Tag Archive for 'Roma Cares'

“Summer Together”: soccer for young with intellectual disability

“Summer Together” camp has begun, promoted by Roma Cares in collaboration with Accademia Calcio Integrato with youth ages 6-18 with intellectual disabilities playing soccer. Second day, the boys and girls arrive at the camp and start playing in the big pitch. Peaceful environment, they shoot on goal. This happens while waiting for the other teammates to arrive. Then we listen and sing the Italian anthem all together.

Training begins with coordination exercises with the ball, divided into two groups of 5. There are 3 AS Roma coaches following them, providing technical instructions and encouraging them to keep up the pace of the exercise.

Different sized shots on goal on stations, rotating every few minutes.

These are young people who have been training with us for a long time, some for 6 years others for 4. The summer camp is 5 hours on 5 days per week (the global group in three weeks will be of 90 young). The group of 10 I’m talking about is made up of young people with intellectual disabilities with good motor functioning even though some have difficulty running, some would mostly walk and run a few steps, and some are very fast. Some need more than others to alternate minutes of activity with a break (in any case it is very hot here in Rome).

For the latter, having many hours available to train is important, since in this way they have the opportunity to train for an overall long period of time, while during the weekly training sessions, stopping for 20 minutes means losing almost 40% of the training time, which is 50 minutes.

Of course there are also moments of tension, some boys show restlessness, someone else argues with a teammate, someone responds impulsively or takes offense because they do not pass the ball, others get tired and are prone to isolation.

These difficulties can be resolved with the patience of the coaches who understand these problems, but above all thanks to the fact that the game continues and these episodes do not disturb those who play. In this sense the continuity of the activity is a stimulus to those who leave to return to play. This is because, in any case, the objective is to maintain a positive and pleasant atmosphere that, in the end, outweighs any difficulties encountered.

With an image we can say that the river flows, when a boy/girl lives a more critical moment, its flowing helps to solve individual problems because the collective continues the activity, so everything flows and then you get to the sea where everything ends.

Coaches carry out their leadership role with understanding and closeness but in a firm manner. This attitude of theirs is the essential cornerstone for which everything flows, despite the fact that we are coaching young people with intellectual disabilities.

A lot of work is done to bring value to coaching. This is the reason why listening to and singing together the Italian anthem and before the final match the Champions League anthem are moments that precede significant moments of the training. It’s obvious, finally, that wearing the AS Roma uniform is another unifying factor, a way for these young athletes to feel proud and part of something that in their perception is immense.
In the next few days I will tell you about the experience of other young people who participate at “Estate Insieme”.

10 reasons to play football for young with autism

10 ragioni per cui i giovani con disabilità intellettiva traggono beneficio dal gioco del calcio
  1. Il calcio è lo sport più amato dai giovani di tutto il mondo: si può giocare ovunque, al chiuso e all’aperto, ogni luogo si può trasformare in un campo di calcio e chiunque indipendentemente dalle sue capacità può giocare una partita.
  2. Il pallone è un strumento sportivo senza rivali: lo puoi calciare con i piedi o con le mani e colpire con ogni parte del corpo; tutti possono passare la palla, tirare in porta o provare a parare un tiro. Dai un pallone a un gruppo di bambini e non si stancheranno di rincorrerlo.
  3. Il calcio favorisce l’inclusione di tutti, ogni ragazzo o ragazza può correre dietro una palla, toglierla a un altro, tirare, passare e parare.
  4. I giovani con disabilità intellettiva sono di solito esclusi dal gioco del calcio, perché sono rare le opportunità che gli vengono offerte.
  5. Giocare a calcio e con il pallone gli permette di stare con i compagni di classe, con i loro amici e di conoscerne di nuovi.
  6. Calcio è stare all’aria aperta, vedere le stagioni anche se si vive in città e imparare a muoversi con gli altri quando fa freddo o caldo o quando tira vento.
  7. Calcio è partecipare a un allenamento centrato su apprendimenti nuovi che determinano il miglioramento delle abilità motorie di base, coordinazione, abilità tecnico- tattiche, abilità di comunicazione, collaborazione e cognitivo-affettive.
  8. Calcio è stare in gruppo insieme durante l’allenamento, condividere gli stessi spazi, esercitandosi da soli ma anche con un altro compagno o in piccoli gruppi.
  9. Calcio è vestire la divisa della propria squadra, la Roma, andare allo stadio insieme a tutto il gruppo a vedere le partite e andare a scuola con questa uniforme, essere riconosciuti dai compagni come allievi della scuola calcio della Roma.
  10. Calcio è integrazione, allenandosi e partecipando a tornei e giocando partite di calcio integrato 5vs5 composte da tre giovani con disabilità intellettiva e due giovani della AS Roma.

