Adventure 11

April 12, our class had Courtney Bent come and talk to us about her work. Courtney is a photographer who gives photography workshops for individuals with disabilities. She shared with us how the workshops came about and what she does during them. They ended up making a documentary called shooting beauty. It’s about her experience and the experience of the participants and the bond that has formed between them during these workshops. Courtney also shared some pictures that the participants had taken. I thought that most of those pictures looked very professional, which surprised me.

After Courtney's presentation, it was our groups turn to present our chalking challenge. This was a directed chalk art project where the participants could reflex back on their day and thoughts. We chose to focus this project towards individuals with HIV/AIDS. However, other populations that could benefit from this could be individuals dealing with cancer, women who were abused and youth at risk. We gave the participant about 10 prompts with such things as "draw a figure of how you are feeling right now." or "draw or write the word that describes what makes you sad." or even "draw a picture of the first thing you saw this morning." when working with other populations, the questions for this activity may need to be changed to fit the needs of your participants.

After we were done presenting, the next group presented new games. New games are cooperative games and are meant to be non-competitive. Some of the games that we played were people to people, cat and mouse, the caboose game, and a game where the ball was not allowed to touch the ground. Some adaptations that the group had made to the games were being blindfolded or only using your non-dominant hand. This was a great way to show our class how we can implement these games while working with different populations such as visual impairments or amputees. Every week I am reminded that even a minor change to an activity can have a huge impact. This can change it from being exclusive to inclusive.

Adventure 13

The week of April 26, we had two presenters come in to our class and talk to us about timeslips. timeslips is where you allow the participants to create a story based on a picture. Timeslips are mainly used with individuals who have dementia because instead of forcing someone to remember past experiences this activity can passively help bring back memories of the past. As a class we were also able to participate in a story. It was a lot of fun and it helped me see exactly how timeslips are done.

After timeslips, we had another group presentation. This group presented on the dramatic arts and as an activity we made sock puppets. We were all able to pick out a sock and decorate it as we pleased with googly eyes, feathers, pipe cleaners and much more. Once we were done decorating, In our groups we had to perform a short skit. They had given everyone a list of topics that we could choose from as ideas for the skit. some ideas were going dress shopping for prom or getting stuck in an elevator. What I noticed is that I was more comfortable acting out a skit using my hand then if I were doing it myself. I think that is really important to be aware of especially when working with certain populations. I also think this activity is great because with a few minor adaptations this can be use with almost any population.

Adventure 10

The week of April 5th, was an AWESOME class! We had Allison Surber come and facilitate a hula hooping class. She talked a little bit about her journey to the how she got to be hula hooping and where it has taking her. Seeing her spirit and her love for it was inspiring. You could see and feel the passion and the love that she has for this activity. This has inspired me to find something that I can connect with, as she connected with hooping. After her short presentation we were able to make our own hoops, which was probably my favorite part of the whole activity. I made a small hoop for arm hooping. We were also able to make them our own by decorating them with different color duct tape. The tape not only makes your hula hoop look amazing but it helps with traction. Mine was purple and orange. It was fun to sit with the class and chat about our hoops that we were making, while listening to music. It was really neat to see how the others decorated theirs. After we had decorated our hoops Allison went through a short warm-up and a cool-down with us. What I learned from Allison is that the reason why I was so excited about hula hooping was because of her. This is something that I want to bring to my job. That passion, love and spirit that is able to intrigue, motivate and excite the participants that your working with.

Article 3

Name of article: How Nature Can Be Used To create a Therapeutic Outdoor Environment

Name of journal: Nursing Older People

Name of author(s): Carol Davis

When and how did you locate this article? I found this article by using the library’s EBSCOhost database search. Since I was interested in the benefits of nature, I typed in the words “therapeutic benefit” and “horticulture”.

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

A pilot program, in a nursing home, was done by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). The program urges people to encourage wildlife back into their gardens by making it animal and bird friendly. Due to the amount of positive effects on the residents it is now being implemented in 305 of the organization’s care homes. RSPB aims to bring many of the species back into gardens that are on the decline. The nice thing about this project is that the residents and their relatives can enjoy the creativity and relaxation that gardening for wildlife brings at the level that they prefer. This can either be by help building a bird bath or keeping watch for their favorite birds.

     The plan is to bring something different to the surroundings of the care homes and to enhance the day-to-day experience. RSPB aimed to provide access to wildlife within easy reach of the buildings and to create bird tables that can be visible from the bedrooms, lounge and dining area. Assembling some of these areas can be done cheaply and easily. Hedgehog hotel was constructed out of bricks, the butterfly bistro is a nectar stick and the bugs’ bed and breakfast was made from dead wood.

     Residents have been a great part of the project. They work with staff to make fat cakes, bird watching, building and painting nest boxes, and helping staff create habitats. Some of the benefits that have been observed are: motivation in the residence, help spark memory for individuals with dementia and it provides a nice break from the TV. 90 percent of the participants said that the pilot was useful or very useful in terms of improving their experience. An interest in wildlife and bird watching is now incorporated into the homes monthly activities.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?

