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Michaela Bessinger

Mrs. DeBock

English 4 Honors

9 March, 2017

Children with Disabilities In Sports

Children with special needs and disabilities live a different life than the normal human.

They face many challenges and hardships that most people do not have to go through. They still

have the same freedom as everyone else even if their bodies or brains cannot prove it. These

children have the same right that anyone else has. In the last few years children with disabilities

have become more involved with the world of sports. Not long ago, they did not offer sports and

recreational activities for children with disabilities, but in the last few years they have created

more opportunities for these children that have the desire to play sports. There still needs to be an

improvement and an increase of opportunity for these children to play. The category of sports

should be broadened to every sport other than the limited amount that is offered now. Also, there

should be an increase in actual game play, equipment, and other necessities for these special

needs sports. Children with these disabilities are becoming happier as well as healthier. Special

needs children live a better and healthier life by being involved in team sports. The inclusion of

them in sports give them more freedom and allow them to be filled with joy, especially when

they are doing something they love. Children with special needs and disabilities who are

engaged with the world of sports live happier and healthier lives.

Children with disabilities should be able to engage in any sports they would like. The

offering of more sports to children with disabilities will allow them to be much happier than
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what they are now. This is because they might not enjoy some of the few sports that are offered

to them so these children being allowed to do what they want gives them more freedom and

happiness. Children with disabilities should be offered a wider variety of sports that consists of

children with disabilities only so they do not feel left out. According to Cook in A Special

Solution for Special Needs , not all children with special needs like participating in the most

common sports. A seven year old boy, Wyatt, suffers from Asperger's syndrome and tried

participating in sports like flag football and soccer and according to his mother, He always felt

like a failure (Cook). Then when people in the area helped created a gymnastics class for

children with disabilities and special needs Wyatt was much happier. These children will be

much happier when they are able to participate in the sports that interest them and make them

feel free. Children with disabilities like Wyatt, may be uncomfortable or nervous to play sports

with children who do not have to go through the issues in which they have to. It is important to

create more sports teams and opportunities for children with special needs, as it is more

comfortable and makes them happier. By creating more sports for these children will also

increase the rates of these children coming out of their shells and barriers and engaging in these

sports. With the creation of these different sports teams will allow more of these children with

disabilities to live a happier and healthier lifestyle. While they created the gymnasium for the

children with disabilities, there has also been a creation of the Miracle League in the last few

years. The Miracle League was created to give all children with any disability to receive a

chance to play a sport they have wished to play. The Miracle League has caused many of these

children to grow to be happier and healthier. With the miracle league they are able to play the

sports like softball, baseball, and soccer. They have created special feels for them to play on to

make it so everyone can play whether you are placed in a wheelchair, scooter, or if the child can
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walk on its own. According to Ellis in Columbias New Sports Field Will Remove Barriers For

Special Needs Kids Mother of Rosemary McCravy said, Rosemary does not always have a

place in sports or in activities, in dance class. You know, she doesn't always fit in with the

typically developing children. And now, this offers an opportunity just for her, specially made for

her, for children with special needs. ... She'll be included." by the creation of The Miracle league

and the amazing ways it affects children it leads many children with disabilities to healthier and

happier lives.

All children should be able to partake in sports whether they have disabilities or not. The

inclusion of children with disabilities gives them time to have fun and to also be in better shape

and healthier as well. In Inclusion in Extracurricular sport: A How-To Guide for

Implementation strategies Dieringer and Judge explain that it is not only important for normal

humans to exercise and maintain health, but it is also important to make sure that children who

are growing, faces the challenges with disabilities also do too. Children who are involved in

sports are found to live happier and healthier lifestyles. These children need as much health and

fitness as any other human being because they too are human and may want to engage in these

extracurricular activities as well. Children with disabilities should get the opportunity to engage

in more sports than they do now. In Young Champions Push on Disabled Sports O'neill

supports this claim by describing a weekend they held for children with special needs and

disabilities in which let children engage in sports and let them participate in sports that they do

not alway get to participate in. The weekend described in the article also made a point that the

children discovered if they wanted to take their athletic careers to the next level, such as being on

a sports team. The inclusion of these children with special needs is crucial as it lowers bad
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health rates such as child obesity and also increases mental health by improving self-confidence,

happiness, and stronger communication skills.

Sports and physical activity help shape and build childrens lives, so it is important that

everyone including children with special needs are participating in a sport or physical activity of

some sort. According to Schorr and Vlasaks article "How Team Sports Benefit Students with

Special Needs: How Can We Encourage and Motivate Special Needs Students, Especially Those

on the Autism Spectrum, to Make some Type of Exercise or Physical Activity Part of Their

Weekly Routine? letting children with disabilities participate in sports gives them higher

confidence, freedom, and better communication skills. With the participation of these children in

sports will allow them to become stronger mentally and physically. Children with disabilities

can gain confidence in playing the sports they choose because they are able to show off their

skills, as well as get cheered on by their teammates causing them to come out of their shells of

shyness. With freedom, parents or guardians are giving them the choice to play a certain sport or

position as opposed to making them play something that they may not wish to participate in.

letting these children with disabilities chose what they wish to participate in will allow them to

feel more free and not tied down, as they may feel because of their disabilities. Communication

skills can also improve as well. According to Schorr and Vlasak When they are a part of a team

sport, they can learn effective communication skills that can transfer to their everyday lives.

This helps build on everyday life as well as in sports. It also can create friendships and build

bonds with the children and their teammates. Communication is very important in everyday life

as well as sports teams. It is important that these children are able to participate in sports. They

are just like everyone else and deserve to be able to pursue in whatever they wish. In the article

U.S. Schools to Boost Disabled Sports it supports that all disabled children are entitled to play
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sports in school and anywhere else, whether it be regular sports or sports offered specifically to

children with disabilities. They have the same rights as any other human being and deserve to be

treated that they are able to achieve anything they want to put their heart to.

Children with special needs and certain disabilities deserve to be able to be associated

with sports, as it helps them majorly. Allowing this creates a better, well rounded lifestyle for

these children. It decreases the poor health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and depression

and replaces it with health and joy. Sports benefit children with disabilities by allowing them to

use their strengths and weaknesses to build up teams as well as creates better communication

skills, kicking shy characteristics to the side. It is beneficial for all children with disabilities to

be able to partake in sports and sports teams as it allows them to be free, untroubled, and well fit.

Cook, Kristen. "A Special Solution for Special Needs." Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, AZ), 26 May

2013. EBSCOhost,

Ellis, Sarah. "Columbia's New Sports Field Will Remove Barriers for Special-Needs

Kids." State, the (Columbia, SC), 20 Aug. 2016. EBSCOhost,

Dieringer, Shannon T. and Lawrence W. Judge. "Inclusion in Extracurricular Sport: A How-To

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Guide for Implementation Strategies." Physical Educator, vol. 72, no. 1, LateWinter2015,

pp. 87-101. EBSCOhost,

Rohan, Oneil. "Young Champions Push on Disabled Sports." Townsville Bulletin, 30 July

2016, p. 32. EBSCOhost,

Schorr, Helene and Erin Vlasak. "How Team Sports Benefit Students with Special Needs: How

Can We Encourage and Motivate Special Needs Students, Especially Those on the

Autism Spectrum, to Make some Type of Exercise or Physical Activity Part of Their

Weekly Routine?." The Exceptional Parent, no. 6, 2015, p. 26. EBSCOhost

"U.S. Schools to Boost Disabled Sports." UPI Top News, 26 Jan. 2013. EBSCOhost,
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