Written by Reece Goodwin, Exercise and Physical Activity Therapist, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust
Supporting children with additional needs to participate in physical activity over the summer holidays.
During the Summer Holidays, Ryegate Children's Centre Therapy Team (part of Sheffield Children's Hospital) held a Summer Spectacular, which included a number of taster and fitness bootcamp sessions, for children with Physical and Learning Disabilities and Autism. The purpose of this was to get as many children as possible active over the holidays. Many families with children with additional needs, struggle to find fully inclusive sessions to join in with to enable participation in physical activity.
Overall, 41 referrals were received from Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists from the Mainstream and DCD community therapy teams. Referrals from other teams across the trust accounted for 2 out of the total. A total of 23 children attended at least one activity session, this therefore means that 53.48% of the overall referrals attended at least one session.
Groups included Football, Boccia, Fitness Bootcamp, Dance and Walking; all with the aim of increasing physical activity. During sessions, additional information of suitable groups was given out to enable families and children to pursue any activities they enjoyed.
One parent said "Great dance sessions. It is difficult to find structured activities for children with additional needs over the summer holiday, so these sessions were very welcomed".
Whilst another parent said ""Fun atmosphere, we had good opportunities to chat to people he didn't know which is great for his communication. Walk was just the right length. The therapy dogs added extra entertainment; therefore, our child had a good workout without feeling it was a big effort. Thank you so much for organising these events".
There were a number of organisations involved in the delivery of the sessions, such as Spotlight School of Dance, Sheffield Smasher, Sport Sheffield and Dogs for Therapy. It was a great way to connect the healthcare sector with sport and physical activity, to help reduce the barriers to participation children with additional needs face on a regular basis.
There are future plans to develop additional programmes to encourage physical activity participation for children and families within Sheffield Children's Hospital.
If there are any organisations who would like to help in providing fully inclusive and accessible activities, please email Reece Goodwin on reece.goodwin@nhs.net (Exercise and Physical Activity Therapist).