During the iCanShine Bike Camp last week, Tyler Koch gained a sense of freedom and independence, his mother Linda Green said
The 11-year-old fifth grader from Spring Brook Twp. has down syndrome. He’s nonverbal. Last Thursday in the North Pocono Middle School gym, Tyler smiled as he pedaled around the gym, perfecting the art of bike riding.
“The biggest takeaway was just how impressed I am with how quickly the kids are adapting and going ... and just flying," said Green. "They're really gaining a lot of independence from this and I think that's a huge, it's a huge thing when you have a child with special needs.”
Kim Hart, a local advocate for children with disabilities, spent the past year fundraising to provide the bike camp locally. Her son, Jake Hart, who sped around the gym Thursday in a dark grey helmet with a plastic mohawk stuck out of the top, has down syndrome. He went through the program last summer in Easton. The experience stuck with Hart and she knew she had to bring the camp closer to home.
iCan Shine collaborates with organizations and individuals to host five-day iCan programs where people with disabilities are taught to ride conventional two-wheel bicycles. The international nonprofit also offers iCan Swim and iCan Dance programs.
Hart fundraised through her foundation Abilities21. More than 30 participants signed up for the camp from Aug. 1 to 5, which was sponsored by the Center for Independent Living's Transitional Skills Center.
On Thursday, Hart was busy checking in volunteers and participants into their sessions. She stood off to the side in the North Pocono Middle School gym as the participants on purple, green and blue bikes road around the basketball court.
"It's been so amazing," she said. "A couple kids in every session, we launched them outside in the parking lot in their own bikes ... It’s like my emotions of one times 35.”
The children begin riding on a traditional-looking bike whose back wheel is switched out for a black roller that’s wider in the middle and tapers off in size towards its ends. The roller wheel isn’t sturdy to help the students gain core strength and handle the bicycle better.
The more comfortable the students are on the adaptive bike, the smaller the roller gets until they are ready to ride with a traditional back wheel. On Thursday, volunteers lightly held onto the front handle bars of the bikes as well as an additional handle that sticks out the back of the bike. How the participants move through the process is on an individual basis. The goal is to get them riding their own bike out of the gym and in the parking lot by the end of the program.
Hart said on Monday the students were mad at her; they were unsure about the program and learning to ride their bikes. On Thursday, she was getting hugs.
"They all have such a good time and pure unconditional souls and hearts," said Hart. "Now you see it, like you truly see it coming out.”
The program was so successful this year and Hart already has a waiting list for next summer.
“As long as the need is here, we will continue this for however long it needs to be,” she said.
For more details, visit icanshine.org and search for iCan Bike - Scranton, PA.
