Multiple therapies are effective in any treatment. Goals are created to support and teach clients in their struggling areas. I was lucky to work with some amazing therapists for the past years and witnessed positive changes in some clients that were exposed to all these interventions. For example recreational therapy which targets depression and stress through fun activities in which coping skills are model and practice. The results from this kind of intervention were that students learned how to wait for their time, how to act and talk in front of others and there was an improvement in their self esteem. I paired with the recreational therapist at the school to create math, reading and writing interventions as part of these fun activities and many students showed improvement in their mental math skills and in their their spelling.
My son wasn’t exposed to recreational therapy just because I wasn’t aware of it, although we were told that a sport may be good for him. We tried baseball, it was my husband’s favorite sport,and who knew with my husband’s knowledge we might create the next Roberto Clemente. Haha what a disappointment, baseball was so boring for Gabriel he would just sit down in the field to play with the grass or just to stare at the stars. Then we tried soccer and running behind that ball made him happy, with just six year his team won the state finals. But it didn’t last ,Why? Gabriel’s coach was really good but he was from a foreign country and he struggled with the language so under the stress of a game he would talk and the kids would not understand him so he would yell at them. Gabriel would yell back at him and would walk out of the field and literally would walk away. The coach would apologize but the story was the same in each game until Gabriel decided that he did want to play again. Then we tried martial arts, but after a year Gabriel got bored, we went back to soccer but he missed his coach (irony). When we moved to Virginia he tried soccer again, but after his first season he quit. He was in tenth grade and understood the importance of being a team player and he learned to maintain focus on the goal of each game he played, at this point he would play any kind of sport but not in competitive level, he knew that it was about having fun. During his senior year a couple of friends invited him to try out for the Lacrosse team, and he made the varsity team, it was the best time of his high school years. He said that his coach taught him about the importance of accountability, of showing respect, of being responsible, and loyalty, qualities that every human being should display no matter where you were born or if you have disabilities or not.
Gabriel playing Lacrosse for the CFHS’ Eagles #14