Football Together at Home

During the lockdown we continued to train children with intellectual disabilities.

This is the cover of the “Quaderno Tecnico di Calcio Insieme a Casa” (Technical Notebook of Soccer Together at Home) that we created in collaboration with Roma Cares.

And an example of exercise. Thanks to all the staff who made it possible.

Workshop: Football and inclusion.AS Roma experience with the young with intellectual disabilities

Calcio Insieme is a project of psychological, relational and motor empowerment through soccer for young people with intellectual disabilities, with particular reference to autism spectrum disorder.

Since 2015, the Fondazione Roma Cares, an expression of the social responsibility of AS Roma Calcio, and Asd Accademia Calcio Integrato have been organizing annual motor development programs through soccer for children with intellectual disabilities. The surveys conducted have highlighted the constant presence of children during the activities and the satisfaction of their families and the motor, sports and psychosocial benefits derived from these programs.

The aim of this Seminar is to present the results of the research conducted, illustrate the model of intervention, realized for the first time in youth soccer with the collaboration of AS Roma coaches, sports psychologists, speech therapists, doctors and manager for relations with schools and families.

Autism and football

Yesterday simple twitter had 2353 views. It’s a photo of a meeting of our staff discussing the new training program for children with intellectual disabilities and largely autistic, to improve their motor learning and teach football.

The interest it has aroused shows how the theme of sports practice for these children (6-13 years) is topical, there are few who are regularly involved in sport, we do not really know how many of them, how often and what activities they do. Research data shows these children practice individual sports, mainly running and swimming. Programs involving them in football schools are extremely rare, as they require competent coaches and psychologists. Often football is not recommended for these children because they are placed in groups with young people with typical development and coaches who do not have time and skills to teach them.

Roma Cares, AS Roma and the Integrated Football Academy have been designing and implementing the “Calcio Insieme” project for 5 years, which currently involves 70 children with intellectual disabilities. It involves a staff of 10 coaches, 5 sports psychologists, 1 speech therapist, 1 doctor, 1 manager of relations with families and schools, 1 technical manager and 1 scientific manager. It is a complex project that involves children from October to June twice a week. The results obtained and published in scientific journals have shown significant improvements in the motor and psychosocial areas.

Calcio Insieme for young with motor and intellectual disabilities

Calcio insieme 

Un programma di calcio integrato per giovani 

con disabilità motorie e intellettive

ALBERTO CEI,    MICHELE ROSCI,    DANIELA SEPIO

              Università San Raffaele      AS Roma     Accademia di Calcio Integrato

                          Convegno Nazionale Scientifico AIDEE 2019

                                                   La Disprassia

                                     Roma, 17-18 Novembre 2019

Calcio Insieme, è un progetto promosso dalla Fondazione Roma Cares, Onlus legata al più ampio contesto di responsabilità e sostenibilità  sociale della AS Roma e dalla Asd Accademia Calcio Integrato, il cui obiettivo è lo sviluppo di una cultura dell’integrazione e dell’educazione ai valori dello sport attraverso il calcio.

