Feedback from:

Kelcie Davis, ATR, LPATA; Life Enrichment Director at Creekside on Bardstown

When:

Feedback given 04.14 by email; not yet implemented

Goal being addressed:

As with the first activity, I was hoping to provide a motivating opportunity for physical engagement as well as some opportunity for musical reminiscence/socialization.

For this activity, I decided to "kick" it up a notch with a musical kickball activity. Since the residents at Creekside have kicked a ball around before, I thought it made sense to incorporate a musical element to help with engagement. I also wanted to apply Kelcie's feedback from the previous activity by making sure the activity was uncomplicated for the residents to follow.

I think this activity will be well-received by the residents since the activity is already familiar and I have incorporated their preferred music. The concept of the activity is also easy to simplify and adapt based on what the residents need in the moment. If a participant has a special song request, it would be easy to play that song during the activity. Participants also receive individual support while they are deciding on a song to listen to, as opposed to the facilitator(s) trying to manage the entire group at once as the first activity requires.

Some assumptions I made while creating this activity include assuming the participants would be able to hear the music playing, assuming the participants would kick the ball as it comes to them, and assuming they would be able to stop kicking the ball when the music stops with support. I am curious to hear whether they continuously kick the ball during the songs and how difficult it is to stop kicking the ball between songs. I do think having the visual to select the next song to listen to will be helpful (this was a logical UDL application for this activity since they are able to both hear and see the options).

This activity took more thinking and creativity than I initially expected. The main question I was trying to answer was what direction to take the activity. I knew I wanted the music to play and stop, then the person or team with the ball would need to do something. I wanted to make sure, though, that the result and direction were as logical as possible to minimize participant confusion. I decided an arc in the tempo/speed/intensity of the songs would round out the edges of the activity and add direction, and having the person who has the ball when the song ends choose the next song would both be logical and give them an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to the activity. On a different note, I enjoyed learning to embed YouTube and Spotify playlists on the Google site. I had never embedded anything on a website before, so it was fun to try!

For the final activity, I would like to apply what I learned from the first two movement-focused activities and create an activity with a more cognitive focus. I would like the participants to actively participate as in the first two activities, but I think something that works the brain would be useful in addressing the goals Kelcie and I laid out for these activities.