Week 9: Thursday November 15th- Games and Holiday's.

This week we had two presentation, games and holidays. We started off with games which was a blast. We were broken into groups by playing a game where we had a famous name taped on our backs. We had to figure out what the name was by asking others yes or no questions. I was Batman and ended up in the superhero group.In our groups we rotated between four games; pictionary, jenga, banana grams, and twister. After playing the game our group had to come up with ways to adapt the game for people with visual impairments. We said the best game for people with visual impairments would be jenga because it called for the least amount of adaptions. On the other hand we said that banana grams would be the worst because it is all about speed and if you can't see the letters to process them right away you are at a huge disadvantage. They were very creative with the debrief and had us play spin the bottle to fidn out which card we had to answer a question on.

After games my group did our presentation on holidays. We started off by playing some halloween music and having the class dance around and pretend to be different halloween characters. After we did a skeleton craft using q tips followed by a game where the class had to listen to lines from scary movies and try to guess what movie they are from. Next, we did another craft and then a bone scavenger hunt. Lastly we had the class decorate halloween cookies using a plastic spoon because it has more surface area than a knife would.

Week 8: Thursday November 8th- Classroom switch!

This week we switched classrooms and teachers. To help professor Savarese remember our names she had us go around and tell our name and something she can remember us by. It was really interesting to hear some of the things people said. After that we broke into our groups to plan for our projects. My group is holidays and we present next week along with games. We were then dismissed for the day.

Article Review 3: Innovation and Leadership

Article review one: Innovative and creative leadership.

Name of article: The Eight Pillars of Innovation

Name of journal: Think Quarterly: The Innovation Issue

Name of author(s): Susan Wojcicki 

When and how did you locate this article? I located this article on November ^3rd 2012 and found it through google.

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

This article was written by one of the first Google employees and is about ways they stay innovative. She talks about how much the company has grown over the years and how they have been able to do that through creative innovation. She says it is always a struggle to make the decision whether to invest in a new product or put money towards improving something that is already there. She then goes on to talk about the Eight Pillars of Innovation. According to her these are: Have a mission that matters, Think big but start small, Strive for continual innovation, not instant perfection, Look for ideas elsewhere, Share everything, Spark with imagination, fuel with data, Be a Platform, and Never fail to fail.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?  Though these principles were about an internet search engine I feel it can be applied to almost any profession. Having a mission that matters really stood out to me because in TR we often work at agencies that have mission statements and like she states it is important that it matters. If we don’t understand or care about our mission statement it is meaningless. Looking for ideas elsewhere was another I could really relate to because I often look for ideas for different programs and activities through other sources and try to change it a bit to make it my own.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not?  Yes, because it provides another angle of looking at TR and also it helps to break innovation down into a way that we can see how it can relate to us.

Article Review 2: Adapted Equipment

Article review one: Adapted Equipment.

Name of article: The effect of eating utensil weight on functional arm movement in people with Parkinson’s disease: a controlled clinical trial.

Name of journal: Clinical Rehabilitation 2009

Name of author(s): Hui-Ing Ma, Wen-Juh Hwang, Pei-Luen Tsai, and Yung-Wen Hsu

When and how did you locate this article? I located this article on November ^3rd 2012 and I found it through ebscohost.

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

This article is about a study that was done with people who have Parkinson’s disease. The study aimed to find if there are benefits of using a lighter utensil when eating for people with Parkinson’s disease. For this study they used 18 people who had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and 18 people in the same age matched controls. They then used three spoons with different weights and proceeded to measure the maximum grip strength.

The study found that the participants with Pakrinsons were able to move the lighter spoon faster and with more ease. They also, as expected, found that they had to exert for power (strength) with the heavier spoon. They also concluded that the people with Parkinson’s had smoother arm movements when using the light utensil

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development?  I will use this knowledge in my professional development by remembering to utilize simple adaptions that don’t need to cost extra money. Simply buying lighter utensil will help can help certain participants and will also work just fine for participants that don’t need the adaption.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not?  Yes, because they will likely be in similar job situations to me and knowing simple fixes such as a lighter spoon will help them be more innovative and won’t hurt their budget!

Article Review 1: Specific Activity

Article review one: Therapeutic benefit of an activity.

Name of article: Psycho-social impact of participation in the National Veterans

Wheelchair Games and Winter Sports Clinic

Name of journal: Disability and Rehabilitation

Name of author(s): MICHELLE L. SPORNER, SHIRLEY G. FITZGERALD, BRAD E. DICIANNO, DIANE COLLINS, EMILY TEODORSKI, PAUL F. PASQUINA & RORY A. COOPER

When and how did you locate this article? I located this article on November 1^st 2012 and I found it through ebscohost.

Two paragraph synopsis of what you learned in this article:

This article is about veterans who participate in in in wheel chair games including; National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG) and Winter Sports Clinic (WSC). The goal of the study was to see how these events impact the veteran’s lives. They had 132 veterans participate in this study some of whom participated in one of these two wheel chair sport events.  They looked at all of their demographics, sports participation, community integration, self-esteem and quality of life and compared and analyzed the results.

