Under the Big Top
Week 3 of Discover! Summer took our students on a trip to the circus! The week started with circus-themed movement games and therapeutic activities including everything from parachute games and a ring toss to building your own stilts and circus yoga. 

Highlights for the week included learning to juggle and a visit from the Detroit Circus Show. Even though juggling was a hard task to learn, the kids had a blast – and all the hand and eye coordination involved in this therapeutic activity was great for their motor skills.  During the interactive Detroit Circus Show, the kids had a chance to help the magicians with some of their magic tricks which required a lot of focus to understand how tricks were done. 

Since the Special Tree Discover! Summer program kicked-off on June 17^th, the students have enjoyed a range of therapeutic activities ranging from art projects and community outings to cooking meals and building pre-vocational skills training through the Youth Work Program. 

Therapeutic Art
Throughout the summer, our students engage in art projects devised by the Recreational Therapy team to help build functional skills such as fine motor skills, visual processing, and more.  Each project relates to the theme for the week.  For Week 1, themed  “Farm to Table”,  the kids did Udder Painting and planted a garden; followed by making DIY bouncy balls during Week 2, themed “Let’s Have a Ball.”

To help our clients live as independently as possible, Special Tree’s Occupational Therapists look closely at their living space to make sure it’s safe, functional, and accessible for their needs.  But our OTs go one step further in determining what to modify in a home setting.  Their goal is to create living spaces that work for everyone through Universal Design. 
 

From Traumatic Brain Injury to Recovery to Role Model