Having an understanding of which strategies can support your participation and achievements in a community program can help you get the most out of your time there.
Below are some strategies that might be helpful for you. Some of these are changes that you can make yourself, and others might be changes you can ask a coach, teacher, or leader to make.
You can download a version of these strategies, with visuals and less text, from here:
Start with what I can manage. Then add new challenges when I am ready. For example, I could:
Participate in smaller groups or with someone I feel safe with.
Watch others have a go first.
Ask for the activity to have fewer steps.
Slow things down.
Ask for more time to practise.
I want to understand and follow the instructionsView
What might help?
Move to where I can hear and see the speaker clearly.
Ask for information to be given in different ways. These could include a mix of spoken instructions, written instructions, demonstrations, gestures, pictures, and private one-to-one feedback.
Ask for instructions to be given (or repeated) away from noise and distractions.
Ask for the pace, rules or difficulty of an activity to be reduced while I am learning something new. Ask for this to be gradually adjusted when I am ready.
e.g., slow things down, and increase duration or pace later on
e.g., start with fewer steps or rules, and add new ones later on
e.g., shorten or simplify activities and scoring methods, and increase difficulty later on
Ask for the same signals when starting and ending an activity
Participate with another young person I feel safe with.
Connect with others who have similar interests to me.
Ask a leader to use a buddy system.
Ask “open ended” questions. These are questions that can’t be answered with “Yes” or “No”. For example, instead of asking “Do you like watching sport?”, I could ask “What sports do you like watching?”.
Set myself small goals for how I can connect with others.
Ask for changes so that everyone feels included (e.g., I can ask the leader to choose the groups or teams so that no-one is left out or picked last)
Let a trusted adult know if I am being treated unfairly or unkindly by others.