The researchers used different assessment techniques to collect there information. They ended up finding that “participation [in NVWG and WSC] positively impacts their life as the majority of the participants expressed that their lives have been improved”.  They also expressed that they had gained confidence and motivation from participating in their various sports. When compared to the veterans that did not participate in wheel chair sports they found that the athletes had “higher mobility and social integration scores” than the non-athletes. They were surprised that the veterans who participated in NVWG and WSC and lower physical and cognitive scores but they attributed this to the fact that those who attend may have additional functional limitations.

How will you apply this knowledge to your professional development? My ultimate goal is to eventually work with wounded warriors in a VA. I have always thought that participating in a physical activity is extremely beneficial for people of all ages and abilities and this article has confirmed that belief. No matter where I work as a CTRS I plan to incorporate physical activity and more specifically sports.

Would you recommend this article for other TR students?  Why or why not? I would recommend this to other TR students because we will all likely work with people in wheel chairs at some point in our careers if we haven’t already. I believe that it is important that people know that anyone can participate in sports and reap the benefits. 

Week 7: Thursday November 1st- HULA!

I had seen and heard about the Hula Hoops from my friends who had been in this class and have been anticipating making my own for quite a while! We started off class with an introduction to hula hooping by a past TR student named Ali. She was so full of life and passionate about hula hooping that I couldn't help but get even more excited to create and use my own. After she shared her personal journey we were able to create our own. This was a blast, especially picking out different colors of tape and patterns to design my hoop. After we finished our hoops we went outside to put them to use. Ali had some creative activities for us to do with our hoops. Everyone there was smiling and laughing, it was great to see how a childhood toy can still bring so much joy to all of us. I love how simple and seemingly cheap they were to create. I actually volunteered at Easter Seals in the Dells the weekend following this activity and while there we made Hula Hoops with the adult campers! They had the mot fun decorating them but also enjoyed some games with them outside. I plan to use my hoop and hopefully find some hula hooping events to attend!

Activity Research 5- What Do We Have in Common?

Activity: The name of this Activity is What do we Have in Common?

Target participant group: This activity is best for any age of participants that are getting to know each other.

Therapeutic potential of this activity: This activity is a great ice breaker and allows a group to get comfortable with one another while getting to know each other and seeing what they may have in common.

What other groups may benefit from this activity? Groups that have been together a long time but do not know each other well can reap a benefit. Also, sports teams can benefit from this by getting to know each other on another level and to relieve stress.

What groups may not be as appropriate for this activity? It may be difficult for groups in wheel chairs because you have to move quickly from place to place but could be adapted by having a bigger area.

Activity description:

1.    Set up chairs or spots in a circle (enough for everyone in your group except one person).

2.    Choose one person or have the facilitator start in the center while everyone else sits on a chair or stands on a spot.

3.    The person in the center of the circle will state one thing about their self so the whole group can hear it.

4.    Anyone in the surrounding circle that has that thing in common with the person in the center must leave their spot and find another that is at least one spot away from where they were. The person in the center will also run to get a spot.

5.    Whomever is left without a spot will go to the center of the circle and say something about their self.

6.    Repeat steps 3 through 5 until everyone has been in the center at least one time.

Resources needed: You will need at least 6 people and a place marker for all but one person. You will also need an area large enough to accommodate your group size.

Best leadership style for this activity: The best leadership style for this activity is simply giving the participants’ instructions and encouraging them throughout the activity. Joining in can be beneficial as well if you have a shy group so you can go first.

Where did you find this activity? Learned and played it in a previous course.

Where can others find more information on this activity? 

Week 6: Thursday October 25th- Sports

This session was hands down my favorite. I loved how we were all able to actively participate in a variety of adapted sports. I have had other classes where we talked about adapted sports but I never had the opportunity to learn the rules and play. The group facilitated adapted volleyball, basketball, bowling and gave us a taste of what a game of beeper ball would be like. I liked how all the sports were very simple to adapt. With volley ball and basketball the only equipment changes were lowering of the basket and net, other than that the court was just made smaller and a few rules were changed. Despite the changes I found both activities equally, if not more, fun than the non adapted versions. Like I stated earlier we also did bowling as if we were blind. They had us have a partner that helped us to line up our throw. This was fun but difficult and I don't know if I would enjoy playing this if I had a visual impairment because it is hard to be very independent. We also were lucky enough to have the adapted P.E. professor do a quick lesson on how to play beeper ball, which is an adapted version of baseball for people with visual impairments. After that we had the chance to try hitting the beeper ball while blind folded. I did surprisingly well at that. I think I am better at hitting when someone tells me to swing than when I can see and decide for myself! I have always loved being active and participating in sports and plan to use these adaptions and more in my future as a CTRS.