Thursday, November 3, 2011

Big-deal events for kids with special needs


These are happy-making photos from an inclusive football skills camp, which took place last Saturday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, part of All Kids Can Patriots Day. It was sponsored, rather awesomely, by CVS Caremark All Kids Can and the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation, for the fourth year in a row.

Former New England Patriots players and coaches teamed with dozens of kids from Easter Seals Massachusetts to show them a thing or two about football.

Pat Patriot with a participant

Kids did huddles and stretches and learned how to block, kick and throw. The end goal: have fun!

Kids also got to walk through a gigantic inflatable Patriots helmet. I do not think they sell them at Toys "R" Us.

Patriot cheerleaders showed up, too, and does this teen look psyched or what?

It is always great to hear about local big-deal activities for kids with special needs. In our area, every year the Jets invite kids from Max's school to a game. Last year, Dave and Max made it as far as the entryway before Max decided he wasn't having any. This year, we'll try again. It sure would help if the Jets could temporarily change their color to purple, instead of green. Hmmm....

Been to any great activities in your community lately for kids with special needs? Got any good ones coming up?

This is one of a series of posts sponsored by CVS Caremark All Kids Can, a commitment to making life better for children with disabilities. "Like" them on Facebook!

5 comments:

  1. How about on the playground?
    I have a student who is a gifted athlete - Jackson. Claude is a student in another class who is autistic. Both are 2nd grade.

    Claude follows the other boys around and trys to play this putting game the kids play. He is very awkward, and the ball falls directly in front of him.

    Yesterday on the playground, I heard Jackson say, "Hey Claude can I show you a trick?"

    I turn around and Jackson is showing Claude how to hold the football correctly and kick ( he had been holding it like this --- instead of |). Now Claude's kicks are on par with the other boys.

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  2. Have you been in touch with STRIDE, an organization that works with adaptive sports. We've done their sailing and skiing programs. They are wonderful!!

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  3. Too bad the NY Jets don't play the Minnesota Vikings, their uniforms are quite a nice color of purple. :)

    Even the Baltimore Ravens have a nice shade of purple. (Jets played the Ravens on Oct 2nd. But I understand it's not too difficult to get Ravens tickets and it could be a nice day trip since it's near the Inner Harbor. www.baltimoreravens.com )

    My son is so into sports he is considered the "cool kid" in his new special ed class. He tries his hardest to do the skills, fortunately he's had a lot of understanding coaches that can give him step-by-step directions to complete the skills. Though he's only 9 he wants to try to get permission to be a buddy for the baseball challenger team affiliated with the local little league next year. He knows he's not the best (he's too high functioning to qualify for challenger but still has some assistance in the traditional league. Although I'm athletic sometimes Mom coaching isn't good enough. Fortunately as a 4th grader, his Webelos den is starting to interact more with the Boy Scouts (who happen to be an awesome bunch of caring boys who know just how much to help).

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  4. Tomorrow the Variety Club is having their fall outing at Sesame Place! It's free for kids with special needs and their familiies. This is the first year we're going to attempt to go. I'll let you know how it goes!

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  5. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=150419974440

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Thanks for sharing!