Tae Kwon Do for Special Needs Children

The HMD Academy was originally founded by Grandmaster Nam Soo Hyong in order for everyone in society to have access to the benefits of martial arts training. In the early 1980s, Tae Kwon Do’s competitive practice alienated many potential practitioners including adults, females and, especially, individuals with special needs. Therefore, our curriculum is based on an individual’s effort. Effort leads to one’s readiness to accomplish a task, and then, in turn, to one’s ability. Providing training to special needs students is a cornerstone of our mission. It is these students who require the structure, consistency and sequential cognitive processing skills that our program provides. They are also the students who most directly bridge the classroom training into the context of daily life management skills, which is the purpose of training for all individuals.

Motorskill coordination, readiness to engage and respond to verbal and visual direction, ignoring unimportant stimuli and social interaction are part of our program. Training programs for children with ADHD, autism spectrum disorder, and/or other special needs are developed in concert with parents, depend upon the individual student’s needs and may consist of group and private instruction.