How to Stay Active This Summer

Many sports camps, swimming pools, and other opportunities for physical education will be close this summer. To learn about ways to stay active while at home, or join a virtual sports camp, we're talking with experts in physical education for young people with visual impairments. First you'll hear from Lauren Lieberman. She's a well publish author, she started Camp Abilities in Brockport, New York, and she's started sports camps across the world. Second you'll hear from Tristan Pierce. She's the Physical Education and Multiple Disabilities Project Leader at APH.

LINKS:
CampAbilities.org
www.aph.org/educational-resources/physical-education/

Transcript

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 0:01

I want every child to know that they can do sports, they can achieve and they can be successful. And that nobody can tell them that they can't

Jack Fox (Intro): 0:12

Welcome to change makers. A podcast from APH, we're talking to people from around the world who are creating positive change in the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired. Here's your host.

Jonathan Wahl: 0:26

Welcome back to change makers. My name is Jonathan Wall. Summer is here and that usually means sports and sports camps. There are some incredible camps around the country and the world for children with visual impairments, but because of COVID-19, they've had to either cancel camps or go virtual today. We'll have Tristen Pierce on the show. She's the physical education and multiple disabilities project leader at APH. She'll be talking about ways to keep your kids active this summer. But first we'll hear from Dr. Lauren Lieberman. She's the leading expert on physical activity and sports for children who are blind and visually impaired. She is a well published author. She started a camp abilities in Brockport, New York, and she's helped start sports camps across the world for children with visual impairments, Lauren, you're a true change maker. Thanks so much for joining me on the show.

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 1:13

Sure. It's great to be here, Jonathan. Thanks so much.

Jonathan Wahl: 1:16

Absolutely. Now for people who don't know, you tell me a little bit about your mission and what you do with sports camps and working with young people.

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 1:25

Sure. I'm a professor, a distinguished service professor at SUNY Brockport in Brockport, New York. I teach adapted physical education and my background, I started my career at the Perkins school for the blind in Watertown, Massachusetts and I taught in the deaf blind program, adapted physical education. And I went and got my doctorate at Oregon state university. And then I was fortunate to get a great teaching job at SUNY Brockport, teaching adapted physical education. And my first year at Brockport, I wanted my students to have an opportunity to teach children who are blind, visually impaired. So I started camp abilities, which is an education national sports camp for children who are visually impaired, blind or deaf blind. And since that first year, many children from other states tried to come and join our camp. And I realized that we're letting so many children in from other states that we were having fewer and fewer kids from New York. So I tried to help other states and other areas start camp abilities. And so we started our expansion in Alaska, in west Silla, Alaska. And since then, you know, after that, we did Maryland, Connecticut, Arizona, and just totally blew up from there. And now we've got over 20 camps in the U S we have eight camps in other countries. As a matter of fact, this past fall, I had a global Fulbright scholarship and I traveled around the world and started capabilities in Ghana and in Ireland and in Brazil for children who are visually impaired and blind sports camps. So that was a really wonderful opportunity. And, you know, we're continuing that. Now we just started our website for the capabilities in Kenya. And, uh, we're just growing by leaps and bounds, which is really making me happy

Jonathan Wahl: 3:24

Funding come for these camps. Is there fundraising that goes on, do you pay to attend the camp? How does that,

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 3:30

That is a great question. Some camps run on expanded core curriculum, transition funding. If they're with an agency, for people who are visually impaired, uh, other camps like mine, we'd write grants and we get donations. And then we also can charge for some kids, a tuition. So all the camps are different. But what I know is that we all have to do some fundraising and some grant writing reports and each camp is run a little bit differently depending on the agency or the person that, that sets it up.

Jonathan Wahl: 4:04

You know, most people who are sighted, wrongfully think that people who are blind don't do won't play sports. Why are these sport camps and these kinds of activities so important as an opportunity for children and young people who are blind?

