Aucouturier Psychomotor Practice: what it is, what it is for and what a session is like

Observing the daily activities that are carried out in any school, including children's ones, it is obvious that in most of them children are asked to remain seated, still, contained, for too many hours. We continue to see the movement as an antagonistic element to the discipline, although it seems equally evident to us that children, especially in the child stage, need the movement to express themselves, to feel good and to be happy.

Perhaps that is why I was so shocked the first time I saw an Aucouturier Psychomotor Practice session, since it breathes a freedom and autonomy that I had never been able to witness so far.

Because in the classroom where this Psychomotor Practice is carried out we find a collection of elements that invite sensorimotor play, such as trellises, plinths, Swedish benches, mats, foam rubber geometric figures, among others, and children are free to do what they want: play jump, climb, hang on ropes, build, run, hide, rest ... all the time they want and how they want. Of course, the room has safety measures such as soft ground or protected edges, but the only rules are to be careful and respect others. It is true that the adult is a little afraid of possible falls and blows, although this occurs only at the beginning. How important and difficult is the pedagogy of risk!

After the pleasant initial surprise, and after a bit of inquiry, I could see that this activity is more than just a classroom where children play freely and enjoy the pleasure of movement. As if this were not enough, I discover that the device and the teaching strategies used are designed with the intention of directing children towards their development, and not only to their physical development, which would not be bad as an objective, but also and above all to Your cognitive development However, when witnessing an Educational Psychomotor Practice session , it is difficult to reach that same conclusion, since apparently it is an activity with large doses of chaos and improvisation. As much as there is a series of differentiated phases in which the slogans do not change, none of the sessions is the same as the previous one.

After the pleasant initial surprise, and after a little inquiry, I could see that this activity is something more than a simple classroom where children play freely and enjoy the pleasure of movement . As if this were not enough, I discover that the device and the teaching strategies used are designed with the intention of directing the children towards their development, and not only their development physical, that would not be bad as an objective, but also and above all to its cognitive development. However, when witnessing a session of Educational Psychomotor Practice, it is difficult to reach that same conclusion, since apparently it is an activity with large doses of chaos and improvisation. As much as there is a series of differentiated phases in which the slogans do not change, none of the sessions is the same as the previous one.

For me, the Aucouturier Psychomotor Practice opens a door that leads to a space where finally every child can really learn by playing . Playing for real, whatever he wants and how he wants, respecting only a few rules of coexistence. And not only playing but also at your own pace . It is the only space in which I have really seen these great premises of Childhood Education drawn before my eyes. And at the same time, the activity for which I felt the most intense motivation on the part of the children themselves. And is not for less. It is the only space in which they are allowed to demonstrate their abilities, both physical and cognitive, and to show themselves as they are ; in which they can break that artificial order, so far from their psychological characteristics, that it still prevails in Early Childhood Education; in which they really have freedom and in which the chaos that is generated does not matter ; the only place where they can really choose their way of relating and acting according to their emotional state, since nobody is going to bother not to participate, to do so very actively, to spend most of their time lying down, or Even hidden.

But if you do not want to stay on the surface, but would like to inquire a little about how it works and why, keep reading ????

The Educational Psychomotor Practice is a methodology or practice born in France in the 70s, which is based on the concept of psychomotor skills conceived as the maturation process that corresponds to a period of child development in which the sensorimotor is inseparable from the genesis of conscious and unconscious psychic processes, that is, with the generation of thought. We are talking about that moment in which the child needs the movement to be able to think, or even, in early moments, the action itself is identified as thought. It is a basic period for the development of personality, of the future way of thinking and acting, so it seems clear that the creation of an appropriate methodological and pedagogical framework for the movement to develop thinking is vital.

It was Bernard Aucouturier who devised this framework for the practice of psychomotricity in nursery schools, what we know today as Educational Psychomotor Practice, thanks, yes, to the contributions of several predecessors, who were delimiting the concept of psychomotor skills and relating the movement With the production of thought. Among them was Julián de Ajuriaguerra, Basque neuropsychiatrist and psychoanalyst, a pioneer in linking the affective as a generator of neurological maturation; but above all Jean Piaget, Henri Wallon and Sigmund Freud.

These authors, among others, show us the existence of a consistent relationship between movement and the development of cognition, and that the education of the movement is not only for training it, for pleasure or for physical health. Body and mind come together in psychomotor skills so that the motor contents become means for the development of higher functions such as thought, communication, affectivity or creativity.

Therefore, we have to think of Psychomotor Practice as a methodology that favors the child to experience through movement, perceive his own body and build his own identity, facilitating the stimulation of the processes that open to communication, expression, and symbolization and decentration, all of them necessary factors to access operational thinking . That is why, as Bernard himself would say, “it is proposed to children from the evolutionary period in which to do is to think until the period in which to think is only to think about doing and beyond doing, approximately until 7 years . ” In the same way that the physical activities that are usually practiced in the elementary stage have no place in child psychomotor skills, this psychomotor practice would also not make sense at the moment when children have already passed the preoperational stage.

