Awesome Day at Soccer Practise!

Samuel just started playing on a soccer team for children with special needs. He missed the first practise last week because of his EEG, but he was able to go this week. It is being offered by the parks and recreation department in Winchester, Virginia.

Samuel willingly got on the field, lined up for his drills and participated!!! He didn't want me or his helper to go with him! This is really big, after having to shadow him constantly for t-ball this past summer. Granted, he cut in line a few times during the drill activity, and he just had to run a few dozen extra yards before he got back in line, but he was happy to be there and to be playing (and I'm happy for his social learning opportunities!). All that his helper and I had to do from time to time was position ourselves off in the distance a bit to keep him from running away too far. The times he did get away from us he was eventually stopped by a fence and he ended up coming back!

His attention span ran out after the drills, and he didn't know what to do during the mini-games. That was a little tough because he started to lose patience. I really wanted to keep things positive so I allowed him to take a few short breaks. The field they were practising on was next to a baseball diamond that consisted of some lovely dirt so he was happy to play in that during the breaks. He never lost his patience, and he seemed somewhat proud of himself for playing!

Next week the whole family is coming along to cheer him on! I cannot wait! One of my tasks this week is to teach him what the game of soccer is all about! He knows how to kick the ball, but doesn't understand the concept of each team trying to score its own goals.

The photo is of Samuel's entry in his journal yesterday. I have him practise writing the date (he does this after filling in a calendar with velcro pieces), then some days he recalls events and other days he writes about anticipating events. Most days I decide what he writes about, but some days he gets to decide what he is going to write about. He's not a very willing speller, so I was happy that he filled in the word "red" on this page without any spelling assistance.