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 4:20

I think a lot of people, especially people that are older like me, when you're, when we were growing up, we never saw people with visual impairments doing any sports because most of the kids were at schools for the blind. And so there's a false perception because we never saw people who are visually impaired or blind doing sports. We just never imagined that they could do sports. And so it was just one of those things that if I hadn't seen it, I just didn't know it existed. And so fortunately, a lot more kids with visual impairments are doing sports now in the community, their peers are seeing them and perceptions are changing, but there are still a lot of people out there who just never had the opportunity to see someone who is blind, ride a bike, or run a 5k or hike a mountain. And so they just believe that that, that they can't do it because they'd never seen them do it. And so what we try to do with capabilities is not only teach the kids what they can do, but encourage them to set goals and advocate for themselves throughout the school year. So they're out in the community, they're playing on sports teams, they're in community programs and people see them on a day to day basis and they change their perceptions. And so our goals are not only to make the kids feel good about themselves and do typical activities for their age, but also to educate the community about the abilities and the possibilities of people who are visually impaired and blind. One

Jonathan Wahl: 5:53

Of the things I love about the camps when I looked at photos and videos from, from various camps is the hands-on aspect. That's showing the student what it feels like to be in a proper running stance, things like that. COVID-19 through a major curve ball. Um, how are you all adjusting? I know you you're offering some virtual opportunities. How have you all adjusted to, to still offer something for students, even if it's from home?

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 6:19

That's a great question. So when it first came up and when we realized that we weren't going to be able to have the camp face-to-face of course I spent a day being depressed. And then I thought about getting the proper equipment into the hands of all the athletes and then about how we could have literally a zoom virtual camp so that we would still have our coaches. We'd still have our team leaders and our team, our sports specialists. And we mailed every child box full of equipment, bell, basketballs, bell soccer balls, a miniature gold ball. We ha we mailed them a shot put and the discus and a Guidewire to help kids who are blind run independently and a tether and a yoga mat and a beach balls just for fun. And we sent them also like a whole list of what they can do with all the different pieces of equipment. And we're going to be teaching them how to use all this equipment. So we're going to be teaching soccer, yoga, fitness, track, and field goalball. And the kids are going to be able to do their assessments and set goals so that they can do these sports and activities all year long,

Jonathan Wahl: 7:50

Ton of equipment. You were able to send a student's homes. Did you have to do additional fundraising or get a sponsor to make that happen this year? Or were those supplies that you already had from previous summer camp?

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 8:00

Well, this is the miracle that happens when you run a program that your funders like. So this was our 25th anniversary and we had gotten amazing grants. I mean, grants that I never dreamed of, it was going to be epic. You know, we were going to do a 24 hour goalball marathon and we got a grant just for that$10,000. And so when we realized that we couldn't do the 25th anniversary face-to-face camp, we asked our funders, if they would still fund a virtual camp, it'll be our first ever virtual camps. We can still have our 25th anniversary hopefully next year. And all of our funders were so happy that we could still have the camp. Cause they realized as isolated as sighted children are at home during COVID kids who are visually impaired and blind are even more isolated. Not only is it harder for them to get out and do things independently, but they also can't get close to their peers to be guided or tactically taught or engaged, you know, tactically in any activities outside of their family. So the isolation is actually expanded or exacerbated for kids with visual impairments. And so these funders were just thrilled to help us to help us in and give us the money to make sure that this happened. And they all said, you know, apply for this grant again for 2021 for your 25th anniversary. And we'll still give it to you. So we even had to tell a couple of grants, people that we don't need their money this year to just hold onto it till next year, which was unheard of. You never say we don't need no thank you. But thank you. So we're really fortunate that the New York state commission for the blind, which is also known as the office for children and family services was, is funding us, the kidney foundation, Golisano foundation, Theresa, everybody said, we're still going to give you the money. So the equipment was no problem. We also got some discounts from some of the equipment companies and some of the equipment like the guidewires and the tethers we created ourselves. And so we put this whole big box, we call it capabilities and a gym bag, you know, it's a whole bag of camp and sent it to all the kids and when they opened it. So we had, we had our first practice virtual program to two Wednesdays ago. So two weeks ago, Wednesday, we had it and the kids open their boxes. And we explained to them all the equipment that was in there and they were just thrilled, thrilled. Oh, one of the other things that we gave them, which I absolutely love, it's called a soccer trainer and you tie it around your waist, it's Velcro. And then the other end Velcros around any kind of ball or Frisbee or implement. So for example, if you wanted to kick a soccer ball, even if the ball has bells in it, it still will come back to you. You kick it. And this, the rope is Alaska elastic. So it comes right back to you. You can dribble a ball, you can kick the ball, you could use it with a Frisbee, anything that can be Velcroed in, you can practice and it'll come right back to you. So it might not work with golf, but it'll work with a lot of other sports. And so this soccer trainer was key and the kids absolutely loved that. So getting to, you know, put in there, what all the kids wished I, we, we contacted some of the kids and said, if you could get any equipment you want and what would you want? And we put in most of the equipment that the kids wanted, the kids said that they would use. And so seeing the kids open that box and take out everything and describe it to them was just a joy. And so then last week, when we met with the kids, they were telling us what equipment they were using the most and what they were practicing with their siblings or with their neighbors, if they could. And then we talked then tomorrow night is our last mini virtual camp before the real camp. And we're doing a parent training to teach the parents how to teach the kids and how to assess and set goals. And it's just going to be amazing. We have several Paralympic athletes that are going to be zooming in and talking to the kids and encouraging them. We have Kevin Broussard, who's from the United States association for blind athletes. He's going to zoom into our opening ceremonies. And we also have Terry Kelly who is a blind musician from Canada, and he's going to be playing during opening ceremonies. And, uh, you know, it's just a great lineup and we've never done anything like this. And I know it's not going to be easy at the beginning, but I know it's going to open up a lot of doors for a lot of kids. And, and it will also give us a chance to maybe even do this more times during the year and check in with all the kids and make sure they're doing goal setting and advocating for themselves and really looking forward to, uh, to making sure that they can meet some of their goals and objectives related to sport and physical activity.