Therefore, the objectives of this psychomotor activity or psychomotor practice, according to Aucouturier himself, are: to help children in their development of the symbolic function (that is, of the representation capacity), and to favor the development of the security processes and decentralization essential for accessing operative thinking and the pleasure of thinking, all based on the pleasure provided by movement and free play. In this way, psychomotor practice is constituted as a preventive and educational practice, one of the fundamental means to help the child to live more harmoniously in his maturational itinerary .

Thus, as I said a few paragraphs above, it is necessary to implement a methodological framework that makes all this possible. It is here that Bernard Aucouturier offers us a solution in the form of an itinerary that the child travels towards his mental maturation, and not only that but also proposes a route adjusted to the maturation process of each child, for which a distribution of spaces is established in the psychomotor room, the differentiation of a series of moments or phases through certain strategies that will direct the sessions, and specific attitudes on the part of the psychomotorist, all aimed at favoring the passage “ of the pleasure of doing to the pleasure of thinking ”, in words of Mr. Aucouturier.

Although the devices change with the age of the children so that this desired adaptation to the maturation stage of the creatures that are subject to development can take place, here we will only talk about the adaptation for children from 3 years, since in Earlier ages, honestly, I don't have much idea.

Entrance ritual

In this phase the psychomotorist welcomes the children, who sit on benches, visualizing the room and if possible before a mirror where they can all be seen together. The rules to be respected are remembered: basically not hurting and not harming others, as well as respecting materials. The previous session is remembered (what we liked, the evolution of the competences that were observed, as well as what we did not like, since these are things that limit the evolution of the group), and what the session will happen is anticipated current. Ideally, in this process it is the children who intervene, with the psychomotor trainee in the guiding role.

Motor expressivity phase

The entrance ritual gives way to the phase of motor expressivity, in which children prepare to tear down a wall or castle built by the adult through all the geometric foam pieces present in the room.

It is a time of great emotional impatience (it is exciting to see it), and the psychomotorist must know how to postpone the destruction to release its intensity at the right time. It seems a good time to work attention and impulse inhibition. The psychomotorist also offers some resistance in order to make children feel victorious over the adult, with a kind of omnipotence over it. Thus, on one side of the wall the children abandon everything that adults impose on them: demands, norms, tasks, and on the other side they find a space designed with the aim that they can express themselves spontaneously, without everything that is usually associated with school activity and how little of its own it is; So tearing down the wall means breaking the demands that adults impose and starting to be themselves, starting to look for their own yo, because exerting their strength against an adult, is to show their I wish to move him away to check his dominance and affirm his own identity.

From here, the pleasure of destroying will evolve into a series of games that will provide entry into a dynamic of sensorimotor pleasure. Aucouturier refers to these first games, along with those of destruction, as "surface security games . " According to the author, they are universal, they occur all over the world without experiencing changes between cultures, and they are so named because they insure against the anguish related to the fear of loss and being destroyed. Because it is not a simple motor activity, they do not need to acquire any specific skill, but the whole device is conceived as a tool of emotional, social and intellectual expression without restrictions.

The space is designed specifically for the liberation of motor expressivity, because although it may seem so, it is not an improvisation, everything is very well studied and nothing is free. It is a space where the child can run, jump, somersault, balance, climb, roll, fall ... and all corners have specific functions that lead to the total development of the child. There are spaces of soft-hard contrast, such as the plinth and the mattresses to jump, in which the child experiences this contrast that helps him be more aware of his own body, to reaffirm the balance. There are also sensuous hard spaces, such as the ramp or the trellises, where children are prepared to climb when they begin to want to grow. But there is also room for recollection, in what seems like a stage before any type of contrast: it is usually represented in the form of a sack, a space that embraces them, that gives them peace, that contains them.

During this same phase, as children grow and feel reaffirmed and without limitations when enjoying their own body, the symbolic game will gradually appear, that is, the ability to use an object deliberately pretending to represent other. They begin to make parental identification games, identification with imaginary characters or social life. Aucouturier calls them "deep security games", since he considers that they are imaginary shields that protect children from the most recent conflicts, and unlike those of superficial security, they vary according to the culture. The progressive appearance of symbolization implies that the child is entering a higher cognitive stage. Aucouturier himself says that "the progressive integration of deep assurance games in superficial assurance games shows the fluidity between unconscious and conscious representations, which is an interesting indicator of psychological maturation", but we must be aware that we are in a first level of symbolization, the one that expresses itself through the movement.

To help produce this natural itinerary, that is, the transition from surface safety games (or sensorimotor) to deep (or symbolic) safety games, the psychomotorist usually divides this phase into two, marking the transition by addition of material designed to boost the symbolization although very little figurative, such as fabrics, ropes ... so that it is the children themselves who choose to use it in a more sensory or more symbolic way. Depending on their level of maturity, children will use the ropes to play to pull them, or to pretend that a snake attacks them.

