Catch and Tell Me...

So tomorrow is the day-- first day of clinic! I'm pretty nervous which is funny because all week I felt completely confident. I just want my client to like me and respond well to my activities. If he doesn't, I might hide under the table and cry. How's that for an effective practitioner? Tears streaming down my face, making "llama" noises, and snot dripping... it's quite the mental picture.

Anyway, I had two tests today so I haven't had time to post another activity that I worked on yesterday. It is still a little rough... it's one of the ones I'm most concerned about. But, hey, I'll try it and if it goes poorly I'll just move on to the next activity.

I can't think of a creative name for this one so I'll just call it "Catch and Tell Me." It's another get to know you activity. Just to preface: I have been looking for the perfect ball for this game. I wanted a miniature, all-white soccer ball so that I could color each surface. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the perfect ball (believe me, I tried). Mark & I went to the Dollar Tree to pick up (very) random fall/Halloween decorations and I found a semi-perfect ball. It is already colored in, the right size, and it was $1. Still not completely pleased though... ugh, there is that type 1 personality again.

The $1 ball... it looks a lot perkier in person, promise

So, back to the activity, this game involves tossing a ball. Whichever color your thumb lands on correlates with a comment you must make. E.g. if my thumb is on the green, I have to say something that I like about the category, if it lands on red: I say something I dislike, green is my favorite thing or memory about it, and yellow is something I want to do or accomplish in the future... confusing, right? Here is an instruction page:

I'm planning on using a magnet to hang on the whiteboard so that it is easily viewable while we throw the ball

I'm going to do an example so that the child can see how each color works with a category. I wanted to start with summer because it is something that he/she will have easily-accessed schema about (it just happened, summer is fun, and it is a broad theme). I also threw school & therapy in there because I want to find out the things that are motivating and things that are not. The fall/autumn category will help me see what ideas I can use in the next month or so. And we'll finish with another easy one: being a kid.

So it is pretty easy:

• Toss the ball
• Thumb lands on blue: "I like _____ about summer"
• Continue throwing until you get a new color (for instance, if you get blue again, don't go onto school, instead just throw again and hope to get a different color-- this makes it easier for the child to access the schematic knowledge) 
• After hitting all of the colors for a category, move onto the next round and repeat
• I plan on doing two and judging the time & engagement level. If there is time and the child is loving it then I'll keep going. If not, we can always come back to it another time.

Other ways you can use a colored ball:

• Each color represents a different "shake it out" activity if the child needs a 1 minute break
• Blue: 5 jumping jacks, red: run in place, etc.
• Use for vocabulary words
• Blue: read definition, red: name a word with similar meaning, etc.
• There are a lot of options, just get creative! 

Favorite Things/Dice Activity

Materials Needed:

• Dice (technically only one)
• Favorite activities worksheet

So since I have never met my client before, the first session is going to consist of a lot of getting to know you activities. Since I want to make therapy as fun as possible, I need to know my kid's favorite things. I decided it would be fun to "play" a game to find out.

For the past week I've been obsessing over using dice, but not just little dice, I want to use big, fluffy dice. I got all caught up in the idea that I forgot that, low and behold, I don't own any dice... at all. I hopped on Amazon.com and quickly ordered some fluffy car dice so that they can be delivered by Monday (thank you Amazon Prime).

My fluffy dice

Since I only really need one dice (am I the only one who hates using the word di for a singular dice?) I told Holly that she can have the other. Works out great!

Back to the activity: I just spent another night doing nothing... aka making a worksheet that probably should've taken 5 minutes. It took me an hour. I know, I'm helpless. Here is the worksheet:

Don't judge the 6: long story short, I had to draw the dots by hand and I'm an unfortunate artist and too lazy/poor to make another

So the rules of the activity are pretty simple:

• Child rolls di
• Child finds the category that aligns with his/her roll (e.g. a roll of a 1 means answer about favorite color)
• Child says "My favorite color is _____"
• Rolls again

I made up extra "rounds" in case the number is rolled more than once. Also, it is nice to have a variety of favorite things in case the child can't think of a favorite in a certain category. I'm thinking that we'll play this on the floor to have a nice change of scenery.