Jonathan Wahl: 13:16

I know the slots in your camp are full. Are there other opportunities for any parents or teachers who know someone who might be interested in an opportunity like this for them to still get connected before summer is over?

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 13:29

Yeah, I would say if they email me or if they email any of the other camp directors and ask them about their programs, like I said, Saratoga capabilities, long island cabby, which is the Utica camp, Nebraska, Florida. And I'm pretty sure that the camp spark, which is through the Northwest association for blind athletes, I'm sure they're going to have some programs with camp spark. And the Delaware capabilities I think is in a couple of weeks. And I think the Delaware camp will also have some spots.

Jonathan Wahl: 14:08

Awesome. If, if there is a family who just can't make one of these virtual camps happen this summer, any tips or ideas for things young people can be doing from home with their families? Oh, sure.

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 14:20

Yeah. On our website capabilities.org, we have a lot of educational videos and we're also going to be taping all of our sessions for our camp. And so if any child wants to just jump in and learn, have a soccer lesson, so you have a bell soccer ball or just a soccer ball, or you want to learn fitness or yoga. So that that's a really cool opportunity for people once camps over actually we'll probably do as even day by day, we'll it up on our website and say, it'll be called virtual capabilities and then we'll have links to the zoom lessons.

Jonathan Wahl: 14:59

Awesome. I'll be sure to put the capabilities website in the show notes so people can have access to your website. Just one, one final question. If there was one thing you want your participants to know when they leave your camp, what is, what is the lesson you're really hoping they, or the takeaway they get from the camp.

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 15:18

I want every child to know that they can do sports, they can achieve and they can be successful. And that nobody can tell them that they can't and that if they want to join a marathon or ride their bike across the country or run a 5k or be on the gymnastics team, there's a way to do that. And that we can help them get there and they can learn how to advocate for themselves because any sport can be done with modifications with children, with visual impairment, we've done so many different sports, but some people just don't know how. And that's what we try to unlock the door to the sports that have often been seen as impossible for people who are blind and visually impaired. And that's our goals. And that's what I want kids to take away. And that I know that I can do that. We've had so many kids have success on their after-school sports teams when they thought they couldn't do it. And they came to camp and realized, oh, I could do that. I can be on my swim team. Sure. And so also just to let you know, on our website, we have videos of popular afterschool sports and how kids with visual impairments can be included in those after-school sports.

