Innovative Activity #2

I found a really interesting website promoting wheelchair water skiing.  The Patricia Neal Innovative Recreation water skiing program provides individuals in wheelchairs the opportunity to participate in this thrilling water sport.  The individual is first transferred from their own wheelchair into the water chair.  The chair in made out of metal but it has buoyant rubber wheels.  The individual then goes down the ramp and the chair always floats, so they really don't have to worry about sinking or "getting up".  Depending on the individuals comfort level, the boat may travel at a desired speed.  This sounds absolutely amazing and something that I would love participating in sometime in the near future. 

Innovative Activity #1

Recently I found out about "Miracle League Field" at the YMCA in Onalaska.  I can't believe I have never heard of this awesome program before this year.  Miracle League Field is a baseball field which is a cushioned synthetic turf and it eliminates barriers for wheelchair or walked users.  Their goal is to teach the children the fundamentals in baseball including catching, throwing, hitting, base running and fielding.  The program provides a way for children ages 4-18 a way to participate in baseball games along with just being an active member of the community.  They focus on assisting players with the development of their social skills, physical activity and self-confidence.  Since the field was created over 2,000 people have participated in the Miracle League from La Crosse and the surrounding areas.  I truly believe this is an awesome programs and it can really help children with disabilities receive opportunities for different leagues that they would have never gotten if it wasn't for the Miracle League Field. 

Long Activities

The long activities were one of my favorite things we have done all semester.  It is really fun to see peoples different ideas about what other people may enjoy.  The food art was really interesting because I have never participated in anything that was like that.  It was cool how they incorporated emotions into it too, which allowed many different interpretations of that emotion.  It was exciting to see how others sculpted or formed their fruits and vegetables into different thing and then how they explained why they did it that certain way.  This activity would be really good for pretty much any age, especially with people who may have troubles expressing there emotions regularly.  The telephone charades was also extremely fun and it provided a way for us to have fun with each other and let go of some stresses.  I also think this would be appropriate for any ages but obviously the scenes would have to be age appropriate.  Making the hula hoops was a really fun and creative thing to do.  Most people like to hula hoop but making our own hoops really added to the fun of the activity.  This would be great for kids and it is also a form of exercise! That's a double bonus!

Pet Therapy

When I walked into class last week Thursday I was a little nervous about what exactly we were going to be doing.  I had heard of pet therapy used as a type of recreational therapy before but I never had anyone give a presentation about it.  I had no idea it was such a huge thing, especially in La Crosse.  It amazes me how dogs can handle going into different situation at different locations and behave excellently and not cause problems.  I am somewhat afraid of dogs, especially German Shepards, boxers, rottweilers etc.  I was so surprised to see the diversity of dogs that were in the programs!  I can tell how much it means to our presenters that they are able to participate in a program like this, especially when they were trying to tell a story and they had to stop because they were starting to tear up.  I think this is an excellent program if the client likes dogs and feels comfortable around them and if the dog is well trained, which I believe most of them are.  I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the presentation.

Goal Ball

I really enjoyed playing goal ball.  As a leader, I really wish more people would have participated in it because it was very fun and it is great adapted game for people who are blind.  I think this is a great sport for people with visual impairments who are still looking to compete in active games.  We weren't able to use an actual regulation size court, and I'm sure we would have struggled more with that since the court would have been wider.  The class members who did participate in the game really enjoyed it and it was interesting to have our own little debriefing session after.  We discussed the preparation time, including research as well as setting up the court, possible reasons why people didn't participate, and benefits of playing the game.  I'm really happy that we were able to show this awesome adapted game and have people see the benefits of playing it!

Horsesense

The outing to horse sense was very informative.  I had previously heard of horse sense, but I was never actually there to experience it.  Although the lady mostly talked, she did give some very useful information.  I think that using horses as a method of therapy for individuals with disabilities it a great form of rehabilitation.  It would have been cool to actually see a horse and have the horse walk through some of the routines they do with the clients, but we missed the actual season by one day.  I think she might have went into too much detail about some things because it got a little boring at the end, but overall I thought the experience was very informative. 

I found a therapeutic riding program very similar to horse sense in San Diego County, California.  The program's mission is to provide physical and emotional therapy to a wide range of disabled children and adults through the use of carefully supervised horseback riding.  Their clients range in age from 2-83, and have all type of disabilities such as autism, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays.  They have many different events throughout the year to raise money for their program and strongly rely on volunteer help to keep their program running.

http://www.reinsprogram.org/

REINS (Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths)

10/7 - Hand Art

I really enjoyed last weeks class where we painted our hands.  It was fun to come up with an idea as a group and then see our ideas come to life.  This would be an awesome activity to do with people of different populations.  As a young child with some form of autism, the feeling of the paint on their hands would be a good stimulus for them as well as the different types of brushes.  This could also be used with people of an older population who maybe used to enjoy painting or still do enjoy it.  They don't necessarily have to paint their own hands, the facilitator could help in painting or simply do all of it.  Some things to consider would definitely be the fact that maybe some people wouldn't want their entire hands painted or maybe the dried paint would feel somewhat uncomfortable to them.  Coming from personal experience, the feeling of the paint going on my hand was much more fulfilling than the feeling of having the dried paint on my hands.  Overall, I really enjoyed this activity and I think it can be used with almost every population using different techniques for each.