Obiettivi - Studiare gli effetti di un programma di allenamento basato sull’insegnamento del calcio, su giovani con disprassia e con disturbo dello spettro autistico (ASD) promuovendone le competenze psicosociali, motorie e calcistiche. Nessun altro studio è stato condotto su sport di squadra e a nostra conoscenza i dati a disposizione provengono da sport individuali (Bremer et al., 2016; Luiselli e Cei 2017; Rivilis et al., 2011)) se non sono addirittura sconsigliati (https://dyspraxiafoundation.org.uk/dyspraxia-children/pe-lessons/).

Metodo - 30 partecipanti sono stati sottoposti a valutazione motoria pre/post. Valutazione psicosociale effettuata con interviste pre/post a genitori e insegnanti e con una valutazione svolta sul campo e continuativa nel tempo da istruttori di calcio e psicologi dello sport.

Risultati – Abilità motorie: differenze significative rispetto alle valutazioni iniziali in 6 prove su 10. Abilità calcio “correre con la palla”: il 39,3% non mostra alcun miglioramento, il 28,6% raggiunge un livello intermedio e il 10,7% un livello medio alto di abilità. Interviste ai genitori e insegnanti: percepiscono un incremento delle abilità psicosociali e motorie. Tale incremento differisce in base alla gravità del disturbo del giovane.

Conclusioni - Si conferma quanto emerso dalle rassegne su persone con ASD per cui la dimensione motoria migliora con percorsi specifici di apprendimento sportivo, ma a ciò si aggiunge che l’organizzazione dell’allenamento in attività di gruppo e individuali favorisce lo sviluppo delle competenze psicosociali. Il ridotto numero di giovani con disprassia richiede che i risultati dovranno essere documentati su una popolazione più ampia. Gli sviluppi futuri del progetto andranno verso una distinzione dei programmi di ricerca e di allenamento, con modelli specifici di intervento per le diverse diagnosi coinvolte.

Per sapere di più su Calcio Insieme:

Cei, A., Franceschi, P., Rosci, M., Sepio, D., e Ruscello, B. (2017). Motor and psychosocial development in children with autism spectrum disorder through soccer. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 48, 485-507.

Cei, A. e Luiselli, J. (a cura di) (2017). Sports, exercise and physical health among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 48, 473-568, Special Issue.

Cei, A., Ruscello, B., e Sepio, D. (2019). Summer camp for children with ASD and parents perception of changes in psycho-social skills. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 50, 162.175.

Cei, A., Sepio, D., e Rosci, M. (in press). Sport, calcio e integrazione: L’esperienza dell’AS Roma con i bambini con disabilità intellettiva. Torgiano: Calzetti e Mariucci.

If you want to know more: send me mail for articles pdf.

Ulteriori informazioni: www.accademiacalciointegrato.com

#Autism #Roma #football

AS Roma now has a special team. Not Dzeko and Di Francesco, but a small team of children with special needs playing football. It’s called “Football Together” the project of Roma Cares, the charitable foundation of AS Roma with sport association Integrated Football Academy. At the end of the first three years, they have already doubled in children between 6 and 16 years with disabilities of varying degrees enrolled in the program that aims to convey a football program appropriate to them: they were30in 2015, when the idea became real thanks to the work of persons as Alberto Cei, sports psychologist and scientific manager of ” Football Together”, today the young are 60.”

"Calcio insieme" a ragazzi con sindrome dello spettro autistico: la AS Roma scende in campo

Motor and psychosocial development in children with intellectual disabilities through soccer

Movimento

Rivista di Psicologia e Scienze del Movimento e dello Sport

n.2/3, 2016, 63 pagine

Roma: Edizioni Luigi Pozzi

 

Lo sviluppo motorio e psicosociale in bambini con disabilità intellettive attraverso il calcio

Motor and psychosocial development in children with intellectual disabilities through soccer

 

Alberto Cei*’, Paolo Franceschi^, Michele Rosci^, Daniela Sepio’ e Bruno Ruscello°

*Università San Raffaele, Roma e ASD Calcio Integrato

^AS Roma Calcio

‘ASD Calcio Integrato

°Università di Tor Vergata, Roma

 

Parole chiave: bambini, autismo, calcio, apprendimento, empowerment 

Key words: children, autism, soccer, learning, empowerment

 

 

Abstract 

Calcio Insieme (Soccer Together) is a project promoted by Roma Cares Foundation, non-profit organization linked to the broader context of Social Responsibility and Sustainability of AS ROMA and A.S.D. Accademia di Calcio Integrato, whose objective is the development of education and culture integrated to the values of sport through the soccer.

