Category: Down Syndrome
Middle school student with Down syndrome to lead Buddy Walk in memory of camp counselors
Garden City News
Garden City, N.Y., seventh-grader Matthew Castellano will lead The National Down Syndrome Society Buddy Walk Sept. 25 that starts in New York’s Central Park. He’ll be with NDSS Ambassador John C. McGinley (from TV’s “Scrubs”), Chris Burke (from “Life Goes On), and others.
Matthew attends Camp Anchor, a Long Island town camp for youths and adults with a wide range of disabilities. Every camper at Camp Anchor (which stands for Answering the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation) has an individual counselor. Three young Anchor Camp counselors were killed in a car crash on their way to work July 15 — and Matthew and his group will be walking for them in the Buddy Walk.
Matthew and his group hope to raise $3,000 in the Buddy Walk.
The NDSS (National Down Syndrome Society) has chosen Matthew Castellano, to be this year’s “Self-Advocate Ambassador” for the New York City “Buddy Walk” in Central Park. Matthew is a 7th grader at the Garden City Middle School and attends Camp Anchor in Lido Beach, NY. Matthew and his team will be walking for his beloved camp Anchor staff counselors, Michael Mulhall, Jamie Malone and Paige Malone who were in a fatal car accident on July 15th, 2010 on their way to Camp Anchor. He will lead the walk along with celebrities, John C. McGinley from the TV show “Scrubs,” Chris Burke from the former TV show “Life Goes On” and several others. Together they will salute the amazing event participants who have raised money and awareness in support of individuals with Down Syndrome.
Help kickoff the NYC Buddy Walk in Times Square where 200 photos of individuals with Down Syndrome from all over the world were selected from thousands of photo submissions for the 2010 NDSS Times Square Video. The Times Square Video will be shown on the “MTV Plasma Screen.” NDSS will provide transportation from Times Square to the NYC Buddy Walk site at “The Great Hill” in Central Park.
via Middle School Student To Be “Self Advocate Ambassador” | www.gcnews.com | Garden City News.
Posted on July 23, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Down Syndrome | Tags: camp, celebrities, Down Syndrome, fundraising
Spanish soccer coach fulfills son with Down syndrome’s wish
Catholic News Agency
The coach of Spain’s world champion soccer team, Vicente del Bosque, is a man of few words and gestures. However, last week he experienced one of the most emotional moments of his life when he fulfilled the dream of his 21 year-old son Alvaro, who suffers from Down’s Syndrome, by allowing him to hold up the World Cup trophy to the applause of the team.
“My son changed my life,” Del Bosque has said on more than one occasion. Alvaro is his second son, and Del Bosque learned that he had Down’s Syndrome several weeks after his birth. “At first we cried a lot,” he told author Gemma Herrero for her book, “39 Stories of Solidarity Surrounding Sports,” but he added, “Now when I look back I think, we were so foolish.”
via Spanish soccer coach fulfills wish for Down’s Syndrome son :: Catholic News Agency (CNA).
Posted on July 21, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Down Syndrome | Tags: athletes, Down Syndrome, soccer, Spain, sports
Autism and Summer: Summer Special Olympics
Nearly 3,000 athletes with autism, Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities are headed to Nebraska for the 2010 Special Olympics USA National Games.
The Summer Games July 18-23 in Lincoln will feature athletes competing in 13 sports - including swimming, soccer, track & field, bowling, golf, bocce, volleyball, gymnastics, tennis, powerlifting and softball.
Organizers have erected a Special Olympics Town for the athletes, 1,000 coaches and 15,000 friends and family members expected to attend.
One feature – a 20-foot-long memory wall where people can write tributes to Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who died last year.
While this national event is huge – and the world Special Olympics next year in Athens will be even bigger, Special Olympics events are held nationwide and around the world. (Sixteen Special Olympics soccer players showed the world just how talented they are during the World Cup.) At any level, as the athletes compete, they change attitudes about intellectual disabilities, and they become more confident and empowered.
Do you have a family member competing in the Special Olympics? Everyone’s a winner in these Games!
via Pershing to be Special Olympics Town.
Posted on July 13, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Down Syndrome | Tags: athletes, Autism, Down Syndrome, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, Special Olympics, sports
Tim Shriver to speak at Special Olympics health symposium
Lincoln Journal Star
Tim Shriver, CEO of Special Olympics International and son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver, will be keynote speaker Saturday in Omaha at a Special Olympics health symposium on how to improve the health of people with intellectual disabilities.
Shriver titled his speech: “Have We Closed the Gap on Unmet Health Needs for People With Intellectual Disability?”
Have we?
No, he says. Many health-care professionals still don’t have the training to deal with the quality-of-life issues of people with intellectual disabilities. They have been trained to cure people, not support this population and help these people reach their potential.
via Tim Shriver to speak at Special Olympics health symposium.
Posted on July 13, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Down Syndrome | Tags: Autism, Down syndrom, special needs, Special Olympics, Tim Shriver
Down syndrome dancer is headed to Disney World
WTSP
Thalia Arvelaez, a teenager with Down syndrome, is at a dance camp in Tampa this week. In mid-July, she’ll be at Disney World, dancing for the National Down Syndrome Congress. In November, she heads to Argentina to dance and raise Down syndrome awareness. Thalia’s teacher says she is a joy to watch. Her mother says Thalia loves applause — and when people give her flowers!
