WAG Special needs kids In regular class?

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aerialriver

Coach
Gymnast
I have some questions. Please understand I am not coming from a mean, cold hearted stance.

I had a new child try my rec. trampoline class tonight, he has cerebral palsy and ADHD. The Mother said he has no limitation and kind of tossed him in my class during the end of stretch with 8 other kids before I could talk to her in more detail. This class is for kids 5 and up I have kids 5-13 in it, from level 1-6 kids working tuck jumps to kids working back tucks. Several of them are already especially needy of my attention and cannot follow directions well.

The child needed basically 1 on 1 attention, he liked jumping but said no to everything else and then tried to run off during floor making me have to stop my class and chase after him. He seems like a good kid but I cannot see him being in a class right now. I also seriously wonder about the legality of it. As a gymnastics coach with no training am I supposed to be/allowed to be coaching special needs kids?

Unfortunately since he ran out of floor his Mom and him left before I had the chance to talk to her. She also signed him up for class every week. I told the office staff I may be willing to work with him privately and eventually he could join class but that is was just too much with all the other kids. I have a strong feeling the owner will disagree and allow him into my class. In the end I do not feel comfortable coaching him in class nor do I feel it is safe at all. If the owner does not agree do I have any valid arguments?
 
It is possible he will improve with exposure. But it is clearly a safety concern. Do you know why he ran off? How old is he? Perhaps another class at the gym is a better fit.
 
I have had a few special needs children in my classes previously. I also do not in any way mean to sound insensitive or judge mental, but it is incredibly difficult to attempt to control a special needs child while at the same time teaching class to the rest of the kids. It's not fair to either the special needs child nor the other children, IMHO.
I was fortunate in that my cases, the parents (most of them) did realize that there was an issue and attempted to assist and corral their child. Having the parents understand the difficulties and figuring out a way to work together to try to make it a positive experience for all the kids in the class is crucial. Ultimately, every one of the special needs children did not stay in the class very long, I would say the longest a few months.
I had a few cases where the parents either didn't quite realize what an issue it would be, or sad to say, appeared as if they could care less that their child was running around screaming, kicking me in the face and being MORE than disruptive. In one child's case, I just kept bringing her out to the parent every few minutes when she was acting up (yes, having to sit the other kids down, chase a kid who was screaming at the top of her lungs, being hit and kicked by said child) only to have them send her right back in after a minute or two of "oh sweetheart you have to try to listen a little better, now go on!". I was not sad when that little girl stopped coming after about a month...
In the cases where the parent would come out and assist, it somewhat worked. Those children was able to do most of the class, and the impact on the other children wasn't too bad.
If you could have an assistant coach, it may work. It does sound as if this child is going to need an "aide" to be specifically in charge of him.
Ideally, of course he should be allowed to take class with the other kids, but the honest truth is that most of the time it is far to difficult, practically speaking, to have moderate to severe special needs kids in regular classes with only one coach.
I really hope I did not come across as prejudice or insensitive. I'm simply speaking of the logistics of having any child that requires a LOT of extra special attention at the cost of being able to properly teach the other children in the class.
 
Does your gym not have a special needs class or system for working with special needs kids? If not, it seems as if you should use this child as the impetus to start one. I work in a big city and I am not aware of any gym in town that is not equipped for the situation you described. It's become standard & it's not only great for the kids who benefit, it's great for business.
 
In our area (greater L.A.) we have a programme called Big Fun. It's something where specialists come to your gym and work with the special needs kid in a one on one. They do different activities depending on how functional the child or things that need to be worked on such as fine motor skills, focusing, etc. Since the classes are one on one the kid gets more attention and guidance and it doesn't put stress on any other of the coaches or kids in the class. So if your city has one of these programmes it would be great for you gym to look into. :)
 
I think one big problem is that you have a class where you are trying to teach some kids tuck jumps and some kids back tucks. That is quite a concern, how are kids of such a basic level in the same class with kids learning back tucks? Even without these types of challenges this would be a very difficult class to teach.

This particular child would probably not be eligible to enrol in a special needs class. If he is not yet limited by his cerebral palsy then it would not be severe enough for him to warrant a physical Impairment class. In fact he would be much better off doing a regular class and being pushed to do as much as he can before the condition becomes limiting. It will make a huge difference to his development in the long run.

