Connecticut advisory council seeks to boost Unified Sports, coordinate outreach with Special Olympics

The Connecticut State Advisory Council for Special Education on March 26 discussed ways to expand Unified Sports and other Special Olympics programming into school transition planning and district outreach.

Council members said Special Olympics representatives told them districts and families sometimes lack information about Unified Sports, Unified Theater and community-based programs that could support students with disabilities during the school-to-community transition. Council members asked staff to help circulate program details to special education directors and at the bureau’s annual back-to-school event in September.

Tom Cosker, representing Disability Rights Connecticut, and Council Chair Susan Yankee said the meeting with Mike Mason, president and CEO of Special Olympics, highlighted a consistent problem: many districts do not have centralized processes for learning about community programs and making the connection during students’ transition planning. "A lot of unified programs are run in districts and then in the community after students exit the school system," Cosker said. "Helping families learn about community-based programs during the transition is important." (Comments on March 26.)

Brian Plimkiewicz, special education division director at the Connecticut State Department of Education, said the bureau will include Special Olympics in the September back-to-school event in Bristol and encouraged council members who lead local groups to invite Special Olympics to present locally. "If you have a captured audience, we can definitely make that connection," Plimkiewicz said.

Members noted that Unified Theater and some Unified Arts activities sit separately from the athletic programs and that schools often assemble arts-based unified programming independently. The council requested a one-page information sheet from Special Olympics summarizing available programs (athletics, Unified Sports, healthy athletes, community programming) so the council and state staff can distribute it to districts, families and partners.

Why it matters: Council members said greater coordination would help families and districts include Unified options in Individualized Education Program (IEP) transition planning and connect students to community supports once they leave school settings.

What happens next: Council staff will request and circulate a one-page program summary from Special Olympics and follow up with the bureau’s outreach for the September back-to-school event. Council members volunteered to raise awareness in local transition events and fairs.

Ending: Members agreed to continue the partnership and consider additional outreach strategies at future meetings.