Story Phase

When you have fully experienced the lack of control and excitement of the first half, it is time to go up one more level in that symbolization, a level at which it distances itself from the movement, moving from the pleasure of playing to the pleasure of thinking and thus favoring mental representation The phase of the story takes place in the same space as the previous one, and in which the psychomotorist tells a story.

This story should be directly related to the emotions of the children and their fears, and also be told in the present to favor identification with the protagonist. Aucouturier recommends, in addition, that two different records be used when telling the story: one of rise to the anguish to add dramatic value, and another back to emotional security for the end, always with variations in the tone of voice, gestures, Tense silences ... All this favors that in the child there is a process of decentration that will facilitate cognitive evolution. Here, Aucouturier differentiates the initiates in this process from the uninitiated by observing their motor expressiveness, since those in which the session is awakening cognitive decentration, show sustained attention and express their emotions without excesses, compared to those that imitate the protagonist, gesture, interrupt and even shout, because they have not yet reached that level. Thanks to this phase there is a deep reinsurance through language instead of movement as in that first time. In reality, this process parallels global maturation, since in general, access to language results in a decrease in children's motor activity.

Phase of plastic and graphic expressiveness

After the story, children are invited to move to the second space for the phase of plastic and graphic expressiveness. This second space must be well defined within the same room, but cannot be used for previous activities, so that children have the opportunity to distance themselves from the emotions experienced during the session by performing of a drawing or a construction (to choose) on them or on their personal history.

The objective of this phase, contrary to what it may seem, is not the drawing or the construction itself, nor the interpretation that the psychomotorist can give them. On the contrary, the important thing is the stories that accompany them and the language that the children themselves use to elaborate them. The psychomotorist must simply help each child to talk about his creation so that the process of decentration can take place . A "Can you tell me the story of your drawing?" May be enough for the child to dare to verbalize what goes through his head at the time of drawing, finding meaning in his own productions. This stage requires an even higher level of symbolization, since the expression has been released first by bodily means, then by the language of others, until it is done through its own language. However, Aucouturier himself warns about the importance of respecting the rhythm of each child, since if this symbolization is pressed too much, stereotyped creations are likely to be obtained, very opposed to the decentration we want. It also states that "an Educational Psychomotor Practice session without this second period of expressiveness would result in an amputated session, since it would not respond to its objectives, nor to the psychological maturation itinerary that facilitates the development and growth of each child."

Exit Ritual

This last phase will be variable depending on the age of the children, and Aucouturier advises that after 3 years each child be individually recognized by calling him by name and giving a handshake before leaving the room, since according to him Children give great importance to this social gesture of adults. Finally, the children themselves should be the ones who picked up the room, leaving all the material in the same way that they had found it when entering, since this action would be, again, an aid for decentration; although he also recognizes that in some cases it can become an excuse to restart the game ...

So what is the role of the psychomotorist?

Although it may not seem so to the naked eye, since it is committed to the autonomy and freedom of children within the room, the psychomotorist has a fundamental role in this way to make and understand psychomotor skills. Educators transmit and educate with each pore of our physiognomy, not only when we speak, but also with our way of being, our gestures and our attitudes, and younger children are especially sensitive to all this, as well as emotional changes. So one of the primary objectives of the psychomotorist is to provide physical security to the activity, whether by his presence, his peripheral gaze that is attentive to everything, the proposal of standards or the conditioning of the room itself. But it must also provide emotional security, since we must not forget that for children, the session will not only involve fun but also difficult challenges. This affective security is transmitted through the postural attitude, empathy, the ability to understand them even if they do not verbalize what they want us to understand, but also the ability to really enjoy with them.

The psychomotorist must accompany the child's action, must interact without invading his autonomy. It is not about stimulating, but about inducing and favoring both deep safety games and superficial safety games, adjusting to the actions of children. The psychomotorist must react with gestures and affectionate words, but at the same time firm. It must also know how to boost communication and, of course, facilitate conflict resolution, but only facilitate, since it is the interested parties who must resolve them. In short, the psychomotorist must be the attentive adult who accompanies the child in his process of maturation, welcoming and valuing his productions, his difficulties, his fears, his discoveries, his desire, his pleasure and his emotions. Doesn't it remind you of a Montessori guide?

I leave you with an example of a session, although we must be clear that this is just an example, because each psychomotorist who applies this methodology adapts it to their way of being, of understanding and of doing things. Have you thought about what would be yours? ????

Anyone attending a psychomotor training session in Early Childhood Education worked through this methodology will almost instantly verify the promotion of autonomy and respect, or the fact that these are very complete sessions regarding the development of motor skills, since we find balances, jumps, coordination of members or controlled use of force everywhere, but now we know that the function of the session goes much further. How I would like to train in this methodology ... what a pity that it is so expensive! Will I have to settle for reading books and articles about it?

AUTHOR: Mr. Punk

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