Healthy Athletes® is a Special Olympics program that provides free health screenings in a fun, welcoming environment that removes the anxiety people with intellectual disabilities (ID) often experience when faced with a visit to the doctor or dentist. We not only serve these athletes but also train healthcare professionals who then go back to their practices with increased knowledge of and compassion for people with ID.
Special Olympics New Jersey offered all Healthy Athletes disciplines alongside Summer Games in the Brower Student Center at TCNJ.
Fit Feet
FUNfitness
Health Promotion
Healthy Hearing
Opening Eyes
Special Smiles
Strong Minds
Baseline Concussion Assessment
Fit Feet
Fit Feet offers podiatric screening to evaluate knees, feet, lower extremity biomechanics, and proper shoe and sock gear.
FUNfitness
FUNfitness is designed to assess and improve an athlete’s flexibility, functional strength, aerobic capacity and balance, and educate coaches and families.
Health Promotion
Health Promotion uses interactive tools, displays and demonstrations to encourage healthy behaviors, and enhance levels of wellness and self-care.
Healthy Hearing
Healthy Hearing is a hearing screening designed to detect hearing problems and ensure proper audiological care for athletes.
Opening Eyes
Opening Eyes provides vision assessments, and offers prescription eyewear, sunglasses, and sports goggles at no charge to Special Olympics athletes.
Special Smiles
Special Smiles provides oral health care information, dental screenings, and instructions on brushing and flossing.
Looking for a Dentist?
Below is a list of New Jersey dentists who see patients with special needs. Click the practice name to visit their website. Please check back as this list will continue to be updated. Special Olympics Athlete Provider List
Strong Minds
Strong Minds is an interactive learning activity focused on developing adaptive coping skills. Athletes try a few different active coping strategies as they move through the stations. Before exiting, athletes identify the strategies they like best and volunteers provide them with visual reminders to use these tools in competition and in daily life.
Concussion Baseline Assessments
Concussion Baseline Assessments developed specifically for the Special Olympics population, are taken on an iPad, and measures different cognitive abilities, such as memory, pattern recognition and response time. In the event that head trauma is sustained, the same assessment (a “post injury”) is taken again by the athlete, yielding comparative scores from before and after the injury.
Brower Student Center Map
All registered SONJ athletes were welcome to attend Healthy Athletes, even if they are not competing the weekend of Summer Games.
After each Healthy Athlete screening, athletes will receive a free giveaway specific to that discipline! In addition to the free giveaways, athletes are able to enter into a free drawing to win bigger ticket items! For each Healthy Athletes discipline an athlete visits, the athlete will be able to enter one ticket into the drawing, up to eight (8) tickets. The more Healthy Athletes disciplines an athlete completes, the more chances he/she has to win a prize!
Prizes include: Tickets to sporting events Amusement park tickets Fun basket prizes and much more!
