an alter ego. So it was actually my alter ego who's called Miley, Miley Nation, which is a very essential physiological process that happens actually when we move and we lay down this fatty deposit. And that actually helps us process our thoughts much faster. So myelination delivered the talk. And you can see her on why Movement Works for learning. Yeah, I saw it. And talking about alter ego, I remember that when I was doing Strictly with Robin, I found the facial expressions really difficult and also the element of the fun, because I think I'm so focused on what I'm doing all the time. I rediscovered fun and that was through Strictly. So I'm really happy that I did that. But I just found all the different facial expressions. So we actually did one lesson just doing different facial expressions in front of the mirror. And we had such a laugh. I was crying. And then I met Max Branning, Jake Wood, because he was my mentor on Strictly and he said, I understand you've been doing the facial expressions. He'd been talking to Robin and yeah, he asked me to show him a few, so I did. So you've given me a leaflet. The Autism movement Therapy at the studio. Do you want to tell me about your new class? I believe it started on the 21st of September. Yeah, that's right. We're very excited. So, as well as our work in schools, we are starting to deliver community classes. And this is a fantastic one in a lovely mirrored studio. And mirrors are very important for the work. And it's in Chislehurst at the studio on Fridays, 4:15 till 5. That's great. So it's been great talking about dance with you. I'm sure we could have gone on and on and on, but it's. If anyone's interested in listening to Ali or tedxtalk, just please go to her website. So we're womens radio station, Voice of Women Worldwide. And we're talking all things autism. WRS Women's radio station, Voice of Women Worldwide. This is Amy Liu, Voice of China at Women's Radio Station. Welcome to future Classical Woman Awards with no Stefania Passamonte on Women's Radio Station. After a long day I like to sit in my bath with a glass of wine and listen to Women's Radio. I'm Russ Kate. You're listening to in conversation with on Women's Radio Station. To see what other programs we have on Women's Radio station, head to our website womensradiostation.com do you need mediation? We are the a project charity. We provide convict resolution and community engagement services services. Our services include community mediation for neighbour disputes, family mediation for separating couples, special education needs for parents, carers and their children and young adults as well as workplace mediation and restorative services. To find out more, head to womensradiostation.com or theaproject.co.uk Mirae B Ltd. We are a virtual PA Consultants. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar, we update your client database, we take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077-868-48998 for further information. Mirae B Ltd. Making the life of the business owner successful. 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