Opportunity Sports

As you will know, the focus of this blog is very much on inclusion.  It is often difficult however for our children to fully take part in mainstream sport activities.  Also, if they are skilled in an activity and want to take it further, the route to more serious sport is very much differentiated.  As a result, many of the sport activities we do are specifically for those with additional support needs.

On the blog, there has already been posts  on riding, cp football and skiing and over the next few months plan to further  posts on special swimming groups and Boccia.  If your child attends any sport or activity group not covered and you would like to do a guest post on it please message me.

If you are looking for a sport activity for your child then I strongly recommend you contact your local area disability sports group.  These come under the overall umbrella of ScottishDisability sports and support people with disabilities at all levels of their activity from entry up to Paralympic and commonwealth games levels.   

We live in Fife and the organisation there run grass roots boccia, swimming and other activities while at the same time supporting top competitors such as Kieran Steer (Boccia)and Craig Rodgie (swimming) achieving their goals.  The team are very approachable and will offer support in finding an activity that is most assessable for your child and give advice and help in finding any specialist equipment that may be needed.  Further information and their current timetable of events can be found here.

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Within the Edinburgh area, many activities are coordinated through High Flyers, with Edinburgh Liesure and you can get contact details for this here.

You will find details of what’s on in your local area on the Scottish Disability sports website here http://www.scottishdisabilitysport.com/sds/index.cfm/sport/regional-opportunities/.  For more detailed information about each group, check your local council sports and leisure website.

"I cannot resist, I must draw"

The quote from Beatrix Potter sums up E's love of drawing.  She's always looking to find ways to create pictures and is now making line drawings using her communication device.   She still loves to draw on paper though and it's our solutions to this that I thought would be worth sharing.

Dycem

The biggest issue we have is keeping the paper in place while drawing.  Pressure comes both from the drawing hand and the spare hand pulling and crumpling the paper.  We tried a Dycem mat, but it was too soft to draw on,  we tried blue tack but it didn't bond to the table and we tried selotape but then you have selotape all over your drawing.





Our solution, the post-it note.  

We have used successfully for a number of years 3Ms post-it sketch and stick pad for kids.  This is white A4 paper with post-it sticky along the top shorter edge.  It keeps the paper in place a treat and can be used either way up so making the majority of the paper available for drawing.  Unfortunately 3M no longer sell it in the UK (but do in the US) but it can sometime be found on ebay and Amazon for a reasonable price.

Post-it

 
We have also tried an alternative giant sticky note.  This is a square of yellow paper with sticky along one edge.  It works well even if it is a little big and can also be used either way up.  This is a bit more expensive and can be found at both Amazon and the Present Finder. 

Giant Sticky

3M also have an A4 super sticky (whole sheet) in a collection of bright colours but this is currently only available in the US so we haven't yet had the opportunity to test it out.

Please do share what solutions you have come up with. 

Guest Post - Syngenta Juvenile CP Squad - Guest Post

This month marks the one year anniversary of our first cerebral palsy football event.  Within that year we have gone from strength to strength gaining the support from the SFA and Scottish disability Sport.  Both of these are very exciting, but not as exciting as the players becoming the first ambulant cerebral palsy grass roots football team in Scotland. To celebrate our 1 year anniversary the players were presented with their Syngenta Juvenile kits representing full integration to the Syngenta Juvenile family. 

Our team is unique, every person involved understands the daily struggles involved with having cerebral palsy and during training sessions these difficulties disappear.  The focus here at little Kerse, where we train, is on ability, team work and recognising individuals strengths. Training involves working hard developing and learning new skills, learning about the clubs history, game practice and most importantly having fun.   There is fantastic skill and commitment demonstrated every month but most importantly there is always laughter. We may well have some future stars here and finally they have the platform to shine.


Anyone interested in finding out more about playing football with a "disability" should follow the appropriate link:

Scottish Football Association
Welsh Football Trust

For an overview of the various team structures together with details of teams throughout the UK, try disability football.  And if all you want to do is go watch football then the try Level Playing Field in England and Wales of the club direct in Scotland.