I highly recommend Special Olympics. You can find out where a group is nearest you by going to: http://www.specialolympics.org and click on “Find a Location”.

There is no cost for an athelete to participate in Special Olympics.

You may also want to connect with other parent/support groups for children with special needs. I found that networking with parents (who are the experts) can give you lots of support, advice and good information about things related to raising a child with a disability.

The school should be able to help you connect to social services for him or see if you can contact a YAI program they are nation wide and they are for children with developmental disabilities including Autism. Look them up in the phone book. Also see if the mayor’s office has a office for the disabled they might have some idea of where you could find services for you grandson. And don’t feel bad I have several people in my family with advanced degrees and they have children with LD’s so the fact that you have highly educated people in your family does not mean that you won’t have a child with learing disablitlites.

In addition to contacting the Special Olympics, look into the National Ability Center. It is located in Park City, UT, but they may be able to put you in touch with similar programs in your area. Plus, they also do “sleep away” summer camps, river rafting trips that include the non-disabled family members, etc. It’s a really neat program. Here’s the link: http://www.discovernac.org/index.htm

Hope this helps – good luck!

Hi there. I live about 25 miles outside of down town Philly. My son is almost five (next month) and is HFA. The township of Warminster had an excellent summer program for children. My son does not have extreme behavior problems and generally fits in well with “statistically normal” children. He was mainstreamed for summer camp with other children his own age who were not autistic. Also try your local YMCA. They have (at least in our area) special olympic training. However, we have put our child in several programs and they have always gone out of their way to make sure my son was mainstreamed with other children. My son really doesn’t require special olympics – just an understanding instructor. We live in a small town but our local Y still has swimming, soccer, gymnastics, dance class, t-ball . . . a whole range of sports and again based on my experience they have no problem making sure your son is included. Please feel free to email me – see my profile. P.S. Sports programs at the Y usually run about $80.00 plus a small joiner fee.

Does he need special Olympics? Or would he be able to participate in a regular park and recreation program. Public programs are suppose to (if reasonable) accommodate children with special needs. You could call your local park and rec. department and talk to them about your grandson. Based on your very brief description it seems he might benefit from a typical environment with typical kids with the leader/ instructor was sensitive to his specific needs. Otherwise just google special Olympics and search for your local chapter. They are everywhere and are awesome.

i think of it relies upon on the youngster. My son is 6, and replaced into clinically determined with classic autism merely after he grew to become 2. at that element he actually lived in his very own worldwide. He in certainty stayed in his very own room, and infrequently even interacted with us, no longer to show all people outdoors his relatives. whilst he went someplace in public, which includes preschool, he could stay in a nook, below a table, or wander around on the outskirts. After years of in intensity intervention, he has grew to become right into a social butterfly interior the sense that he loves human beings. He must be around somebody each and every of the time. he’s the polar opposite of what he replaced into. yet he nevertheless has MANY social skills issues. merely through fact he’s social, does no longer mean he knows a thank you to socialize. He desires consistent activates on a thank you to act wisely in social situations. the factor to recollect is that no 2 young ones with this sickness are an identical,it is why it is so demanding to handle. I actual have an in depth chum whose daughter is a million month older than my son, and has gained the right comparable centers for the right comparable quantity of time as my son, and that they have got not had an identical fulfillment that we’ve. We have been very fortunate. merely persist with it. If he prefers you, and responds to you, you may desire to get greater useful consequences from him than others in his existence. Ask his mom and dad what you may do specifically situations. they are going to in all hazard be chuffed of any assist you to would desire to have the skill to grant!