By Courtney Sheppard (Inclusion Officer)
Inclusion can be defined as the action or state of including or of being included within a group or structure.
Through acts of inclusion this can allow people to have much more meaningful and positive experiences in the aspects of social activities, in educational settings and when they are a part of a sporting community. As a sporting facility Twisters Gymnastics wants to be as inclusive as possible.
Ways in which we aim to promote inclusion in our classes and programs include:
- Making sure our coaches build a positive and respectful relationship with their students;
- Considering how each of our individual students learn;
- Creating a positive learning environment where our students can grow through movement; and
- Encouraging students to learn together and participate in small groups so they can form friendships, receive support and have an engaging class.
One of the main goals at Twisters Gymnastics is to provide an inclusive environment for all students. Whilst we don’t provide separate inclusion classes for students, we have a variety of strategies that we can implement to assist in making all our programs accessible for all students wanting to attend our programs.
Some strategies we can implement to make our classes more inclusive include:
- Assisting to find an appropriate class (sometimes quieter timeslots are helpful);
- Implementing a sensory hour where the noise in and around the gym is greatly reduced;
- Offering a range of fidgets for use during class to assist with focus;
- Having a support person in the gym to support the child (this could be a parent/guardian, an aide, or another adult nominated by the parent/guardian);
- Putting an additional coach on the class to assist the child; and
- Creating personalised social stories about attending gymnastic class.
We are also more than willing work with the parents and guardians to implement your own suggestions or strategies that you find work well when supporting your child.
If you need assistance regarding meeting your child’s inclusive needs at Twisters, please feel free to contact me using the email inclusion@twistersgym.com.au