Something that I will take away from this article is the power of nature. Most of us get so wrapped up in our everyday lives that we take the fresh air for granted. There are many participants that have all of their activities within the same four walls.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not?

I would recommend this to others. The article talks about the positive changes they saw within their participants after the garden was established. 

Article 2

Name of article: Creative Leadership: it’s a decision

Name of journal: Leadership

Name of author(s): Robert J. Sternberg

When and how did you locate this article? I found the article using the schools EBSCOhost database. To narrow my search I used the key words “creative leadership”

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

The idea that good leadership is in large part a decision, a decision to think creatively, analytically, practically and wisely. A creative leader is someone of vision, who proposes ideas that are original. For example the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts, promoted for a teaching center at the university that provides continual in-service to help teachers reach all students, not just the ones they are most comfortable teaching. Great leaders are also analytical, they ask if their ideas and the ideas of others are good ideas and if they are appropriate for the circumstances. As an administrator, one should ask themselves 1. What is the best possible outcome of the course of action? 2. What is the worst possible outcome? And 3. What is the most likely outcome of the course of action?

     Good leaders lead by moral authority. Leaders who blatantly need to show their position authority quickly lose it. Great leaders need tremendous emotional/social/practical savvy. It requires them to think about how they can successfully execute their ideas and how they can bring others along with them. It merely isn’t enough to have good ideas. Good leader are also wise leaders. They use their creative, analytical and emotional/social/practical skills for the common good. They balance their own interests, other people’s interests and institutional interests, and they think for the long-term as well as the short-term. Most individuals think we are inborn with these various skills, and that one is fated to have certain level of them. However, we develop our creative, analytical, emotional/social/practical and wisdom-related skills by using them.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?

One thing that I will take away from this article is that a great leader, who is also creative and wise, is someone who has developed their creative, analytical, emotional/social/practical and wisdom skills by using them, not because we were born a great leader.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not?

I would recommend this article. I think this article was very informative about leadership in general and what it takes to be a great leader. Even though this article is geared to creative leadership in schools I think as TR’s we can implement almost everything the author was speaking about.

Article 1

Name of article: Palaestra

Name of journal: I can skate Dorothy Hamill’s Adaptive Skating Program Gives Children with Physical Disabilities a Chance to Soar

Name of author(s):  Lauren Manfuso and Meredith Purvis

When and how did you locate this article? I found this article using the schools library’s EBSCOhost database. Keywords that I used to narrow down my search was “therapeutic recreation” and “adaptive equipment”

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

Dorothy Hamill, an Olympic gold medalist and figure icon helped start an ice skating program at Kennedy Krieger located in Baltimore, MD for children with different physical disabilities. The program provides several levels of participation. All of the sessions start off with a set of land exercises that are followed with an on-ice warm-up. Over the course of this program the skaters are able to pursue levels of certification through the United Stated Figure Skating Association Adaptive Program, this helps with achievement and skill development.

     To let children and their families know that skating in not impossible, the I-Skate program utilizes instructors, volunteers and a wide variety of adaptive equipment. Some of the different adaptive equipment that can be used are: Skates designed to allow for individual to keep their orthotics on. Standard walkers, which are great for individuals with reduced strength or balance and bar walkers which is great for individuals with increased impairment because it allows them to sit down immediately when needed.

     I-Skate is a community based program, because of this it operates without the individualized educational program (IEPs). However, instructions and learning is designed especially around each participants unique needs and success is more gauged by a child’s increase in confidence and ability then a measurable set of criteria.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?

Before reading this article I thought that ice skating for someone with a physical disability, such a spinal cord injury would not be possible. This article reminds me that as long as I have the right adaptive equipment anything is possible. This is something that I need to keep in mind as I plan activities for participants.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not?

I would recommend this article to other TR Students. I think it is always great to find resources about activities that you can do with participants. This article is great because it explains about the adaptive equipment that they used for ice skating.

Adventure 9

I was super excited about Thursday’s class. The topic for that class period was about adaptive equipment and inclusion. We were instructed to do a small class presentation along with an activity. The topics included goal ball, cycling, hunting and fishing, fitness activities, kayaking and extreme sports. Our group’s topic was cycling. I made me really happy since I enjoy cycling and I think it is a recreation that everyone can enjoy. We talked about the adaptive equipment that would be needed for visual impairments, intellectual impairments and physical impairments. Our main focus for the presentation however was physical impairments. Because we thought it would be really neat to allow our classmates to try adaptive cycles we decided that for our activity we would bring in different types of handcycles and set up a relay race. One of the handcycles we had was a recumbent and the other was an up-right, it was really funny to watch everyone line up behind the up-right handcycle.

I really enjoyed learning about all the other activities, especially goal ball. I heard of it before but I didn't know much about it. It was interesting to find out that they blindfold their players. Since it’s a game for the Visual impaired, I didn't think that would be needed. I didn't realize individuals have different degrees of visual impairment and to make it equal, they blindfold them.

As someone who uses a wheelchair, I sometimes can get frustrated or disappointed because I do not always get included in activities. This class is a good reminder of really how simple inclusion is, either with fancy technology or a simple construction.