Jonathan Wahl: 16:34

Awesome, great resources. Thanks so much, Lauren. We really appreciate you being on the podcast and we wish you the best of luck with your summer camps. And, and we hope that your second 25th anniversary celebration is even better than the first one could have

Dr. Lauren Lieberman: 16:46

Been. Yes. Thank you so much, Jonathan. And thank you for giving us the chance to share our story. And we hope that people will be part of our story because it's, it's an ever-changing journey and we hope to start more capabilities around the country. And I just want you to know that we on our website under the media tab, we have a link to the capability startup manual. If anybody's interested in starting their own capabilities, whether it's virtual or face-to-face, we have a step-by-step manual that will help them do that. It's the first two tabs under media on the capabilities.org website. And we'd love to help people start more camps.

Jonathan Wahl: 17:27

Perfect. Thank you so much. All right. Thanks Jonathan. If you'd like to learn more about capabilities, we'll have a link to their website in the show notes. Now we're talking to Tristin Pierce from APH. She is passionate about providing the tools children with visual impairments need to stay active and be involved in sports and physical fitness. Kristin, thanks so much for being on the podcast.

Tristan Pierce: 17:51

Well, I'm happy to be here and kind of excited to get to tell everyone about physical activity and sports

Jonathan Wahl: 17:58

Summer is here. So I think we're all ready for it. Uh, you know, we're talking about physical, co-education tell me a little bit about your background and also your role at APA.

Tristan Pierce: 18:08

Okay. Well, I am originally from Louisville, the home of APH, but my early years in children's educational publishing was in Boston in Chicago. And that was all through the 1980s, literally 1980 to 1990. And, uh, then after graduate school in Vermont, I lived in Rhode Island and I worked with the Institute for international sports and we got to organize and host the first ever world scholar athlete games, which was very exciting. We brought in like 1600 students, um, from around the world, um, who had the potential to be a future leaders of the world due to their academic prowess and their ability in sports, um, which develops great leadership. So that, that was a fun experience to get to, uh, be a part of. And, um, I have been involved in sports and physical activity my entire life. And then, um, after graduate school, my studies took me to Haiti where I worked with children in an orphanage. Uh, many of whom had multiple disabilities. So then upon my return to Louisville, I was lucky enough to find a job where I could combine my interest in publishing sports and disabilities. So I, I feel very, very fortunate to have landed at APH.

Jonathan Wahl: 19:39

We're fortunate to have you trust in. Now we know that physical activity is important, but let's talk specifically about physical education for children who are blind. That's something that oftentimes gets left out. Why, why is that so

Tristan Pierce: 19:54

Well, um, many studies have shown that individuals who, um, have visual impairment or blindness are less physically active in general. And as, as children, they are behind their sighted peers in the development of gross motor skills. And, you know, it's, everyone knows it's important to maintain an active lifestyle, to prevent weight gain and subsequently developed diabetes and to maintain a healthy heart, just like sighted appears, you know, this isn't something just for kids with BI that that's for all of us, but those of us with sight, you know, if you're, you can be, you know, four years old, uh, sitting in the car, uh, sitting at a red light and you see a group of kids over there in a field playing, uh, a ball sport or, or doing anything, I guess a lot these days, you may see kids at a skateboard park, you know, you see that. And so you just kind of learn about things because they're available to you every time you open your eyes. Well for a student who is visually impaired or blind, uh, that, that is not the case. And so you, you actually need to help teach them about the gross motor skills, uh, which will then lead to them to be able to do these sports and to teach them about the actual sports themselves. And, uh, also to, to maybe guide them some towards those Paralympic sports, which may help them to develop a career as an athlete, which is purpose, you know, definitely, definitely an ability, um, available to it, to any student. So, um, I would just say, you know, also the majority of the children with visual impairment and blindness, you know, they go to their local school. They're not at a residential school for the blind. So like going to a summer camp is a great way to develop friendships with other children who have visual impairment and blindness. And it also, um, you know, helps lead them into, uh, like the way you and I were discussing before we started the podcast. You know, just playing sports with friends, you know, you and I both had a great opportunity playing volleyball growing up. Well, you know, if you learn these skills in your PE class, you make friends in your PE class. Uh, there's absolutely no reason why during, oh, let's say spring break or summer breaks, or even winter breaks, why you cannot get together with those schoolmates, those school friends and participate in activities together.

