SACO’s CK Barnes School staff look forward to expanding their athletics programs for special needs students thanks to a $7,000 grant from the Special Olympics Foundation.
Money will be directed towards a unified champion school project. CK Burns has 12 special needs students currently participating in the program and 12 non-terminal students acting as “partners.”
On Wednesday, Samantha Goodchild, a special education teacher at the school, was overseeing a group of students who shot a basket at the school’s gym. Goodchild says that the school regularly attends Special Olympics, but the program is relevant, but technically separate from that competition.
Wearing a T-shirt decorated with the logo that reads “Spread Inclusion,” Goodchild said that inclusion is the theme that drives the program. It encourages students who have special needs and who do not have special needs to work together.
“We use regular peers as role models to help us teach the skills we need to play the game,” she said.
The school first launched its program last year, and the lessons have already spread beyond athletics, Goodchild said.
“We see it in the hallway. We see it in the playground, so when the kids are looking at someone, they may not have anyone to play in the break. We do all this inclusive work, so they invite their kids to say they don’t usually have.
The school’s principal, April Noble, said he has so far received very positive feedback from the programme from both students and staff.
“The staff are really excited to be able to see them in a more mainstream setting than in the classroom, and they are really proud to be able to recognize them in the hallways,” she said.
Vice Principal Thomas Partridge said the money was directed towards expanding the project. Now he said, it includes basketball and soccer, but with the grant, the program will add Bocce this spring.
“It’s a bit of a simple game and something they can do outside,” he said.
Money will also be directed to new equipment such as smaller, lighter basketball and special basketball hoops that are lower and easier to reach.
“It’s fun to have kids get it in the hoop,” he said.
