BROOKINGS Middle schoolers in Brookings are practicing both creativity and compassion by helping a special needs sixth grader play sports in gym class.
This year we had a sixth grader join us named Breckin (Ridgway), and Breckin has a hot rod, as I like to call it a wheelchair, Alysha Hamann, special education teacher, said. We noticed how much he enjoyed being in gym. However, he wasnt able to truly participate because certain limitations existed. So one of the teacher assistants who worked with him they were in the hockey unit said, Hey how do we turn his wheelchair into a hockey stick? So we took cardboard and duct tape and added it under where his feet would go And he was basically a giant hockey stick. He absolutely loved it.
That success sparked interest in making other customizations.
We said, gosh what if we could do this for every PE unit? Hamann said. So we acquired the unit list from our gym teachers, and I went and talked to Amanda Chapman she is our Project Lead the Way teacher at the middle school and said, Hey you guys do really cool projects. Is there a way we could collaborate and team up to help adapt or create a device or an attachment so Breckin can more fully participate in gym?
Project Lead the Way is a class where kids use science and engineering principles to craft solutions to real life problems.
Its about allowing kids to do project-based activities and really solve problems relevant to their own lives, Hamann said. Its all about bringing that (science and engineering) world in and allowing these kids who, lets be honest, have brains sometimes that can dream in ways I cant even think and they get to come up with and really explore and expand upon what works and what doesnt.
She said students were eager to help.
They formed groups and they got to pick a unit whether that was the dancing unit, volleyball, handball whatever, Hamann said. Their task was to create something for their classmate to be able to more fully participate with them in gym.
The kids developed wheelchair attachments for each gym unit.
One was like for pushing a basketball back off from his hot rod If the basketball lands on it, he can grab it and theres kind of rods that will guide the ball back towards wherever it needs to go, Hamann said. One of them took the bowling unit and they made this ramp kind of similar to what you see if youre out bowling and it goes on his left side.
The more advanced classes will now work on enhancing those attachments.
Mrs. Chapman has a group of eighth graders who are adding robotics, Hamann said. They have created some different attachments, like if you were to catapult or do things that might need to have more of a robotic type thing You have these kiddos who are taking ownership of wanting to make something better for someone else. This isnt self-serving. When theyre in gym and Breckin is a giant hockey stick, theyre thinking how can we make this so he can kick the puck back instead of just stopping it.
She said the kids are learning valuable lessons.
When youre doing inclusion, its not just saying that everybody is learning at the same pace or everybody is learning the same things, Hamann said. Its saying everybody has that same opportunity. How they use that opportunity might look different. So when we have a learner who is in a wheelchair, maybe playing hockey is going to look different. But he can still participate in hockey.
The students even customized the attachments, making them in colors Ridgway likes and decorating them with a character from his favorite song Baby Shark.
They hand-painted Baby Shark on (the bowling attachment), Hammon said. Now having Baby Shark on there is that important for bowling? No. But what these kids were saying is, Hey we see you, we know what you like, and we want to show you that we hear you. And that part was just so incredible.
She called it a win-win, noting that while Ridgway gets to experience sports, the other students learn something about both engineering and empathy.
Its not just a project for them that the teacher says they have to do. This is them getting an opportunity to take something they think matters, and then do something about it, Hammon said.
The really cool thing about Breckins peers is never once have I heard anyone say, Wwell he cant play basketball. He cant dance. He cant do hockey. Its instead, How do we get him to where hes doing even better.
Contact Jay Roe at [email protected].
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