“YOUnique Run for Fun”

“No dream is too big, and no dreamer is too small.”

Julie Vargas, Alexis Banks, Leslie Martinez, Nicholas Becerra

Introduction
● Jogathon: Our inclusive program is a community-based, sports related recreation activity
that involves individuals jogging.
● Program Purpose:
○ To get everyone to exercise and have a good time while going for a jog.
○ To provide a unique, direct program and service to meet the needs of individuals
who are deaf or autistic
● Goals of Program:
○ For everyone to be able to participate
○ To provide inclusive rules for everyone and provide quality service
○ For our program to be successful and fun for everyone
● Objectives of Program:
○ To promote and execute an inclusive jog-a-thon so that each individual participates
with no complications or discomforts.
Description
● We decided to choose two disabilities that included both autism and the deaf/hearing impaired.
● Hearing Impaired: Partially or wholly lacking or deprived of the sense of hearing.
○ Affect: Some impacts are that individuals physically suffer from headaches and sleeping problems. Due to non-
verbal communication, individuals are impacted emotionally and cognitively as part of not being able socialize
with all individuals. Intellectually, individuals must be visual learners.
● Autism: refers to a range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and
nonverbal communication, as well as by unique strengths and differences.
○ Affect: social communication and interaction, social imagination and sensory processing. Due to these barriers,
the physical, emotional, and cognitive functioning of the individual are all impacted.
● For our program we used the APIED process, which is used by health care professionals in a recreation therapy setting.
○ Assessment
○ Planning
○ Implementation
○ Evaluation
○ Documentation
Assessment
How did will you assess the needs of our community?

● Conduct surveys around the community and programs involved

● Go and talk to individuals who are deaf within the community and ask them what is not being done
effectively in the community and what they would like to see more of
Planning Process
● Who is this program for?
○ Individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
○ Individuals who are Autistic
○ Anyone willing to participate for fun
○ Target age group
■ 5-6
■ 7-9
■ 10-13
● What is required? What are you going to do?
○ Volunteers
○ People that want to participate
○ Equipment, snacks, water
○ First aid kits, on-site nurses
○ Interpreters
● Where will this program take place?
○ El Dorado Park
Planning Process (continued)
● Why?
○ We wanted to develop this program in hopes to help individuals improve health and wellness
○ Improve life skills
○ Develop social connections
○ Boost self-confidence and self-esteem
○ Become more self motivated
○ Increase independence and being comfortable in your own skin
● How will this program occur?
○ We will host registration online and send out informational emails once registered
○ Host a weekend clinic for physicals a month prior to the start of program
○ Host weekly conditioning practices
○ Give medals and T-shirts to every participant upon completion of the jog-a-thon
Planning Process (cont’d)
● Goals
○ Want our program to be 90% inclusive
○ To provide a safe and fun program where kids from ages 5-13 can not only participate in a competitive environment, but
also be able to stay active while participating in good sportsmanship
○ Deliver quality service and make sure the event turns out successful
○ To have the event be a nice experience so that the teams can come back next year
● Objectives
○ Have the staff be friendly
○ Make sure they are well informed about the program in order to answer any questions that the runners, coaches, or
parents may have about the event
○ That the staff be aware of anyone's needs
■ Be attentive of the time
■ Make sure everything's running smoothly
■ Make sure the athletes and coaches are in a friendly environment
■ Keep the facility nice and clean
■ Find a solution to any problems
Implementation

● Seasonal = Summer
○ Once every month
● Registration
○ (online/in-person)
● Practices/conditioning
○ Once a week
Implementation continued

● No one is excluded
● Will accomodate for those with a disability
● We want an inclusive environment
Evaluation
● To see if we reached our goals and
objective
● To know what we need
improvement on
● To hear the feedback from our
participants
Documentation
● Conduct Surveys
○ Ask the participants how we can improve our services
○ Comment Cards
● Jog-a-thon
○ See how many individuals signed up for the actual event
● Visuals
○ We will have a volunteer take photos and videos to have a visual
documentation to allow the community to see and be fully informed
on how inclusive and enjoyable our program is.
Modifications and Adaptations
● Provide interpreters so that individuals knew the rules of the jog-a-thon.
● If the kids are having a tough time jogging running around the grass, we can have a platform that will make it easier for
the kids to run on
● Have there be no sharp turns
● Provide water and snacks for joggers so that they do not get dehydrated
● Have signs pointing to the right direction so that joggers can be on the right path
● Provide workers at several points throughout the track in case a jogger gets injured or needs help.
Discussion
● Definition:
○ A facilitated discussion that asks students to brainstorm other potential programs that could be designed to
optimize the inclusion of your specific disability group.

Overall:
● Would you guys want to join our program?
● Do you think this program will benefit a child with a disability?
● Is there a better facility we can host/implement our program?
● What other suggestions would you give to our program that will help in modifying or adapting to the needs of
the participants?