Texas monthly program teaches disabled kids healthy habits

From the San Antonio Express-News. In the picture, Hunter Simpson, 10, handles the ball during a game of indoor soccer as part of the Spina Bifida Texas Lunch Bunch.

Supported by a four-wheeled walker, Cynthia Oyler extends her leg to send an oversize soccer ball flying between two orange cones.

The 12-year-old, who has spina bifida, is all smiles as she high-fives her teammates.

“Thanks. I’ve done this before,” she says modestly when she’s complimented on her goal.

She’s one of a half-dozen kids and volunteers playing soccer using wheelchairs and walkers in the Lincoln Community Center gym on a Saturday in July.

The game is part of Lunch Bunch, a free monthly workshop for kids ages 5-18 with physical or developmental disabilities that focuses on exercise and healthy eating.

“The majority of children with disabilities tend to be overweight. It’s just part of their mobility issues,” says Nora Oyler, Cynthia’s mom and executive director of Spina Bifida Texas, which organizes the event. “We want to encourage families to get out and get active. It’s so helpful socially and physically for the kids.”

Lunch Bunch is a seven-month pilot program funded by a grant from Youth Service America and held in collaboration with the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department Adapted Sports and Recreation Program. Oyler is applying for more grant money to extend the program year-round.

After soccer, the kids wolf down turkey dogs on wheat buns, watermelon, string cheese and water, and work on crossword puzzles focused on nutrition.

Dezirae Figueroa, 13, who has cerebral palsy, likes the social aspect of Lunch Bunch. “I think it’s fun meeting new people,” she says. “You learn what their disability is. You learn what’s different about them.”

Her mother, Georgann Cavalier, had to drive Dezirae about an hour from their home in Falls City to attend the event, but she says it’s worth it.

“She’s not as ablebodied as a typical child, so something she can do with her peers she’s going to enjoy more,” Cavalier says. “She’s not going to get run over or left behind.”

Exercise is especially important for Dezirae because she takes medications that increase her appetite, she says.

Jamie Gifford has brought her 10-year-old son, Hunter Simpson, who has autism, to every Lunch Bunch since the program launched in April. She wanted him to learn about healthy foods and get some exercise to counterbalance his sedentary interests.

“Whereas a typically developing kid loves his Play-Station or his Wii, my kid will play it for days if you let him,” Gifford says. “So he went from very thin to not-so-thin, and I thought, ‘He’s way too young for this to start.’”

Nora Oyler says there’s an epidemic of obesity in adults with disabilities, so it’s essential to teach kids healthy habits early on.

“Most children with disabilities have a hard time finding activities they can participate in that are geared toward them,” she says. “We try to modify (the activities) to accommodate each child’s disability.”