By D.A. Reed
WKTV Contributing Writer
Kentwood Parks and Recreation intern Aubrey Buckingham has experienced the benefits of the adaptive recreation program firsthand.
“I’ve been a part of facilitating relationships, encouraging participants, lending a hand, and a little bit of everything,” said Buckingham, an incoming senior at GVSU studying recreational therapy. “My favorite part of this summer is the relationships I’ve formed with the participants. There has just been a level of trust, and it’s really fun to see the participants flourish and try new things.
“It’s really special.”
Exposed to working with individuals with disabilities later in her high school years steered Buckingham toward recreational therapy.
“From that point on, I knew that this was just the population that I wanted to work with.”
Kentwood Parks and Rec hosted an adaptive waterskiing and tubing clinic for individuals with physical or cognitive disabilities and their families last Friday at YMCA Camp Manitou-Lin in Middleville.
Providing empowering and enriching opportunities for people of all abilities is part of Kentwood Parks and Recreation Department’s main directive — and they are accomplishing that goal through their adaptive recreation program.
“It’s hard as an adaptive family, or a family with special needs, to sometimes find resources that are out there,” said Christy Dargo, mother of an adaptive participant.
And that is where Kentwood’s Adaptive Program comes in. Kentwood developed its adaptive program 22 years prior, adding clinics open to siblings and other family members within the last five years.
“It’s nice because we all get to be part of it,” Dargo said. “Sometimes it’s hard to find something that everyone can be a part of. You’re a family. And when you have a child with special needs, you have to find that balance between adaptive lifestyle and incorporating things that are not adaptive.
“The clinics melded both the adaptive and nonadaptive and it’s something that they can do together. I think that’s really special.”
Four clinics per year
Parks and Rec partners with other organizations to offer four clinics a year. Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital and the Down Syndrome Association of West Michigan are two organizations that have stepped in to help bring these experiences and learning opportunities to those with physical and cognitive disabilities.
Waterskiing is a particularly popular clinic. Lessons are available on Thursdays over the course of six weeks. Unlike the clinics, which can have approximately 20 participants, the waterskiing lessons are limited to five participants due to the fact they get more time on the water.
Skill development
“We can work on developing the skills,” said Ann Przybysz, Kentwood’s recreation program coordinator. “Getting better balance, more duration, more strength with their upper body.”
Christy Dargo admits that having the adaptive equipment, extra hands and trained staff helps make the experience “less intense of an adventure to go out and do something. Sometimes it feels almost too overwhelming to do it on our own.”
All about family
The Dargo family consists of four children, Zach, Abigail, Natalie and Xia, who was adopted from China in 2013 and the adaptive participant in the waterskiing clinic — though the rest of the family enjoyed trying out the sport as well.
“It’s so good for the kids, and so good for sibling relationships,” Dargo said. “And it may seem like a little thing, but it’s not. To give kids an opportunity, one, to do something they’ve never done — because of their ability level and making something adaptive — and two, to be able to share it with the rest of their family, for us, this is not a little thing.
“This is a big deal.”
Increased awareness in the community regarding the adaptive program is something staff, interns and parents all agree is needed and are working hard to implement.
Dargo said just the idea of exposure, and that this is even available, is huge.
“It’s a great thing; it’s a blessing for them to be able to do this together,” Dargo explained. “I don’t know if Xia would necessarily do it on his own.”
Seeing his siblings participate, Dargo said, takes away some of that nervousness for Xia.
“More people and families are better,” Xia said.
D. A. (Deborah) Reed is an award-winning author of young adult novels and a creative writing instructor from the Grand Rapids area. To find out more about D.A. Reed, visit her website: D.A. Reed
