Playtime for All

Laman Library now has a fun and exciting new opportunity for children with intellectual disabilities! We are partnering with Special Olympics Arkansas to provide their Young Athletes program. The program is designed to help children with intellectual disabilities aged 2-7 develop important mental and physical skills through fun and interactive play. 

Benefits of the Program 

Development of skills such as hand-eye coordination and motor skills is important for all children as building blocks towards the further development in other important areas like emotional growth and communication ability. According to information provided by the Special Olympics, children with intellectual disabilities who participated in the Young Athletes program for two months experienced a seven month gain in motor skills which was double the rate of growth of children who had not participated. This improvement continued even after stopping the program as children were still showing improved development months after. 

What’s Included in the Kits? 

As part of the Young Athletes program, we were given two kits that will give children new opportunities to work on developing those skills through fun games. In the kits are foam balls, yarn balls, rubber spots, plastic cones, bean bags, scarves, and reading material for both kids and parents. These kits even have a set of activity flashcards that can lead families through a day of play. The kits were also specially designed so that all the activities can be done by both kids with intellectual disabilities and kids without, giving them the chance to have fun learning and growing together. This focus on inclusive play is immensely beneficial to the kids as it helps the children without disabilities learn about them so that they can better understand and accept the other kids. 

Showcase of the Kits 

To help give parents and children a chance to try out the kits and learn more about them, there will be a showcase of the kits in the Laman Children’s Area on Saturday April 8th. During the program, the kits will be out and on display with everything in them fully accessible for play. We will work through some of the provided activities, and we will answer any questions parents might have relating to the program. We’ll also have both kits available for checkout after the program so any families who are interested can take the kits home and give them a try. 

Conclusion 

We hope that many families will come out on the 8th, but we also hope that anyone who can’t make it still comes by to check out a kit. This program can really help kids out in many ways. Not only does it provide development opportunities for the kids, but it helps give the kids a good baseline for a future healthy lifestyle. It introduces the kids to sports and athletics and hopefully gives them an interest that will help the kids stay physically active later in life. One of the more important things the program does though is help improve the perception of the family. According to the Special Olympics, many family members have said that their hopes for their child’s future were raised by this program. 

For more information about the Special Olympics Young Athletes program, visit https://www.specialolympics.org/what-we-do/inclusive-health/young-athletes. Or contact Connor Brasher at connor.brasher@lamanlibrary.org or by calling Laman Library at 501-758-1720.