Starting February 2nd after Open Play ends at 4pm we will offer Socialization Sundays for older kids with autism, intellectual and developmental disabilities. This is a time for kids 16 and older to get together and hang out. There will be an adult present to give a little structure to the time. Please let us know if you’re interested in participating: info@extremekidsandcrew.org.
EXTREME KIDS & CREW, IN COLLABORATION WITH MARQUIS STUDIOS, PRESENTS AN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS
REGISTRATION CLOSED!! With an interdisciplinary approach to after school programming, children will receive individualized attention and work in a small group setting. Focus will be on socialization and listening skills, homework assistance, body awareness, and FUN. We will work and play as a community and learn and explore through the arts – Dance, Theater, Music, Fine Arts and more!
If you’d like more information about this and other futute programs, please fill out the Registration Request form on our classes page.
Feburary 3rd, 2014:
Starting this Sunday February 9th, 1 pm-4 pm, we will be offering Open Play at CAP House! Ideally suited for smaller kids, 6 months to 5 years old, CAP House has swings, a bubble tube, ball pit and more. Come on by! No need to RSVP, but please be aware that safety for everyone is our top priority, and if it gets crowded we may have to ask some families to leave to accommodate new visitors.
Move to the Beat! Is an interactive, fun workshop that explores the world of movement and music through traditional African and Caribbean dances and rhythms. In a safe and nurturing learning environment, participants are drawn into the magic of the drum and encouraged to explore their own unique voice and freedom of expression. Regristration is currently closed. For more information about future events, e-mail info@extremekidsandcrew.org.
Eliza Factor, Founder of Extreme Kids & Crew.
Alt text: Photo portrait of a brunette, white woman in a striped shirt, grinning at the camera.
My children are the inspiration behind Extreme Kids & Crew. My son Felix has a grab bag of disabilities, including autism and cerebral palsy. His younger sisters don't. I wanted to create a place outside of our home where we were not the only exceptional family with the whooping kid in the wheelchair, but just another rambunctious, ramshackle family. Through my daughters, I made friends with parents raising neurotypical children, and their company was sustaining and valuable. I yearned for these same sorts of connections with people raising children with disabilities. I knew they existed. I would see them at hospitals, doctors offices, and schools, frazzled like me, caught up in what seemed to be a never-ending treadmill of appointments and bureaucracy. We were all so focused on our particular children's diagnoses, medical treatments, and insurance or lack-of-insurance snafus that there was not the time and space to explore our commonalities, to relax and be with one another.
And so: Extreme Kids & Crew, a not-for-profit arts-movement-play program dedicated to creating space for children with all sorts of disabilities to be who they are, and for families to connect with each other and their children. We are not a therapy center. We are a place where the entire family can play on inventive sensory equipment, make and listen to music and express themselves through the arts.
Extreme Kids & Crew has now been operating for over nine years. We have had nearly thousands of families from every borough of New York City take part. Children with autism, sensory processing disorders, ADHD, down's syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, epilepsy, and many others, diagnosed and not, have participated in our programming. Families come from every walk of life. What ties us together is the experience of living with and loving a child who is different.
When I started Extreme Kids & Crew. I had not realized how inspired I would be by the other parents and children I would meet, nor was I prepared for the generosity and enthusiasm of musicians and artists and other volunteers who have made our program such a creative powerhouse. I was warned that starting such a program would tax my energies, instead it gave me energy. The friendships that I have made through Extreme Kids & Crew have widened and sweetened my world. I invite you to drop by and experience it for yourself!
Visit Eliza online: https://www.elizafactor.net/strange-beauty/
Read the blog: http://brokenandwoken.blogspot.com/
