Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month

Last year during a treatment session, I had been telling one of my adolescent patients, let’s call him Oliver, about attending a Red Wings game over the weekend. Oliver asked me a few questions about the game of hockey, which I did my best to answer correctly. Later during our treatment session Oliver suggested that we play hockey during his therapy that evening. Although I had a plan in my head for how the treatment was to commence, I decided to challenge us both and incorporate hockey into our work that day. The challenge for me was to find a way in which I could adapt the usual game of hockey into a task that would provide my patient a beneficial treatment session, all while giving him a taste of how hockey is played. Oliver’s challenge would be to successfully complete whatever tasks I came up with, which had the potential to be pretty outrageous!

As many of you know, here at Crawl Walk we like to challenge ourselves as therapists to provide creative and fun therapy interventions for our patients. Despite the fact that Oliver has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair as primary mobility, I was not willing to turn down his suggestion. I proceeded to find a goalie net and small hockey stick to incorporate into our game. Throughout the remainder of the session, Oliver was able to practice his trunk control and strengthen his core in multiple positions while using both arms to maneuver the hockey stick and aim a small ball into the net. With the help of a technician and support fromthe spider cage, I was able to provide Oliver with the “therapy hockey experience”. He was so excited that we had to bring his parents in from the lobby so he could demonstrate his new skills.

I understand that as a therapist, I have a special responsibility to create more opportunity for my patients. Adapting activities to the needs of individuals with developmental disabilities is not always as difficult as it may seem – you can do it too! I would like to encourage you all to keep this in mind, as you may have the chance to help increase the participation of an individual with a developmental disability. It may only require a small change or an added piece of equipment. One adaptation may even spark the interest of others who are observing and have a much larger impact than we realize.

While I was researching for this week’s blog, I came across a short video about an organization in Ireland teaching others how to coach and adapt sports for participants with disabilities (watch it below!). This organization uses Disability Inclusion Training to teach proper terminology, safety precautions and various adaptations in an effort to increase participation in activities of all types. They also encourage their participants to get creative and adapt activities of their own, or even make up games which are easily modified for various appropriate functional abilities. Participants in Disability Inclusion Training may include teachers, volunteers, sports coaches or special education assistants who are interested in learning new ways to increase participation.

This video made me think of my previous patient’s story above and just how important it is for individuals with developmental disabilities to participate in consistent physical activity. Consistent participation in physical activity is not only good for physical function, but emotional capacity as well. Everyone needs to simply feel included. Now imagine the possibilities if adaptive courses similar to this were more widespread!

We love to hear about the activities our patients are involved in, as well as how other activities can be modified for increased ease of participation. If you ever have the opportunity to impact the participation of individuals with developmental disabilities, please remember that creativity is key! A small amount of effort can go a long way.

While not everyone is directly involved in these types of tasks, you can still make a difference in developmental disability awareness. This year, the National Association of Councils on Developmental Disabilities, or NACDD, is launching their “Side-by-Side” Campaign to raise awareness for inclusion of those with developmental disabilities. Visit http://nacdd.org/home/ for more information and see the difference you, your families, and even your coworkers can make this month!

Thanks for reading!

Kendell Myers, PT, DPT
Physical Therapist