Families came together Thursday night at the Coniston Community Arena for the final autism friendly sports night of the summer.
The event was organized by local autism parent Sara Kitlar-Pothier, who put together four nights of fun and activities for as many as 50 children each week, in an autism friendly environment.
"We've had anywhere between 30 to 50 kids out every week," said Kitlar-Pothier, whose six-year-old son Bohdan was one of the numerous participants. "Next year I'm looking to make this a full eight to 10 week program and we're looking into having programs over the winter as well."
Response from parents who have brought their kids out to Coniston for the sports nights has been overwhelmingly positive, says Sara, and the groundwork has been laid for the program to grow and expand moving forward.
"I almost want to see some constructive criticism," laughed Kitlar-Pothier. "I want to know what else can be done, how we can improve and grow this."
Among Sara's hopes for the program is for it to one day become fully inclusive, with autistic volunteers taking on leadership roles as mentors to the younger children who participate.
One such mentor has already jumped on board, as autism self-advocate Adam Mardero has been getting involved wherever he can, and was in attendance Thursday evening.
"I'm happy to be here and to be able to offer my viewpoint. I think it's so wonderful what Sara is doing here, this is so needed," said Mardero. "It's just about letting kids be kids, letting them be themselves."
The sports night offered a variety of activities for participants - soccer balls, large exercise balls, a bouncy castle, bubble machine and races - all of which were carefully designed to cater to kids with autism.
Sara's hope is for Sudbury to establish an inclusive playground that will cater to the needs of children with autism and is a safe and sensory-friendly space that they can enjoy.
"We have our sensory equipment here, we have the balls which is great for self-regulation and stimming, we have different textures of balls, we have the hula hoops," said Kitlar-Pothier.
"For autistic children if they can touch things at the park, if things vibrate, if things are softer, those are the kinds of things that are really important. The kids automatically gravitate towards the sensory equipment we have here. We've taught the kids how to throw balls, they love the races, that's a big thing for them."
The autism friendly sports nights are first and foremost for the kids, but the benefit for the families as a whole has been met with heaps of praise.
Jennifer Leclair has been traveling from Verner with her seven-year-old son Vincent, who has Angelman Syndrome - a genetic disorder that shares some similarities with autism but is not part of the autism spectrum.
"A friend shared this event with me on Facebook, there's not many inclusive sports in our area during the summer," said Leclair.
"I thought it was a perfect opportunity for Vincent to be around kids with similar needs. It's a place where he belongs, where they completely understand his sensory needs and the people here are sensitive to needs. They all get it, it's amazing, they totally get it...just the fact that he's not autistic and they accepted him, it's very inclusive, it's so wonderful for him to be around peers with similar needs."
The common understanding among parents at the autism friendly sports night is another positive that has become visible and has taken away from some of the stresses that can be associated with play time for children with autism.
"The parents here all get it, they're all dealing with the challenges on a daily basis," said Kitlar-Pothier. "Parents know when to step in, they know the needs and challenges of the children. I have parents reaching out and saying what a great time their kids had, they've all been wonderful with offering to help, everyone has a smile, there's very little stress around here."
A final positive, is that for the most part all of the kids have been full participants for the full hour. In the case of children with autism, play and group activities can become overwhelming at times and they can be prone to shutting down, but that hasn't been the case at any of the autism-friendly sports nights.
"I think the biggest triumph is every week at least one parent comes to me and says 'my kid lasted the whole night tonight', they didn't have to leave after half an hour," said Kitlar-Pothier.
"That's really important, they can be over-stimulated and they want to leave or there's meltdowns, but for the most part the kids have lasted the entire hour, and the parents and grandparents have been able to come out and get involved and you just don't see that all that often where they can come out and interact with their kids in this way."
While the 2019 summer sessions have wrapped up, Kitlar-Pothier is still hard at work to grow the program.
If you are interested in getting involved, check out the Facebook group.
