Special Olympics and self image

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School wants our 7 yo to participate in special olympics. Caleb is very close to other kids in athletic ability and we fear that his participation in the SO will lower his overall self image. i want to do what's right for Caleb and am asking other parents how they feel regarding this issue? Thanks- Paul

I'm not a parent, but I ain't too crazy about the idea myself. As a kid, I was integrated into the mainstream and would probably feel ostracized if I was put into anything "special".

If you want your kid to grow up well, I recommend letting him grow up among normal kids. I did pretty well in that setting, but that's just me. I'm pretty high-functioning so yea.

If Caleb is developing at the same rate as other kids with regard to his physical ability, then I wouldn't put him in the special olympics. I think it is more for kids with physical challenges.

I think you have good reason to go with your gut.

That being said, Special Olympics is more than just sports - they do have coaches who understand developmental differences, and offer kids the opportunity to manage social issues, etc. in a supportive environment. You might want to check it out on your own and if you think your child might benefit from it, you could see if he could do both. It kind of depends on whether they have opportunities for mainstreamed, higher-functioning kids that make sense and a way to manage them that doesn't take away from their current level of success.

I kind of wish I'd participated in Special Olympics. However, I have significant motor coordination issues - not enough to be considered physically disabled by most definitions, but enough that I find it very difficult to participate in sports.

I'd say, don't avoid 'special' activities out of fear of stigmatizing him - that sends a message that his differences are something he should be ashamed of. But don't force him into it if he doesn't want to do it. Personally, I recommend signing him up for both integrated and special programs, and seeing what he prefers.

Even if you're high functioning enough to participate among the typical kids, there's something to be said for at least having the experience of not being the weirdest kid in the room for once.

Why does the school want him to do this? How does your son feel about it?

I think you are 100% on the money in that this will affect his self-image and honestly I think it's also an invitation for bullying.

The adult Special Olympics are for people with learning disabilities, who may or may not have physical disabilties as well. I think you might be getting the Special Olympics confused with the Paralympics.

Ah



I'd be curious as to Caleb's feelings on this matter too. If he is interacting with nuerotypical kids successfully, it might be to his disadvantage to participate.

Agreed.

No harm in looking into it. When my adult daughter was director of a sailing center in Charleston SC, the Special Olympics approached the center about teaching some of the special athletes to sail the small racing boats used in One Design races. There are Special Olympic sailing teams and regattas. In other words; there is probably a lot more to the Special Olympics than one might expect.

http://www.charlestoncommunitysailing.o ... lolympics/

http://www.shyc.us/specialolympics.html

This has got me thinking. Does your child have Aspergers/HFA or some other type of autism? Would you consider your child to have an intellectual disability, alongside the autism, resulting in them having a lower than average IQ? If so, then I'd say definitely go for it. If not, then you have other things to consider.

As a parent of a 7yr old athletic girl, with Aspergers, I was curious as to whether she would qualify for the Special Olympics. Eligibility for entry to the Special Olympics includes having an IQ of less than 70-75 (the fact that it's a range actually doesn't make sense to me ). Her IQ has never been tested, but I presume it's a good bit higher than average. So, I'm pretty certain she wouldn't qualify. Therefore, if she was to enter the Olympics, it would be the standard ones. I'm not saying that my daughter is good enough to do that, but I wouldn't see the point in her competing alongside kids who might qualify for Special Olympics, when the bar for her to enter any sort of competition would be much higher. I'm not a snob. I would do anything that would help my daughter progress. I just feel that competing against kids with learning disabilities would be pointless, in her case.

She attends a mainstream athletics club, as does another child with Aspergers. Physically, she's the most able in the class and she stands as good a chance as anyone else of being an elite athlete. She doesn't have dyspraxia or hypermobility or any other physical issues often associated with autism. There are issues with her concentration, executive functioning and sensory processing, but those will have to be gotten around, if she's to continue with athletics into adulthood, competitively. If it was just a hobby, then I would probably consider 'Special Olympics' type teams. But, for now, it's looking like more than just that.

There's a new category in the Paralympics for intellectual disability, but, yet again, it requires the athlete to have a lower than average IQ. The UK has a swimmer in this category, who has a diagnosis of Aspergers (Jessica-Jane Applegate), but this must be really unusual, as an Aspergers diagnosis is supposed to require the person to have at least an average IQ.

I was asked about this after my Asperger Dx, my IQ is normal range or better. I declined becouse I did not care for physical sports like that and felt I was good enough at other things therefore making the Special Olympics and any emotional gain from it not nessesary. I also felt I was not disabled enough for it to be right, in hindsight while I would have had one of the higher IQ's, i'm sure my physical abillity would have appeared fairly normal for it, even at my age a 7 year old can beat me at most things. I think the Special Olympics carry a bit of a stigma, actually reading fourms and facebook their often the punch line to meny jokes so i'd tread carefully. Caleb will likely know best what to do is every class and child is different, I would not override his choice.

The sailing sounds like fun though.

This. Unless your child has a low IQ in addition to autism, I think Special Olympics is a very bad idea. Sends the wrong message to both the child and the community about the nature of autism.

It would be great if there was an in-between option. Kids like my oldest that have significant enough motor delays to make participation in regular sports an exercise in frustration and humiliation, but do not have either the low IQ or cerebral palsy level of motor delay to make participation in Special Olympics a comfortable option.

THIS!

I sure wish there was a way to get my son in a physical activity where he's not the weird kid.

It has nothing to do with his physical abilities, and everything to do with not fitting in. He's way too aware, so would not be interested in special olympics, but I sure would like there to be a weird kid sports outlet...

I have similar concerns about a local program called Miracle League Baseball. They pair each player with an able "buddy", and that just doesn't seem like the right model for my son. He violently resists having an aide of any sort. At the same time, he would have trouble in regular sports without some sort of behavioral assistance. Someone I talked to today suggested that he could be the able "buddy" paired with someone more impacted, which would likely be more acceptable to him and give him the feeling of being "in charge". We might try it...