Magic in movement

Something magical happens when humans move their bodies. While the motivation for many people is physical — as are the results we typically notice — there is something far more profound at work on another level. This is true of humans of all ages and abilities, but undeniable when witnessing the power of movement in treating autism and the progress across the board of those who participate in autism movement therapy.

Take Connor, for instance. Connor, who lives in Pana and turns 21 this year, is autistic. He works at Brewin’ Hope Coffeehouse and at Save A Lot, the grocery store in town, alongside a job coach. These days, he can speak in short sentences, which was not always the case. His independence has been the result of a journey, not only for him, but for Erica Matthews, owner and lead instructor of Autism and Movement Project (AAMP)/Autism Movement Therapy (AMT) in Pana, and Connor’s mother Amanda, who also works for the program.

“My mom was Connor’s aide when he was in preschool. When I was in high school and junior high, I would go over to Washington [Elementary] School, where my mom was during summer, and work with all those kiddos over there,” says Matthews. “My mom would come home, and she would practice [DTT] with me for Connor.”

According to the National Institutes of Health, DTT is an acronym for Discrete Trial Teaching, which is based on applied behavior analysis (ABA). DTT involves breaking skills down into steps. “Connor and I developed this unique relationship where I could get him to do things that he wouldn’t do for mom or for the other teachers,” says Matthews. “At this time, he was technically nonverbal … but he could put together a 75-piece puzzle starting from the middle. He could do math problems.”

She says that over time, their relationship grew. “If it was just [the two of us] at the house, he would do things for me, talk to me … when I say talk, he would echo,” Matthews explains. “But, when we were in public, it’s like I wasn’t there. I couldn’t get him to focus on me.”

The complexities of communicating with him sparked her interest in ABA and working with autistic children. So, when a friend encouraged her to attend an autism therapy program at Eastern Illinois University (EIU) in Charleston, Matthews reached out to Connor’s mom.

“I was like, ‘Let’s just go check it out,’” she says. “We went a few Saturdays, and I could tell Connor was calmer after [participating].”

At a subsequent event, EIU featured speakers Joanne Lara, founder of Autism Movement Therapy, and autistic scientist, professor, author and autism awareness advocate Temple Grandin. During their talk, Lara mentioned her new DVD, “Aut-erobics.” Matthews purchased it to try at home with Connor, who was then in second grade and already as tall as her.

“It’s a lot of movement. Connor didn’t like movement then,” she laughs, adding that they were both drenched in sweat by the time she was able to bribe him to finish it. “We did that video, those different exercises, every day after school for two weeks,” she says.

Then, something exciting happened. “I remember coming in the back door, and he’s sitting at the table eating chips and dip. I said, ‘Hey, Connor, where’s mom?’ — just expecting him to echo it back, and he goes, ‘She’s upstairs,’” Matthews describes. “I still get teary-eyed over it after all these years. I remember screaming for Amanda to come down. … I’m like, ‘That’s it. I have to go.’”

Spurred into action by two small words, but one very big sentence, Matthews flew to Los Angeles for a two-day training session to earn her certification in autism movement therapy. Upon returning, she hit the ground running, opening AAMP/AMT in 2012.

“The first six kids I had were all ones my mom had at school. Those parents took a leap of faith,” she says. These days, the program serves more than 140 clients. “Those six kids and [Connor] have stayed,” adds Matthews. “I have some kids who stay for a very long time. I have others who stay for as long as they need to. [It’s whatever] the family needs.”

Just as the program’s numbers have grown, so have its services. Because a lot of her “kiddos” continue to attend as they get older, the need for new programs became apparent. “Those kids [started] becoming adults and transitioning from high school. I didn’t realize that after high school, there’s not a lot here … [so,] we started Jumpstart,” Matthews explains. The class focuses on team-building and life skills to help young adults achieve some level of independence.

In 2019, to further facilitate that part of their education, Matthews, armed with the encouragement of supporters in the community, launched Brewin’ Hope, a coffeehouse where her older kids could also learn job skills. Though reluctant at first to take on even more, she feels it turned out to be one of the best things they’ve done. “It was something we needed to do,” she says.

Community support has been a consistent blessing since AAMP’s doors opened. From partnering with other local business owners to offer real-life work experience to fundraisers, generous donations, even the gift of a second building and a grant for the construction of an elevator to better equip the growing operation, Matthews says the community has kept them going.

“I always want to make sure that I give back, too,” she says. “I want the community to know and see how much we appreciate what they do and how they impact [us].”

A $20,000 donation came via a partnership between Shelby Electric Cooperative and CoBank’s Sharing Success program — an annual fund that matches contributions to charitable donations. “That whole crew, they really did us wonders with the money they raised for us,” says Matthews. “I wasn’t expecting that, but [it was] a big game changer in the things that we could offer this year.”

