The start of the spring season is a great time to learn more about spring sport opportunities for kids with disabilities available across the United States. The purpose of the adapted section this month is to acquaint readers with a variety of disability sport opportunities that students can participate in during the coming spring months.

The activities and events listed are meant to provide just a glimpse into all that are available. These links provide a base of ideas for adapted physical education teachers, adapted physical activity professors, parents, and kids with disabilities to see how they might get involved in disability sports in their local area.

Also included in this section are numerous, great resources. Some great disability search engines, articles and personal stories, information on resiliency in children, stress, and learning disabilities. Enjoy!

Brent Hardin
Adapted Physical Education Editor

Sports offered through the BlazeSports programs are: wheelchair tennis, wheelchair basketball, wheelchair racing, wheelchair rugby, swimming and field events. A few BlazeSports April & May events are listed below. Check out the BlazeSports calendar for a list of their other events.

	2007
	Apr 2 - 3rd Annual Adaptive Golf Challenge and Clinic , Augusta, Georgia
	Apr 19 - Desert Challenge Regional Games
	Apr 21 - 21st Desert Challenge Air Rifle and Pistol Competition , Mesa, Arizona
	Apr 28 - 28th SportsSpectacular - Atlanta, GA
	May 5 - One America 500 Festival Mini Marathon , Indianapolis, Indiana
	May 11-13 Dixie Games - Birmingham, AL

The National Wheelchair Basketball Association (NWBA) has information about over 50 junior wheelchair basketball teams in local communities all over the United States. Click on the NWBA website to find a local team in your area.

For any other questions about junior wheelchair basketball, please contact the NWBA junior commissioner Doug Garner at DGarner728@aol.com.

Wheelchair Sports USA offers national wheelchair sport opportunities in swimming, table tennis, weight lifting, archery, and track & field. Check out their calendar for events that will be held this Spring.

From bi-skiing to handcycling, there are a wide variety of adaptive activities to get involved with and stay active this spring.

Adaptive Adventures, a non-profit organization working to "advance the quality of life of people with disabilities through year-round outdoor sports and recreation," has organized a number of events this spring. Use the monthly links on the right hand menu to access different months.

For more information email: info@adaptiveadventures.org.

Special Olympics is an international organization dedicated to providing athletic opportunities for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Special Olympics offers year-round, localized training and competition in over 20 sports, free of charge.

Each state and region has hundreds of Special Olympic sporting events on a weekly basis. To find information about Special Olympic programs in your local area visit the Special Olympics website.

Learning Problems - Having a learning disability doesn't mean you can't learn. But you'll need some help and you'll need to work extra hard. Learning disabilities happen because of the way a person's brain takes in and processes information. As a result, people learn differently. The trick will be figuring out how you learn best. Read more.

Learning Disabilities - Noah felt like he was always hitting the books. While his friends were meeting for pickup soccer games after school, he was back home in his room reading and rereading the same material. But no matter how hard Noah studied, he had difficulty remembering things and his grades stayed average. Meanwhile, his friend Sean, who never seemed to study, always aced tests. It didn't seem fair. Read more.

Mobility International USA - Mobility International USA is a cross-disability organization serving those with cognitive, hearing, learning, psychiatric, physical, systemic, vision and other disabilities. Search disability organizations in your area, and internationally. This is a great resource, and really needed to be shared.

Lazarum - Specialized search engine developed to provide an easy access to disability information published on the web. With a single click it will seek in Google, Yahoo, MSN, Altavista, and in Our Directory by You.

Association of University Centers on Disabilities - Search the AUCD Portal network of interdisciplinary Centers advancing policy and practice for and with individuals with developmental and other disabilities, their families, and communities.

Included in this section are a number of inspirational stories to share with students with disabilities. The first is an interview with Stacy Kohut, a Paralympic and World Champion Gold Medal Winner. The second is the story of Jason McElwain, an 18 year old boy with autism whose miraculous feat in a local basketball game helped to challenge common stereotypes about people with autism.

The third is the story of Lyndon Laplante, a young man with down syndrome who brought his home town to its feet through an amazing run of courage and character in a local football game. The final story is about Jenna Lambert, a young woman with cerebral palsy who swam 32 kilometers across Lake Ontario.

Interview With Stacy Kohut - "I advise every athlete, disabled and able bodies the same thing: Be yourself. Don't let the job of being a ski racer or athlete become a cliché or a stereotype. Have fun, learn to laugh when you can, because if you want to be the very best in the world and stand atop the podium at the Winter Paralympic or Olympic Games, you need to be extremely intense in many aspects of your life. Be yourself and learn when to let yourself relax." Read the full interview.

Autistic basketball sensation's inspiring year: Jason McElwain story – "A year to the day after he stunned everyone by coming off the bench to score 20 points in four minutes in a high-school basketball game, autistic teenager Jason McElwain says he hopes his story is still inspiring others to set goals and achieve their dreams." Read the full story about Jason's amazing performance.

