Sports Social Series

By: Lilit Dagesian

Sports have been my passion my entire life. The past four years I fell in love with ABA and working with kids with autism. I felt so grateful and privileged to have had the opportunity to bring them together this summer at ABI’s first Sports Social Series.

I really wanted to make sure that our first Sports Social Series would not only help our kids learn new skills, but also be fun and interactive for our kids and skills trainers. Our 8-week Sports Social Series was designed to build our kids’ social, play, and communication skills related to age-appropriate sports such as basketball, baseball, soccer, and kick ball. We also learned through cooperative outdoor games like tug of war, steal the bacon, corn hole, obstacle courses, and a scavenger hunt. Each participant worked on individualized goals related to communication skills, such as making requests to peers and initiating and maintaining conversations; social skills such as group participation, eye contact, and greetings; gross motor skills such as kicking, dribbling, and throwing; and community safety in an outdoor setting at the park.

One of my most memorable experiences of the Summer Sports Series was the first time we brought out water balloons for a water balloon “fight”. Initially, our participants were hesitant to throw balloons at each other, but with some modeling they quickly caught on and it became one of their favorite activities!

With each passing week, I noticed the different interests and skills of each of our participants and how each contributed to being a part of a team.  I loved watching and helping our kids improve in their sports skills as well as encouraging and cheering each other on. It was a fun-filled summer!