Tennis became Emily Werman’s safe space, and she wants it to feel the same for young people who also have autism.
She keeps that in mind when putting together tennis programing at Kids Enjoy Exercise Now Los Angeles (KEEN LA). The organization provides free sports programs for young people with disabilities, with many participants having autism spectrum disorder; ASD, or autism for short, is a neurological and developmental disorder that affects how people interact, communicate, learn and behave.
“I struggled myself growing up being on the spectrum,” Werman said. “Because of what I went through, and not getting the help I needed for a certain period of time, I really wanted to give back and help kids strive. They could really develop and succeed in the system if they got the behavioral help and intervention they needed.”
Werman was diagnosed with autism at 12 years old. While autism shows up differently for each individual, the average age of diagnosis in the US is 5 years old, according to the National Autism Data Center. Knowing her diagnosis earlier could’ve allowed her to get the support she needed sooner.
“It’s hard to get the services you exactly need when the diagnoses are hard to be given,” Werman explained. “When you have overlapping challenges like ASD or emotional challenges, it’s just difficult to find help in the system.”
She said tennis has been constant in her journey, before and after her diagnosis.
“My parents put me in it. They found it as a way where I was able to succeed,” said Werman, who played competitively in high school and on the USTA circuit. “It made me feel like I was no different than anyone else. It just gave me a sense of self to be on and off the court with people who maybe didn’t have a disability, and I was able to stay and play against them.”
A Chicago native, Werman said her goal during KEEN LA programming is not only getting participants to enjoy tennis, but also have then engage with each other and their volunteer coaches.
Werman’s role is voluntary at KEEN LA, which is a grantee partner of Play Academy with Naomi Osaka. She delivers tennis sessions at least twice a month to different age groups and disabilities. She got connected to KEEN LA through its partnership with ACEing Autism, where she serves as program director. On top of that, she also works at The Help Group teaching children with special needs.
“There are different aspects and challenges that they have with autism,” Werman said. “It’s not just about tennis. It’s about finding ways to help them socialize, interact and communicate.
“It’s important to get kids out especially with exercise and into the community because a lot of these kids have a hard time finding ways just to exercise, being on their feet and being out.”
At the end of each session, Werman brings the participants into the “proud circle” where they go around and share their biggest “wins” of the day. One time she noticed a few participants were reluctant to join. She remembered their favorite movie was The Lion King and renamed the circle to the “Circle of Life” that got them to join the rest of the group.
“It’s a matter of knowing when to engage, knowing when to not interact and knowing when to just back off because certain things are key motivators and done to be manipulative,” Werman explained about her tips to working with young people with autism. “There’s a variety of reasons why kids will use behaviors and you just have to know the reasons and learn them over time.”
Learn more about KEEN LA’s programming at keenlosengeles.org.
