Jack’s inspirational story

Jack has Autism, Severe Learning Disabilities (SLD’s) and is partially sighted (distorted vision). Jack at times finds it hard to interact with others and can be affected by loud noises. However, over the 6 years Jack has attended the Do Something Different (DSD) sessions he has adapted to cope very well with the noise of other participants and the surrounding noises in The Pods sports hall.

Jack’s parents, who both work, are keen for Jack to do as much physical activity as possible as this helps him sleep better. On a regular night Jack doesn’t go to bed before midnight and normally only sleeps for around 5-6 hours, however following Rebound he can sleep up to 8 hours that night.

One of Jacks Autism traits makes it very difficult for him to seek medical attention, for example he is unable to have blood tests. Because of this his mum is very conscious of his health and wants to keep him to be as physically active as possible to help prevent him requiring medical attention.

Jack has been attending Rebound Therapy sessions for around 2 years. In this time his confidence both on and off the trampoline has grown immensely; he has a positive relationship with the instructors and this is reflected in his ability to listen and follow instructions enabling him to be safe at all times and develop his skills on the trampoline.

The Rebound Therapy plays an important part of Jacks week; every week his PA films him with a mobile phone or tablet. This allows him to look back on his achievements which help with his memory recall: memorising short routines and improving his basic maths skills by counting a certain number of movements before moving onto his next move.

Once home following the Rebound session Jack eagerly awaits the footage and will prompt his PA if it doesn’t arrive in a timely manner. He enjoys watching this with his parents and sends the footage and pictures of himself to friends and family using Facebook Messenger. Throughout the week Jack watches the footage back, this motivates him to improve his techniques and progress towards his next Rebound grading badge.

Jack has demonstrated regardless of his disabilities he is always willing to learn and do his absolute best. He has shown great improvements with his social interaction, confidence and self- discipline. Jacks fitness has improved extensively, maintaining a healthy weight and improved sleep pattern.