Special Needs

I challenge you to use your gym to uplift and strengthen the community in another special way.

I don’t think I’ve ever been more proud of CJ. He may not fully understand what he’s overcome, but I do.

This was more than a 10-week prep geared to beat our previously recorded race time of 52 minutes and 32 seconds while flying past a self-proclaimed mashed-up meathead.

This program provides a monthly social outlet for teens and young adults with high functioning autism. As we approach year one, I want to share how I’ve made this program my own.

Bridging the gap between immobility and action, this lesson served as another opportunity to reshape the students' negative associations with exercise and revamp their workout creativity in OSU’s backyard.

The goal is to get an inactive child on the spectrum socially and physically strong through movement. This initial type of training, the first in a progression of eight, takes place in the gym.

This documentary is the culmination of years of intimate interaction with a child with autism. Interaction as a father, a mother, an educator, a trainer, and a friend.

With more than 50 presentations to attend within a 10-hour time frame, here are the presentations from which I found great applicability to my work in both the private and college settings.

Moving from theory to practice, this lesson took us from the classroom to Lucky’s Market on High Street in Columbus, Ohio.

Listening to a group of college students with high-functioning autism, I learned there was a consensus among many of how they felt in a typical college gym setting — something they didn’t want to feel again.

At 3.1 miles, we cross the finish line in 52 minutes and 32 seconds — four minutes quicker than our 2016-competition time. A success! Beating our previous time was exactly what we came to do.

You'll meet Sean, Wesley, and Blaine (three boys on the spectrum) and consider their needs, find a starting place, and create a program schedule using a singular, linear, or overlapping approach.