Jonathan Wahl: 22:43

I think that's important too. It's, it's not just physical activity. It's also that, um, community as well for people,

Tristan Pierce: 22:52

The socialization, the development of leadership skills is so, so prevalent in playing team sports. You know,

Jonathan Wahl: 23:02

Now we have these great summer camps and programs throughout the country, but those opportunities have changed this summer. Some of them have canceled with COVID-19 and how that's impacted. So many of us, what are some things families can do from home for parents who still want their kids to be active

Tristan Pierce: 23:22

Well for families that include a child with a visual impairment, you know, they can really do just about anything that any family can do. Okay. Um, the use of sound devices make target activities very accessible. You know, whether you're wanting to, uh, if you've got some neighborhood kids or if you're just doing it within your family, if you're not to the point yet of, of socially interacting, you know, with some kids in your gesture family, depending on how large your family is, you know, um, you know, something as simple as, as relay races, you know, you can have all those, those team things with a sound of vice you, um, whatever your going to be. Let's say, um, you're going to be a, collecting an item in your relay race at the end. Um, you've just put that sound target at the, the item location, or let's say, you know, if you've got horseshoes set up or a lot of people play corn hole in your backyard, you just put that sound device at the other end so that they have a target to throw your bean bag or your ball or whatever, or to run towards, um, you know, people think, oh, uh, if, if you're visually impaired or you're blind, you can't jump rope. Oh my goodness. Yes, you can. Um, and if you have a student who may also have a motor disability and maybe jumping the off the floor is not there, they're just not ready to do that yet. Maybe they can just go up and down on their toes, up and down and your toes. That's a good workout. Just go up and down at your toes and move your hands. We, there are hopeless jump ropes out there. APH has a rope plus jump rope in there, a jump rope for fitness kit. And it's just strictly these little handles you hold on to, they have a little cord off the handles with the little ball and you just move your arms like you're jumping rope, but you never have to leave the ground. You can just binge your knees or go up and down on your toes. Like I said, or you can hop, you can jump. Um, that, that kit, we also include like an orientation match, but you know, you could just use any type of mat you have at home. And the purpose of that is because we all migrate when we jump, we, we may not realize it, but yes, sighted people, we migrate when we jump as well. So if you're jumping on a little mat and all of a sudden you feel one foot's off the mat and one foot's on, you know, you need to kind of migrate back in that direction to get yourself centered back on the mat. So just using a mat to jump rope with that, that is very, very doable. Um, you know, running, you can always hook a Guidewire up in your backyard. If you have a yard, that's got some trees, or maybe you have a chain link fence around your backyard. You could hook a Guidewire up from one side of the fence to the other side. And you, you could just hold onto that Guidewire, but I have to tell you, you're not really moving your arms in the proper position, uh, that your arms are not moving freely from your shoulder, which really does help with your gait when you're running. So if you just hook a carabiner onto your Guidewire and then hook a loop rope like a rope, you just tie in a circle, hook it onto your carabiner and hold on to it. Then your arms can move freely. And that will really, really help with your gait when you're running. Um, you can even play tennis. And one of the things I like to do with practicing tennis, um, we do have a tennis ball that has these, these bells inside. So you can hear it when it hits and bounces and lands. So if you do not have someone to volley that tennis ball back and forth, you can just drop the ball. When it bounces up, hit it with your racket. It hits a wall, comes back down, hits the floor again, when it bounces up, you hit it again. So basically you're just playing tennis against yourself, as hard as you want to hit it, or as soft as you want to hit. It kind of think about how people play racquetball in an enclosed room. You can do that same thing inside your base. I guess if you have a basement or an open garage, if, if someone wants to move the cars out of the garage, or if you have, um, maybe a wall somewhere at a local park, you could hit the ball against the law. But, um, I have done it here at APH up on in our conference room, up on the fourth floor. I just go up there and I whacked the ball against the wall and play against myself all the time. That's a nice little stress reliever too. Um, you know, everybody, if you have a swing set or a jungle gym in your backyard, there's absolutely no reason whatsoever. Why just because a child has a visual impairment, they cannot play on those. It's, you know, fun, you know, experiment, you know, it's, you know, all of us, all of us, you know, we've fallen down and we've gotten back up when we've played. It's no different for those kids with visual impairment, you know, none whatsoever, you know, go on a family hike. Like you told me this weekend, your family went kayaking. There's absolutely no reason why your family can't go kayaking, um, hiking, kayaking, all those activities, um, and that you may do at a park or in an Arboretum, or go into a, uh, a forest. You know, there are, you know, what, here in Louisville. And I, and I know when I lived in Chicago and Boston, both just about every city has at least one cemetery that is like almost like a beautiful park. I mean, we're fortunate to have one that has a lake and swans and ducks and fountains and beautiful monuments. You know, they're also very, very beautiful places that you can safely go hiking in as well. There's um, another great thing that a family can do this time of the year is to plant a garden. Think about it, Rosemary, basil, Sage, those, the olfactory sense of those plants growing. You're just rubbing them in your fingers. You know, lavender, you know, so many things are great, but if you've, if you've got like a, uh, an herbal garden with these, these delicious smelling and tasting plants in them, you can then incorporate them into a family cooking activity as well, learn about recipes. Um, one of the products we have is called lots of dots. It's for younger children, it's called, uh, lots of dots learning my ABC's lots of dots counting 1, 2, 3, and then lots of dots coloring the garden. They're meant to be used sequentially they're coloring books, raised glide prints, coloring books, but the activity guides that come with them have all kinds of expansion exercises that you can do. And particularly, uh, coloring the garden. It uses all kinds of plants and fruits and vegetables. And that includes a lot of little recipes that the whole family can do together. So that's just a, a sampling, I guess, of some of the things that you can do in the summertime to keep the family up and active and doing things together. Now.

