Running Header: TR INTERVENTION WRITE-UP RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSIS

TR Interventions Write-Up Relevant to Diagnosis

Meaghan Fairweather
RLCS 245 Therapeutic Recreation for Individuals with Disabilities
February 25, 2016
Dr. Emily Messina

TR INTERVENTIONS WRITE-UP RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSIS

Intervention #1 Initiation
Description of intervention
Teaching safety awareness with the use of a bicycle starting off in a controlled
environment, talking through the steps of safety precautions and what to look out for. Then
talking through what all it takes to ride a bicycle. Once the client has rehearsed the actions of
riding a bicycle and all of the safety aspects that go along with it, take them out of the controlled
environment and assess their ability to remember and walk through the safety precautions while
in a real life situation.

Needs addressed by intervention

Being fully aware of your safety at all times is a big part in being independent. Without
this knowledge, being successfully independent is an incredibly hard take to accomplish. One of
the major limitations for a client with a developmental disability is their struggle with
independent living. By the clients inability to see that they are in danger if they do not wear a
helmet while riding a bicycle, could lead to them getting hurt.
Not only just knowing and understanding safety, but also seeing if the client would be
able to accomplish getting on a bicycle and riding around the block. Allowing the recreational
therapist to assess whether or not they have the cognitive capacity to realize the threat of cars and
being able to read the signs of when to cross the road.

Common Settings
At first the learning to ride a bike and learning the precautions would be done in a safe,
controlled, calm environment such as a therapy gym. This will give the client the opportunity to

TR INTERVENTIONS WRITE-UP RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSIS

understand what all goes into riding a bike without having to worry about cars passing and the
loud sounds of the outside environment distracting them. Then once that has been accomplished,
moving the client to a safe calm street, where there is still the risk of there being one or two cars
that pass but definitely not a busy street.
Once that has been completed and the client feels confident and comfortable with taking
the next step which would be to go on a ride and pass through a slightly busy area. Each ride
with the client the busyness and distraction level would increase just slightly.

Equipment Needed
The equipment needed would include 2 bicycles, and 2 helmets. Possibly some training
wheels and protective pads to put on the clients body. Also you would need a therapy gym to
practice with the client, a calm street, and the knowledge of how to ride a bicycle.

Program Adaptations
If the client was a paraplegic, we would need a hand cycle rather than a bicycle as well as
a way to safely transfer the client from their wheelchair to the hand cycle.
If the client was unable to ride a bicycle in public due to the noise and their inability to
see the hazards, possibly having them ride a stationary bicycle in a gym would work better for
them. They would still be getting to work out in a way that they love just without the outside
hazards.

TR INTERVENTIONS WRITE-UP RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSIS

Intervention #2 Age-inappropriate Behavior

Description of intervention
When dealing with age-inappropriate behavior using role playing would work very well
to effectively show the client how to act and how not to act around certain people. Have the
client a random stranger and you be them, at first walk up to them and preform an inappropriate
behavior such as blowing raspberries in their face or patting them on the head. Ask the client if
that was an appropriate action or not. Next act with an appropriate manner towards them and ask
them again if that is an appropriate way to act. Repeat this multiple times reviewing different
actions that you as the recreational therapist have noticed that the client does.

Needs addressed by intervention

The needs being addressed by this intervention are explaining what correct and incorrect
behavior for the client to do in public as well as for their age. When working with clients with a
developmental disability, their cognitive and social skills tend to be at a younger age then they
are and they wont always recognize how they act unless shown.
By acting out and role playing the different behaviors that the client shows toward other
people, will help them see what exactly is happening, and it will also give them a chance to feel
the feelings felt by the stranger that they are acting these behaviors out to.

Common Settings
This intervention would be done in a calm environment such as a therapy room or group
meeting room. By doing role playing before the client is able to interact with the public helps
establish those boundaries before they put a stranger in a weird position.
Equipment Needed

TR INTERVENTIONS WRITE-UP RELEVANT TO DIAGNOSIS

No equipment needed, just the client and the recreational therapist in a room.
Program Adaptations
If the client is still not really understanding what behaviors are bad and good, possibly
have you and another co-worker act out the scene so that the client is able to watch both sides.
Also when going into public, if the client behaves appropriately in relation to another person,
giving them an incentive so they see that they are being benefited by this action and they will
continue to do it.

References

Porter, H. R., & Burlingame, J. (2006). Recreational Therapy Handbook of Practice: ICF- Based
Diagnosis and Treatment. Enumclaw, WA: Idyll Arbor.