Nolan is a part of PathWays’ Agency With Choice program, which gives individuals and their families more choice in selecting support service workers and deciding what kind of support works best for them. Nolan enjoys amusement parks, music, sports, video games, LEGO sets and arcade games. When Nolan latches onto his passions, he becomes deeply interested in them and loves capturing the experience through videos and pictures.
One of Nolan’s favorite places to visit is the amusement park Kings Island. He enjoys taking pictures and recording videos throughout the park, especially its Eiffel Tower. One of Nolan’s techniques is pointing his camera straight up to capture the full height of the tower. He and his mom have built two functional models of the Tower of Doom together.
Sports are another important part of Nolan’s life. His favorite sport is football, but he enjoys hockey, baseball and other sports as well. He attends many sporting events and even captures video at the games. Nolan has collected pucks, baseballs and other memorabilia connected to the teams he got to see in person.
His love of sports can also be seen in his large LEGO collection. Nolan has several detailed LEGO models of different stadiums that he and his family have worked on together. Nolan’s creativity extends beyond LEGO, as music is another one of his passions. He especially enjoys playing the piano, and during our visit, he performed Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” He loves J-Pop music and dancing to his favorite songs. His parents created a special area in their room with stage lights, beams and speakers as if he were at a concert.
Nolan has a knack for puzzles and games. While playing a word search game with his mom, he found the words so quickly that she only had time to find one before Nolan had found the rest. Arcade games are another big interest of his. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Nolan was unable to visit arcades, so his mom began contacting companies to see if she could find a real arcade machine for him. Sega offered the family a Deal or No Deal arcade game. Since then, Nolan’s parents have continued building a home arcade for him with games such as Connect 4, skee-ball and many others.
Nolan and his family also use a point system on an iPad to keep track of his progress. He earns points for learning new things, completing tasks and making positive choices. He can then redeem those points for activities he loves, including visits to amusement parks and sporting events.
Through PathWays’ Agency With Choice program, Nolan’s support can reflect his own goals, routines and interests. For Nolan, those interests include everything from music and sports to amusement parks and even puzzles. Whether he is dancing to J-Pop, playing the piano, watching sports or even constructing a LEGO stadium, Nolan brings his passions with him no matter where he goes. PathWays’ AWC program is proud to support Nolan as he continues enjoying the interests and passions that make him who he is!