NPO TRACOSNormalization
through sports

We are committed to building communities
where both impaired and unimpaired
people can grow and learn together.

TRACOS Soccer School and FC TRACOSTRACOS, established in 2003, is a Tokyo-based nonprofit
organization that exists to improve the lives of all affected
learning by disabilities/difficulties. We do this by creating
opportunities for them to play soccer, which enables them to buildup their health, to acquire sociability and to learn cooperation.
We run seven soccer schools and one soccer club in Tokyo andKanagawa, and dispatches our coaches to special-needs
schools and events so that many who give up joining our schools
because of distance can come to classes or training sessions.

What difficulty do our students and players have?
SCHOOLS

FC TRACOS

Learning Diﬃculty (excl.ASD)

18

16

ASD

19

15

Down Syndrome

16

4Williams Syndrome

20Others

11

Learning Disability (Incl. CP)

18

25

Note : Some have more than one diagnosis.

Children and adults with Developmental Desabilities such asAutism Spectrum Disorder(ASD), Attention Deficit HyperactivityDisorder(ADHD), Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Down Syndrome (DS)play soccer together in our schools and a club.

School Mission Statement
We help our students to acquiremanners and socializing skills,
improve and maintain their healthathletic abilities.

As of 25/April/2017

We encourage our students' communication skills and self-expression.

We promote our students to engate
in the community and interact withindividuals without disabilites.

1Developmental Disabilities
Developmental disabilities, also known as learning difficulties and learning disabilities, are a group of conditions due to an
impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas. These conditions begin during the developmental period, may
impact day-to-day functioning, and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime.

These children havediﬃculties in one or moreof the following areas:

Motor coordination
Time management
Attention
Organizational skills
Processing speed
Emotional maturation
Verbal expression
MemoryProcessing language
Social skills needed to make friends
and maintaining relationships

6.5% of elementary school children

have Developmental Disabilities in Japan

Problems they face:
One of problems children with developmental disabilities (DD)is that they are all too often denied to participate in sports,
because they can have difficulty following the rules oforganized sports, or with the physicality of some gym activities.
As a result, these children often get less physical activity thantypically developing children.
Since team sports can be competitive, it requires a great athleticability, following direction, paying attention and communication
skills.
These requirements deprive children with DD ofopportunities to join a sport activitiy and play with aother children.
Being often excluded or rejected, they feel a sense of shame,
isolation, low self-esteem, anger, fear and anxiety.

Can you tell themfrom children without
diﬃculties?
Their parents feel the same way too. Besides, parents ofchildren with DD feel bad because their children cause‘troubles’ when they play sports or play in a playground withother unimpaird children. Then, when they want to go to sport
events for children with disabilities, many other people lookcooldly at them on their way to get there. How many people
would think it is because of DD he has when you see a boy
talking excessively, screaming and keeping jumping in thetrain? When the child looks no difference from children
without DD, many might think it’s because of bad parenting.
It is reported that one of majour causes of stress that parents ofchildren with DD is social attitudes towards them and lack ofunderstanding for problems they and their families experience.
Children with DD want to move their bodies just like otherchildren do, their parents want to give them physical activity
opportunities, but there’re many barriers for them.

Children with disabilities are missing out on play activities that are vital to their development“All too often the parents of children with multiple-needs point to barriers they face in accessing and enjoying play, it means that
disabled children don’t have the same chance to form friendships, and parents are prevented from taking a break from caring. Bothdisabled children and their parents are excluded from their own communities.”
Lord Blunkett, “The Case for Play - The Sense Public Inquiry -”2

Deﬁnition and Meaning
Developmental Disabilities

issues, others might not. The common
thread is differences in social skills,
communication, and behavior comparedwith people who aren’t on the spectrum.

ADHDLD

Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder

Learning
Difficulties/Disabilities

It affects children and teens and cancontinue into adulthood. ADHD is themost commonly diagnosed mental
disorder of children. Children with ADHD
may be hyperactive and unable control
their impulses. Or they may have trouble
paying attention. These behaviors
interfere with school and home life.

A learning disability is a problem that
affects how a person receives andprocesses information. People withlearning difficulties may have trouble
with any of the following: reading,writing,
doing math, understanding directions.
It’s important to note that ASD andADHD are not the same as learning
difficulties. There are many different
kinds of learning difficulties, and they canaffect people differently.