10% of children in the USA are diagnosed with ADHD (I tend to think its over diagnosed but that is another story). ADHD would also not qualify a child to be in a special needs class otherwise a very high percentage of children would not be able to take mainstream classes.

For boys in particular they can feel out of place doing something new. Many do not like to do something in front of everyone and then get it wrong. A lot of boys are hesitant to try things at first but then might go home and try and be willing to do it for you the next week. They also like to know what to expect and to understand the structure of the class so often the first class is not a good indication of how they are going to behave. They misbehave because they don't know what they are supposed to do. Many settle down after a few classes once they understand what is expected.
 
We have a full disability program in our gym that caters for children right through to adults, it covers both the physically and mentally disabled, classes are run in the day time for adults and severe disabled children/adults that are confined to wheel chairs, the non wheel chair uses go to classes in the late afternoon/early evenings. The gym offers recreational trampoline classes and recreational gymnastics classes with individual care plans for each child/adult. These classes are run by a qualified disability coach and either another coach or trainee coach in assistance.

The gym also has development trampoline and gymnastics sessions for some of the disabled children / adults that show some ability to train to do competitions - they also take part in The Special Olympics competitions and Disability NDP Grades.

In the gym my dd's go to most disabled children start in regular rec classes and get moved to the disability classes if they cannot cope in regular classes.

Is there no one available to assist you during the class if they say this child can stay in your class, having someone to help especially to provide support for this child will improve things for you, I have seen first hand what happens when the coach is on their own with a child with disabilities in their group, it is challenging to say the least.

Does your gym have disability classes? If so they might be a better fit for this child.
 
Right now we don't have special disability classes. I will look into that! Maybe something like a Mommy and me class with a parent might work? We don't have the coaching staff right now to have extra coaches in a class, we just lost several to college and moves across county and we are scraping by.

To answer a couple of questions he ran off because he had no interest in doing floor, floor is clear across the gym from the parents viewing area. He told me he doesn't like the floor because it isn't a trampoline. I even tried to get him to try jumps on the floor.

I have to check the paperwork on age but I am guessing 8-10. His Mom says "no limitations" but he is obviously very disabled. he kept falling on the tramp from his feet to a W-sit and also when were walked from one place to another. I had to carefully help him walk because of the severe uncoordination. Nothing to do with if he can be in the class or not but I'd like a letter from his doctor telling us exactly what this child can and cannot try safely.

In trampoline and tumbling rec. classes the ages are 5 and up and kind of follow the levels the same so usually a 5 year old is around a level 1 while a 13 year old is more a level 5 trying flips. I'd much rather have beginner, intermediate and advance classes but then one girls Mom can't make the Tues. class so she is given an exception then another, and another and pretty much they go into the day they wanted anyways. I might suggest a least a class for people working flips only so they older ones have an option and make the other classes non flipping only regardless of if you flip or not.

If we can start this special needs class do we need to get trained somehow or get accredited?
 
I would talk to the owner yourself before the next class. Tell him the issues, he was obviously disabled and struggling, needing 1-1 help. Explain that you don't feel like you are trained to deal with him, especially in a class setting but that you are willing to learn and willing to work with him privately. Explain that you just don't feel that you can keep him safe in a large class setting with multiple levels when he argues with you and won't do what he is told. I imagine someone mentioned to his parents that gymnastics would help with coordination and strength and so they threw him in, not realizing the issues that would come up.

Good luck - I would certainly be proactive on this one before the next class.
 
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Despite some other people's feelings, gymnastics isn't for everyone, at least in a class environment. It has to be structured and disciplined to be safe, and if someone is unable to do that, then they shouldn't do be doing gym. Not safe for the child, coach, or other participants. When I come across that situation, the two options I give the parents are that they can either have their child do privates, or the parent must accompany them and be responsible for their control and behavior while taking gym. It's a tough situation for you, but I'm sure the owners will see and remedy the problem very soon, if you make them aware of it. Good luck.
 
It sounds like in terms of incorporating him in to the class it is the ADHD which is the real problem, far more than his having CP.

