By Shannon Samekki and Matt Taylor BBC News, Nottingham
March 20, 2024
Image caption: Victoria says her daughter Flo “loves to bounce around” during her sessions
Trampoline therapy is being used to help children with special needs and disabilities in Nottingham.
The free Epic Bounce sessions, held at the Oliver Hinde Centre in Sneinton, began on March 11th.
These include rebound therapy and sensory play for children aged between four and 12 years old.
Footprints and Epic Partners, the Nottingham-based charities running the project, hope to secure additional funding to allow the project to continue in the future.
Captioning the image, Michaela Castillo Williams described the session as “extremely rewarding.”
Michaela Castillo Williams, project manager at Epic Partners, said benefits of rebound therapy included “strength, flexibility, coordination, balance and emotional control”.
Victoria’s daughter Flo has Down Syndrome and was one of the first to try Epic Bounce.
She added: “She absolutely loved it.”
“It’s great to be part of a group that caters to those needs, understands them and allows them to run around freely and have fun.”
Image caption: Stephen Frew says the charity has been working on the project for “some time”
Footprints charity manager Stephen Frew, 47, said the sessions had started “really well” but hoped they could develop further and “be better tailored to the needs of the young people who take part”.
He said: “Too often when you work with kids with special needs it becomes work, so the great thing about Rebound is that it’s fun.”
“It’s a relaxed atmosphere and we work with all the children’s emotions, senses and muscles at the same time. We also do a full range of sensory enrichment activities so it’s fun and covers everything.”
Mr Fuller added that Epic and Footprints’ task is to raise funding to continue the sessions beyond the first year of Sport England funding and to make the sessions “bigger scale”.