Soccer is the sport most loved and practiced by girls and boys around the world, but for young people with developmental difficulties are rare, if not absent, the opportunities allowing them to live this sport as an educational and playful experience. Therefore, this applied research project, spread over three years, is aimed at children (6-12 years) with intellectual disabilities and with particular reference to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Soccer Together project wants to promote the physical activity and soccer teaching for these children, in order to improve the quality of their lives through a continuous sport practice over time. Furthermore, this project wants also to develop a methodology model of teaching, tailored for these children, through this applied research.

Soccer Together began in September 2015 with the collaboration of some schools of Roma. They promoted among families of children with intellectual disabilities the knowledge of this initiative. They organized information meetings lead by the staff of Soccer Together to start building a community whose school, family, sport organization and staff could feel part of a common project at its center there are the children with intellectual disabilities and especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since the beginning the project has had as main focus the empowerment of each child through the soccer, as recommended by the International Paralympic Committee.

To better understand the different steps of the experiment carried out by the technical-scientific staff of Soccer Together at the Giulio Onesti Center, in Roma, it’s important to acknowledge what are the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and what are the limits and the motor/psychological potential of children with ASD; the report describes in detail the main features and the research results.

This report begins with an overview of autism spectrum disorders and what are the limits and the motor potential of these children. It emerges that, up to now, the experiences carried out in this area included only individual sports and that no investigation has been conducted to test how the group sports and soccer specifically could be a means of improving the motor/sports skills and the psychological and interpersonal skills. In the section devoted to the method are described the diagnoses of 30 children (27 boys and 3 girls). They  have participated in the project by attending at the training program for an hour twice a week for 5 months. They were divided into two sub-groups (Green and Red) as a function of their motor skills and psycho-relational competences. All children were subjected to the initial and final motor assessment. Similarly it proceeded with the psychological and interpersonal evaluation carried out at the beginning and at the end of the program. This was done through interviews with parents and their school teachers and an assessment carried out on the field for the duration of the period of activities carried out by the football coaches and the sport psychologists. In addition, before the start of the program, the whole staff,  including sport psychologists, youth football instructors, one speech therapist, one sport physician and one coordinator of the relations with families and schools have participated in a specific training, theoretical and practical, learning to be sensitive and to work with young individuals with developmental disorders. The results showed that in relation to motor skills there are significant differences from the initial assessment in relation to 6 tests out of 10. The children improved in tests regarding: walking between the cones, running between the cones, roll on the mat, high jump (3 obstacles 20 / 30cm), grab (5 launches from 1 to 5 meters away from the instructor) and stay balanced on jellyfish.

In relation to run with the ball (to drive the ball into a space 15m long and 4m wide) were detected two results. The first is that, even at the end of the program, 39.3% of children did not show any improvement. The second is of opposite sign and shows that 28.6% is placed in an intermediate skill level. They drive the ball, move frequently left and right even if out of the lane. In addition, 10.7% shows a medium-high skill level, driving the ball without leaving the lane. These data show there is a significant difference from the point of view of the motor competences among the children, while for some the training it’s characterized more as motor activity oriented to the acquisition of basic motor patterns, for others it’s oriented to  teach the soccer fundamentals.

The questionnaire administered at the end of the program to the parents of the children examined the following skills: cooperation, participation in the games, understanding the others and be understood, communicate with each other, socialize, approach the new situations/people and reduction of behavioral problems. For each of these skills, the parents have expressed a final assessment, it showed that they believe their children are improved significantly. It’s also interesting to note that the same questionnaire was administered to school support teachers of children and the resulting data are similar to those experienced by parents. Assessments made on the field by sport psychologists and coaches have shown that most of young people have improved, even if  they achieved very different skill levels, depending on the difficulty level initially expressed. For the future, there are clearly detectable paths of physical activity and sports differentiating the two children groups (Red and Green).

