How to Adapt an Activity Using Activity Analysis Transcript

[Music]
JESSICA: Hi! Today we're going to talk about how to adapt an activity using an activity analysis.

LAUREN: Hey! My name is Lauren Cherney and I’m a certified therapeutic recreation specialist and a recreation and athletic specialist at Lakeshore Foundation

JESSICA: And I’m Jessica Klamut, also a certified therapeutic recreation specialist and rec and athletic specialist here at Lakeshore Foundation. Today we're going to start by going over the differences between a task analysis and an activity analysis. We're then going to move into different types of equipment and modification tools that you can use to adapt an activity. Know that there are many different modifications out there and we will not be able to cover them all today. So, we will provide you additional resources and contact information at the end of the video if you have any additional questions for us. We will then finish our time together going over two activity analysis examples. Let's get started. So, Lauren what is an activity analysis?

LAUREN: An activity analysis is the process of breaking down an overall activity. An activity analysis is made up over many tasks. Ask yourself these questions: what is the overall goal of the activity? What skills do I need for successful participation? And have I kept the activity as close to the traditional rules as possible? So, Jess what's a task analysis?

JESSICA: A task analysis is the breakdown of one specific task within an overall activity. For example, take basketball, there are many different tasks within a game of basketball. One of the many different skills or drills that you'll do is dribbling. I’m now going to go over a task analysis with how to dribble the basketball. We're going to start by spreading our fingers out wide we are then going to touch the basketball with all five finger pads. We are then going to push the ball down towards the ground. And then when the ball comes back up we are going to receive it with all five finger pads. We're going to do all this while keeping our head up and looking forward.
LAUREN: So now that we have reviewed the difference between task analysis and activity analysis, we're going to go over a wide variety of equipment that can be adapted or modified in your setting. 
So, let's start by going over scooter boards. These are a great piece of equipment to get from point a to point b, or if you don't have enough sports chairs to use within your setting. You can sit crisscross applesauce, lay on your stomach, or use your feet to propel yourself forwards and backwards. They get you from point a to point b or if you don't have enough sports chairs to use within your activity. We also have these really neat scooter boards that have attachments so that you can modify them to make them bigger.
Cones are also a great piece of equipment that can mark a path for someone and poly spots to know that you need to stay in that spot during a game. Household items are great if you're working out at home. To find weights, you can use a book, a full water bottle, or laundry detergent, even a suitcase will work. 
Now if you're planning a game that uses a regulation size ball you don't really necessarily need to use that. Think about your participants. Do you want a junior basketball, a styrofoam ball, a beach ball, or do you want to use a traditional volleyball?
Jess tell me about what modifications you have.

