TREK (Therapeutic Recreation Empowering Kids)
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TREK is designed to work with parents, students, administrators, physical education, special education or classroom teachers, as well as other related service providers, to ensure equal opportunity for students with physical and developmental disabilities. TREK Mission: To facilitate the inclusion of students into the curriculum (including Phys. Ed.), sports, after school programs, or summer programs. Through the use of adaptive equipment, direct instruction, and a focus on social awareness, students can upgrade their skills to a level where inclusive participation in recreation-based activities is successful. |
The TREK Program offers five program aspects:
School Based Recreational Therapy
Similarity Awareness Programs and Curricula
Contracted Recreation Programming
Transition Programming
Trip Facilitation
Program Goals:
- To offer recreation opportunities and leisure education to students with disabilities
- To help schools meet the mandate for inclusionary practices
- To increase social awareness and decrease stereotypes in regard to disability
- To improve social skills
(Increase social interactions, identify emotional states of others, appropriate responses to winning and losing, giving and accepting feedback, impulse control) - To improve physical skills necessary for participation in recreation
(Gross motor skills, Coordination, Strength, Endurance, Functional mobility) - To improve sport and recreation skills
- To create lifetime leisure skills
- To allow students to be with their peers in any setting
- To increase self-esteem
- To improve cognitive skills necessary for participation in recreation
(decision making, memory, turn taking, pragmatic language, etc.) - To foster recreation independence
- To help other programs create inclusive recreation environments
TR Intervention Strategies:
- Use of Therapeutic Recreation Assessments to gauge recreation/leisure functioning, recreation/sport interests, attitudes, social interaction, physical function and current involvement of student, his/her peers, and family.
- Use of recreation as a tool to achieve goals in other domains and develop individual recreation interests.
- Use of individual instruction for students with disabilities to help them upgrade their skills to a level where inclusive participation is successful.
- Use of individual and group instruction of specific skills to reach a maximum level of independence in preferred recreation activities.
- Use of activity modification to promote successful participation.
- Use of group facilitation to maximize inclusion.
- Use of adaptive equipment to promote inclusion, access and function.
- Use of disability awareness and group exercises incorporating disabled and non-disabled peers to facilitate a positive environment in order for the student with a disability to thrive.
- Use of brain storming and problem solving sessions with parents, teachers, community service providers and related service providers to promote successful inclusion.
- Close cooperation with other therapists and educators in order to best serve a student.
Funding & Rates:
- Recreation Services are included as a Related Service in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
- Therapeutic Recreation Services may be written into a student's IEP
- Although recreation services are not reimbursable by Medicaid, some schools have had success including services in a "bundle" for reimbursement
- Other Funding sources used in the past include:
- General Special Education Budget
- Grants
- Private Funding
- Community Recreation Funds
Fee Structure:
$55 per hour for one staff member
$30 per hour for each additional staff member
Mileage to be reimbursed at rate set by the Federal Government
Assessment and written report is $300 (all inclusive)
For information on the TREK Program, contact Matt
Frye, CTRS/L at Northeast Passage by phone
603-862-0070
or by e-mail matt.frye@unh.edu.
Please visit our Resource Directory page, under “Youth Information”
for an updated list of resource links.
