5/3/2012 The Amazing Race

   Whew, it's the end of the semester and my final post. Today my group presented our long activity, a scavenger hunt for community integration. We had the groups go all over campus and do different tasks. Though I didn't participate because I was helping facilitate, it looked like it was fun. We were worried about the weather and having a storm, but it was sunny and beautiful. Group members were required to choose a different impairment which they had for all tasks. It was interesting to hear about their struggles at the end of the activity; I was surprised that I think I heard the most from the people who were not allowed to speak.
                       
  After the hunt, we watched "Shooting Beauty" a film about people with Cerebral Palsy taking photos of their lives. I was intrigued at how it was just taking pictures to me, but to the participants, it helped get them out into the community and out of their shells. I liked watching some of the people develop as the film went on like Tom, the man who wanted nothing to do with the project. Suddenly Tom was interested in photographing and it became an important part of his life. It was sad to hear that he died before the pictures were displayed publicly, but it was touching that the show was dedicated to him. What I liked most about the project was how something so small and average like taking a few pictures really changed the lives of some of these people. It made me want to start something that will affect people like that. If you get the chance "Shooting Beauty" is definitely worth checking into: http://shootingbeauty.org/
    Well, that's all I have left to say. Now I guess I need to go out into the world and be an innovator!

4/26/2012 Time slips so make a puppet...

    This week in class we had a presentation and a demonstration of TimeSlips TM. TimeSlips is improvised storytelling usually done with patients with dementia. I had heard a little about TimeSlips before, but I was interested in learning more about it. It turned out to be pretty much what I expected; a facilitator asks questions that lead participants to making a story. I can see how this activity would be fun for residents of long-term care, especially dementia patients. I could see how this would really be good for any population. I would like to try it with children because they are so imaginative that they would have a lot of fun with it. The only problem I see with TimeSlips is that you need training to assist with storytelling. This seems odd to me because it is such a basic concept and I don't see how someone could need extended training for this. Here is a link to their website to learn more: http://www.timeslips.org/
                              
    After learning about TimeSlips, we had another group presentation. We learned about dramatic arts in the form of sock puppets. We all had to make our own puppets and put on a short skit. At first I thought this was silly, but at the end I saw how puppets could be used in positive ways. It is a less threatening way of performing and like any other type of skit, can be used to tell a story with a moral. I think these could be used with teenagers because even though they would at first think that puppets were stupid or immature, teens would loosen up and have fun with them. Sock puppets are also cheap and easy to make.
   Well this next week will be our last class which means only one more blog. My group will finally be presenting and we'll be wrapping the class up. It's going to be a little odd not to be writing every week.

Innovative Activity #10: Music Therapy

    Music therapy is an activity that anyone can participate in. People of all ages enjoy and can benefit from music therapy. Even people with hearing impairments can enjoy music therapy because they can feel the vibrations of the instruments and play the instruments. Benefits of music therapy include: increasing self-awareness, improving reality testing and problem-solving skills, develop healthy verbal and non-verbal communication skills, learn relaxation and coping skills, exploring feelings and making positive changes in mood states, helping a child manage pain and stressful situations, and because the brain processes music in both hemispheres, music can stimulate cognitive functioning and may be used for remediation of some speech/language skills.
    Music therapy sessions can be one-on-one with a therapist and a client or they can be in a small group with one therapist and multiple clients that are there for similar reasons. One-on-one sessions might consist of a therapist playing and singing at a patient's bedside or the patient participating in a more active way. Group session might involve every participant playing an instrument and/or singing with the therapist. Sessions will be different for each client based on their personal goals.
    To participate in music therapy you first need a certified music therapist. These can be found online at websites like http://musictherapywisconsin.org/. The music therapist will use various instruments to facilitate the therapy session. Music therapy is facilitated by one therapist who is in control of the session. The therapist may take suggestions from participants, but the therapist is the leader the entire time. I found music therapy at http://www.musictherapy.org/. People looking for more information on music therapy should look at this website or the previously mentioned Wisconsin website. Here's a good example of music therapy in use in a hospital http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYLlfUTxOOk.

Innovative Activity #9: Adaptive Water Skiing

    Adaptive water skiing is water skiing intended for people with spinal cord injuries or other participants who cannot otherwise stand on their own. Water skiing can be therapeutic because it allows participants a sense of freedom that can only be experience in this way. Participants who usually use wheelchairs to get around have an opportunity to get out of them and experience speed on the open water. Depending on the style of sit-ski used participants will also work on their balance while enjoying the ride. Water skiing is a great activity for many populations including wounded warriors, troubled youth, and people with ADHD all of which may be able to water ski without special adaptations. Participants with spinal cord injuries, stroke, and cerebral palsy may all be able to enjoy water skiing in a sit-ski. People for whom water skiing may not be a good activity include people with heart conditions who have been advised not to participate in activities like this and possibly people with certain mental impairments. With the option of the sit-ski, water skiing is available to many more people, and even though participants may think that they can't do it, there are often ways to make skiing possible.
    Water skiing involves one person on water skis or using a sit-ski  being pulled behind a powerboat on an open lake. The skier can choose just to hang on for the ride, or to maneuver behind the boat. The following are pictures showing different types of sit-skis. In the first, the participant does minimal work, whereas in the second, the participant hangs on to the towrope his/herself.
 
This image is of a wounded warrior participating in an adaptive water sports clinic specifically for veterans.
                        

