Track

Yikes how is it already April 24?  I’ve been slacking, enjoying this once per week post pace, realizing suddenly the end is near!  Lucky for me I only have a couple of more updates and then we’ll be done until next year. Continuing with the prior topic of play, I wanted to talk a little bit about some great programming that we are enjoying – and maybe you can spread the word to others that might have kids like Coleman and are looking for some fun things to do.   

  

There is a great gymnastics program offered at Head Over Heels for special needs kids.  The sessions are only a half hour, and are one-on-one.   Joanie is one of the instructors and she used to be a special ed para in Hingham schools.  She is awesome. It’s really a strength building class, which my rubber-band boy really needs, but she makes it fun.  Even hanging from the rings is a chore, but he gets stronger and better at it every week.  Coleman adores it. 

https://youtu.be/9owc226Z0LM

Outside of gymnastics, almost every social activity we do is run by SNAP.  In 2014, two Hingham groups – the Hingham Sports Partnership and the Hingham SEPAC – teamed up to offer athletic and recreational activities for special needs kids in Hingham and the South Shore.  Programs are offered across a broad array of activities, including crew, dance, soccer, basketball, tennis, painting, skating, and so many more.  Activities are staffed by a slew of volunteers, both adults and young teens, in a model that seems to work for all parties involved.  It’s obviously a wonderful option for kids like Coleman who are not able to participate in traditional sports, but it’s also equally beneficial to the volunteers who learn to appreciate the limitations and struggles of kids with all sorts of disabilities, while also seeing firsthand the love they bring.

To be honest, I really don’t know where we would be today without these programs.  Before SNAP, the only activity we tried was T-ball.  Coleman had just spent two seasons watching the girls play softball, waiting patiently at the end of each game for the final out.  He would look at me with excitement:  “All done?!” he would ask as soon as we arrived, and continue to ask every five minutes until the end.  Which is why, after the second game, I opted to end that misery for both of us by arriving at all future games much closer to the end.   When the final out was made, I would exclaim “ALL DONE!” and he would bolt around the fence and start to run the bases.  Some of the girls ran too, and he loved that even more.  So we thought yes, it’s time for T-ball.  He will love it.  Except I forgot there is more to baseball than just running around the diamond.  Like seriously forgot.    After his first ‘at bat’, when he barely moved the ball off the Tee, and ran excitedly around the bases, we all cheered and were like “YAY you did it!!” and, lost in our excitement, we didn’t realize teams were switching up and it was ‘our’ turn  to be outfield.  Outfield?  Like to catch stuff??  Egads it was a complete fail.  Coleman kept walking away, leaving the outfield, and I would turn him back, remind him we had to watch for incoming balls (which at this age of course never made it much past the T.)  Walk away, turn him back.  Walk away, turn him back.   That little dance continued pretty much the whole time, making both of us realize baseball was really not going to be Coleman’s game. 

So for a while, we didn’t do any other after-school activities.  We tried to sign up for some things at the Y, but I was met with lots of resistance.  I understand things there have changed for the better now, as they hired a coordinator for inclusion programming, but Lordy, when I tried to get Coleman involved, it was a lot of “I’m sorry, we just can’t do that.”   I may or may not have dropped an F-bomb in a fit of frustration.  I may or may not have kicked something.  It may or may not have been a person.  Anyhoo, lucky for me, along came SNAP.

We started with Soccer – and have done that several years now.  As I said before, it’s more like a drill session - they certainly don’t run a game, or really ‘play soccer’ but instead they kick the ball around, passing it among each other, trying to help the kids get it into the net, etc.   This works best for Coleman and many of the other kids who struggle with team concepts and staying focused on what exactly they should be doing.  To be honest, Coleman doesn’t even really care for soccer – but God who he loves being around the other kids.  He has the energy of a small garden snail so high action isn’t his thing, but he sure did love to go to soccer.   

What he loved even more, however, was Track.  SNAP teamed up with the South Shore Fireboltz Track Club to offer a truly integrated program where special needs kids, along with mentors from SNAP, participated in the regular Fireboltz track practices alongside typical kids.   We had pretty low expectations here given Coleman’s energy levels and the fact that he almost never runs anywhere, but the amazing Alyce Jordan changed all that.  Alyce was Coleman’s old teacher – he had been with her for three or four years before he left Hingham - and she was volunteering for Track.  We prepped Coleman for what was to come, and took him to the high school track a few times in the weeks leading up to the start explaining, “This is the track.  This is where you will run.”  We also told him a social story each night, saying “We’ll go to the track.  We’ll see Miss J, run around the track, do some jumping games, and come home.  It will be fun!”    We repeated this every night, and each night, his only comment was “See Miss J?” I underestimated how much he missed her.  

The day track was to start, Coleman was a bundle of excitement.  He asked constantly throughout the day about when we would go, confirming with me, “See Miss J?”  And when we arrived at the field, his eyes darted back and forth searching for her.  I found her first, and then I looked to see if Coleman had found her.  Oh God, my heart.   It was clear he had.  His hands clasped together, he was smiling wide but stared down at his feet.  I bent down close to him.  “There she is” he said, barely able to get the words out. “Yeah!  Go get her!” I exclaimed and off he went towards her, slowly at first and then faster, running, with his huge beautiful smile beaming across his face, and hugged her in a way that was obvious to anyone looking how much he loved and missed her.  It was as glorious a reunion as could be.  And after the hug, well, I don’t know what exactly happened, but my guy, the snail, was so excited that he actually started running.  A lot.   He participated in this SNAP activity better than any other activity we have ever done.  He loved it.  He laughed the whole time, skipped around, and each week, asked with anticipation, “5 more days to Track?!”  I know our success was due to Alyce.   And we can’t thank her enough. 

Coleman also participated in ice skating, happily inching along the ice, enjoying the buzz of people around him, even though he hates skates and is not a big fan of helmets.  We also attended a super fun play group at the Rec Center where Coleman jumped in a bouncy house and went down inflatable slides with so many other kids, both special needs and typical (siblings).  He loved every minute. Both of those programs were run by SNAP.   There are more and more programs offered each year, enabling Coleman and so many others like him, the chance to participate in activities within our own community that would otherwise be unavailable to him.  We couldn’t be more grateful to everyone involved.