Athlete With Down's Syndrome Scores 99-Yard Touchdown: Lyndon Laplante story - "He wanted to play more than anything. Watching him compete in the Special Olympics ... I thought at that time, four years ago, that if he sticks with it and keeps having the attitude that he's having, then his senior year I'm going to give him the biggest surprise that we possibly can here," said Kevin Atkinson, coach of the Kellar, TX, Indians. Read the full story.

Kingston teen with cerebral palsy swims Lake Ontario: Jenna Lambert story – "Braving winds, high waves and using only the strength of her upper body, 15-year-old Jenna Lambert became the first person with cerebral palsy to swim 32 kilometers across Lake Ontario." Read the full story.

Stress Is Contagious.... How Not To Pass It On
The article looks at how children pick up on their parents' stress and the domino effect this can have within the family. The experts suggest ways to get off the stress merry-go-round and how to create a less stressful home for children and parents.

The Science of Stress - In this article Katharine Partridge explains how anxiety and stress can alter the architecture of your child's brain.

The Healing Force Within - Gabor Mate M.D., author of When the Body Says No: The Hidden Cost of Stress, talks in this article about the need to understand the interplay of emotions and physiology in treating illness. Mate argues that the education of doctors leaves them ill prepared to counsel patients on the relationship between stress and illness. This is not an article about children per se, but about the importance, for all of us, in exploring health through the mind-body continuum.

Maybe I Don't Want to Be Alive - Much has been said about how children are 'growing up' earlier, but until recently little attention has been paid to the anxiety and stress tweens can feel. Brad Evenson's article, which appeared in The National Post, shows how many of the former milestones for this age group have been lost in the rush to leave childhood behind.

Taking the "dis" out of disabled! - Kimberly, founder of Canine and Abled, tells the story of her motor vehicle accident, her feelings of loss following a head injury and how she met her companion Dewey. Together they set out on a mission to abolish access denial and vowed to open hearts and doors to persons with disabilities who rely upon the assistance of service animals.

Historic wheelchair skateboarding backflip - Aaron Fotheringham is one of a small, but growing group of elite wheelchair athletes who have taken up the challenge of wheelchair skateboarding. He recently became the first known person ever to do a backflip in a wheelchair.

Overuse injuries in manual wheelchair users - Human hands were not designed to withstand the repetitive impact from propelling manual wheelchairs, and many researchers now strongly recommend the use of properly designed wheelchair gloves to help prevent overuse injuries, such as carpel tunnel syndrome.

Travelling with a disability: Europe - The first in a series of articles about access travel, with tips for people with a disability holidaying in Europe, including accessible accommodation, accessible toilets, getting there and getting around.

Epilepsy information - An accessible 'fact sheet' about epilepsy, the causes of epilepsy and what you should do if someone has epilepsy.

Custom wheelchairs: The trend from functionality to individuality - An article about the history and evolution of wheelchairs from mobility and function to individuality and performance.

Promoting resilience in your child - Parents and care givers can provide specific opportunities and activities to promote resilience in their child, that will help give them the capacity to face adversity, and even be strengthened by the traumas in life that we all inevitably face.

Asperger's syndrome: The "invisible" autism - Asperger's Syndrome is an autistic disorder that is at the high-functioning end of the spectrum. However, there is a common misconception that people with autism are so profoundly affected that they can't talk or that they have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is a parent's perspective, including take-away tips to help other families in seeking the correct diagnosis for their child.

Assessing a child for learning difficulties - Who benefits from it? - Barbara Pheloung from Move to Learn looks at the assessment process and asks: Who benefits? She discusses simpler and less stressful processes, that from her experience are also more useful.

Cooking single handed: How to break an egg with one hand - Do you know how to break an egg using only one hand? If you have a weak grip or difficulty using both hands due to arthritis, stroke or injury you'll love this tip. Trust me, it works!

10 Ways to Make Your Children More Resilient By Robert Brooks, Ph.D. and Sam Goldstein, Ph.D.

What do most parents want for their children? High on their list are: happiness, success in school, satisfaction with their lives, and solid friendships. In order to reach these goals, our children need inner strength to deal competently with the many challenges and demands they encounter. We call this capacity to cope and feel competent resilience.

Although the word resilience has typically been applied to youngsters who have overcome stress and hardship, we believe that it should be understood as a vital set of qualities for every child. Even children fortunate enough not to face significant adversity or trauma experience the pressures around them and the expectations placed on them.

This is information well worth reading.

How Can Parents Nurture Resilience in Their Children? By: Robert Brooks, Ph.D.
Much of Dr. Brook's work in recent years has focused on the themes of hope and resilience. What led to his interest in these concepts? Can he tell us why some children with learning problems are much more successful as adults than others? What contributes to their success? Find out these answers, and much more on what causes resiliency in children.

Resilient Kids are Happy Kids - A resilient child becomes an adaptable, happy adult. Life demands that we adapt to change or struggle in our efforts to cope with depression, get back up when we fall, even adjust to a new home if we have to move. A key to loving relationships, substance abuse prevention, career success, and character development, resiliency is one of the best character traits we can teach our children. Read more.