text: One participant, Chris, really enjoyed this opportunity to explore the space and equipment and developed a number of key skills along the way. At first, when presented with one of the balls, Chris would immediately throw it away. After working on this for a short time, eventually, Chris began to open up his hand in anticipation, then tolerate the ball, selecting which textures he preferred to hold onto. Chris opted for a foam ball with a bell in it and a small bobbled ball. Carrying these 2 balls around the space, Chris was then presented a problem when he was offered a third ball. He had to decide whether to keep hold of his current items or trade them for a new one. Chris actually used his chin to try and hold the third football! This demonstrated to us that the sessions are posing challenges to participants that are prompting them to use initiative, independence, and problem solving to complete the tasks set.
  We also asked the individuals’ support workers to evaluate each person’s progress after every session in relation to:
  There is still work to be done to fine-tune this activity and make it even better for the people we support. We will be running more sessions at Sense Touchbase Pears soon, before eventually rolling this out to other Sense services. We are also working with local football clubs to train them to deliver these sessions and will be producing a toolkit to support more people to offer sensory sport to those we support, as well as across the local community.
  If you would like more information please do get in touch by emailing me at callan.barber@sense.org.uk
  Thanks to the Practice Development team, Gaz Davies, Sense Residential Services and the Sense Active team for helping to get these sessions up and running.
  Author SensePosted on 26 September 2019 26 September 2019 Categories Arts, Sport & WellbeingTags football, inclusive sport