iCanShine Arlington Bike Camp

The goal of iCan Bike is to teach individuals with disabilities to ride a conventional two wheel bicycle and become lifelong independent riders. This achievement, in turn, creates a gateway of opportunity, helping them gain assurance and self-reliance in many other aspects of their lives. Movement and Play are the basis for all iCan Shine programs. Each program provides success through experience. Every effort is acknowledged for each unique person's individual abilities. Recreational skills can be difficult to master for individuals with disabilities. Breaking skills into small, achievable goals and celebrating each accomplishment builds the self-esteem and confidence needed to continue the challenges of learning. This is what we call the sense of "iCan". Everyone needs to believe "iCan" in order to make the effort required to gain the skill. Positive encouragement and guidance from well-trained, energized instructors and volunteers allow each participant to discover and develop their "iCan" in a safe, supportive and fun environment. Participants undergo a transformation from not believing they are able to accomplish a skill, to believing "iCan". This impacts their well-being and opens them to try new activities. Choices in recreation should be available for everyone. Fitness is easier to achieve when it is fun and you can be successful. That's when you really SHINE! Everyone can shine. We all just need the right environment and parameters in place to meet our individual needs. In the iCan Shine environment of teaching and learning, everyone advances, everyone gains by the experience, everyone is successful and... everyone shines. Our adapted iCan Bike program resulted from more than twenty years of research by Dr. Richard E. Klein, a mechanical engineering professor, and his students at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Klein retired from his academic career at the University of Illinois in 1998 and held the first bike camp in 1999 in LaCrosse, WI. In the ensuing years, Dr. Klein and his wife, Marjorie, invested a significant portion of their lives in growing the bike program to three fleets of bikes and approximately 30 camps in 2006.iCan Bike programs are for children with disabilities ages 8-18. We understand that the vast majority of people with disabilities never experience the thrill of independently riding a two-wheel bicycle during their lifetime. Research shows that over 80% of people with Autism and 90% of people with Down syndrome never learn to ride a two-wheel bicycle. Defying these odds is why we exist! Success in learning to ride a bicycle is a major milestone in anyone's life. When learning has been a struggle, the accomplishment and its impact is much greater. We observe that learning to ride a bicycle infuses the rider with self-image that spills over into many other aspects of their lives. They are positively impacted by the experience as well.