In summary, these data confirm the findings of the research review conducted on people with autism spectrum disorder (Sowa e Meulenbroek, 2012). That is to say, that the motor/sport skills increase with specific program of motor/sports learning. Our study adds that the organization of training sessions in group interventions and individual interventions promote the development of social skills, as in part it has been showed by Walker, Barry and Bader (2010). This pilot study has also responded to the request to organize “a naturalistic intervention based on group sports like soccer” (Sowa and Meulenbroek, 2012; p.56) and, till now it was never been documented. In addition, as already showed (Luiselli 2014), the behavioral problems were reduced, decreasing the stereotyped movements and the self-stimulation behaviors.

Finally, it should be mentioned those results achieved which are not identifiable in scientific terms but that at the same time are important for a project with the aim to reduce the limits of the children with ASD and widen their skills at 360 degrees. The most significant are the following: the first football games played between them and the coaches and two games 4vs4 with players of Roma Academy; the identification process with AS Roma has increased the children socialization and stimulated their pride being a part of Roma team; live this experience with professionals totally dedicated to them and willing to respect the times of socialization and learning while not ceasing to guide them in the activities; for families it has been important to meet each other, sharing these experiences and feeling themselves as an active part of the project.

Autism, soccer integrated: research abstract

Calcio Insieme is a project promoted by Roma Cares Foundation, non-profit organization linked to the broader context of Social Responsibility and Sustainability of AS ROMA and A.S.D. Accademia di Calcio Integrato, whose objective is the development of education and culture integrated to the values of sport through the soccer.

Soccer is the sport most loved and practiced by girls and boys around the world, but for young people with learning difficulties are rare, if not absent, the opportunities allowing them to live this sport as an educational and playful experience. Therefore, this applied research project, spread over three years, is aimed at children (6-12 years) with intellectual disabilities and with particular reference to those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Calcio Insieme project wants to promote the physical activity and soccer teaching for these children, in order to improve the quality of their lives through a continuous sport practice over time. In the same time, this project wants also to develop a methodology model of teaching, specific for these children, through this applied research.

Calcio Insiemebegan in September 2015 with the collaboration of some schools of Roma. They promoted among families of children with intellectual disabilities the knowledge of this initiative. They organize information meetings lead by the staff of Calcio Insieme to start building a community whose school, family, sport organization and staff could feel part of a common project at its center there are the children with intellectual disabilities and especially those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Since the beginning the project has had as main focus the empowerment of each child through the soccer, as recommended by the International Paralympic Committee.

To better understand the different steps of the experiment carried out by the technical-scientific staff of Calcio Insieme at the Giulio Onesti Center, in Roma, it’s important to acknowledge what are the autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and what are the limits and the motor/psychological potential of children with ASD and the report describes in detail the main features and the research results.

This report begins with an overview of autism spectrum disorders and what are the limits and the motor potential of these children. It emerges that, up to now, the experiences carried out in this area included only individual sports and that no investigation has been conducted to test how the group sports and soccer specifically could be a means of improving the motor/sports skills and the psychological and interpersonal skills. In the section devoted to the method are described the diagnoses of 30 children (27 boys and 3 girls). They  have participated in the project by attending at the training program for an hour twice a week for 5 months. They were divided into two sub-groups (Green and Red) as a function of their motor skills and psycho-relational competences. All children were subjected to the initial and final motor assessment. Similarly it proceeded with the psychological and interpersonal evaluation carried out at the beginning at the end through interviews with parents and their school teachers and an assessment carried out on the field and continuing for the duration of the period of activities carried out by football coaches and the sport psychologists. In addition, before the start of the program, the whole staff  including sport psychologists, youth football instructors, one speech therapist, one sport physician and one coordinator of the relations with families and schools have participated in a specific training, theoretical and practical, learning to be sensitive and to work with young individuals with intellectual disorders. The results showed that in relation to motor skills there are significant differences from the initial assessment in relation to 6 tests out of 10. The children improved in tests regarding: walking between the cones, running between the cones, roll on the mat, high jump (3 obstacles 20 / 30cm), grab (5 launches from 1 to 5 meters away from the instructor) and stay balanced on jellyfish.

