Including All Kids in Youth Sports and Complying with the ADA

WE WANT TO PLAY TOO!
Including All Kids in Youth Sports and Complying with the ADA

Author: Cindy Burkhour

Can children with disabilities participate successfully in youth sports programs? Absolutely! ALL Kids have different levels of ability. ALL kids have unique skills and abilities. ALL children can and do benefit from the experience of being a part of a team. Children who have disabilities also have unique skills, different levels of abilities and benefit the same as other kids from the youth sports experience. Kids with disabilities are "children first and foremost" with the same dreams and aspirations as other kids! The only difference is that they happen to have a condition which may affect some of their abilities and skills.

Unfortunately, some of these kids, who have "different" abilities from a physical, sensory or learning disability, have been denied participation in youth sports programs with their peers who do not have disabilities. One of the concerns that comes up quite often is from coaches who question their own qualifications and abilities to work with kids who have disabilities. There is a perception out there somewhere that you must be a specialist of some kind to include kids with disabilities. Fortunately this is not a correct perception. What a coach needs, is to be a good coach who truly appreciates the unique individual qualities of all children. When good coaching or leading techniques and positive principles are applied, youth sport coaches can include ALL kids. When there is a need for some additional information about a particular child's needs for assistance to be successfully included, there are people, both professionals and volunteers, that can be consulted for making specific adaptations or accommodations. Some of those resource people may include family or friends of the child, a therapeutic recreation specialist, physical therapist, or the child's teacher.

Including children with disabilities in typical youth sports can be a positive experience for everyone! The most important positive impact is on the child with a disability. But, this inclusive participation helps other kids on the team families to recognize and appreciate the differences we all have and to value all individual contributions to the total youth sports experience. Including kids with disabilities in activities with their peers who do not have disabilities is a concept and major guiding principle of the Americans with Disabilities Act. This law provides us with an opportunity to truly welcome all children into youth sports. Coaches are the "key players" that can make youth sports and recreation participation enjoyable, successful and accessible to ALL children.

The ADA and Youth Sports:

What is the Americans with Disabilities Act?
* broad sweeping civil rights legislation

* insures the rights of people with disabilities:
to be included in all aspects of community life
to enjoy the full benefits of participation
to be served in the most integrated setting

Who are the 43 million Americans with disabilities protected by this law?
* People First! who happen to have a mental or physical impairment that substantially affects one or more major life functions like learning, mobility, seeing, hearing, communication, self-care or independence.

* a person with a disability is someone's child or parent, someone's neighbor and friend, an aunt or cousin, someone's co-worker or class mate, they live in houses on streets in neighborhoods, they go to regular schools, have real jobs, play sports, have fun, they are more like us than different from us.

* any one of us can become a person with a disability at any time, any player on your team, any parent or sibling, any volunteer or you, we are all temporarily able bodied

So what does this law have to do with youth sports?
* the law tells us to fully include kids with disabilities in our activities with their peers who do not have disabilities

* the law tells us to provide reasonable accommodations to help a child participate and enjoy the typical benefits all kids get from participation in youth sports


Participation Expectations:

What do kids with disabilities and their families want out of youth sports and Recreation participation? Nothing very different from other kids and families!

all kids wants to be included, no one wants to be left out
all kids want to improve and be recognized for there own skill development
all kids want to be appreciated for their contribution to the team
all kids want to be successful participants
all kids want to be accepted by others, and be friends with their team mates
all kids want to have fun in sports

Inclusion Strategies:

What kinds of adaptations, assistance or accommodations might need to be made? Making an adaptation or providing individual support is done based on the individual child's need for assistance to be successfully included and to participate with all the other kids. Sometimes it means making an exception in the rules or how one particular activity of the game is performed by that one child based on his skills and abilities. For example, sometimes it is as simple as allowing a player who uses a wheelchair to have a "pusher" to assist with base running. This means that two players are together running the bases and we make it clear that the child using the wheelchair is the player to be tagged out, not the "pusher", because the pusher is simply providing the leg power. Sometimes the accommodation is utilizing some adapted equipment in the game like using a bright yellow basketball so a child who has a visual impairment can more effectively see the ball during play. This alteration is made to assist the child to have a more equal opportunity for successful participation. Accommodations and supports are not designed to give the child with a disability or his team an unfair advantage, but are designed rather to remove the barriers to participation that put that child and or his team at an unfair playing disadvantage. Keep in mind that there are no universal adaptations that work for all kids with similar disabilities. Each child is unique and the accommodations made, need to address their individual needs.

How can youth sport coaches figure out how to fully include all kids?
* skill assessments/task analysis - clearly identify all of the physical, sensory, learning, communication, socialization skills needed to be successful by looking at participation from beginning to end of the activity

* focus on maximizing abilities - utilizing individual strengths, remember not everyone has to do every aspect of every sport, independently to be successful!

* ask for accommodation ideas - child, family, teachers, recreation therapist, physical therapist, and particularly other kids because they will truly come up with the most unobtrusive adaptations that won't get in the way of the "fun"!

Adaptations can be made by making adjustments in:
leading/teaching/communication
positions field/court placement
performance expectations
rules of the game

What will the other parents and coaches think?
* may not understand the importance of inclusion or even concept
* may question legalities of adaptation/accommodation
* may express safety concerns for all players or participants
* parents of kids with disabilities may not be/feel accepted

How will inclusion affect other players or participants? How will it affect the other teams played or people in the public you may encounter?
* may have questions about "differentness"
* question fairness of accommodations and adaptations
* kids may need support to foster interaction
* questions can generate great support ideas that don't interfere

Why should we do this?

Children with disabilities can definitely participate successfully in youth sports programs!

ALL children can and do benefit from the experience of being a part of a team.

Kids with disabilities are "children first and foremost" with the same dreams and aspirations as other kids!

Including children with disabilities in typical youth sports can be a positive experience for everyone! This inclusive participation helps other kids on the team and their families to recognize and appreciate the differences we all have and to value all individual contributions to the total youth sports experience.