The Recreational Therapy Process

OTHER REHABILITATION ISSUES IN SCI: RECREATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL THERAPY: THE RECREATIONAL THERAPY PROCESS

Recreation Assessment

The recreational therapy process begins with an individual assessment of your:

Strengths, interests, and values
Previous leisure activities and expectations
Available resources in your home and community
Social needs and relationships
Economic and other potential problem areas in your participating in recreational and leisure activities, and
Life-style adjustments necessary for healthy leisure functioning.

Based on the assessment, you and the recreational therapist plan a program that builds on your abilities and either corrects problem areas or develops ways of coping with them. Therapeutic recreation involves several components in a continuum of developmental services.

Individual Treatment

Activities of interest to you are analyzed and broken down into components. The components are examined to determine how the activity would contribute to your treatment goals. And modifications in the activity are made to better support your physical, cognitive, and social goals - such as applying velcro to strengthen your grip or installing battery-operated switches

Group Programs in the Hospital and Community

Skills, such as dealing effectively in variable real-life situations, are learned and applied through enjoyable activities in a supportive, realistic environment - such as arts and crafts, games, shopping, movies, and sightseeing tours

Interdisciplinary Programs

Recreation, occupational, and physical therapists, together with nurses, staff interdisciplinary groups where goals for your successful reintegration into the community are planned by you, participated in, and processed to identify problem areas and successes - such as planning for, going to, and evaluating a trip to a museum.

Wheelchair Sports

Wheelchair sports, such as basketball, bowling, swimming, archery, table tennis, softball, etc. are taught and promoted.

Outpatient Therapeutic Recreation Services

Ongoing therapeutic recreation services to eliminate barriers to your participating in community recreation activities and self-satisfying leisure activities which enable you to develop social skills within a group structure, form new relationships with peers, and continue to improve your self-confidence and rehabilitation skills.

Discharge Planning

Agencies and services in the community are identified that can support your ongoing needs for recreational and leisure activities - such as special recreation associations, wheelchair sports organizations, accessible outdoor programs and facilities, continuing education programs, national support organizations, independent living centers, volunteer opportunities, etc.