Amblyopia on Ice

I signed Belle up for a Hockey Clinic here for Special Needs children. Initially I was hoping to sign up both of my children. But my autistic son has announced he is not interested in sports other than Bowling - so I'm not pushing it for him. Belle, on the other hand, really wanted to learn how to ice skate and this seemed like the perfect way. I asked if she would be able to attend the special needs clinic or if I should put her into their "learn to skate" program and was told we could do either but that because of her visual issues the Special Needs program would probably be a good place for her to start with lots of volunteers and helpers and she could go at her own pace.

I was concerned on how she'd do on the ice because she lacks depth perception and even off the ice she falls a lot. I was reassured however, that she'd be in a full protective gear and that there'd be tons of volunteers including an Occupational Therapist on the ice.

First she got suited up in skates, pads, and a helmet with a face cage. Even with the face cage I was nervous about her eyeglasses!


Once she was suited up, they took her for a ride on the ice in a chair. I could hear her giggling from where I was viewing on the upper level. This was a good start!


















Then, they had her push the chair and use it for some stability.






















Next step, she used a "walker" and was definitely getting the hang of it. She fell down a few times, but got right back up again. I cringed every time I saw her fall but it didn't seem to phase her one bit.























Then.. she was off!






















They gave a child of mine a hockey stick and she got to score!






















For info about the Brick Challenger Hockey Clinic visit the Brick Hockey Club website.