Boundless Abilities: Autism and More

Boundless Abilities Ep. 51: Setting Realistic Health Goals & Adaptive Programming

• Boundless • Season 5 • Episode 51

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We learn from our Boundless Nurse Practitioner, Carla O'Neal, and friends from the City of Dublin Recreation Center (Mollie Steiner, Recreation Administrator and Meaghan Campbell, Adaptive Recreation Coordinator), how to set realistic health goals this year that set us all up for success. Little changes made consistently throughout the year can add up to huge health improvements! Also hear about some awesome adaptive recreation programs available in Central Ohio like adaptive yoga, adaptive swim lessons, adaptive water dance and adaptive land dance classes. 

Scott Light:

Okay, to my guests, how about raising your hand? Okay. No, wait a minute. This is an audio podcast. Let's go with a yes or a no. Do you like the word resolution? Molly, yes or no?

Molly Steiner:

No.

Scott Light:

Carla?

Carla O'Neal:

No.

Scott Light:

Megan?

Megan Campbell:

Not really.

Scott Light:

Okay. I think we're I think we've got consensus there, I'm going to introduce these great guests here in just a little bit. But first, welcome to another episode of Boundless Abilities, a podcast brought to you by Boundless we are the largest nonprofit in Ohio that provides services to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and behavioral health challenges through residential support, autism services, primary health care, day programs, counseling and a whole lot more to children and adults. Our mission is to build a world that realizes the boundless potential of all people. I'm your host, Scott light, all right, so you heard my very quick first question there. You probably got a sense of what we're angling for in this episode. So let's jump into it. Our guest today, Carla O'Neill is a nurse practitioner here at Boundless, and we're really excited to have two guests from the city of Dublin. Molly Steiner is the recreation administrator corporate and community wellness. And Megan Campbell is here as well. She is an adaptive coordinator for the city. Welcome everyone.

Carla O'Neal:

Thank you for having me today.

Megan Campbell:

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Molly Steiner:

Good to be here.

Scott Light:

All right, so we're not all that crazy about the word resolution, but there is something about a new year where people do do some sort of a a reset. So Molly, would you start us off here about kind of goal setting and and striving to make some positive changes in a new year. How should we go about this?

Molly Steiner:

I think people set New Year's resolutions because the start of a new year creates changes in our mindset and signifies a fresh beginning. We look back on the past year and our thoughts may drift to what could have been and what we could have done better. The New Year offers a clean slate to better ourselves and provides a goal date to prepare for the plans we intend to implement. I think it helps us to get psyched up and determined to accomplish our goals and to think that this year might be different.

Scott Light:

This year may be the one. Okay, so Carla, what? How do you approach this if it's not a resolution, what do you do to maybe, maybe do a reset?

Carla O'Neal:

In the new year, the reset for me is lifestyle And we can all start small, right? changes. So I really support and encourage everyone, because I Absolutely, yeah.

Scott Light:

And build on something like you said. Just look at a resolution, I don't like that term, or I'm not the biggest fan of that term, because once you meet meet that can have that continual build. Megan, how do you approach this? goal, then it's over. And when you look at a lifestyle change that's ongoing, so you can do a reset and say, I'm going to make lifestyle changes this year. I'm going to be a better me, and you set the area where you can make the changes to help you reach your fullest potential. And I just love the fact that it's ongoing, and you can build upon it with each new year.

Megan Campbell:

I think about a lot like Carla does with lifestyle changes. I think about starting the new year with what is a sustainable, small habit change that you can make. And really it's not even tied to the new year, but that's a great starting point. Starting point. So just making a small habit change that's going to be sustainable, rather than a resolution that feels like, if I miss one day or if I mess up, then it's over. I set myself up for failure in a New Year.

Scott Light:

Boy you really teed me up here, like, if you miss one day, I can I think I'm the oldest one here at the table, but I can remember going to some gyms not that many moons ago where it was hardcore, you know, at the beginning of the year, and people are like, you've got to get in your cardio, and you've got to get in some weights after that. And, you know, are you drinking your 18 glasses of water a day? Go, go, go. And I don't know about you guys, I'm glad that this has changed. It's about now being active and maybe toward an overall goal of of wellness. Am I heading down the right path here?

