By Sharon Sheridan, MG Correspondent
White socks covering their hands, kids crowded around a table in the middle of the aisle at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Morristown, trying to string beads. A few feet away, other youngsters tried to write their names by looking only at their pencil images in mirrors.
“Have you not written your name yet?” demanded the table leader. “Everyone in the class has already written their name!”
At the back of the nave, other youngsters, various limbs encased in pillowcase-like bags, tried to catch, kick and throw balls.
More than 30 children and teens, including members of the youth groups of St. Peter’s and the nearby Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, attended a Disability Awareness Acceptance Training program run by Special Needs Athletic Programs on Sunday. Started by then-15-year-old Matthew Certner in 2006 and now run by his younger brother Zachary, SNAP recruits young volunteers to work with other young people with disabilities.
SNAP began by running sports clinics for children with special needs, teaching fundamental skills of basketball, baseball and soccer along with fostering communication and teamwork. Today, it also runs clinics in Tae Kwon Do, swimming, soccer and golf and has expanded to include in-school programs of lunch, gym and recess buddies as well as after-school buddy and art programs. This week, St. Peter’s began hosting Tae Kwon Do clinics and an after-school homework program.
In a related ministry, St. Peter’s also plans soon to offer a monthly worship service specially designed for special-needs children and their families, modeled after similar programs started in New Jersey and Connecticut.
During Sunday’s training, youngsters participated in activities meant to simulate performing tasks with a disability such as visual impairment, dyslexia, cerebral palsy or balance problems. Teen volunteer trainers alternately simulated the sort of comments a student might hear from someone not understanding his or her disability – “Turn to the next page. Keep reading! You should have been done by now. Hurry up!” – and quizzed the trainees on how they felt tackling the activities.
Over and over, the youngsters said they were frustrated.
“It felt really awkward,” said eight-grader Katherine Hall-Lapinski, a Redeemer member.
“There are going to be so many beads on the floor,” lamented St. Peter’s seventh-grader Alaina Boccino as she tackled the bead-stringing activity. “I’m annoyed.”
“I think it’s extremely frustrating and annoying,” said Liam Pierson, a St. Peter’s eighth-grader. “I’m used to doing things one way. … I feel really bad for [kids with disabilities] now. They know how to do it. It’s just that their body is not willing to do it.”
Mackenzie May helped oversee the mirror station, where participants experienced what it’s like to write when you have dyslexia. “These kids live with this disability. Can you realize how frustrating that must be? They can’t read as well and write because everything seems backward.”
Earlier, she spoke about what life is like for her brother Ryan, who has autism.
“SNAP has really taught me how to interact more with my brother, Ryan,” she said. “Ryan doesn’t really have many friends. He doesn’t really have friends who will always be there for him. He’s rarely invited to birthday parties. … He’s just like you and me. It’s just that his brain works a little differently sometimes.”
SNAP provides an opportunity to participate in sports for youngsters who otherwise may not have that chance. But it does much more than teach sports.
“They learn how to be a friend” and build relationships, said Zach Certner. Volunteers come from elementary through high school. “The main thing is, it’s kids helping kids. We want to motivate you guys to help in the community.”
Matt Certner, who helped with the training while home for the holidays from Duke University, said one could see SNAP participants grow in confidence and self-esteem.
He and other SNAP volunteers also recounted the rewards of helping out. He described working with one nonverbal boy, now 9, for two years. After the first year, he dribbled a basketball for the first time. “The dad literally came up to me in tears … because his boy was finally playing ball with his dad.”
The trainers, including Ryan’s father, David, highlighted various challenges volunteers might face. SNAP participants might be very sensitive to noise, for example, or have difficulty with transitions or changes to routines. They invited youngsters into role-playing, seeing what it’s like to try to communicate with someone who can’t talk or who shows no interest in what you’re saying or who suddenly bolts for the door during an activity.
“I thought it was really good to get inside of what they go through every day,” said eighth-grader Rachel Goldman, who attends Redeemer. “I feel kind of bad that people don’t realize that they are just like we are. They just have a little more trouble doing stuff.”
Tenth-grader Ally Werner, a St. Peter’s member, commented on the mental effort it took to draw while looking in a mirror that made words seem backwards, or to catch a ball while balancing on another ball. “Now I see how hard it is for kids to always be like this, 24-7,” she said, adding that she now wants to become a SNAP volunteer.
More information about SNAP is available here.
