Get in the game

As the mom of a five-year-old with autism, I know firsthand that parents of kids with special needs are constantly reminded that our lives are different. The biggest red flag for me is the hordes of overscheduled children I see being shuffled around from soccer and dance lessons to art and music classes. I can’t imagine our being part of a scenario as commonplace as my son swinging a bat at Little League practice while I gab with other parents. Baseball requires the ability to follow instructions and the strength and coordination to hold up a bat—skills my Benjamin doesn’t have right now. Even if he could play, I’d be so worried that he might wander off or have a tantrum that I wouldn’t be able to relax. For many children with special needs, mainstream activities aren’t an option. But that doesn’t mean your kid shouldn’t have the chance to learn, say, karate. In fact, little ones with special needs can benefit from arts or sports programs as much as from traditional therapies. “They get to interact with other children, they strengthen their fine and gross motor skills, and they learn a wide range of new skills,” says Cecelia McCarton, M.D., a leading expert in developmental pediatrics and a clinical professor of pediatrics at New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine. “Plus, they get to have fun! Isn’t that what we should offer every child, whether they’re typical or have special needs?”

The Tagues of Astoria, Queens, were hoping for all of the above when they enrolled their then six-year-old son, Conor, who has a diagnosis of PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental disorder–not otherwise specified), an autism spectrum disorder, in a mainstream gymnastics class. They wanted him to have fun doing somersaults and walking the balance beam. But they knew there was a chance he’d have a hard time doing something new and out of his routine. “We explained to the instructor that Conor has special needs, and the guy was like, ‘Sure, we get those kinds of kids all the time,’ ” says Raymond Tague, Conor’s dad.

Then the first class rolled around. “A bunch of kids had to wait in line to tumble, and when it was Conor’s turn he didn’t do it correctly,” Tague recalls. “The instructor put his hands on him to adjust him, and Conor lost his mind.” Like many children on the autism spectrum, Conor is sensitive to touch and feels compelled to do things in a specific way. “The fact that he didn’t get it right was very upsetting to him. He threw a major tantrum—it was like World War III,” says Tague. The teacher seemed freaked out, and Conor refused to go back.

After similar experiences in mainstream soccer and baseball programs, the family finally found a winner. “We Googled ‘martial arts and special needs,’ and one of the first sites that popped up was East Side Tae Kwon Do,” says Tague. Last November, they registered Conor at the East 65th Street studio (see page 34), which caters to kids with special needs. He took to the lessons right away. “The fact that it’s such a structured and disciplined activity works with his temperament,” says Tague. The small class size—Conor has never been in a group of more than eight kids—helps, too. “My guy would get lost in a big class,” his father says.

Just six months after his first session, Conor was on his fifth belt, and he’s still going strong. “He’s better at these forms than some of the typical kids because he’s so detail-minded,” says Tague. “He works at it and he loves it. He feels like a Power Ranger!”

As many parents of kids with special needs know, finding a program where your son or daughter can shine—and where nobody is going to look at your child (or you) funny if he or she rolls around on the ground or makes weird noises for no apparent reason—is a challenge, but there’s no doubt about the payoff. Kids have a good time, learn something new and meet other youngsters like them. Their parents get a break—and the peace of mind that comes with knowing their children are in good hands.

The city is home to a surprising number of programs that are supportive of kids with special needs. They can be hard to hunt down—especially for parents who are busy coordinating therapy schedules and dealing with the bureaucracy and logistics of locating an appropriate school. That’s why Time Out Kids did the research for you. Read on to find dozens of activities, from art to tennis, for infants through teens.

Special needs resources for:
-art
-baseball
-dance
-gymnastics
-horseback riding
-martial arts
-music
-soccer
-swimming
-tennis
-after school/weekend programs

Specialties listed:
Aut: Autism spectrum disorders
Blind: All visual impairments
Deaf: All hearing impairments
Dev: Developmental and emotional disorders and Down syndrome
Phys: Physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy and paraplegia
All: No child is turned away.

See also:

Alternative Therapy | Say What?

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