Name of in Class Activity: How Do You Handle Stress?

Name of In Class Activity: How do you handle stress?

Type of modality Stress Management/Psychoeducational (How Do You Handle Stress?) Type of play Shared cooperative: joining others in sustained engagement in activities with objects, toys, materials, or games with a shared goal or purpose Interaction pattern Intra-group: action of a cooperative nature by two or more person intent upon reaching a mutual goal; action requires positive verbal or nonverbal interaction (if there was more than one intra-group, it would be inter-group) # of participants required ~ 5 to 8 people

Equipment/supplies Stress balls (5 or 6) ~ or ~ stuffed animals/soft toys, balls of different sizes, or foam shapes Facilities required/environment Large, open area, free of chairs and other obstacles of the sort (large enough to toss a total of 5 or 6 balls from person to person) Precautions Make sure there are no chairs or obstacles in the way, depending on pt diagnosis, make sure pt is able to participate without feeling fatigue (check vital signs)

1. Ask participants to stand and form circles of about five to eight people.

2. Give each group one stress ball to begin.

3. Have the first person throw a ball to someone else and remember whom they threw it to; they will be asked to remember the order and continue the same pattern.

4. If there is only one group, RT can be part of the group, but if there is more than one, make sure RT is not in the mix, since RT will need to move around between groups.

5. Each person throws the ball to someone who has not yet had the ball.

6. The last person sends it back to the original person who “keeps the ball rolling” a little faster than the previous round (Do not have participants throw to the same person twice until all members have gotten it first).

1 7. Once participants have the pattern down, introduce another ball.

8. Then, continue to introduce more balls.

9. Balls will drop, roll, etc., but urge group members to pick them up and continue.

10. With five or six balls moving at a time, it becomes quite a circus with a lot of laughing and competition between groups!

11. Because this game is being used for stress management, ask participants to share what it felt like to have several balls being thrown one after another. Did participant feel anxious? Was it a challenge to keep up? Did participant want to stop the game/slow it down? Did participant get frustrated if they dropped the ball? Or – did participant feel energized and excited most of the time, but then felt overwhelmed at some other points? Were participants ready to take on the challenge?

12. The RT facilitator can then compare the stress balls/soft toys/objects to our daily stressors of work, family, school, finances, etc. and how participants have to find positive ways to cope and manage stress and multiple demands.

Category Skills Primary body position Standing

Part of the body required All body parts (based on the activity being completed standing) Movement Bending, carrying in the arms/hands, catching, grasp: radial palmer, 3 jaw-chuck grasp (holding the ball, throwing the ball, picking up the ball), picking up, pushing with upper/lower extremities (pushing the ball out of your hand, exerting a force forwards, pushing off your foot to reach for the ball coming your direction), reaching, releasing, running (or moving quickly to get to the ball, depends on the level of functioning of the group), standing, stretching, throwing, turning/twisting hands/arms, walking short distances Physical Balance: dynamic/static, bilateral integration, cardiovascular endurance, crossing midline (reaching to catch a flying ball), fine/gross muscle coordination, flexibility, muscle control/strength, AROM: UE & LE, speed, visual-motor integration Cognitive Arousal/alertness, attention: alternating/divided/focused, concentration, initiation, insight, judgment, memory: short/long term, orientation: person/place, recognition: size/shape/form (size of the ball, judgment of if participant can catch the ball or not), sequencing, strategy Social Conversation: starting/sustaining/ending, handling criticism, hetero/homogeneity, interpersonal interactions, maintaining social space, physical contact, relating with equals (participants), relating with authority (RT), regulating behavior, relationships: forming, social conduct, social cues, showing respect & warmth, showing tolerance Perception Auditory function: hearing the directions of the game, communicating in the game, tactile function: holding/grasping the ball, visual function: see where the ball is being thrown and to who the ball is being thrown to, see where the ball will be thrown next Communication/language Reception to spoken language, reception of body language, expression of spoken language, producing body language Self-care Dressing (come dressed for activity), caring for skin, teeth, hair, nails, etc. (come well kept and have good hygiene around other people) Psychological/emotional Joy (remembering the order that the ball traveled without (possible) help from RT, being able to balance many balls), guilt (letting down your group and not remembering where the ball is supposed to be thrown, dropping the ball and letting group down), anger (feeling defeated, feeling angry because you dropped a ball or forgot the order) fear (not measuring up to the RT’s expectations, group’s expectations) Frustration (getting annoyed when group member drops ball or forgets proper order) (A lot of overlap in this section, e.g., feeling angry and frustrated at the same time, emotions can be co- occcuring)

Ways to SIMPLIFY demands Ways to make more COMPLEX Cognitively Only have two or three people Instead of just having to per group, so it is easier to remember the order of whom remember the order of where the ball is thrown to, have to throw the ball. different color balls and have participants remember what color was thrown to what person. Or, have the same color balls, but when a ball is thrown to a participant, they have to say a fact about themselves that everybody has to remember.

Physically Use fewer balls and less group Add more balls and a few more members, so group members participants to each group to 3 do not have to move around as make the task more physically much and remember so many challenging and more fast- people (also overlaps with paced. simplifying cognitively).

Socially Have less people in each group, Add more people to each so there is less group, and when a ball is noise/talking/laughter which thrown to a certain person, can distract participants with have them say a fact about certain diagnoses (e.g. Autism) themselves that other participants have to remember as well (also overlaps with complicating cognitively, as well as urges group members to socialize with one another and get to know each other).