Pre-school
Tiah enjoying the catch the bubbles game at Young Athletes
4-year-old Tiah gains confidence at Young Athletes Programme By Special Olympics New Zealand
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After almost four months in lockdown, Auckland mum Natalie Robinson found a way for her daughter, Tiah, to overcome her shyness through Special Olympics’ sport and play programme for children, Young Athletes. Being locked down meant that like many other children, Tiah had a difficult time learning important physical and social skills, Natalie explains. “So many kids in lockdown were missing out on socializing and developing those things you learn when you’re young, because they’re not getting out and doing stuff.” Even before lockdown, Natalie says Tiah has always been behind physically when compared to her peers and struggles to do the same activities they do. “With Down syndrome you get the mental delay, but you also get the physical delay. Things I’d see other kids her age doing, she wasn’t.” Natalie first heard of Special Olympics New Zealand’s Young Athletes programme
in 2019, a free sport and play programme designed to help develop motor and social skills for children with intellectual disabilities. After taking part in her first Young Athletes programme when Tiah wasn’t yet one year old, Natalie brought her back when she was three and says the improvements in her physical skills and confidence were plain to see. “It really helped her with kicking and catching and throwing - she got so much better during the time she was there.” “She also improved in ways I couldn’t imagine, like socially. Before when we’d go to Kindy, if there was a new activity she’d hide and not go near it, but now she gives it a try and gets excited about it.” Natalie says Tiah enjoyed the programme more than she expected and overcame her shyness of new people within weeks. “The first session she stuck to me like glue, but a few sessions later she was like ‘cheers mum for dropping me off, I don’t need you anymore’.”
