End of Semester

Two posts in one day. Whoops!

This semester was great. I learned so much from the materials, my teacher, my classmates, and the kids I was able to work with. I am so grateful for the things I've been able to learn and how much I've been able to grow. I was reading a classmates blog and she had a list of ways to help us interact with people who have disabilities. I would like to share that list here:

More Tips!
1. Ask first. Don’t assume people need help. Ask if they need anything to make the process
more effective or easier for them. They are the experts on their needs and how to best meet
them. If they do request assistance, ask for specific instructions on how you can help. Be
sure to ask if you don’t know what to do or what something means.
2. Keep an open mind. Don’t make assumptions about a person’s abilities. The individual is
the best judge of what he or she can or cannot do. If a person has a speech impairment, don’t
assume that person also has a hearing impairment or intellectual limitations.
3. Be direct. Make eye contact and speak to the person directly, even if their personal care
attendant or interpreter is with them.
4. Speak like yourself. Use your normal volume and pace, unless they ask you to speak
louder or slower.
5. Ask for help. If you don’t understand what someone is saying, ask the person to repeat it or
offer another form of communication (such as paper and a pen or a computer) for
clarification.
6. Be wheelchair-sensitive. If you’re working with someone who uses a wheelchair or
mobility device, don’t lean on it. Also, if you’re speaking with them for a prolonged period
of time, sit in a chair to be at their level. Never start to push someone's wheelchair without
first asking the occupant’s permission.
7. Give visual aid. If you are working with someone who is visually impaired, clearly identify
yourself when you first arrive and be sure to let him or her know when you’re leaving the
conversation or room. Also, offer to read any written information. Give the person your arm
and gently guide him or her if requested. When walking with a person who is visually
impaired, allow that person to set the pace. If the person asks for or accepts your offer of
help, don't grab his arm. It is easier for him to hold onto you.

I also found this website to give a few more insights:

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=32276

Week 12 (last week. Yikes again)

Last week was kind of a culminating week. We learned about Therapeutic Recreation and all of the ways we can incorporate the things we've learned this semester into a job situation. It was really cool. Here are some of the cool things I learned:

American Therapeutic Recreation Association (ATRA), “the provision of Treatment Services and the provision of Recreation Services to persons with illnesses or disabling conditions. The primary purposes of Treatment Services, which are often referred to as Recreational Therapy, are to restore, remediate or rehabilitate in order to improve functioning and independence as well as reduce or eliminate the effects of illness or disability. The primary purposes of Recreational Services are to provide recreation resources and opportunities in order to improve health and well being. Therapeutic recreation is provided by professionals who are trained and certified, registered and/or licensed to provide therapeutic recreation (1987).”
National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS), a branch of the National Recreation and Park Association, “Therapeutic recreation uses treatment, education and recreation services to help people with illnesses, disabilities and other conditions to develop and use their leisure in ways that enhance their health, functional abilities, independence and quality of life.”
Therapeutic Recreation Process

1. Assessment: Identify Clients needs; physical, social, emotional, mental, and spiritual
2. Planning: Determine client’s goals and objectives; functional intervention, leisure education, recreation participation
3. Intervention: Facilitate the group or the activity
4. Evaluation: Determine progress of the client and benefit of the program.

Job Settings

• Hospitals
• Long term care facilities and nursing homes
• Community recreation centers
• Schools
• Camps
• Wilderness programs
• Drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• Mental health facilities, acute and residential
• Correction centers
• Group homes
• Senior centers
• Veterans administration hospitals
• Retirement communities
• Home healthcare and outpatient services 

Here is a video I found that kind of explains how it all comes together:

Lesson 11: Sports rock.

This week we learned about the importance sports can play in the lives of people with disabilities. And before I tell you all the official stuff that I learned, let me tell you a little bit about the stuff that I learned all on my own that touched my heart. The last 3 weeks we have learned about 3 different activities that can help improve, inspire, entertain, motivate, make happy, etc. people with disabilities. Those are: outdoor activities, art, and sports. The thing that hit me the hardest this week is that WE ARE SO MUCH ALIKE. Is that any different than people who don't have disabilities? NO! We need those activities in our lives just like they do. It is wholesome, fun, and good for our minds, bodies, and souls. As professionals it is important to provide these benefits for anyone who is looking for them.

We watched a few great videos and I will post one that we watched and one that I found a few weeks ago. Both are so sweet:

Really I just think that we need to provide for those in need, whether disabled or not, to help people be happy, grow, and in some cases come closer to reaching their full potential.

Art from the Heart

Ok so this week (And by this week I mean last week. Holy cow bad week on homework for me. Thanksgiving will getcha!) we learned about the effect creating art can have on people. We watched many incredible, inspiring, in-makes me so happy (do you get my joke?) videos that demonstrated this point. This is really helpful because as professionals we will interact with all kinds of people and art might be the key to helping some of these individuals succeed. This is an especially helpful reminder to me because I am HORRIBLE at art and it probably wouldn't be my first thought or choice of activity. I need to remember to make all kinds of activities available.