Contributions like these are critical to their ability to reach and treat children in need of its services, because to encourage frequent sessions, she has made a point of keeping fees low. “I’m not just seeing them once a week,” Matthews says. “I want to see [kids] multiple times. I want to see them improve [and] succeed.”

In the long run, her desire is to create a hub for parents and their special needs kids, with space for parents and play areas for siblings, along with physical, occupational and speech therapists, to save families from having to “go all over God’s green Earth to get the therapies they need,” she says. “That’s my end goal.”

Her collaborative relationship with Amber Miller, licensed clinical social worker, equine therapist and certified therapeutic riding instructor at Kemmerer Village in Assumption, epitomizes the type of integrated therapy experience Matthews is hoping to eventually provide.

“She refers kids to me; I refer kids to her,” says Matthews. “Getting the body to move in the correct way on the horse gives a whole different kind of stimulation. The horse gives off energy, and the kids get that energy.” She explains that when children combine riding a horse with exercises taught at AAMP, the combination of sensory experiences becomes exponentially beneficial.

Miller has seen the benefits firsthand in Kemmerer’s Horses and Heroes program. “Each season, I was seeing so many increased verbal skills and better communication and strength, and without fail, whenever I asked the parents what’s going on, what’s helping with this, they would talk about AAMP,” she says. “Eventually, Erica and I got together and started learning [how] to coordinate some of our services.”

Miller goes on to explain how the pairing of their two programs is achieving this level of success. “A lot of the movements in AAMP [center] around crossing the hemisphere. Anytime you have movements that cross the midline [an imaginary line that divides the body into left and right halves], you’re stimulating both hemispheres of the brain at the same time, so you’re encouraging cross-brain connections. You are literally strengthening the brain,” she says. “We do a lot of activities that incorporate that — putting rings on poles or reaching across things — but riding itself, the bilateral rhythmic stimulation of the horse’s movement, is doing that for your entire nervous system while you’re riding.

“It’s exciting. There’s a tremendous amount of research where autism and trauma are overlapping, because it all has to do with neurological development and how to promote increased growth moving forward, and movement is integral to it,” Miller adds. “Particularly if that movement can have some bilateral, rhythmic stimulation to it, it really promotes good cross-brain connections.”

At a seminar she attended years ago, she remembers a discussion about how to choose photos of children with disabilities for fundraising purposes. Miller finds it ironic when compared to what she witnesses in the arena.

“What happens when you’re taking pictures of the kids with the horses is the [disability] kind of disappears; you can’t see it,” she says. “Certainly, when you’re interacting with a child with autism while they’re riding, you do still note the social and communication delays, but as you’re approaching them, it’s not the first thing you see. What you see is a happy kid on this big, strong animal and them having fun and being connected.

“The connection, so often with children with autism, there’s kind of that vacant feeling. With the horses, I don’t see that as much. … Horses don’t connect verbally with people. It’s all in energy and movement and reading one another’s intentions and body language, but much more than body language. Like you’re sitting in a class, [and] you know someone’s staring at you. Horses operate a huge percentage of the time on that sense, and I believe that a lot of people with autism do as well,” Miller continues.

Matthews adds that the different forms of movement therapy can also help the body understand where it is in space. “The majority of my kids wouldn’t be able to walk in and just sit down and know that chair is going to be there. They have to grab it and sit, or, if the room’s dark, they’re not going to be able to walk through … and not run into something,” she explains. Sequential patterns help with that. For younger kids, the patterns are short; for example, one sequence might be eight arm circles forward, eight arm circles back, eight forward, eight back, followed by play time.

Once one level is mastered, the patterns increase in speed and difficulty. “We build up [to] where they have a longer duration. Once they can do all the dances and transitions easily, they’re ready for group,” says Matthews. “Group is a slow dance, then a faster dance, then games and art. We build up so we can desensitize.”

Other examples begin with bear crawls and crab walks, advancing to “crab walk cross touch” (another cross-midline exercise). “The little kids can’t do that yet. It’s too much, so we increase it as we go along, as they go up,” she adds. “The same thing with the team-building games; they get harder. The social games, they get harder. … There are different levels of it, but the core is the sequence, because you have to have that repetition for your brain to make new pathways.”

The passion for progress in their students is obvious when speaking to Matthews and Miller. Both emphasize the importance of collaboration across the different fields of medicine.

“The field of equine therapy is changing. It’s a rapidly developing field,” says Miller. “It’s taken on so many different shapes. You have Refuge Ranch near Rochester … Greenville College is adding an equine science program. … There’s a lot of great opportunities.”

Matthews agrees. “I’d really like to have myself and other knowledgeable people, therapists [and] instructors from different areas collaborate,” she says. “I would love to hear ideas or ‘Hey, what are you struggling with? This is what I’m struggling with. I’ve tried this, this and this. [Do] you guys have any ideas on what to do with this, and could [you] help them, too?’

“It would be great to collaborate with other people and get resources for families. I’d like that to eventually come to fruition, too.”