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‘A lifetime of activity’
UNT class helps kids of all abilities get moving07:08 AM CDT on Monday, September 28, 2009
Moira Pierce laughs as she watches Andrew Jackson twist his hips to keep a pink hula hoop off the ground.
The 6-year-old hasn’t tried to hula hoop before, but Jackson, a University of North Texas student, is coaxing her to try, and soon she’s jumping through the hoop like a jump rope.
Jackson is a member of a UNT kinesiology class that focuses on teaching physical activity to special populations, in particular children with disabled motor skills.
About 50 children ages 3 through 12 participate in the program, which started nearly five years ago to teach UNT students how to work with children like Moira, who has delayed motor skills.
The UNT students develop group lesson plans involving age-appropriate activities — such as running, throwing, skipping, hopping, kicking and learning to ride a bike — that can improve children’s motor skills, said kinesiology professor Simon Driver.
The university students could get lectured for hours on how to work with children with special needs, but it’s more effective for them to develop lesson plans and apply them in a real situation, he said.
“The key piece is that we teach kids physical education so they can learn to have a lifetime of activity,” Driver said. “This better positions these children to participate in activities and have the social skills to participate on teams or in sports.”
Although the afternoon classes cater to children with developmental or physical disabilities, children without disabilities participate as well to help build social skills learned through group interactions.
Moira’s siblings don’t have special needs, but they are playing alongside their groups throughout the gym, said their father, Kit Pierce.
“All the kids with all different abilities get mixed in and tested on the same thing,” he said. “And the [UNT] students get hands-on experience with these kids as they learn their craft.”
For the most part, parents sit on the sidelines as their children play, but are encouraged to participate in the class and offer tips to the university students.
Connor Baumgarten, 7, is autistic and needed to be reined in a little more, but this was only the second week with his assigned UNT instructors, said his mother, Sharon Baumgarten.
“Don’t let him be in charge; be grown-ups,” she told the two UNT students playing with him.
Those instructing autistic children need to be both firm and patient, she said.
“Typically, for a normal child, it takes six attempts to learn a concept. But for autistic children, those attempts are up in the 40s,” Sharon Baumgarten said. “It takes much more focus [on the part of the instructor], much more input and much more time.”
Both Connor and his 9-year-old sister, Elle, have participated in the program since it began and it has been successful for the family, she said.
Often, Connor would “go crazy,” Elle Baumgarten said, but since starting the program again this fall “he’s calmed down and he’s not as wild.”
The program also means Connor isn’t in adaptive physical education anymore at his school, Sharon Baumgarten said.
“It’s magic,” she said. “It means Connor has come so far, and I can look and say that’s awesome.”
For more information on the program, call 940-565-3403 or e-mail Driver at simon.driver@unt.edu .
CANDACE CARLISLE can be reached at 940-566-6889. Her e-mail address is ccarlisle@dentonrc.com .
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