Unknown:

I think you're right. I think over time, the concept of fitness and wellness has evolved significantly, moving from where we focused solely on physical activity to a more holistic approach, and now we encompass nutrition, mental health and lifestyle factors. I think previously, fitness often centered around physical activity alone, but now we consider the body as a whole system. We have wearable devices. We have apps that provide real time data. We have a more personalized approach, in addition to online workouts and home fitness equipment, and I think we just have a greater awareness on preventative health and an awareness of chronic disease. So I think we're also gaining a better understanding of the nutrition side and the foods that we eat. And I like the saying when you hear that you can't outrun a bad diet. It's true, you can exercise all you want, but if the diet portion is also not under control, and you're trying to do the right things from a nutrition standpoint, exercise is not going to take care of everything.

Carla O'Neal:

Absolutely. I really like what she's saying about the holistic approach. Previously, when you talked about fitness, it was just, I needed to hit those hardcore items at the gym, and you fall off after a couple months. But when you look at the holistic approach, you need to focus more on health maintenance, disease prevention. You can go in you're talking about nutrition. How can I fuel my body once you have the proper nutrition and fuel, then you can do more with your exercise and your physical activity again, setting attainable goals so that you can go out and just say, I need to do because the exercise goals are important, but it compasses so much more. Now you have to get your mind mindset, correct? So, you know, wellness in all areas can lead to overall wellness.

Megan Campbell:

Like one of the things that I worked on last year was getting in the gym and taking care of some of those physical wellness, you know, objectives. But this year now, it's taking that a step further and trying to build more healthy habits with better nutrition and sleep. There's one of the things that I think we often overlook though. You know, my user New Year's resolution might be to get more sleep this year.

Scott Light:

That's a good one. I mean, rest and recovery is huge. That's really, really good. Carla, let me come back. Let's set a couple more baselines here. It's also important to talk about this people with autism and other disabilities, they face health concerns and risks out there that the broader public does not can you go into this a little bit more for our listening audience,

Carla O'Neal:

absolutely, people with autism and other disabilities are at a higher risk for several physical and mental health concerns as compared to those without any disabilities, motor skill challenges, epilepsy, feeding issues, gastrointestinal problems, mental health concerns such as OCD or obsessive compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar, ADHD anxiety, depression and disruptive sleep. All of the aforementioned health issues can affect nutrition and wellness. Of notable concern are the feeding issues as it relates to nutrition. Feeding is a complicated human behavior that involves sensory systems, including touch, sight, taste, smell and even sound. Up to 70% of autistic children have difficulties with sensory processing and experience atypical eating behaviors, the most common of which is food selectivity, which leads to challenges meeting nutritional goals. These issues can be restricted food habits, like picky eaters or restrictive eaters and averisons to certain food textures and tastes.

Scott Light:

Also, everything you talked about there can lead to a lower life expectancy to people with autism and other disabilities, right? That tees up what we want to talk about, some of

Carla O'Neal:

That's correct. the fantastic programming that's happening in the city of Dublin, Megan and Molly too, tell our listeners about the adaptive programming that that both of you lead here. I understand you have everything from adaptive aquatics to yoga.

Megan Campbell:

We have programs mostly designed for teens and adults, adaptive programs designed for teens and adults from social programs. Our main program is called Fantastic Friday. It's a Friday night social program for adults with disabilities, many of whom have gone to school together, all you know, throughout their childhood. And then when school ends, it's, well, where's our opportunity to find social opportunities in the community. So we get everybody together once or twice a month for a program on Friday nights. We have some life skill programs, like we do cooking classes for teens and adults. Try and build some life skills and independence. But you can also focus on, you know, just social interaction and having a good time while we're there. We have some fitness programs, including adaptive yoga, which we just started this this winter. We have adaptive swim lessons, adaptive water dance and adaptive land dance classes. Our land dance classes have been running for a couple of years, but aqua dance is new to us, so that's been a fun new venture.