In relation to run with the ball (to drive the ball into a space 15m long and 4m wide) were detected two results. The first is that, even at the end of the program, 39.3% of children did not show any improvement. The second is of opposite sign and shows that 28.6% is placed in an intermediate skill level. They drive the ball, move frequently left and right even if out of the lane. In addition, 10.7% shows a medium-high skill level, driving the ball without leaving the lane. These data show there is a significant difference from the point of view of the motor competences among the children, while for some the training it’s characterized more as motor activity oriented to the acquisition of basic motor patterns, for others it’s oriented to  teach the soccer fundamentals.

The questionnaire administered at the end of the program to the parents of the children examined the following skills: cooperation, participation in the games, understand the others and be understood, communicate with each other, socialize, approach the new situations/people and reduction of behavioral problems. For each of these skills, the parents have expressed a final assessment, it showed that they believe their children are improved significantly. It’s also interesting to note that the same questionnaire was administered to school support teachers of children and the resulting data are similar to those experienced by parents. Assessments made on the field by sport psychologists and coaches have shown that the majority of young people have improved, even if  they achieved very different skill levels, depending on the difficulty level initially expressed. For the future, they are clearly detectable paths of physical activity and sports differentiated between the two groups of children (Red and Green).

In summary, these data confirm the findings of the research review conducted on people with autism spectrum disorder (Sowa e Meulenbroek, 2012). That is to say, that the motor/sport skills increase with specific program of motor/sports learning. Our study adds that the organization of training sessions in group interventions and individual interventions promote the development of social skills, as in part it has been showed by Walker, Barry and Bader (2010). This pilot study has also responded to the request to organize “a naturalistic intervention based on group sports like soccer” (Sowa and Meulenbroek, 2012; p.56) and, till now it was never been documented. In addition, as already showed (Luiselli 2014), the behavioral problems were reduced, decreasing the stereotyped movements and the self-stimulation behaviors.

Finally, it should be mentioned those results achieved which are not identifiable in scientific terms but that at the same time are important for a project with the aim to reduce the limits of the children with ASD and widen their skills at 360 degrees. The most significant are the following: the first football games played between them and the coaches and two games 4vs4 with players of Roma Academy; the identification process with AS Roma has increased the children socialization and stimulated their pride being a part of Roma team; live this experience with professionals totally dedicated to them and willing to respect the times of socialization and learning while not ceasing to guide them in the activities; for families it has been important to meet each other, sharing these experiences and feeling themselves as an active part of the project.

 

A program of integrated soccer for children with intellectual disabilities

It is held in Rome, November 25, 2016, a seminar dedicated to the project “Football Together”, an integrated soccer project for girls and boys aged 6 to 12 years with intellectual disabilities, particularly those affected by the autism spectrum syndrome (ASD).
The first year of the project took place in the period October 2015 – June 2016 thanks to the Roma Cares Foundation, an expression of the social responsibility of AS Roma, on a proposal by Asd Integrated Soccer Academy, in collaboration with CIP – National Italian Paralympic Committee, the Fisdir – Sport Federation Intellectual and Relational Disabilities and the support of the health service ASL Roma/1.
30 girls and boys have been involved in training for a year twice a week, and they all showed improvements despite the differences conditions and the results obtained. “Football Together” is in fact an approach to psychological , relationships, sports and motor empowerment through soccer, which has identified a suitable teaching model to the different needs of children through research to be developed in three years.
The seminar is held at the headquarters of the Lazio Regional Council, Via della Pisana 1301, Rome, starting from 10:00. The Lazio Region intends to disclose the fact of the project outcomes, also assessing their impact on the medium-long term.
For information and registration, please contact:
Email: egrassi@regione.lazio.it - vvolpi@regione.lazio.it
Tel .: +39 06 5168 8038 – 8269