Here are two of my favorite videos I saw:

And this one: 

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4vdGpnpr0k 

One of my other favorite videos in this realm is this guys who does art with a type writer! He is the sweetest thing and is really really good :) 

 

Here is some information I don't want to lose either: 

ART

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The Arts

Like Outdoor activities and Sports the Arts provides participants with many unique opportunities. The arts includes such activities as music, theater, painting, sculpting and pottery, photography, creative writing, and poetry, etc. Participation in the arts can be broken down into three distinct levels:

1. The Perceiver: At this level participants might enjoy listening to music, watching a play or going to a photo exhibition. They appreciate the talents of others.
2. The Performer: Performers enjoy playing a piano piece or acting in a play. Their participation is much more than that of the perceiver.
3. The Creator: Participants at this level enjoy shooting photos, sculpting with clay or painting a mountain setting. Participation involves high levels of creativity.

Researchers have identified the following benefits of participation in the Arts at any level:

1. Self-discovery
2. Communication with others
3. Improved self-concept
4. Skill development
5. Societal recognition and awareness
6. Social interaction

Many programs exist today encouraging persons with disabilities to participate. The article below demonstrates the possibilities and positive benefits for people participating in just one area of the arts: music.

Music Therapy for People with Disabilities

(Full Article and more information here: Music Therapy)

Abstract

Information regarding music therapy as an effective educational and therapeutic tool for children and adults with disabilities.

“An increasing amount of scientific evidence indicates that rhythm stimulates and organizes a person’s muscle responses and helps people with neuromuscular disorders.”

Detail

Music therapy is an effective educational and therapeutic tool for both children and adults with forms of disabilities. The strategies involved with music therapy may effect changes in skill areas that are important for people with a variety of forms of disabilities such as learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities, cerebral palsy, autism and many others. As a person with disabilities, I have found music to be invaluable in relation to the forms of disabilities I experience.

From a therapeutic perspective, music has a number of benefits for people with disabilities. It is an important learning tool of course. A portion of the benefits of music comes from the fact that repetition within music may be more enjoyable than without it. Music also provides significant memorization assistance. Maybe the most important thing for some people is the fact that they can participate in music even if they experience difficulties in other areas and music therapists are trained to help them accomplish this goal. Successful participation in music can find a person with a disability feeling motivated to pursue additional efforts.

Music is also an effective way to stimulate and focus a person’s attention and might be particularly significant for some people who may not respond to other types of interventions. At times, music is used as a stimulating introduction. At other times, an entire therapeutic intervention might be structured using music to maintain a person’s attention. Changes in music may provide other signals or alerts that important interactions or information are coming. Some kinds of music might also provide a calming effect when a person’s anxiety interferes with their cognitive focus.

Music therapy is an effective tool to use for stimulating and motivating a person’s speech. It provides a path for nonverbal communication as well. Music therapy is a valuable tool for people who are learning to use an augmentative or alternative system of communication.

In some songs, harmony and melody cue a person’s speech by setting up a type of auditory anticipation, yet delaying the resolution until a person provides the final lyric. In other singing activities, rhythm may help a person to slow down their rate of speech and become more intelligible. The way songs are stored and the way rhythm stimulates a person’s motor function appears to help people with apraxia of speech. Changing melody lines can help to improve a person’s range and the inflection of their voice.

An increasing amount of scientific evidence indicates that rhythm stimulates and organizes a person’s muscle responses and helps people with neuromuscular disorders – one of the ways that music therapy strategies can help to improve a person’s physical skills. When a specific note played on an electronic device or an instrument is crucial to the completion of a particular song, anyone – to include people with severe forms of physical disabilities, can become the focus of a successful musical experience. The opportunity to participate in music may motivate a person to attempt physical movements that require some additional effort. Music may also be very relaxing, on the other hand, and help to alter a person’s perception of pain.

As a person who experiences pain related to osteoarthritis, music has become a part of my relaxation therapy. Listening to certain types of music helps me to relax and also helps to ease the physical pain I experience through relaxation to music. After learning that I can use music as a means of relaxation, it has become a part of my routine for responding to osteoarthritis pain.

Music therapy can help people work on their social skills too.

It helps in a couple of ways – by providing a familiar and consistent support for practicing, and by encouraging cooperation in the completion of a satisfying musical product such as a musical piece accompanied by others who each play a beat for example where each note is important. Music also provides people with developmental disabilities with opportunities to interact and cooperate with those who do not experience these forms of disabilities. Music has the ability to equalize and enrich the lives of those who become involved with it.

From an emotional perspective, music provides people with many opportunities to express and experience a number of emotions. The desire to participate in music, as well as to produce something musical, may become motivations to control emotional outbursts. Live music may be changed from moment to moment to reflect, or maybe alter, the moods of the people who are listening and participating. Successful participation with music that a great many people with disabilities have the ability to achieve has a positive effect on self-esteem too.

From a simple perspective, music has always been something that I can enjoy with others because I enjoy a number of types of music. It is a social equalizer in many ways and has led to friendships, social participation, and much more. Somehow, when music becomes involved, the presence of disabilities seem to fade or disappear entirely. Where pain is concerned, music is one of the best things in the world.