Sports Report
It never rains but it pours: At 1 pm I’m talking about the need for more afterschool programs for autistic kids; by 5pm, Charlie’s been invited to two basketball programs, one soccer program, and bowling, and I’ve found about a new special needs Tae Kwon Do class near to where we live.
Charlie has bowled at least two times and really enjoyed it: I guess you could call “bowling together” a (rather literal) variation on “parallel play”. He is strong enough to pick up his own ball and, I suspect, liked sticking his fingers into the holes (and he was not perturbed by wearing banged up bowling shoes). Any other “ball” sport has been a bit of an exercise in rather vain running back and forth across a field, court, etc., full of a chaotic tumble of other children (and parents and various helpers, and Jim and/or me, of course). Charlie has always had difficulties tracking moving objects (and, having written the above, I am starting to think that golf seems a better and better option: That will be another project for Jim, who once upon some other time did his share of caddying.)
As for Tae Kwon Do, many friends have told me that their autistic children have enjoyed and excelled in this and also kung fu. Charlie likes to be physical and exercise (especially aerobic exercise) always has a good effect on him; after swimming and biking and running (as he and I did around on the block on a very cold afternoon), he seems more focused, “peaceful easy-feeling,” and a lot less tense.
I’ve noted before that one of the most helpful things about his current public school program is that he has Adaptive Physical Education (APE) everyday. It’s at 10am this year and is a great mid-morning pick-up; my visit to his classroom for a holiday party in December coincided with APE. The current unit is on yoga; the PE teacher turned on some music and there was Charlie doing the downward dog. At the teacher’s behest, another mother and I joined in (though it is not easy to do a tree pose in boots). Inspired by Alex (”Runman”), Jim and I are planning to enter Charlie in a “fun run” once spring starts—by which time he will be able to go out on the spanking brand new red mountain bike that we got Charlie for his Christmas present.
(Guess who’s inherited Charlie’s old bike?)
Photo courtesy of Cliff Michaels via Flickr.
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5 opinions for Sports Report
Jen
Jan 3, 2008 at 11:56 am
The first student I started working with, I got to work with because I knew his brother from Tae Kwon-Do.
There were several students with autism, a few in the childrens class, probably a few years younger than Charlie, and one student in the adults class, a few years older than Charlie. I think the older boy is still going, and I haven’t been for two years.
Norah
Jan 3, 2008 at 1:17 pm
I did judo from when I was 8 until I was 14. It helped me a lot. It did not improve my motor skills (except for those specific excercises that they taught) whatsoever, but it did teach me how to fall down without getting hurt. Falling in the right way has become almost like a reflex.
Cliff
Jan 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I found I excelled in a variety of martial arts myself. I’ve taken bits and pieces of about 4 easily (and that’s grouping Kung Fu into one group, which isn’t helpful at all), but I enjoyed Kung Fu the most. Actually, it developed into my considered special interest, and now in addition to some skill I have a pretty good knowledge of the different martial arts.
Cliff
tracey
Jan 3, 2008 at 10:02 pm
I was looking at martial arts for my boys. My oldest (5) shows very little interest in things like baseball, soccer, but loves to be physical. I thought he is probably a little too young right now for martial arts, but I think that is something to look at in the future, it is a good discipline too.
I enrolled him in gymnastics and it has been great. Imatation is still very hard for him and I think that this helps exercise that part of the brain, but in a fun way. I am also fortunate that he is in a class with typically developing boys and we also have him taking privately. I am going to enroll his younger brother next year.
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[…] example occurred to me in watching Charlie at his first-ever Special Olympics basketball practice tonight. It was held in the gym of a an autism school (not Charlie’s) and most of the […]
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