WE HAVE SEEN a remarkable change in a little girl who attends our school. She has CHARGE syndrome and spends a large proportion of her time in a wheelchair.

SHE IS 8 YRS old and when taken out of her wheelchair and stood by her rollator, she often refuses to walk and sits down on the floor. I suggested some Rebound Therapy with a parachute, moving her limbs by rolling up the parachute. The first time she saw the parachute she took interest and was spontaneously more lively.

SHE SEEMED TO really enjoy the attention and having her limbs stimulated in this manner. Our objectives are: enjoyment, more movement hopefully leading to more mobility. Evie was visibly excited and this in itself caused some slight spontaneous movement in her legs. The session was very well received and more than met my expectations.

I AM TEACHING 2 students who are learning to walk again following brain injuries.

STUDENT A's INJURY was due to meningitis and student B was involved in a road accident.

WITH STUDENT A, I have been teaching her back bounces. This is strengthening her core muscles and helping her to develop improved coordination. We have also been sitting her on the trampoline and I have been walking around her while she stays still. She said this is a great help to her due to not being able to walk, as this is a strengthening exercise that she can do.

STUDENT B HAS problems with walking. I first met him 8 weeks ago and he was in a wheelchair. Now with the aid of a stick, he is almost walking. B has problems with his balance and co ordination. So I have been teaching him to Jump. At first he was rocking the bed, then jumping with me supporting. Now he can jump with 2 feet in the air and stay in the middle. Seat drops are the next thing we are going to learn. He is really happy that he has started trampolining and feels this is helping to gain his balance and develop his poor muscle tone due to being in a wheel chair.

OUR SCHOOL, JOHN CHILTON have been running Rebound Therapy sessions for a year during PE lessons and lunch time clubs. We have found that the sessions have greatly improved pupils muscle tone and core stability. Particularly those pupils who walk with aids. One pupil enjoys it so much that her family have bought her a trampoline for their garden.

SOCIALLY THE PUPILS look forward to the sessions and are remembering cues from previous weeks.

WE HAVE ALSO run 3 festivals since starting our Rebound Therapy sessions with other local special schools which allowed our pupils to socialise and work closely with other pupils.

WE STARTED REBOUND Therapy a few years ago using Sports Grant money to fund the training and the trampoline. It had such positive results that we increased the amount of sessions from 1 to 3. We use Pupil premium funds for key pupils for one session, Sports Grant for another session and our own PSFA – school charity money to fund another.

THE PUPILS HAVE responded amazingly well. We've had pupils on the Autistic Spectrum use their communication consistently to request – the only situation that they do this for as they are so motivated. We've had challenging pupils who hardly ever respond to instructions, follow everything we ask and calm down sufficiently to be able to access a work session after when usually they struggle. We've had pupils self-esteem sky rocket as this is something they can do and are good at and get a certificate for. We’ve had pupils with sensory needs find the deep pressure calming and improved motor control for others.

THE MAIN IMPACT is that pupils who find any PE session difficult to access are able to be active on a trampoline and their enjoyment on the trampoline is a joy to behold.

PARENTS TAKE THEIR pupils to rebound sessions at a local centre – Jump Space and report back that the child copes at home with demands better and loves the sessions.

OUR MAIN ISSUE is lack of space to keep the trampoline up – it has to be cleared away for lunch time and cost of staffing to deliver sessions otherwise we'd do it for every pupil in the school every day!

REBOUND IS AN excellent resource we use at Brookfields. We have two trampolines a number of staff are trained to deliver sessions.

IN THESE SESSIONS there are a number of outcomes we achieve on a daily basis. Firstly pupils develop their physio and physical skills where we do physio stretches/movements with them on the trampoline to help with their overall movement. We also work on communication during these sessions the trampoline for most is a real motivator therefore we have had lots of excellent interactions and communication through sign/symbol and speech for more for example. The trampoline is also used at lunch times for lunch clubs where pupils are able to choose to go on the trampoline which is something they really do enjoy. Autistic pupils really benefit from Rebound through various different factors.

I FEEL REBOUND is such an important part of our PE sessions at Brookfields school and it is important to train as many staff as possible so that pupils can go on the trampoline with staff they trust and feel confident with. Rebound works on key skills that pupils need in other lessons and in their every-day life such as communication, resilience, risk taking, determination and relaxation. Rebound is a big part of PMLD/SLD pupils at our schools life as it aids the ability to move freely and enjoy feeling a range of movements that they may not have had the opportunity to feel on the ground.

ALL STAFF RECOGNISE the importance and value of Rebound Therapy at The South Downs Special School, which we have taught for the last 8 years.

ACHIEVEMENT AND PROGRESS have been apparent in physical development as well as benefiting pupils in areas of their personal and social development. It has been used to support independence, communication and interaction, social skills such as turn taking, peer assessment and evaluation and a supportive tool to those with therapy programmes.

CROSS CURRICULAR LINKS have been made using Rebound Therapy such as descriptive language in literacy, comparative language, ordinal numbers in maths and the effects of forces in Science, to name but a few. Colleagues and parents often report an improvement in a range of areas including core strength, coordination, eye contact, fluency of movement, muscle tone, height and depth perception, stamina and a general sense of achievement and self-confidence. Our aspiration now is to enable staff on our other site to train to deliver Rebound Therapy so all pupils have the opportunity of experiencing its benefits throughout the school.

MY EXPERIENCE OF Rebound Therapy for children, whether in special schools or mainstream, has only been positive - whether it is in helping them to maintain concentration and motivation to exercise, developing muscle control and stability in a reactive way, assisting with sensory integration or secretion clearance... I could go on. I would love to see it available to all that need it and special education is as good a place as any to start.

HI, JUST A few of my thoughts on the benefits on Rebound Therapy at Blackfriars Academy Newcastle under Lyme:

WE USE REBOUND Therapy as part of a PE carousel on a Thursday afternoon within our PMLD department. This consists of students aged from 11-16. They get a half termly/termly block placement which benefits them immensely in many areas. We have noticed considerable progress over short periods of time and often get a better response/level of engagement (particularly with our more complex students) on the trampoline than we get in the classroom. Not only does it promote their communication it obviously affords them a unique physical opportunity to come out of their wheelchairs and move their body in a way like no other. Our current difficulties rise around ....time..

WE WOULD LOVE an area in school with a sunken trampoline which could be used all day every day as currently only the PMLD students are accessing rebound and there are many other students across the school who would benefit too. (we put up a free standing trampoline in the sports hall).