Special needs mutual program provides sociality, growth

Looking around the gymnasium filled with dancing teens and adults at a recent special needs prom, it was hard to tell who is having more fun - the special needs participants, the youth counselors or the adult leaders."It gets us together and helps us be like one," Tyler Bundy said of the activity while rocking to the music from his seat in his wheelchair."It's very rewarding," said Ryan Visser, a youth counselor with the program, adding that seeing the participants excited and happy is the best part.Sentiments such as these are not uncommon following weekly gatherings of participants and youth counselors who are part of the special needs mutual program put together by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is open to special needs individuals of any faith.The program started in 1989 in northern Utah when a mother with a special needs daughter wanted to find a way for more of her child's spiritual and social needs to be met. Similarly, the St. George program started because Shauna Woodmansee, also a mother of a special needs daughter, saw a need in the community for the sociality and growth that she'd witnessed in her daughter while participating in special needs mutual in Salt Lake City.