Tampa, Florida – Among the tapping toes at this summer camp class at the Patel Conservatory, you’ll find a pair of fancy feet belonging to Thalia Arbelaez. She loves to dance-all types.
“I like ballet, hip-hop, jazz, tap,” Thalia starts ticking off the list.
Thalia knows she looks a bit different than her classmates and she refers to herself as “special”. The 17-year-old has Down syndrome, a genetic condition that changes a child’s development, and she was born with a host of health problems.
Alicia Arbelaez recalls what doctors told her shortly after her daughter’s birth. “The doctor come to tell me, ‘this child is never going to walk.’”
But walk Thalia did and dance lessons at age 2 soon followed.
Posted on July 8, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Down Syndrome | Tags: dance, Down Syndrome, Florida, summer camp, teenagers with Down syndrome
Bicycling with special needs: Lose the Training Wheels Camp
WFMZ
TREXLERTOWN, Pa. — Learning how to ride a bike can be especially challenging for kids with special needs.
But the Eastern Pennsylvania Down Syndrome Center is trying to change that.
This year the group hosted a volunteer-driven camp to help children “lose the training wheels.”
via Anchors Away: Lose The Training Wheels – News Story – WFMZ Allentown.
Posted on July 7, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Caregiving, Down Syndrome | Tags: activities, Autism, children with Autism, cycling, Down Syndrome, summer, summer camp
LoJack SafetyNet available in Marshfield, Mass., to find people with autism, Alzheimer’s who wander
The Marshfield Mariner
Marshfield —With training having been completed June 22, the Marshfield Police Department has officially added LoJack Safety Net to its public safety arsenal.
The program, which has been implemented by police and fire departments nationwide, will provide Marshfield officials the tools they need to swiftly track down and rescue those who have wandered from their caregivers.
“People who want to sign up can go online with LoJack Safety Net or come here,” said veteran Marshfield police officer Ralph Poland, who on a recent afternoon behind the police station learned first-hand — along with several other officers and firefighters — how to use the advanced tracking equipment.
Poland, who is helping to implement the program, said police and fire officials know that it only takes a moment for a resident with Alzheimer’s disease, autism or any other condition that may predispose them to do so to wander off or disappear. In North America alone, according to LoJack Safety Net figures, more than 5.8 million people have Alzheimer’s disease, and the majority may have a tendency to wander.
via Police, fire officers complete LoJack training – Marshfield, MA – Marshfield Mariner.
Posted on July 7, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Alzheimer's, Autism, Caregiving, Dementia, Down Syndrome | Tags: first responders, LoJack SafetyNet, Massachusetts, police, Wandering
Special Needs: Taking the fear out of doctors’ visits
WHYY
Nobody looks forward to a dentist’s drill or giving a blood sample. But for people with special needs, these routine visits can be a cause for special terror. Often people with intellectual disabilities or autism get sedated or restrained so that they’ll stay still for a medical test. One Delaware mother came up with a better way.
via Taking the fear out of doctors’ visits | WHYY News and Information | WHYY.
Posted on July 2, 2010 | No Comments | Category: Autism, Down Syndrome | Tags: Autism, children with Autism, Down Syndrome, physicians
Boy with autism, Down syndrome will throw first pitch at Red Sox game
Kennebec Journal
A Maine boy with autism and Down syndrome will throw out the first pitch at Fenway Park in Boston Tuesday, disability awareness night. Go Jackson! (And go Red Sox!)
Jackson Hickey will be on the mound Tuesday night at Fenway Park, not as a replacement for the battered Red Sox staff but to throw out the first pitch.
The 11-year-old from West Gardiner will be center stage on disability awareness night prior to Boston’s game against Tampa Bay. Jackson’s mother, Jayne, entered her son’s name into a contest promoted by Exceptional Parents Magazine and got a response within 24 hours.
“I filled out (a form) and I saw the Red Sox were an option,” she said. “I said ‘I’d really like to make his dream come true.’ ”
The magazine honors a special family each year and selected the Hickeys for their compelling story.
via West Gardiner boy to throw out 1st pitch at Fenway | The Kennebec Journal, Augusta, ME.
Posted on June 28, 2010 | 2 Comments | Category: Autism, Down Syndrome | Tags: Autism, Boston, Massachusetts, Red Sox, sports
Program could smooth a hard road to college for student with Down syndrome
Kansas City Star
A new program in Missouri is aimed at helping students with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities experience college and build skills that will take them from home to independence and employment. It’s called THRIVE – for Transportation, Health, Responsibility, Independence, Vocation, Education. Read this Kansas City Star story about a possible participant in the THRIVE program.
Ask Mary Warm about her hope for her future, and she cocks her head. The bushy ponytail swings, the smile spreads across her face.
“I love kids, being around kids and hanging out with them, so I want to be a teacher,” said Warm, 18, a junior at Archbishop O’Hara High School in Kansas City.
For most teens Warm’s age, her goal is fairly easily reached with good grades in high school and four years of hard work in college. But for Warm, who has Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder resulting in cognitive disabilities, it’s not as easy.
But the University of Central Missouri’s THRIVE program, which starts this fall, could well be a big step toward making it easier after she graduates from O’Hara.
via Program could smooth a hard road to college for student with Down syndrome – KansasCity.com.
Posted on June 18, 2010 | 1 Comment | Category: Down Syndrome | Tags: College, Down Syndrome, employment, Missouri, school