Scott Light:

You've got a lot there. Let's unpack a few of those, if we could. Let's, let's break it down on on the fitness side, on the wellness side, what's popular?

Megan Campbell:

Our most popular fitness or wellness adaptive program is definitely our all abilities dance class.

Scott Light:

Okay.

Megan Campbell:

They meet every week on Thursdays from 5:30 to

6:

15. The instructor is a valenmi certified trainer. She just has a passion for dance. She's got this incredible bubbly energy that is contagious where everybody comes in. So we have a group of about 10 to 15 teens and adults who come to that class every week.

Scott Light:

Let's talk about yoga. I'll weigh in here as a fan, and my lower back will weigh in as a fan, too. But we also know this when you slow down, when anyone slows down their breathing, the benefits of that boy are exponential in your day, in your week and your month, and they just continue to layer on and on. How are your participants taking to adaptive yoga?

Molly Steiner:

Adaptive yoga is new to us, but the instructor has been phenomenal. She comes in with different adaptations for every pose. They do visual cards to show people how to do the poses. And the goal of the class is not to not to follow a strict yoga routine to develop confidence balance. They kind of just work through some of those breathing techniques.

Scott Light:

Yeah, and then the evolution side of this, the life skills side, cooking classes, get togethers on a Friday night. Was that going on five, ten years ago, or is that kind of again, the new evolution of all this?

Megan Campbell:

Yeah, the social programs and the life skill programs were a couple of classes that have existed since long before I worked in Dublin, they've had a following for a long time. We've just started to expand to offering teen classes. You know, as our adults get older, there's a whole new generation of kids who are about to age out of school programs, and we're trying to find ways to include them in opportunities that will extend throughout their lifetime.

Scott Light:

Molly, I know you and I have talked about this. The Dublin Community Recreation Centers is undergoing a refresh. Do you see that some of the adaptive programming could, could possibly get a boost as part of the Refresh is going on at the DCRC?

Molly Steiner:

Yeah, I think absolutely, at the DCRC, we utilize a lot of our spaces for multi programming efforts, and so we are starting the refresh with our teen lounge and our senior lounge areas, renaming those to be the Hub and the Lounge, and both of those spaces will be going through a major makeover and renovation and so that, ultimately can enhance the adaptive programming that we're doing, if they are utilizing those spaces in any way.

Scott Light:

Carla, I'd love to get your thoughts when you hear about a municipality devoting those kinds of resources, again to that holistic approach, mental and physical activity, wellness.

Carla O'Neal:

As a clinician, I really enjoy hearing about municipalities offering those services in all areas. Most notable are adaptive services, which goes to the population of patients that we serve. So now I am able to provide them for a resource of where they can go out in the community, to be able to enjoy some of the sports activities and just some of the activities that the general population, seeing them have that and then being able to improve their wellness in all of those areas that makes a big impact on their overall health outcome. So we're looking at, you know, being able to improve those numbers, the better health, the longer you live. So when you look at it, great, it's fine. Now they get to enjoy these activities, but look at the long term health benefits by having that well rounded services offered by these municipalities.

Scott Light:

Way to go. Dublin. Nice job. Let's go broad again here. How can parents, trainers, those in the IDD world, Carla, how can they set goals in this new year again, on the wellness and the nutrition side, what's the best way to approach this?

Carla O'Neal:

So the best way to approach is to start by setting measurable and attainable goals for both wellness and nutrition. For the new year for children and adults with autism and intellectual disabilities. It's important to also include that person in their goal setting, you're going to get more buy in. They're excited about it, and you just guide them and help them set set those goals. The goals should be unique to that person's strengths and areas of it, of need. For example, many children and adults with autism and intellectual disability have challenges with gross motor skills, some more significant than others. So wellness goals can include activities to help improve balance, posture or coordination, such as, I will jump on the trampoline for 15 minutes on Wednesdays after school, or I will go to the All Abilities dance class at Dublin on Thursdays at six o'clock. You help them pick the activity that they're interested in. And then once this goal is set, you want to have them do that ongoing, not just for a short period of time, but this they love routines. Get that into the routine and it's ongoing. Then as far as nutrition goes, nutrition plays an integral role in living a healthy lifestyle. Many children and adults with autism face challenges that can make a nutritious diet especially difficult. Food sensitivities, GI issues, restrictive or repetitive behaviors are just a few examples. So again, goals should be measurable and attainable. I will try one new food monthly. Now, with trying these new foods is very important that parents and caregivers expose children, expose their loved one to the foods at least 12 times before you mark it as a food they don't like. You want to do things like just for example, with the tomato, you give someone a tomato they don't like it. A lot of times its an aversion to the texture. So we can chop it, we can blend it, we can make a sauce, or we can cook it in our pasta. You want to also try fun things. Make paint with the food, you know, let the sauce draw on there. Put eyes using cookie cutters for fun foods, and again, reward the good behavior, but with small rewards, because you don't want it to be, you know, you could blow bubbles, you can sing a song or do something small for to reward, but again, exposing them twelve times to a new food will really help in meeting nutritional goals.

Scott Light:

I'm glad you mentioned starting small, and I would love to get some reaction from all of you on maybe an example of something you've witnessed, or maybe a person that you've seen, maybe come through the Dublin Community Recreation Center, or maybe a Carla, maybe a person that you've treated where they've made some small changes, and then over time, you've seen some big results.

Megan Campbell:

Before I worked for the Dublin Rec Center my past careers as a pediatric occupational therapist, so feed, feeding and sensory issues is kind of one of the things that I take a little bit of extra interest in so with our cooking classes, one of the things that we're focusing on is working with a lot of adults with autism on trying new foods, exploring textures. So I've told some of them, you know, our our goal every day is that we're going to put everything on the plate, not going to make you eat everything on the plate, but we want to try to at least have it on the plate, explore it, give it a try. A lot of times it's encouraging when all of our friends are also trying the food and they're interested. So I like your example with the tomato. I will have people who tell me all throughout class, I don't like it, I don't like it, I don't like it, but we're trying it in a new form, and then they end up trying it and liking it. So that's one of my favorite things about our cooking classes is kind of finding low pressure ways to encourage people to try new foods, try things in a different way, explore some cooking that they can take home.

Scott Light:

Yeah, salsa is a really good icebreaker. I think in the tomato world, am I wrong on that?

Carla O'Neal:

You're definitely right.

Scott Light:

Molly, is there something that you could share? Maybe, if you've seen somebody and as a trainer too, I would imagine you've probably seen a lot of folks transform themselves.

Molly Steiner:

Yeah, absolutely. I have been a fitness instructor for longer than I care to share, but in the course of that career or side hustle, I've seen a lot of participants who have come in never exercising before, always encouraging them to just start from a very low baseline. If it's a strength class, start with a one pound weight, start with a two pound weight, because you want to help them feel successful. And I've seen people progress where they're consistently coming to class and they are getting stronger. They're upping their weights over time. And then several participants that I can think of have then taken the journey to being fitness instructors themselves.

Scott Light:

Wow.

Molly Steiner:

So they've seen the success. They've found the joy in what they're doing, and then they, in turn, want to give back.

Scott Light:

That's awesome. Carla, what about you?

Carla O'Neal:

I have two amazing examples to share. And I have one patient that I saw here at Boundless and she had been, over the years, struggling with a little fine motor skills, and she was encouraged to take up an art class in the community. And with that art class, her ability with her fine motor skills just significantly increased. I am happy to report she is now selling her work through the Autism Community through Grove City, and they have an art gallery. So her skills improved that much because she went in thinking I didn't want to. Do it. I can't. And she had a that mindset, but she was encouraged to push through, go on, try something new. She tried it. It improved her growth, her fine motor skills, which she was working on, to go on and to develop a passion into art, and now to see that art in the gallery being sold.

Scott Light:

That's amazing. That's amazing.

Carla O'Neal:

That's amazing.

Scott Light:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Carla O'Neal:

Yes. And my second one is a patient that I saw here at Boundless, and it was exactly when you were stating what Molly was stating. She went into the fitness class she really loved it. Zumba was her passion, and she did Zumba, and she was encouraged to go ahead and take the instructors class. And when she finished her certificate, she was so happy, and brought it to her last visit and told me she we celebrated together. We were so happy for her, and I can't wait to see where her journey goes and takes her.