JESSICA: Before diving into our modification tools, I want to point out that some individuals may have little to no sensation below their injury site. When this is the case, you want to keep in mind that sharp objects could push into them or rough surfaces may irritate their skin. So, in making their modifications it may be best to try out the modification on yourself before transferring it over to them. 
Now for our modification tools. We're going to start with Velcro. Velcro can be used for many different things. Here we have a strap that can be used to wrap around somebody's legs and a wheelchair to help hold their legs down. You can also wrap this around their feet to help secure their feet to the foot plate. We then have Velcro that has sticky stuff on each side. So, you can take the rough side and stick it to a wall and then the soft side to the object that you want to stick to the wall. A great example of this would be a foam version of tic-tac-toe. And somebody who uses a wheelchair to keep them from having to transfer down onto the ground to play you can put the tic-tac-toe board up on the wall so that they can roll over and play tic-tac-toe. And then when you're done, it's easy take down. You just pull it off the wall and put it away for the time being.
We then have this catch and play game. This is something that we bought just like this, but if you don't have it, you can always take a frisbee and use the Velcro that has the sticky side and put the rough side up so that it can catch the tennis ball. You can also do this with a baseball mitt and use a tennis ball as well just to work on catching.
Behind this we have a yoga block, this is actually great for if you want to raise somebody's feet on a foot plate without having to make all the adjustments. You can put that and then use some tape to secure it down and then if you need to strap their feet down use that Velcro.
We're then going to move into our active hand or also a quad grip. So, this is a great resource that already exists, but if you don't have it, I’ll show you some other modifications later. So, what you're going to do here is you're going to wrap it around somebody's wrist and then you're going to take the Velcro, loop it through, and secure it to the wrist. You're then going to have their hands holding onto the object and you will pull down the cover loop it through and back around. If you don't have that, you're able to use an ace bandage, a core wrap, some string, a bandana, or even a resistance band to make the same type of structure. An ace bandage can also be used to wrap somebody's feet to a footplate, their hand to a tennis racquet, or a baseball bat. 
Just like an ace bandage we have our core wrap, the great thing about this is that it's padded. And so, you can use this if somebody's skin is rubbing on a piece of equipment go ahead and wrap it around their skin so it won't rub. You can also use it or a bigger one to go around somebody's core to help stabilize them as they're in their sports chair trying to bend over side to side. 
We then move over to our cushion. So, our cushion could be used if we have somebody transferring with a spinal cord injury down to a scooter board. You could use this just to provide extra cushion underneath their bottom. We can then take the Velcro and attach it to this side of the cushion and one of the sides of the wheelchair so that it will secure the cushion into place.
We then have our resistance band. This is great not only for stretching but also as we said earlier to secure somebody's hand or foot down to a surface. You just want to keep in mind when you're using the resistance band that some have latex. And there's a lot of people out there that will have latex allergies. So, look for the latex-free ones.
Here we have a pool noodle. A pool noodle can be used for many things. It can be used for equipment, so a baseball bat or a hockey stick. It can also be used to wrap around a frisbee. So, if you're throwing it and somebody has difficulty catching it, it's not going to hurt them. It can also be used for a kayak you can put it around the rim, and it will help when somebody's transferring in and out not to scratch their skin. It can also be used early…smaller noodles can be used as handles, so it'll actually increase the size of a handle for somebody who wants…who needs assistance gripping. 
We're then going to touch on tape. So, tape can be used for just about anything and everything. If you want to make a handle, go ahead and stick the two sticky sides of tape together so that that can wrap around the skin, and then have the sticky part wrap around the object you're trying to make a handle for. You can also use tape to tape an object to a wall, tape an object to a floor, they can be used as place markers. So, if you have a start line and a finish line, you can use tape to map that out. 
We also have chalk that can serve that same purpose if you're outside. And the great thing about chalk is it has easy cleanup all you need is a little rain and it washes it away. So, you can use this for start and stop line, or if you're trying to just make a game more fun and interactive, you can draw some triangles down on the ground or squares for people to have to hop in and out of.
We then have our bandana that would work just as well as our ace bandages to wrap somebody's hand around something or their foot around something. It can also be used as a tether for somebody who has a visual impairment. And how that would work is the person with the visual impairment would hold one side and their guide runner would… guide runner would hold the other side and then they would be able to run alongside of one another.
You can also do that with string. We also have string that has knots in it that can also be used for somebody who has a visual impairment. And what they could do for this is they would feel their way along the rope where the knots are to know that they're gradually moving down the line. 
We then are going to finish off with some PVC pipe. PVC pipe can be used for many different things and it comes in all shapes and sizes. You can use PVC pipe to create goals as well as a wheelchair that can be taken in and out of the water. It can also be used for the brakes on somebody's wheelchair. You can get a small short one that will just cap onto their brake and it would be a brake extender so it makes it easier for them to lock their chair on their own. You can also use it for gripping, so if you need to make something wider for somebody to hold onto you can stick a PVC pipe on it. so that's about it for modification tools.
And like I said earlier, there's many different modification tools out there. It… all it takes is you being creative, going into your storage, and seeing what's in there. What do we have that we can take and modify for somebody that works best for them?

LAUREN: So now that we've gone over a wide variety of equipment and modifications, we're going to talk about a few more barriers that you might see within your programming. So, to start there's social barriers. Thinking about communication is key. Your commands, are you keeping them to a minimum as possible? Your pitch, is it high because you're doing a high energy level activity? Or is it soft because you're doing something like mindfulness or yoga? You always want to speak clearly, slowly, and enunciate your words. 
There's also audio-visual barriers. And jess is going to hand me a few items that I’m going to talk about. Thank you. So, when planning your activity and printing instructions, you want to think about the color paper you're printing them on. Are they dark colors, light neon, pastel? You always want to keep that in mind. You want to make it easy for your participant to read off of. Font size is something to also keep in mind. Is it a big font or a small font? You don't want your participant to have to continually walk forward to see something and then go back to their spot in line. There's also beepers or squeakers so that someone with a visual impairment can hear boundaries. Squeakers or we have this really neat beeper that has different tones that you can match to different commands. Jess what are a few more?

JESSICA: A couple other barriers include transportation. Does somebody have a way to get to and from your facility? Are they using city transportation? If so, are your programmings fall falling within the time that city transportation is running? Where is the facility that you're using? Is it within a close proximity to the target population that you're hitting? 
Other barriers include structural barriers. So, think of the facility that you're using, does it have accessible parking spots? Is there a curb cut out? Is there an automatic door? If there's not an automatic door, how heavy is the door to get in and out of the facility? Does it have accessible stalls? 
And then finally we're going to talk about…about environmental barriers. This has to do with the weather. What's the weather been like outside? Is it raining? Or has it rained in the last couple of days? If so, that's going to make the ground slippery, which can be a slipping hazard. Or it can make the hand rims really slippery on somebody's wheelchair. We then also want to think about the heat, if it's been really hot it's going to be difficult for somebody who is affected by the heat, it might make them more fatigued more easily. Or for somebody who doesn't sweat we then have to take in consideration that their body's not regulating the temperature properly. We also want to think if it's really cold outside there's some people whose muscles tend to get more toned when it's cold making it difficult to do everyday tasks. We then want to think about lighting for somebody who has a visual impairment, but can see shadows and colors, it's key that we have some bright lighting so that they can see those shadows or those colors. And then finally, we want to think about the surface itself. So, for somebody who uses a wheelchair, or a walker, or has one sided weakness, it may be more difficult to navigate a surface that has rocks everywhere or mulch or grass. So, try and be try and do an activity inside on a gym floor or if you're gonna go outside use asphalt concrete or even a tennis court.