    Water skiers will need either water skis or a sit-ski, a tow rope, and of course a power boat to pull them. These can all be expensive, but there are many programs throughout the country for people of all abilities looking for ways to ski. It is easiest to learn to water ski one-on-one or with two teachers an one participant for a sit-skier that needs more assistance. There will need to be other people involved no matter who is learning because you need one boat driver and one spotter in the boat who watches to make sure everything is OK. I found several websites with information on sit-skis and adaptive programs that I would suggest other interested people should check out. The following are just a few resources though there are many more.
http://www.spokesnmotion.com/catalog/category.asp?category_id=102
http://www.adaptiveaquatics.org/
http://www.infinitec.org/play/water/waterskiing.htm

4/19/2012 Group Games and Physical Activity

    This week we were planning on doing presentations with three groups, one of which was mine. My group had decided to join with group 5 to make a two hour long activity and we were planning a scavenger hunt. Of all the days of the week, Thursday was the only one were the forecast stayed true and it ended up raining. This was disappointing and we ended up rescheduling our presentation for a day in May so check back to hear how our community integration scavenger hunt goes. Group 4 was the only group to present today and they taught us about physical activity for different groups.
    The first activity we did was sheet volleyball and was aimed at the elderly population. It was intended to help with fine motor skills. I can see this being beneficial to several populations like young children that need work on fine motor skills and people who have suffered some loss of function in their hands and are working on improving it. It was also good for teamwork because we had to work together to figure out the best way of getting the ball up and over to the other team. It could easily be an ice breaker for any group. Our second game was charades and was aimed at children with autism. We had partners and were in two circles that walked around each other. The facilitators would call out an act, and we had to get to our partner and act it out. Some of them were fun but others just made me feel silly. I'm not sure how well children with autism would like this game because they are all so different. I think it might be hard getting some children to get with partners and work together to act things out. We also played this game for a slightly long period of time in which I became bored. For children with short attention spans this game should not last as long. They also might enjoy coming up with their own charades. The last activity was humans vs. zombies and was meant for people with visual impairments. This game was fairly simple, but even so it was easy to forget which role you were playing because you changed so often. I think it was also easy to forget to change roles when you were supposed to because you were concentrating on remembering your part and not crashing into anyone. I think this game would work best with children and teenagers, but adults might feel awkward of silly.
    My favorite activity was sheet volleyball and is the activity that I would be the most likely to do again. This class period was beneficial because we had class in a racket-ball court which caused sounds to echo and was hard to hear in. This made us think up strategies to use in the future if we were to be in a similar environment. We decided that the best plan was to split a large group into smaller groups and allow different facilitators to give instructions to each group. Well that's all for now, who knows what next week will hold.

Innovative Activity #8: Letter Categories

    The game Letter Categories is a sedentary activity that involves participants using their cognitive skills to think of words to fit specific categories. This game can be focused toward patients in memory care as a memory exercise, but this game can be played with any age group because the categories can be adjusted to fit any group. It can be played with young children to work on vocabulary, or any other group as an icebreaker. Some participants may find this activity boring so the facilitator has to know the group to know if the activity is appropriate.
    The facilitators will give participants several categories that will later be filled in. These might be: color, food, sports team, cereal brand, title of book, etc. The categories given will vary with the group so they will be age appropriate. Facilitators then choose a letter at random out of a bag. Participants must think of a word beginning with that letter to satisfy each category. For example:
        Letter: B
        Food: banana
        Sports team: Buffalo Bills
        Movie: Bad News Bears
        Article of clothing: Bandanna
    There are no winners or losers in this game and it can go on for as many rounds as participants feel like playing. Each round a new letter is chosen and new categories may be chosen to. Participants often enjoy creating their own categories. At the end of each round the facilitator should ask participants for the most unique answer, most common, or if there was a category that was hard to fill.
   Resources needed are paper and writing utensils for all participants, letters on paper for facilitators, and a bowl or bag to pull the letters out of. Facilitators need to be active in running this activity, but can allow participants to help. I learned about this activity when I was in REC 200 and my partner and I needed to facilitate a quick activity. She had played it before and we were able to find similar games online. Other people looking to do this game can find it online under different names, and most people likely know someone who has played this or a similar game before.

Innovative Activity #7: Monkey Tail

    This is a game called Monkey Tail. It is a type of tag game or competitive game. It works best with energetic  kids from about 7 up to teenagers. This is a good activity for groups that need to burn energy. It is great exercise and can be played several times in a row so children can be involved longer. Groups that could benefit from this activity include children at camps, especially camps for children with special needs where the playing field might be leveled. Groups for which this activity would be inappropriate include young children because they may be easily confused by the game, adults because they likely feel to mature for the game, and groups of mixed ability levels because slower participants will easily become discouraged.
    Monkey Tail is a simple game of tag, but instead of everyone staying involved the entire game, players will be eliminated and a winner will be decided. Each player needs a piece of rope about one foot long taped to his/her back to be a tail. The object is for players to steal the tails of the other players. Once your tail is taken, you are out of the game. Players still in the game continue to steal tails until their own tail is stolen or all other players have been eliminated. The last player standing is the winner. The game can go quickly so facilitators should be prepared to play several rounds.
    The only things needed for Monkey Tail are pieces of rope or string, tape, and a large open space to play in. It is best for facilitators to provide instructions then let the game go on without further interruption. I learned about this game in my REC 200 class last semester from students who had played it in high school. More information on this and similar games can be found online.