Scott Light:

That's great. That is fantastic. I did a little research as well in terms of what makes a successful resolution. Now, I know we don't like the word resolution, but it was, it was part of, it was part of a Google search. I'll just admit it right there. All right. So there were two things. There were two commonalities here. And the first one was, and I think you hit on this earlier Carla, and that was, find something that you like. There is activity, there is wellness, there is fitness. In gardening, if you're outside and you're working in the yard, you know what you're burning, calories. So A, find something that you like when it comes to staying active. And B, find a buddy or a group with whom to do it. If you want to go walk the track at the Dublin Rec Center, you know what? Call up your buddy, or call up a group and say, hey, you know what? Let's go do this together. You're the experts here. What do you think about those two pieces of advice?

Unknown:

I love both of those pieces of the advice. You find something fun, it's not work. You, you're doing something enjoyable, so you're likely to continue it long term. Once you do it long term, you start seeing the benefits of it. Then when you involve a group, that's even better. Sometimes, as an individual, you may say, I just don't feel like it today. But when you're a part of a greater community or a group, you're going to say, I can't let the group down. And then you have those others encouraging you to go, come on, let's go to that track at Dublin. Let's walk. You're more apt to do it and continue doing it.

Molly Steiner:

I agree. I also think that we have to be picky about our resolutions and our goals. And I think sometimes we tend to think we have to do so many things and make so many changes. We have to lose weight, we have to get in shape, we have to quit smoking, we have to volunteer more. We have to do this, this, this. But I think instead of picking all of those different things that we want to accomplish, it's better to just focus on one or two of those at a time and really be picky about where you're going to dedicate your efforts.

Megan Campbell:

I think it's great advice to do something that you want to do with a buddy. I think kind of like Carla was saying, it increases your accountability for going every day. You know, some days you wake up like this morning it was negative six degrees. I don't want to get up and work out when it's negative six degrees, but if I have a friend that I know is counting on me to show up makes it a lot more enjoyable, makes it something that you can stick to.

Scott Light:

Yeah, I looked at the weather app this morning. I'm gonna be honest with the three of you. I said bad words this morning when I saw it was minus six degrees. We always like to leave our listeners with avenues to resources. So Molly, Megan, how can people find out more a website address, how can people find out more about everything you're doing when it comes to adaptive programming in the city of Dublin?

Megan Campbell:

You can find more on our website, which will have information about our brochures and all of our programs, including fitness programs, aquatics, social programs, camps, everything from preschool age through senior citizens. You can contact me at mmcampbell@dublin.oh.us. We do a process called the inquiry of needs, where we meet with families to talk about what their interests are, their age group, what their skills are, and then helping to find a program that would be good for what they're looking for, and that we can talk about providing accommodations to make sure they get the best possible experience in our programs.

Scott Light:

And you don't have to live in Dublin to come and enjoy the programs, right, correct?

Megan Campbell:

You can be a resident or a non resident. Residents get registration first, but non residents, registration begins one week later.

Scott Light:

Okay? And Molly, you've got a phone number for us.

Unknown:

Yeah you can reach out to us at the Dublin Community Recreation Center at 614-410-4550, that will take you to the front desk, and then if you are interested in a specific program or activity, they can direct you to the appropriate person.

Scott Light:

Okay, Carla, similar question to you. How can people find out more about well, all the services here at

Carla O'Neal:

People can learn more about the services by going Boundless? online to iamboundless.org and they can find out about all the programs. They can contact us via phone at 614-505-1724. People can also call the same number and schedule an in person tour of the facility located at 445 East Dublin Granville Road in Worthington.

Scott Light:

This has been a great conversation to all three of you. Have a great new year. Here's to wellness and activity and all the things and nothing, nothing too hardcore out there again. Thanks to all three of you for being here. To our listeners, thank you as well. Don't forget you can be part of episodes to come email us your questions or comments at podcast. At iamboundless.org. This is Boundless Abilities brought to you by Boundless.