written by Adam Bent September 1, 2026
Education has repeatedly looked to new tools and curricula for answers to persistent learning concerns. Computers carried that expectation in earlier decades, and artificial intelligence now occupies much of the conversation. Physical therapist Athena Oden believes technology can contribute to education, while also arguing that one quieter question deserves attention. Are children developmentally mature enough for the tasks and environments that school asks them to navigate?
Oden is the founder of Ready Bodies, Learning Minds, an education and training organization that offers a motor lab curriculum, workshops and equipment for schools, therapists and families. Its activities use guided movement and sensory experiences in individual, classroom, or campus settings. Oden describes the approach as a way to help adults consider motor development as not only a part of school readiness but as a curriculum of its own.
The academic concern for students is clear, although its causes are complex. The 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress reported that 40% of fourth-grade students performed below NAEP Basic in reading. The assessment also cautions that its achievement levels remain on a trial basis and should be interpreted carefully. Oden views the result as a reason to widen the discussion rather than evidence for any single explanation.
Embodied cognition offers a broader way to understand school readiness. Learning does not occur through the brain in isolation. A 2026 review places cognitive development within the continuing interaction of the brain, body, and environment, giving schools another reason to consider sensory-motor growth as part of the foundation for learning.
More specific findings reinforce that perspective. A 2026 meta-analysis of 10 studies involving 2,039 preschoolers reported gains in executive function and social-emotional competence following fundamental motor skill interventions. A 2025 study involving 2,179 children also associated stronger motor skills with better executive function, particularly among those ages 3 to 5. Together, the findings suggest that educational readiness may need to account for how children move, regulate, and interact with their surroundings.
Oden’s interest in physical development began with personal experience. She recalls that a train struck the car carrying her and her mother when she was 15. After a brain injury, surgery, and the loss of sight in one eye, she encountered physical therapy through her family’s recovery. Oden says the experience influenced her decision to become a physical therapist and eventually work with children in public schools.
Her involvement in education later extended beyond her work as a physical therapist. In 2012, Oden and her husband joined three other families in founding Gloria Deo Academy, a private school. She views that experience as another opportunity to consider how children’s developmental needs can be addressed within a school’s broader educational structure.
Her earlier work in public schools exposed a practical constraint. Oden recalls serving approximately 80 students across 12 campuses in a 640-square-mile rural district while working three days a week. She could provide direct services only to children who met eligibility requirements, although teachers were also seeking guidance for other students who struggled with tasks such as using pencils and scissors. Oden responded by showing educators the sensory-motor needs of children who were struggling with these skills.
According to Oden, the early version developed gradually from a small collection of activities into a motor lab class available for all students on the elementary campus. She recalls that invitations from regional education service centers later allowed her to share the approach with therapists and educators in Texas. Oden then took the program across the United States and later internationally. From her perspective, these experiences helped make the material accessible to educators while keeping clear professional boundaries. She says teachers can observe how children may struggle with classroom skills and offer sensory-motor opportunities to develop ability, while assessment and treatment of a disability remain with qualified professionals and therapists.
Those sensory-motor opportunities eventually became the foundation of Ready Bodies, Learning Minds, according to Oden. The model uses task-oriented movement stations that may involve simple items such as string, tape, balls, and open floor space. “Schools prepare carefully for literacy, and sensory-motor readiness deserves the same deliberate attention,” she says. “Children should be given regular opportunities to meet the need for sensory-motor growth, which is the foundation for embodied cognition.”
Oden also cautions against assuming that access to a playground automatically provides that opportunity. In her seminars, she says teachers sometimes describe children, not knowing how to play, sitting at the edge of recess until an adult suggests an activity. She treats those observations as prompts for closer attention rather than a diagnosis. From her perspective, time for movement such as climbing, balancing, running, dancing, or opening a jar are all abilities that can be observed and supported by a sensory-motor curriculum.
This argument leaves room for educational technology. Oden’s concern is one of proportion. When schools evaluate new platforms, she believes they can also examine whether schedules, spaces, and staff training provide an understanding of the value of a curriculum focused on developmental maturity. “Progress in education should include innovation and yet not ignore the foundation of sensory-motor development children bring to learning,” Oden says. “When physical development is part of the plan, technology enters a classroom where the children are developmentally ready.”
Source: The Founder Magazine