LAUREN: Other barriers to keep in mind are age. Are you catering to a younger audience, or an older audience, or truly a mixture of both? You want to keep in mind the instructions you're giving, skill level, and level of difficulty for your target audience. Group makeup is another thing to think about. Are you catering for 5 people or 50? Your group dynamic is going to be really different as well as how the game plays out. Jess tell me a few more.

JESSICA: As LC mentioned, level of difficulty, we want to keep this in mind: is the activity too easy for the group? Or is it too difficult? If it's too difficult, what can we do to make it a little easier? So, think about a game of basketball, and… in addition to having the hoop to score points maybe we can use some hula hoops that we tape together and then hang over the hoop so that there's various different targets for somebody to aim for. To make it easier, maybe instead of having people zigzag in and out of a obstacle course, we have them just push from one end to the other.
We also want to think about how to keep the activity fun and engaging. If there's an out, we might lose those people that eventually get out in the game. So, how can we keep them involved? Can we have them answer a funny question, or do…tell somebody a joke, or even do five jumping jacks to get back in the game to keep them involved? 

LAUREN: We're now going to move into our two activity analysis examples.

JESSICA: I’m going to start us off by going over a Red Light, Green Light and then Lauren’s going to go over ultimate frisbee with you all. 
For Red Light, Green Light, the object of the game is to get from the start line to the “it” person before your opponents. You are then going to follow the commands of red light for stop, green light for go. On green, or go, you're going to advance forward and try and get to the “it” person before your opponents. 
So, to do this to make it inclusive for just about anybody, we can make sure that we're playing on a hardwood surface, whether it's inside, or playing outside on asphalt concrete, or a tennis court. That will make it inclusive for somebody who uses a wheelchair, a walker, has their mobility affected, or their balance affected, and somebody who has one sided weakness. If they would like an additional modification, you could have… you could use a scooter if you have access to one, or you could use a sports chair.
For someone who has a visual impairment, you can use rope to put down on the ground and then you'll take a piece of tape and put it over top of it so that they would be able to use that as a guide whether underneath their feet or with their white cane as they're going from one end to the other. You could also have it to where there is a stand where they can feel their way from one end towards to the other or having a rope tied off from a wall to the other wall that has knots and they can feel the knots as they're going down the line.
We then… for somebody who has a hearing impairment, can use more of a visual cue which would be this white paper with black lettering for go or stop. If you don't have access to the white paper and black marker, you can always use the colored paper green for green light, red for red light, or you can even use some tape. This actually would more so be used for somebody who has a visual impairment if they are able to see some colors and some shades or some shapes you could put this down on the ground so they can see it as they're going from one end to the other.
Those are kind of the modifications to make it more inclusive, but if you wanted to spice things up a little, make it a little more fun, you could add in yellow light. So, for yellow light, you could have it to where individuals have to turn around and go backwards, or instead of running and walking, they can maybe jog a little or push at a moderate pace. We also can change things up with instead of there being an out if the “it” person has caught them while advancing forward on stop we can have them do some jumping jacks or tell a funny story. So, that would be some different modifications and way to keep everybody engaged for Red Light, Green Light. LC is now going to talk about ultimate frisbee.

LAUREN: So, the objective of ultimate frisbee is to get from one side of the playing field to the other, to score in the end zone. So, there's a few modifications that you can make, but the main one to keep in mind is the surface that you're playing on. Playing on a hard court asphalt, a parking lot, or tennis courts is the best way to play. Grass is really hard to navigate on if your balance is affected or that you're playing while using a wheelchair. So, let's go over a few things that I have in my bucket here for ultimate frisbee.
So, keep in mind the color of the frisbee that you're playing with. Can you see it really well when players are passing it to each other? You also could play with the neon one that's kind of fabric, that's a little bit easier to grip. But you can also take tape and attach a pool noodle to the rim of a frisbee, so you can grip it really well. You can also mark the path of the playing field in the lines with different colored tape or different colors of paper taped to the floor. You can use cones to mark out the path as well as the end zones. Or tape like I said. 
And if you have a visual impairment, you can use sound in your end zones for different tones and to attach to your frisbee. You can tape a squeaker to the frisbee so that when players catch it, you know where it is on the playing field. Or you can use different tones in your end zones like this [plays different tones]. So, you know what side of the field you're playing on. 
Another thing to keep in mind is that if your balance is affected or you want to use a sports chair to play ultimate frisbee you can. A scooter board is something that you can use if you don't have access to a sports chair.
So, these are just a few modifications that you can make to ultimate frisbee while keeping it as close to the original rules as possible.

JESSICA: today we went over the importance of a task analysis and an activity analysis. We discussed how task analysis is the breakdown of a specific task within an overall activity. Whereas an activity analysis is the breakdown of an activity to make it inclusive while keeping it in its most basic form.

LAUREN: We hope you enjoyed going over a few examples with us today that you can take back to your own setting during an activity. If you want more resources on the topics that we went over today, reference our Lakeshore Foundation website or the National Center on Health Physical Activity and Disability. Thanks for joining us today.