The Joy of Play
FAMILY
All Abilities Trane Park brings smiles as the realization of a dream eight years in the making. BY SARAH ARENDT-BEYER | CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS
Amy Hendrickson and her children say this tree and stage is one of their favorite places in All Abilities Trane Park. Pictured at top are (from left) Avalyn, 11; Jaycie, 9; and Hutson, 15.
A
my Hendrickson, a former board member with the La Crosse Area Autism Foundation, remembers when she and her husband, who have a son with autism, were hosting a picnic for a group of families with individuals on the autism spectrum. “We were trying to find a safe place to do that, and we searched throughout the community and soon found out that we didn’t really have a secure, safe spot for our families to come together,” she says. Now, La Crosse’s All Abilities Trane Park, which she was instrumental in developing, provides that safe place to gather on 2.7 acres along Chase Street between 15th and 16th Streets. Its pavement feels springy, thanks to poured-in-place resilient surfacing. The park is filled with natural elements—flowers, greenery, boulders—and features neutral colors instead of the bright reds, oranges and blues commonly found in playgrounds. It is enclosed and includes a doublegated entry and clear sight lines that make it easier for caregivers to keep an eye on children. A COLLABORATIVE EFFORT To plan the park, which opened in June, committee members held community focus groups, seeking out parents and caregivers of persons with disabilities, community organizations that work with persons with disabilities and medical specialists. One of those medical specialists was Katie Bakke, an occupational therapist. She provided guidance on how to design the park in a
Occupational therapist Katie Bakke was instrumental in designing All Abilities Trane Park, which is now a place where her son Bo can play safely.
way that would promote learning based on how the sensory motor system functions. Beyond her professional involvement, Bakke also has a personal interest in the park: one of her three children has a visual impairment. “The way we created the park allowed him a great experience,” she says, “and I hope that it is serving so many other families in the same capacity as my own.” GROUNDED IN LEARNING Each of the park’s zones is designed to target different components of play and interaction. “Friendship swings” allow two people to face one another and swing together. “The beauty of those kinds of swings,” says committee member Martha Tymeson, now retired from the School District of La Crosse following a 37-year career as an adaptive physical education teacher, “is that you get that calming back and forth movement. As you’re swinging, you can be engaging in conversation with someone else, and you can be stimulating that eye contact.” Individuals using a wheelchair can enjoy the Sway Fun, a piece of equipment that produces a similar swaying motion, without having to transfer out of their chair. There’s also a zero-entrance merry-go-round called a We-GoRound, which allows individuals using a wheelchair to wheel right in. There are also seats, or users can stand. It can be moved from inside or pushed from the outside, but it has an accelerometer that limits its www.crwmagazine.com OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2021 23
