What is Typical?

July 14, 2012,
What is typical?

Many times, when a parent finds out their child has a diagnosis of Autism or any other social delay, the disappointment that we hear most frequently is: “I won’t ever get to play ball with my son or see him play on a “typical” sports team”. The way we structure our groups at Learning on the Log, many times you are unable to tell if the group is “typical” or “special needs”. We start each day with warm-ups, stretches, team cheers, and then sports. When looking at the group as a whole, the only difference you might notice is the abundance of staff that are playing alongside the kids, otherwise it is truly difficult to tell the difference. What does a “typical” child get out of playing sports and being on a team? They learn to be part of a group, they learn to take turns, they learn to cheer for their friends when they are successful and to mourn their losses, they feel success when they perform well, they learn strategy and thinking in the moment. Our kids learn all of these things and start to care about them; they just need some extra support to get there. The advantage these have over other children is they start to understand and feel empathy for others, when they see them having a hard time. Because tour kids start to recognize they are different and need some help along the way, with the right social support, LOTL children start to care about and empathize with the “little guy” and they then want to help out. In the long run, the skills our children are learning are just as important, if not more important than what a typical child learns on a sports team. Maybe we should redefine what is typical and what qualities are important for our youth…..