BENGALURU: Children with disability should not be isolated and confined for fear of injury, experts say. Every child is capable of participating in sports and games, and must be encouraged.
The benefits of sports are manifold. Physically, it helps improve muscle power, tone and range of movement as well as co-ordination. A child moves his muscles more happily in the name of sports than in the name of therapy or exercise.
“Emotionally, sports provides a platform for the child to spend quality time with peers and promotes a lot of joy, self-esteem, confidence and a true sense of belonging. Involving a child in sports can help avoid or reduce the risk of behavioural problems arising from seclusion,” said Dr Shilpa Sridharamurthy, Special Educator, St John’s Centre for Children with Special Needs, attached to St John’s Medical College and Hospital.
The playground is also an amazing learning ground for children to build their social skills. Learning how to behave in a group, understanding how team agendas rise above personal agendas, waiting for one’s turn, sacrifice, sportsmanship, learning to win as well as to lose with dignity are among the many pearls of wisdom that the playground bequeaths to the child.
Cognitively, sports and games help to increase the concentration and attention span and reduce hyperactivity, thereby improving learning abilities. Interestingly enough, children can even learn a lot of math while playing sports by taking part in keeping scores and related activities, Dr Shilpa Shridharamurthy told City Express.
Health-wise, sports helps build physical strength and immunity, thereby keeping a lot of illnesses at bay. Considering that Vitamin D deficiency is on the rise, something as simple as playing in the sun would help build up Vitamin D stores in the body, keeping the bones healthy. Also, for many children, their disabilities could pre-dispose them to obesity due to a sedentary lifestyle.
This can be avoided by encouraging the child to participate in any activity of interest.
Inclusion Games
In keeping with the advancements in the world around us, and the government’s efforts towards inclusion, some terms that every parent should be aware of are ‘Adapted Physical Education’, ‘Paralympics’, ‘Deaflympics and ‘Special Olympics’. Adapted physical education is a branch of physical education that deals with making modifications in sports activities to enable children with disabilities to participate more appropriately alongside children without disabilities. Many physical education trainers in schools can opt to be trained in this field to ensure inclusive participation of all children at school.
Special Olympics, Deaflympics and Paralympics refer to multi-sports events that are conducted for children with intellectual disabilities, hearing impairment and physical disabilities and parents should encourage their children to seek training and participate in events, Dr Shilpa Shridharamurthy said.
Saumil Majmudar, Co-Founder and CEO of EduSports, has partnered with many schools and come out with a research paper. It discusses the role of sports education in the development of children with special education needs, characterised by severe co activity and sports on children with special needs.
Everything Uphill
Children with special needs face individual challenges that make even simple acts an uphill battle because of their neurological make-up and differently abled bodies. Children with disability are more likely to be overweight and could suffer from osteoporosis, reduced cardiovascular fitness and related medical issues. Other problems they are faced with are decreased self-esteem and social acceptance, leading to a greater dependence on others for their daily living.
Studies have shown that regular participation in sports can encourage independence, coping abilities, competitiveness, and teamwork among children with disabilities.
So What’s a Good Sport?
The following sports are known to benefit children with learning disabilities:
◆ Swimming helps children in coordinating their motor movements and balancing themselves.
◆ Water activities help children with developmental disabilities feel relaxed.
◆ Yoga helps to increase focus and develop motor movements.
◆ Running or any form of rigorous physical activity helps children vent out their energy and focus better.
◆ Activities like passing the ball and dribbling works on gross motor skills and hand-eye coordination.
Hydrotherapy Benefits
◆ A team in Anadolu University in Turkey studied the effects of water exercises and swimming on motor performance and physical fitness in children with development disabilities.
◆ The children were invited to become familiar with the pool. After 10 weeks of swimming training, not only did the children’s balance, speed, agility and strength increase, but also they also showed a corresponding increase in hand grip, upper and lower extremity muscle strength, flexibility and cardio-respiratory endurance.