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ELC Students Are Young Athletes Through Special Olympics Program

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Shouts of “Hurry, hurry!” and “Vámonos!” echo as laughing children anxiously await their turn in a relay race to collect their team’s beanbags and score a win. On the other side of the room, giggling students lay on their stomach and frog-crawl on bright-colored scooters, playing red-light/green-light while a teacher laughs, “No, it’s red, red! You have to stop, stop!” The mood is light and smiles are in plentiful supply – it’s “Young Athlete Friday” at the Early Learning Center (ELC).

According to their website, Special Olympics Young Athletes (SOYA) is a sport and play program for children ages 2 to 7 years old, both with and without intellectual disabilities.

Through networking efforts of various ELC and Special Olympics staff members, the ELC created a SOYA committee that helped make implementation of the program possible. “With all of our early learners now being in one central location at the ELC, I thought this would be a great opportunity to get our school, staff, and district involved in this wonderful program,” said Cindy Krizizke, Speech and Language Pathologist at the ELC and Volunteer Coach for the Illinois Special Olympics.

The program has many benefits for the littlest learners in CCSD59. It’s all-inclusive for children with and without intellectual disabilities, teaches students about the importance of sportsmanship, allows children to improve physically, cognitively, and socially, and helps build a community of respect and socialization.

The lessons are organized in a manner that students can engage in every week, with each week’s activities focusing on a specific skill, such as walking and running, balancing and jumping, trapping and catching, throwing, striking, kicking, and other skills. Every Friday at the ELC is “Young Athlete Friday” and students participate in the activities they have been practicing all week long.

Special activities are also planned through the SOYA program. On March 23, Family Game Night was funded by a $700 grant that was awarded to the ELC through Special Olympics. Families were able to participate in different varieties of pre-school appropriate games such as Jenga, Candy Land, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and many others. Over 230 attendees participated in the event.

During Family Game Night, the “Respect Campaign” was also kicked off, where students and families pledged to be respectful to all people no matter what their similarities or differences. Almost every student that attended the event made the pledge. Parents and siblings also signed their family name on a poster, themed “Respect is my Super Power,” vowing their pledges as well. Students received stick on tattoos as a small reward from Special Olympics for making the commitment.

On June 6, all ELC students active in the SOYA program will participate in the culminating event during the school day. All students will receive a t-shirt and award for their participation, followed by drinks and snacks for all the young athletes and their family members. Marlyn Orozco, CCSD59’s Family Facilitator, said she is really looking forward to this event in particular. “Students will be so proud to show their parents all the skills they’ve been practicing all year long,” she said. “It’s a great opportunity to have families engaged with their children.”

There is no cost to schools to be a member of the SOYA program. The school receives monetary assistance, free gym equipment to use for activities, and sample lessons to implement for SOYA activities. According to Orozco, families have responded very well to the program. “We are proud to say that 99% of our families have agreed to allow their children to be a part of SOYA,” she said.

Krizizke is also quick to point out how much the students themselves really enjoy being a part of the program. They are often spotted practicing the skills on their own and even helping each other perform them. “We have seen students try new motor skills with the new activities, and some students that have stronger skills than their peers have been seen helping each other.”

Perhaps best of all, SOYA’s goals also align nicely with the content goals of the ELC, and Krizizke articulated it well: “The Special Olympics Oath sums up what we want for our students: ‘Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.’ We want them to try new things, take opportunities, try their best, help others, and have fun while doing it.”

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