An interesting quote below on how a parent of an Autistic child can face their child’s disorder and try to create something special out of it. The friend mentioned involved in the Tennis camp I think refers to Shannon, mentioned in an above post. Shannon is involved in the Well Served Tennis Academy - based in Simsbury, Connecticut, the Academy seeks to teach children with autism the lifelong sport of tennis…
Below is a report from the founder of a newly created Tennis for Autism group in Cleburne, Texas. The person organising this seems to have a psychology-background and wants to focus on children on the more severe end of the Autistic Spectrum, which is welcome given the difficulty that many parents have in getting these children into activities…
Various Tennis events help to act as fundraisers for organisations associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Because Tennis is such a popular spectator sport, there are many household names (for example former tennis professionals) around who are glad to give up some of their time for a good cause. These ex-players help to draw the crowds of course and the funding. In the below quoted passage for example, former professional Gigi Fernandez came along - she actually has a relative with Autism which made the event even more meaningful for her…
In a post of mine from late last year, I mentioned Robert Austin, a Harvard Business School professor.
Similarly, an adaptive Tennis program for children with Autism being developed in Getzville, New York by Brian and Pam may also give these instructors ideas that could be used to improve their teaching of ‘neurotypical’ kids…
One issue that may be a problem for kids with Autism and their often busy parents is accessibility to sporting facilities. While there are quite a few special needs Tennis programs around the United States, it would be quite a coincidence if a family with a child with Autism lived near one. If a child with Autism wanted to try going to classes with the mainstream kids (located in a convenient location) that might be problematic as well - the Autistic child might take longer to learn the sport, have difficulty with behaviour and social interactions, and might require a lot more one-on-one time with the instructor then others.
A model like that of Elftennis might be a solution - it is a portable tennis school based in New York, NY. Elftennis offers indoor tennis lessons using portable nets and oversize foam balls…
In a post above, I mentioned the involvement of the American Taekwondo Association (ATA) in helping with the correct instruction of kids with Autism in that sport.
Similarly, the Tennis hierarchy has been involved in trying to ensure that kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders are able, wherever possible, to get suitable quality instruction for their sport. Here is a blurb from the United States Tennis Association (USTA) website:
A combination of a great, devoted coach and two devoted parents can certainly play a strong part in sporting success for someone with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Here is an example of 18-year-old Nick and Tennis…
In an above post, I mentioned Elftennis in New York, NY. Elftennis, a portable Tennis school, uses oversized foam balls, right-sized racquets, and smaller portable nets to make the game easier for young children with special needs.
Similarly, Vicky (Nick’s coach in the post just above) stresses the importance of adapting the conditions to effectively instruct Tennis to someone with an Autism Spectrum Disorder…
Here is an abstract of a Turkish study by Yanadarg et al published last year focusing on the success of the Least to Most (LTM) Prompting procedure for instructing tennis to kids with Autism.
LTM prompting provides the least intrusive prompt–thus allowing the opportunity to respond more to the learner’s needs. This prompting strategy is practicable if there is no real hurry to complete a task, such as when teaching a learner to participate in a leisure activity. When you continue to use high levels of prompts throughout teaching, the student may appear to be learning, but instead might be prompt dependent.
Many neurotypical people are often, for various reasons, quite a bit better at, and more interested in, sports than those with Autism Spectrum Disorders. This means that someone should be able to instruct Autistics who are of the same age extent at a sport like Tennis even if they are no pro tennis player themselves. For an example of impressive hard work and organisation, a New jersey high school girl has managed to set up a program to teach Tennis to kids with Autism Spectrum Disorders…
In the above post, the girl worked as a volunteer in the Special Olympics.
The Special Olympics offer an opportunity for athletes with Autism Spectrum Disorders to get true recognition and medals in their particular sports. Here is part of an article on a tennis tournament for the Special Olympics…
Another tennis program for special needs kids is Love Tennis, housed at Maryland Farms YMCA of Brentwood, Tennessee. Founded in 2001 by Beth Williamson, a speech pathologist and professional tennis instructor, Love Tennis seems to have a well thought out, analytical approach involving medical professionals to get the best results for the special needs individual…
The various therapists at the Tennessee-based tennis program for special needs kids, Love Tennis, of course also get rewards from seeing improvement in their challenged clients…
In an above post I mentioned a high school student who has got involved in teaching the game of tennis to Autistic kids.
Another high school student who tried to do this is 16-year-old Ashkay, who was involved in Eastern Pennsylvania boys tennis. He had been giving tennis lessons to Asa, a 7-year-old with High Functioning Autism. Over 5 months of tennis lessons, Ahkay noted some definite improvement and behavioural changes with Asa:
16-year-old Ashkay was involved in Eastern Pennsylvania boys tennis. He had been giving tennis lessons for 5 months to Asa, a 7-year-old with High Functioning Autism. Ahkay noted one thing that might not happen so often with neurotypical kids:
I think you have to allow for these things when working with people with Autism and see why they have ‘off’ days. If you have figured out the reason why that is, you can try wherever possible to minimise the amount of ‘off’ days…
Asa’s ‘off’ days are reminiscent, perhaps, of an employee from Specialisterne having an off day and not turning up to work (see quoted passage below)…
Why might people with Autism Spectrum Disorders be prone to more ‘off’ days than the rest of the population?
One issue is that they are often highly sensitive. This could mean that they are extra-sensitive to loud noise, to certain textures, to bright lights and various other things. Any one of these things may tick them off, resulting in off days.
With regards to a tennis lesson or a workday, something like ensuring sleep is optimised every single night may reduce the number of ‘off’ days. I have already mentioned a number of things that may help optimise sleep for Autistics:
Why might people with Autism Spectrum Disorders be prone to more ‘off days’ (and even ‘off weeks’ as in the above quote) than the rest of the population?
One issue is that they are often highly sensitive. This could mean that they are extra-sensitive to loud noise, to certain textures, to bright lights and various other things such as sleep-related problems. Any one of these things may put them off track, resulting in ‘off days’ or just more time in a day when individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders are far from their best.
Lessening the number of ‘off days’ is probably possible for someone with an Autism Spectrum Disorder. However it is far from a perfect process and there are likely to always be ‘off’ days in a given period (more so than in the neurotypical population anyway).
A process of continuous improvement is likely to give the greatest results in terms of limiting (rather than completely eliminating) ‘off’ days. Ensuring interventions are journaled properly should also result in the more successful ones being utilised properly - see my post on the AutismTrack mobile journaling program for a useful tool in that regard.
16-year-old Ahskay understood the importance of trying to improve an approach he took that is already quite successful (in teaching an Autistic child to play tennis)…
Overcoming a person’s personal barriers may result in breakthroughs in other areas. For example in the quoted passage below 16-year-old Ahskay writes about how the 7-year-old that he is instructing in tennis, Asa, has a problem with regards to not being able to use his left hand on top of his right hand to hit. If this issue is resolved, for example via strength training, it might open up doors in other areas for Asa. It might lead him to gain confidence in surmounting other obstacles in life as well as opening the door to other sporting and physical activities (which may require the regular use of both arms)…
For those kids with Autism who would prefer not to leave the house for their exercise, the Nintendo Wii may offer alternative option to actually going to a Tennis court for example. Below is a quoted passage on the benefits of a Wii for children with Autism from a parent of a child with the condition:
Summary of why the Wii has been great for our son with Autism:
Here is someone talking about some success with the Nintendo Wii Fit for their Autistic child. This is a video game system that allows the user to physically interact with games – including tennis, bowling, golf, etc. The great advantage for this system, again, is the convenience of not having to leave the house to get some kind of workout…