Having CP will mean his balance, coordination and muscle tone is less good but you have five year olds in the class and they usually don't have stellar balance, coordination and strength either. Probably he would be expected to progress more slowly and would need to spend time on simple straight bouncing and seat bouncing to improve balance and strength. CP doesn't normally impose particular limitations in the sense of certain types of movement being unsafe. So maybe that is why the mother said he has no limitations. There is nothing he is medically disallowed to do, he's just more likely to fall over doing it. You can see that actually trampolining could be very good for him because by helping him improve his strength balance and coordination it would really help him to deal with his condition in hid general life.

ADHD is something else again, but you do say that you have other children in the class who are needy of attention and do not follow direction well. Is this child's behaviour really a lot worse or are you possibly allowing your judgement to be coloured by his physical disability? It does sound from your posts as if you are not really aware of what CP entails and as if you are a bit scared by it. If his behaviour really is particularly unmanageable and this continues, rather than being a consequence of the unfamiliarity of his first session, then either one of the child's parents needs to remain with him in the class to manage his behaviour or he won't be able to attend because it is a safety issue. Most gyms have parents and gymnasts sign some sort of acceptable behaviour agreement. If the parents can't assist in getting the child to meet that that would be grounds to exclude him from the class.

It does seem quite early to be thinking about that though. Behavioural difficulties like ADHD can be quite varied in severity and in more severe cases incorporating the child into a mainstream class can be unfeasible, but in general I would suggest looking at ways of managing behaviour and getting parental support in doing that in the first instance and seeing whether things improve over a couple of sessions.
 
Overall it sounds like this situation is not equipped for this child. There are a lot of things going on. Personally whether or not we think it could work out with XYZ changes is irrelevant.

ADHD generally doesn't cause an 8 year old to need a private class. But there's no way to know from a post whether that's what's going on or not.

Aerial river, you should talk to your boss about the situation because it sounds like the kindest and safest thing to do would be to suggest an alternate or let the mom know that your gym can't accommodate their needs.
 
Aerial river, you should talk to your boss about the situation because it sounds like the kindest and safest thing to do would be to suggest an alternate or let the mom know that your gym can't accommodate their needs.
Most definitely talk to your boss. Running out of class, even for a first time student, is a big concern for me. maybe your boss can call the Mom and lay out class expectations. ie) 1) arrive on time for warm-up. 2) He follows the class rotation, tramp AND tumbling. 3) If Mom is taking him early, she communicates with you - no just leaving 4) If he needs assistance with navigating walking through the gym etc, can Mom stay and help? ie you still teach, she is just there to provide assistance 5) Is there a better class time that would allow him to get more focused instruction?
 
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A couple of years ago I coached in a special needs class and an autism class (general gym). We had the parents stay with the kids during the classes. Some of the autistic kids were quite physically capable but did not follow instructions well. The parents were better able to communicate with their own kids and manage their behaviour. In the special needs class the parents knew what their own kid was allowed to do for their condition (e.g. we had one boy who was not allowed to do rolls because he had rods in his body). Even with the parents helping it was quite difficult to coach these classes. They would not have been able to join a regular class as things had to be set up and run quite differently. On the other hand, these were mostly kids with quite severe conditions.

It is hard to know how severe this boy's condition is, but it does sound like he will at least need someone with him to manage his behaviour, perhaps a parent as it is not fair to expect the gym to pay for an extra coach for one kid. It is definitely a safety concern.
 
I've had special needs kids before besides ADHD kids (including on team, not that uncommon).

A lot of the special needs kids came in with a tutor. That made the classes pretty easy. They really varied as some could communicate while others could not. I think we had a few that managed to be in rec classes without a tutor or parent.

It really varies. I know some gyms try to organize a special needs class or just have them do privates with a coach. While I generally prefer to have kids in a class than 1 on 1, I don't think some of the special needs kids really lose out on the group dynamic. Some are aware of the other kids and some are pretty oblivious to them.
 
As the mom of of child with some special needs, here is my take on it. And I have gone back and forth on sending this as I do not want to seem like I think the kiddo should just be allowed to be disruptive. This is not at all what I am saying. I just want to present another way to think of it.

First, it was the first day. I have seem boys with no special needs have issues on the first day. I would talk to the mom and find out what works. Does he need clear firm boundaries? Etc. maybe there is something that would work. I would give him another day to try to see what works.

Second, that seems like it could be a large class where you need an assistant anyway. Maybe talk to the owner about having another teacher.

