What It Is: "The Sparkle Effect, Inc., is a nonprofit corporation that provides guidance, peer mentoring, and online tools to enable high school students across the United States to create cheerleading squads for students with special needs and to fully integrate those squads into the high school sports curriculum."
Who's In Charge: "Hi, we're Sarah Cronk and Sarah Herr, varsity cheerleaders at Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf, Iowa, and the co-Presidents of the Sparkle Effect, Inc. This year, we experienced a string of small miracles and large transformations in our Iowa town after we formed our own cheerleading squad that includes children with special needs. Ten girls with special needs - from autism to Down Syndrome - now radiate joy and confidence as part of our new 'Spartan Sparkles' cheerleading squad."
Why It's Worth Checking Out: The Sarahs have put together a .pdf offering instructions for building a special-needs cheerleading squad like the one they started at their high school. The downloadable "quick-start kit" includes a sample letter for contacting administrators, a poster to use for recruiting participants, and a very mature and inclusive point of view on working with children with special needs.
Where to Start: Our History
+ Page of the Day: Sports for Children With Special Needs +