Our Journey into Purposeful Movement

My son has always been an extremely kinesthetic child. So much so that, for a long time, he was known in our neighborhood for his boundless energy. Whether we were at the park, walking through a shop, or simply out in the community, people recognized him as the boy who was always in motion.

But as I began to truly observe him through the lens that RPM gave me, I started to understand something deeper. The goal was never to suppress his movement. Instead, the way forward was to gently and consistently replace those large, automatic motions with smaller, purposeful ones. And so, our real work began.

We didn’t start big. Just five minutes in the morning and five minutes at night. During that time, I gently introduced activities that invited his hands and fingers to take the lead, like handwriting, coloring, and drawing, all supported through motor modeling. There was no pressure to create anything perfect, no rush to produce results. These small moments weren’t just about learning skills; they were about teaching his body a new way of being.

Gradually, something started to shift. As his hands began to move with more purpose, his need to be in constant motion began to soften. It was slow, sometimes so subtle I could have missed it if I wasn’t paying close attention. But it was real. His body was learning that it didn’t always need to move so big, so fast, so constantly. It had other options now.

What had once felt like an endless loop of restlessness started to open into small windows of calm. He could sit a little longer, his movements became more intentional, more connected. And that’s when I knew: helping him move from chaotic energy to purposeful motion wasn’t just supporting his learning—it was setting him free.