DALLAS \u2014 Generally speaking, kids don\u2019t get excited to go to the hospital.<\/p>\n
However, at Scottish Rite for Children in Dallas, we found them jumping for joy.<\/p>\n
Because, for many of them, they’ve never before felt so accepted.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve never did that, but today I did,\u201d 8-year-old Maddison Goolsby, who has cerebral palsy, said.<\/p>\n
Most typical dance camps don\u2019t have programming for kids like her, which is what makes this one so special.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s honestly a blessing that we were able to connect through Scottish Rite to do something like this,\u201d said Goolsby\u2019s mom, Ashley Zamberlan.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey get to come, have fun, build new friendships, meet people who may be like them in some ways,\u201d said recreational therapist Nicole Lewandowski.<\/p>\n
Lewandowski said this group of 8- to 16-year-olds is part of Rite Moves, an adaptive, therapeutic dance camp for Scottish Rite patients.<\/p>\n
The kids have all sorts of physical or neurological conditions. For many, this is their first time being included.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just made me feel great,\u201d Goolsby said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey don\u2019t even realize that they\u2019re really staying active or doing a ton of exercise because they\u2019re having so much fun,\u201d Lewandowski said.<\/p>\n
After practicing all week, on the final day of camp the kids performed in front of family, hospital staff and other patients.<\/p>\n
It may have been their first time dancing, but certainly not the last.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love dancing now,\u201d Goolsby said. \u201cIt\u2019s my new thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not just in the background, but they get to be the star of the show so I think that really gets to build their confidence,\u201d said Lewandowski.<\/p>\n
Goolsby said it did, indeed, build her confidence. So much so, she\u2019s already planning her next dance.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe when I get home I\u2019ll probably do it again in front of my stuffed animals,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Creating a place for others is always a good move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DALLAS \u2014 Generally speaking, kids don\u2019t get excited to go to the hospital. However, at Scottish Rite for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":374066,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":["post-374065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374065\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/374066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}