Jonathan Wahl: 31:02

So many opportunities out there, but, you know, young people have a lot of energy. So for parents who are used to a summer camp or some other outlet, just, what's your word of encouragement for them as they head into summer with young people full of energy?

Tristan Pierce: 31:16

Well, you know, I say for young people full of energy to just let the energy flow, you know, just let it open up, try new things. I mean, it's an experience for the whole family. If you try new things, get out of your comfort zone, you know, um, we all learn in life. Like I said earlier, we all fall down, but we get back up and you may try something completely new, you know, there's, um, we, we, we published a book years ago. I, I may be available as a free download now on the APH website, it's called going places. And the places stands for preferences, leisure activity, awareness, choices, experience, and then skill development. And it takes you through a process of researching and learning about new activities you never ever knew about and how you go about learning about them and how you try things new and develop your skills. And it has personal stories of, uh, people who are visually impaired and blind and about their sports and what they had to overcome, what were obstacles and what their future goals are for that sport. And it is till this day, one of my favorite favorite books to play, because it teaches them about something new that's in their local community. That's what it's all about is what's available in your community. And, you know, I, I would also like to tell people too, um, if there is no camp available for them that consider starting one, there's a publication available online at the, uh, camp abilities website that will tell you exactly how to start a sports camp. So maybe use this year to do your planning. And maybe this time next year, you can have a sports camp in your town if you currently do not have one. But I think the main thing I want to stress is that we can all do the same thing with encouragement, with some modifications or adaptations. I don't think there's many things out there that someone, an individual or a family cannot do if they don't put their mind to it. And you just teach a little bit by bit, may be a little task analysis. Um, but in the end, I think every person who wants to be successful in an activity or a sport, um, can, can achieve that perfection that they, they want. Yeah.

Jonathan Wahl: 34:17

So much trust. And I'll be sure to include some information on those products. You mentioned this show notes, and I just thank you for all the products you do make and for all the physical activity opportunities,

Tristan Pierce: 34:29

You know, and one last thing, Jonathan, for those families is, you know, the internet, it all has to, it all comes back to the internet, right? So just do a search. There are tons and tons and tons of YouTube videos out there. And I mean, specifically blind, alive, it's all audio, very detailed instructions on doing exercises. Uh, revision training is another, um, Bo both of these blind, alive revision training, um, have, have your families do a search for them.

Jonathan Wahl: 35:02

Sounds great. Thanks so much Tristan, for being a part of the podcast.

Tristan Pierce: 35:06

Thank you, Jonathan, for asking

Jonathan Wahl: 35:08

If you're looking for tools to help out this summer, head over to aph.org and search for physical education to find everything we have to offer, that's it for today's episode of Changemakers, be sure to look for ways you can be a change maker this week.