Access Services - Creating Better Ways To Serve People With Special Needs

Slam Dunk Success

Access Services has been working for a number of years with a child with special needs who never speaks and often does not move until told to do so. Her natural home life was extremely hard. She and her siblings were rarely fed and, in their need for nourishment, the children all ate non-food items including paint and toys. When the children were initially taken into care, some had to be hospitalized and one eventually died. Each has lasting intestinal problems as a result of their early abuse. When this particular girl was placed into her current foster home, the foster mother enrolled her in a local basketball league. The little girl loved to play basketball but whenever someone passed her the ball she would stop everything and turn and look at her foster mom. The foster mother would shout encouragingly to her to shoot or pass the ball. And while the little girl loved the game, she simply never sank a basket. Regardless, at each game, the supportive crowd of parents would root for the little girl, until finally, towards the end of the season, she finally made a shot. The crowd was so excited everyone rose as one and gave her a standing ovation. She is still playing basketball today several seasons later – enjoying a game she loves with friends who care and a community that has embraced her as one of their own.