Halloween at Latham!

'Witch and ghost make merry on this last of dear October’s days."

  ~Author Unknown

A Halloween Bowling Party

Many of our Adults look forward to Saturday mornings when they attend the Sunshine Capers Special Olympics Bowling. We start at 10am and each bowler bowls 3 strings. We have 7 Candlepin Bowlers and 7 Ten Pin Bowlers. Matt M, a Ten Pin Bowler bowls on a Unified Partner Team. A Unified Team is where Special Olympic bowlers are matched up with volunteers to comprise their team. We have 15 adults who enjoy bowling.

This past weekend was the Annual Halloween Party, the bowlers bowled in their costumes. There was a Costume Parade where prizes were given for the best costume and the staff at Ryan’s Amusements were the judges. The Monster Mash was playing while the individuals paraded around the tables. Derek won a prize for being the Joker. After the Costume Parade pizza was enjoyed by all of the bowlers. It was a great morning of competition and exercise and our bowlers left with smiles on their faces.


Submitted by:
Cindy Loring

Related Posts:
Latham Adults Go Bowling!
Latham Participates In Special Olympics Bowling Tournament
Bowling News

“Life is more fun if you play games.” 

 ~Roald Dahl

TIP of the WEEK: Halloween

Well it's that time of year again. The trifecta of holidays that focus on food and give all of us anxiety attacks long before the actual event! Halloween gives us nightmares but not for the same reason as the rest of the world. There are some things that we can do to allow our kids a chance to celebrate this holiday without all of the candy that goes along with it.

• 1. Plan your own party so you have control over the food. There are great recipes online for Halloween themed veggies and fruit trays as well as sugar free punches.

• 2. If your child's school will not agree to have a candy free classroom celebration then you may have to plan to keep your child home that day. The stress from attending the party may not be worth it.

• 3. Older kids may want to participate in handing out treats to the neighborhood kids that come to the house. We have had great results with handing out small bags of Halloween pencils, erasers, plastic rings or any small non-food themed item.

The idea is to allow your child to participate as much as possible without asking him or her to be surrounded by candy and food that they cannot have. That doesn't mean that they can't dress up, play games and be a part of the fun with the rest of the kids.

Submitted by:
Patrice Carroll
Manager of PWS Services


Related Posts:
Halloween at Latham
Halloween Sensory Activities
Adults Enjoy Halloween Party

Halloween at Latham!

 
When black cats prowl and pumpkins gleam,
May luck be yours on Halloween.
~Author Unknown

Adults Enjoy Halloween Party

Many of our individuals in the Gilbough Program enjoyed a Special Olympis Halloween party held at a local bowling alley. While dressed in costume, they danced and bowled under black lights and to music. This activity was a big hit for everyone involved.

"Clothes make a statement.  Costumes tell a story." 

~Mason Cooley

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It's a Small World

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Halloween's Sensory Activities

Traditionally, Halloween can stir people's thoughts to spooky ghosts, pumpkins, witches, and of quite naturally, candy. For most of us, all of these things come in stride every October 31st, and they come and go like our costumes. For children with Prader-Willi Syndrome, however, Halloween's primary focus is, generally, the high calorie sweets. For most of our kids at Latham Centers, the holiday can conjure up nostalgic memories of the past: chocolate for the taking at the local mall, candy corn in their public schools, or rummaging through a sibling's bag of treats. Even in a residential home, the concept of Trick-or-Treat, eternally present on every television station and in most aspects of community, acts as a constant reminder of all the sweets they can't have. It is, quite frankly, a stressful holiday.

For the children with PWS at Latham, it has been deemed a “cheat day,” in which the children can Trick-or-Treat on the Latham campus from classroom to classroom, from one residential group to another, and finally into the offices of the administration. The amount of candy is the same for each student, as is the type of candy. Because of  much slower caloric digestion among those with PWS, the amount of candy the students receive appears minimal when compared to memories of overflowing pillowcases. So how do we minimize all the Halloween stress?

One answer is a rich sensory diet. Engaging the children in activities such as finger painting and modeling clay can stimulate areas of the brain that strengthen coordination, reduce stress, and develop agility. Girls with PWS in the North Wing decorated their suite by finger-painting Halloween related pictures, and some attempted to sculpt representations of pumpkins with air-dry clay. After pumpkin picking one Saturday, the girls hollowed out the gooey, stringy fibers from the pumpkins with their bare hands. They appeared careful to organize the seeds from the “pumpkin guts,” and expressed excitement over the thought of having them cooked as a replacement for their snack. Overall, for the ladies with PWS, this incorporation of sensory activity into a Halloween-related residential curriculum seemed to help combat the stress of pining for sweets.

John Bonanni
ADL Counselor

"Enjoy when you can, and endure when you must." 

~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

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"Shadows of a thousand years rise again unseen,

Voices whisper in the trees, 
"Tonight is Halloween!"

~Dexter Kozen