People with ADHD are diagnosed withdepression and anxiety more often thanothers.
Also, oppositional Defiant
Disorder is one of the most common
conditions linked to ADHD.
Depression and Anxiety
Either condition could cause ADHD-like
symptoms, like poor concentration andrestlessness.
The symptoms aren’talways clear. Depressed children often
seem irritable rather than sad. Children
with depression/anxiety are not patient,gets really upset, has no tolerance forfrustration.
Oppositional Defiant DisorderChildren who have it act stubborn, getangry often, throw tantrums, and don't dowhat parents and teachers tell them to do.

ASD
Autism spectrum disorder
It’s a developmental disability that
affects the way people communicate,behave, or interact with others. There’s
no single cause for it, and symptoms
can be very mild or very severe. The
autism spectrum is very wide. Somepeople might have very noticeable

The main types of LD include:
Dyspraxia : It affects a person's motorskills. A young child with dyspraxia may
bump into things or have trouble holding
a spoon or tying his/her shoelaces.
Later, he may struggle with things likewriting and typing.
Dyslexia : It affects how a person
processes language, and it can makereading and writing difficult. Children
may also have trouble expressing
themselves verbally and putting together
thoughts during conversation.
Dysgraphia : It affects a person’s writing
abilities. (Ex. Bad handwriting, Trouble
with spelling, Difficulty putting thoughts
down on paper.)Dyscalculia : It affects a person’s ability
to do math.
In young children,
dyscalculia may affect learning to countand recognize numbers.
Auditory Processing Disorder : This isa problem with the way the brain
processes the sounds a person takes in.
It is not caused by hearing impairment.
Visual Processing Disorder : Someone
with a visual processing disorder hastrouble interpreting visual information.
He or she may have a hard time withreading or telling the difference between
two objects that look similar.

Definitions of Learning
Disability and Learning
Difficulties
Learning disability and learning difficulties
are terms that are commonly used in theUK.
These two terms are often
interchangeable when used in the context
of health and social care for adults. Somepeople with learning disabilities prefer theterm learning difficulties.
A learning disability includes theirpresence of:- a significantly reduced ability tounderstand new or complex informationor to learn new skills;- a reduced ability to cope
independently;- an impairment that started before
adulthood, with a lasting effect ondevelopment.
This means that the person will find it
harder to understand, learn and remember
new things, and means that the person
may have problems with a range of things
such as communication, being aware ofrisks or managing everyday tasks.
A learning difficulty includes children andyoung people who have specific learning
difficulties, for example dyslexia, but who
do not have a significant general
impairment of intelligence.
Note: The UK is the only country that uses
the term learning disability in the way
described above.
In other English
speaking countries the term ‘intellectualdisability’ is growing in usage. In the U.S.,an ‘intellectual disability’ describes
below-average IQ and a lack of skills
needed for daily living, and the term
‘learning disability’ is used instead of‘learning difficulty’.

3Feelings that you
don’ t want to admit
your child has DD S/he looks perfectly
normal.

Limitedaccess tomainstream playgroups and local play
opportunities at leisurecenters, playgrounds
and soft play.

Socialattitudes.

Lack ofadequate
professional
support.

Childcharacteristics Behaviouralsymptoms associatedwith DD andbehaviouralproblems.

Lack ofunderstanding forproblems they andtheir families
experience.

Limited accessto medical andeducational
services for thechild.

Environmentaland emotional
Sensitivities.
Being
frequently
labeled as mentallyretarded, written off
as being unable tolearn.

Shame at, andfear of being
different fromothers.

Fearof being
found out.
Fearof failure.

Fear ofridicule.
Fear ofrejection.

Impairments incommunication

Fear ofdisappointing
parents.

Problems they may face in the future:
People with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
are diagnosed with anxiety and dpression more often thanothers. Also, it is reported that that people with ADHD may be
more likely than the general population to develop alcohol andsubstance abuse or addiction problems when they get older.

Parents of children with DD worry most about what would
happen to their children when they are adults. Long-lasting
stress experienced by parents of children with DD has
profound consequences for their health, well-being,interactions with the child and family life.

eem Relationshipelf-estproblems
Low sion Substance abuseDepress

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ADS) has a wide range. Somepeople with an ASD live on their own, go to school, and holda job. Nobody, even himself/herself, might know that s/hehas a condition. They may have difficulty in performing basic
everyday living tasks. They may also have difficulty withmaking friends and maintaining relationships.

