Autism Soccer: How Soccer Can Change Your Children’s Life

Signing your children up in a soccer team can pose a challenge to them, but with time they'll grow and develop the necessary skills.

There are certain activities done in the daily routine that create customs and help your children to get used to these; in order to help them out, you need to organize and assign them responsibilities. Every little thing counts when it’s about them, this becomes more necessary with special needs children, as you need to keep an eye on them and maintain their minds busy. There’s no better way to stimulate and change your children’s life than putting them to play soccer.

In a previous article I’ve covered various alternatives for special needs children, now it’s the turn for soccer, an alternative that demands more but gives better results in the long term. First, you must be aware that your children will have some challenges when starting to play, as they don’t process language easily, you need to explain things and repeat orders so they understand and process the information that’s being given.

Soccer requires coordination to know the basics; dribbling, passing, “what are the objectives?” “What is a goal?” Explaining all these will require a lot of patience, be supportive of their first attempts and don’t lose hope. Skill requires to be continuously practicing and with time they’ll start getting the grip.

One of the most important things you need to help them develop is the capability to communicate with others while playing, this is essential in soccer matches. They need to know their team members, their roles and where to go. Practice some passes with them and stimulate communication while they get used to the faces of their companions. This is the part of soccer that will help special needs children the most since it’s the critical part of their condition, the difficulty to express and communicate. At first they might make mistakes, but give them the time to keep trying.

Autistic children dislike trying things out of their comfort zone, and soccer can be somehow challenging for them. They might say things like “I don’t want to play this” at first, but that’s a normal reaction when trying new things. Still, don’t put too much pressure on them and hear what they have to say about trying this sport. You can also contact with the people of Autism Soccer to get better informed about soccer and autistic children, they’ve been working with special needs children for years, so they can offer you the best environment for them.