Fit 5The Special Olympics is a valuable program for so many families, and, at this unique time in our world, the Special Olympics Fit 5 program can help us improve our physical and mental fitness.

From the Special Olympics Resources website, the Fit 5 program is based on three simple goals:

Every week: 

  • Exercise 5 days

Every day:

  • Eat 5 total fruits and vegetables
  • Drink 5 bottles of water 

The website has exercise videos for levels 1 through 5, with fellow athletes demonstrating the exercises and stretches, including a comprehensive guide to the program (PDF) and fitness cards (PDF).

You may also want to check out the Special Olympics’ Young Athlete Program and its resources, and Jayne Dixon Weber’s recent article, COVID-19 – My child is home from school or work or a day program! What do I do?

Life deals us circumstances that we can use to improve our lives, and this can be one of those. It is a very hard time on so many levels, many of which we haven’t seen yet, and parents with special needs children are hit especially hard. The NFXF is here to help. We are pulling together more resources — webinars, articles, etc. — so keep an eye on our emails, social media, and website for more. And, as always, reach out to us. You can email Jayne directly for assistance at jayne@fragilex.org, message us on Facebook, or send a message on our contact form. We will get back to you as soon as we can.

Now, go get fitter!

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COVID-19 Check-In: Month 5

What can we do to take care of ourselves and to help others? A mother takes a step back to imagine what life during a pandemic looks like through the eyes of her son, who has Fragile X syndrome.

Getting Comfortable Wearing a Mask

Real-life tips from a mom, Jayne Dixon Weber, who’s already going through this with her own son, plus a a quick video from Rebecca Shaffer to guide you through the process of getting your child comfortable wearing a mask.

Female Power to Fight a Crisis — Presentation

Females living with Fragile X syndrome were asked to give advice to other females living with FXS on how to cope with this — or any future — crisis. Listen as Marcia talks through their advice and her own advice, built on decades of working with patients with Fragile X syndrome.

A COVID-19 Social Story from NFXF

The National Fragile X Foundation has created a social story to reflect the changing requirements that governments are enacting. There’s a lot of information — and misinformation — about COVID-19 out there, but there’s no doubt it’s impacted families in many, many ways.