Troublecontrolling anger

People growing up with a Learning Difficulty (LD) often feel asense of shame because these indivuduals are often labeled
as mentally retarded, incopetent and lazy. Internalized
negative labels of stupidity and incompetence usually resultin a poor self concept and lack of confidence.

Developmental Disorders can’t be prevented or cured. But
spotting it early, plus having a good treatment and education
plan, can help a child or adult with DD manage their symptom.
Anxiety and stress can be reduced by sharing it. We caneliminate these barriers they face by promoting
awareness-raising and supporting them.

Addiction

Probelms at work

Impulsivness“ For sure, there are bad times when we cause a lot of hassle for other people,
but what we really want to is to be able to look toward a brighter future. ”
NaokiHigashida
Higashida(2013)(2013) The
TheReason
ReasonIIJump:
Jump:TheTheInner
InnerVoice
VoiceofofaaThirteen-Year-Old
Thirteen-Year-OldBoy
Boywith
withAutismAutism
Naoki4What We Do

I laughed and ran a lot. I had fun.

Yoshi CochFrom Takuma

Many parents of children with DD say they find it difficult
to access mainstream play groups and local play
opportunities at leisure centers and playgrounds.
NPO TRACOS
held 157 on-sitesoccer classes
in 2016.

NPO TRACOS sends experienced and professionalcoaches (Certified by Japanese Para-Sports Association) tospecial-needs schools and events to offer a soccer class so that children with
DD who give up joining sports activities nearby, or can’t come to our schools because ofdistance, can move their bodies without feeling stressed, scared, perplexed or dissapointed.

Coaches carry fun inflatable soccer equipment, which helps children find sports fun andinteresting. Class activities help them improve their health athletic abilities, and according torecent studies, exercise could benefit children with DD. The studies found children in elementary school were better able to control
their behaviour in the classroom when they excercised.
Our on-site soccer class is not only for children but also for their parents. Parents share information each other and develope mutual
feelings of fellowship before and after class.

TRACOS offers on-site soccer classes
Our inﬂatable playground equipment lets children with special needs have more fun!

5

We Need Your Support!

We need your support to give children with
developmental disabilities opportunities for sport,
play and exercise that they can truly enjoy.
Your support today will make their future brighter.

References
13 Feb 2012, Elaine Hardie and Liz Tilly, “An introduction to supporting people with a learning disability”
27 Aug 2013, Naoki Higashida, “The Reason I Jump: The Inner Voice of a Thirteen-Year-Old Boy with Autism”
26 Dec 2014, Hitoshi Hara “Kodomo no Hattatsu Shogai Jiten (tr. Encyclopedia of Children with Developmental Disorder)”10 April 2009, Hisashi Iwasaki, Yoko Kaizoji “The Phycological Support for Mothers of Children with Mild Developmental Disabilities”
9 July 2012, Families Special Interest Research Group of IASSID, “Families Supporting a child with intellectual or developmental disabilities: the current state of knowledge”
15 Sep 2011, Ewa Pisula “Parenting Stress in Mothers and Fathers of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders ”
19 Feb 2016, Sense, “The Case for Play - The Sense Public Inquiry -”WebMed “http://www.webmd.com/”
31 May 2016, Reviewed by Smitha Bhandari, MD, “Detecting Learning Disabilities”
16 Nov 2016, Reviewed by Roy Benaroch, MD, “What Are Pervasive Developmental Disorders”
18 Nov 2016, Reviewed by Roy Benaroch, MD, “What Are the Symptoms of Autism?”
29 Sep 2016, Reviewed by Hansa D. Bhargava, MD, “What is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder?”19 April 2015, Reviewed by Smitha Bhandari, MD, “When It’s Not Just ADHD”
Health Day “http://consumer.healthday.com”
9 Jan 2017, Amy Norton, “Exercise: An Antidote for Kids’ Behavioral Issues?”
LDPride “http://www.ldpride.net/”“Top 5 Emotional Difficulties of People with Learning Disabilities”
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “https://www.cdc.gov/”‘Facts About Developmental Disabilities’

6NPO TRACOS
Add： Yonetomi Heights 1F 4-20-18 Chuo, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo 132-0021
TEL / FAX：03-5879-5879 Email：contact@tracos.jp
URL：http://tracos.jp