By Danielle Galvin
The Access for all Abilities gymnastics classes have been running for about a year.
While seven children are currently involved, coach Nicole Andrew says they can cater to each individual.
She is inviting parents and children to come along and watch how the classes work, and see the benefits first-hand.
“Any child with a disability can come to the gym classes. We have some children with Down syndrome and others with autism,” she explained.
So far, feedback for the gym classes has been overwhelmingly positive. Nicole says that she has seen an improvement in some of the children’s speech, too.
“The progress can be slow, but the milestones are very rewarding,” she said.
Children and teens involved are aged between 4 and 16 years old with a range of special needs.
“We can really see the difference in the kids when they feel more comfortable in their surroundings. The classes help them with strength and coordination and joint control,” she said.
The classes are run on Mondays for half an hour at 4pm and again at 4.30pm.
Nicole hopes that the program will be run on other days and more special needs youngsters will come along.
“It would be good to see more classes run than just on Mondays,” she said.
Twelve children have come through the program to date.
Funding has been provided from the City of Casey.
“If we get more interest we might look at putting on more classes for children and then for teenagers,” she said.
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