CYPS Case Study
AJ has been attending Rathbone Youth Club for 6 years.
When he first joined the club, AJ had limited verbal communication skills and struggled to interact with others. AJ’s main interests were watching TV and videos online. Due to being quite sedentary most of the time, AJ had difficulties maintaining a healthy weight. Throughout the past year, we have been supporting AJ to increase his engagement in physical activities and to try new things, as he has struggled throughout the pandemic. As part of our ‘Getting Active’ sports programme AJ has been actively participating in non-contact boxing, Zumba and table tennis sessions. We have seen a huge boost in his energy levels at the youth club and he is better engaging with more of his peers.
AJ has expressed interest in the cooking and boxing sessions but still wanted to regularly spend time on the laptop so the staff have encouraged him to have laptop time towards the end of the session once he has engaged in the other activities.
AJ now comes to club asking to help the staff and his interaction is fantastic. The boxing session really helped with his confidence and the cooking helped him to think about what he is eating.
AJ’s dad recently came in to club to enquire into what his son has been doing as part of the sessions because he can see a big change in his behaviour and his attitude when it comes to food and AJ’s wellbeing.
AJ is more active and really enjoys coming to the youth club. He is a real source of joy and helps to put a smile on everyone’s face!
“I am so proud of the progress AJ has made. Witnessing the progress he is making with his communication skills and socialising with his peers has be so rewarding. Even when he finds things difficult he no longer has a tantrum and shuts off he now listens to the staff who are on hand to support him. It has been great to see his progress with getting more active. He is so excited to get stuck in to the sports on offer and is always happy to try new things even if it’s just once. I look forward to seeing his continued growth!”
Charline King. Head of CYPS