How Young Children with Additional Needs are Involved in Decision-making in a GAA Club
Ranelagh Rockets is a team in Ranelagh Gaels GAA club for five to 10-year-old children with additional needs. This is the story of how the club organisers make sure that the youngest five-year old children have a voice in decision-making on how they participate in the club.
Every child has an individual coach, all of whom are volunteers and many of whom are parents. The club has three professionals who offer voluntary support and advice, an Occupational Therapist, a Psychologist and a Special Education Teacher. These professionals give talks to the coaches and provide advice on engaging with children with additional needs as well as answering questions from coaches.
Before the children join the club
1. Parents are sent a social storybook about the Rockets to share with their child. The social story explains all about the club in pictures and language
suitable for children with additional needs (link to social story). Here is one of the pages from the social story:
2. Parents are sent a communication passport template, which has several pages for the child and family to complete.
3. Parents are invited to bring the child to watch a club session to see if they would like it.
4. On the first day a child joins the Rockets club, parents and/or siblings can stay if the child wants that.
The routine in the Junior Rockets club every Saturday
• There is a routine to the sessions, but children are free to do what they want throughout the session. This can be accommodated because each child has
their own individual coach.
• The session starts with a warmup of all 24 children and 24 coaches. They do stretches and running from one side of the pitch to the other. At the end of the warmup everyone stands in a circle, puts their hands in the middle and lifts their hands in the air saying ‘Ranelagh Rockets’.
• Then all the children and coaches move in groups to one of four skills stations at the corners of the pitch, which are colour coded: blue (kicking), red (bouncing), yellow (running) and green (throwing).
• Each group has three minutes at every station, and then they move until they have been at all four stations.
• While at each station, children can choose to follow the actions and guidance of the coach or not. They are free to do whatever they like. Some children just sit and watch, some go to the nearby playground, and some join in and out of the activities. Coaches go with the flow of whatever their child wants to do.
• Each coach wears a lanyard with pictures of the different skills stuck on with Velcro. Children can either point to the picture or pull off the picture once they have completed each skill station. The final part of the Rockets sessions is where all children take hold of a large colourful parachute, after which they are given a treat and go home. Coaches wear a lanyard showing pictures of this session (see below).
How 5-year-old children in Ranelagh Rockets GAA club are ensured SPACE, VOICE, AUDIENCE and INFLUENCE
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Voice:
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