The talk of privates and 1:1 is great, until you realize the cost. Every time my son was in swimming lessons, gymnastics, soccer, they wanted 1:1 and for me to pay for it. He was never a danger to anyone, just kind of in his own world. I was already paying for therapies, and could not afford private lessons. It was very hard to see him have to leave things he loved because I couldn't afford the privates.

I say that, not because I think that he should be allowed to disrupt an entire class but because it was 1 day, and it sounds like some changes could be made. I would never advocate for a child that is in an inappropriate class. But it sounds like the class was a handful to begin with. Talking to the parent would be first to see if she has some ideas that might work for you. I doubt she tossed him into your class with no thought. my guess is she was anxious the whole time.
 
Our gym has a special needs class for the same price as our regular classes & regular special needs events that are free. We also have some local OTs and PTs in the area who use our gym for their clients at no charge during the day. The kids start in the special class with the goal of leaving that class if they would be able to attend the regular classes with or without supports. Some kids only attend the special needs class one time (as an orientation where they learn the rules and what is expected of them). Some stay in it for as long as they are in gym. Some kids leave the class to attend a regular class with an aide they provide (could be a parent or sibling or their classroom aide at school). We don't do privates for the very reason skschlag mentioned. Some of these kids can't do any activities because they are always expected to do privates on top of all of the therapy they already pay for! The special needs classes and activities we offer are not only great for the kids, they are great for the business.
 
I agree privates shouldn't be expected but I do think of he gym is completely unequipped and has no plans on how to handle this then they should tell mom. Many kids that aren't developing typically can have low self esteem and shut down in an environment where they can't succeed behaviorally. I am very experienced with this yet I always evaluate each situation carefully before determining a final placement because of it. Even in a world where the instructor is highly experienced with adaptive techniques there are situations that just might not be able to be adapted so that the child can be successful.
 
I agree maybe it will improve in time. Part of the problem is the other demanding kids and its an hour with that many it is already hard to get to everything and pace was part of the issue. It took a long time to physically move from event to event with him.

I think I'll ask the owner if his Mom could assist him. I'll coach him but maybe she can help him around and make sure he stays where he needs to be. I know we have a severely Austic child in a class where the Mom goes around with him. I forgot about that.

Thanks for all the suggestions!
 
I agree maybe it will improve in time. Part of the problem is the other demanding kids and its an hour with that many it is already hard to get to everything and pace was part of the issue. It took a long time to physically move from event to event with him.

I think I'll ask the owner if his Mom could assist him. I'll coach him but maybe she can help him around and make sure he stays where he needs to be. I know we have a severely Austic child in a class where the Mom goes around with him. I forgot about that.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

This is how I would approach the conversation with mom:

"What is your goal for Johnny in this class?"

Some parents just have the goal of independent integration. They don't care what Johnny does, or how bad his technique is, they just want him to stay out there with the instructor and socialize a bit with other kids.

If this is the case, then you can focus on this and not worry what he is doing in his turns so much.

However, more often a gymnastics class is something that has been recommended to them as a form of movement education that is very beneficial to development. This is 100% true, in fact, gymnastics is close to miraculous in this respect. So many parents are hoping for their child to make improvements in the physical aspects of gymnastics.

In this case, he will need to progress from very basic strength and movement patterns based on what you described. The class as you described it does not seem entirely appropriate given where he needs to progress from. But it is possible that you could do it by creating individual lesson plans for him.

When learning gymnastics is the goal (and personally, I think it almost always should be), I would generally look for a class that is small, during the least crowded time, and as close to the child's skill level as possible. I typically find a traditional gymnastics class is better, first of all because the different apparatus work together in building balance, coordination, and strength. Second of all, because of the different apparatus, the class is going to spend a smaller chunk of time at each station. That often works better for a child that isn't especially attentive.

This is also why I personally will only instruct traditional gymnastics classes. I think tramp and tumbling are excellent specialities, but they are specialties or additions. I think beginners generally will improve more in a traditional gymnastics class, and I think that is part of the problem you're seeing with all the varied skill levels in the class. But I know beginner classes of any kind are a moneymaker and there's nothing you can really do in that regard. But after having done what you are doing a time or two, that is why I now only instruct traditional gymnastics to beginners. I will teach tumbling classes to athletes who have reached a certain skill level, because then it is much easier to develop a class.
 

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