Therapeutic Recreation Inclusion Services

What is inclusion?

Inclusion within the Rockford Park District means that individuals with disabilities are welcome to participate in the same recreation programs and activities as their peers. Reasonable accommodations are provided to enable an individual's successful participation in a program.

The Rockford Park District welcomes and supports the participation of individuals with disabilities in all programs and services

  • Consultation on activity and modification
  • Disability awareness training
  • Behavior modification support
  • Observation and evaluation
  • Visual systems and sensory equipment/toys
  • Sign language interpreters
  • Adapted equipment - sleds, skate walkers, hand cranked bicycles, sport wheelchairs
  • Varying levels of staff support

Individuals with disabilities have been included in these popular programs:

  • Lessons - swimming, hockey, ice skating, horseback riding, tennis, golf
  • Day and residential summer camps - Kid Zones, Nature Quest, Camp Lone Oak, Pony Camp
  • Neighborhood Programs - playgrounds, Lewis Lemon and Washington Park Community Centers
  • Environmental education and recreation
  • Youth sports
  • Rec-Nights

We created successful inclusion opportunities by providing services such as:

  • Implementing a positive support plan for a child with a conduct disorder in a full day summer camp setting
  • Providing an all-terrain wheelchair for student with a physical disability for full trail access at Atwood Environmental Center
  • Creating and training staff on enhanced visual system for campers with a visual impairment
  • Providing a soccer camp participant with Attention Deficit Disorder additional supports such as redirection and positive reinforcements
  • Providing sign language interpreter for a teen during horseback riding lessons