Cooking Classes for Young Adults With ID

This session will consist of a hands-on cooking demonstration in a demo kitchen. Skills addressed in this portion of the session will include proper kitchen utensil and appliance use, measuring dry and wet ingredients, following/reading a recipe, preparing ingredients, cooking a meal, etc. The participant will follow a visual recipe that provides a breakdown of each skill needed to complete each step of the recipe. Additionally, during the cooking session investigators will address nutrition topics related to food/kitchen safety, basic nutrition education (i.e., portion sizes, food groups, reading food labels, meal planning etc.) in a discussion format.

This session will consist of a group functional fitness class. Each session will include a warm-up (\~5 min) moderate-to-vigorous intensity aerobic and resistance exercise (\~20 min) and cool-down/stretching (\~5 min). Exercises may be accompanied by music and will include walking/jogging, dancing, imitating animal movements, vertical/horizontal jumps, squats, hurdles, walking on balance beam etc. Thera-Band, kettle bells, free weights, and medicine balls will be used during strength exercises for major muscle groups. These sessions will be led by certified personal trainers with experience in adaptive physical activity.