Indoor Baseball
Apparently, the weather was similar ten winters ago…not outside baseball weather. Mikey’s first challenger practice that year was inside.
Will was Mikey’s helper for this first practice. Challenger Baseball calls them buddies.
Challenger Buddies
Typical kids can volunteer to be buddies for Challenger Baseball. Will volunteered to be a buddy. He’d ride with us to practice and volunteer to help one of the kids with special needs. He was Mikey’s helper on a few days, but for the most part, he helped one of Mikey’s teammates.
This made the job more interesting for Will since he is already an expert in being Mikey’s buddy in all sorts of situations. It also made it more of a novel experience for Michael since he needed to get used to someone else’s way of cueing and supporting. In addition, buddies rotated through the team over the course of the season, so each buddy got a chance to work with each player.
This team was such a gift to Mikey! If your child might enjoy something like this, look up Challenger Baseball and Special Olympics in your area.
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About the Author
Erica Mauro is a mom to two teenage boys, Will who is neurotypical and Michael with Autism and cognitive delays. She holds a BA in Psychology from Colgate University and a Masters of Psychology in Education from Columbia Teacher’s College. Before staying home with her children, she worked as an elementary school teacher. For five years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Molly Ann Tango Memorial Foundation, a charity dedicated to enriching the lives of children with special needs. In partnership with her husband Dave, she aspires to parent by using daily life as an opportunity for therapeutic intervention, seizing on real experiences as opportunities to build skills and strategies for Michael in a joyful, loving home environment. On the tougher early days, she just tried to get everyone safely to bedtime and start fresh in the morning. *wink* 
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