Maddie Collins

OT 6389: School-Based Fieldwork

Positive Mental Health Assignment

Occupational Therapy Group Activity Report

Be sure to see resources on www.everymomentcounts.org and www.casel.org

1) Proposed goal of group. Define 1-2 overall goals and 1-2 objectives for this
activity. (5 pts)
The main goal of the group was to address self-regulation and emotional control. I
wanted the kids to be better able to identify emotions by understanding how their
body goes through unique physiological changes while experiencing specific
emotions. Additionally, I wanted the students to be able to think of individualized
emotional regulation techniques they can use while in different Zones, specifically
during class to get back to the green zone. Therefore, the objectives of the
intervention were to identify/describe how emotions feel within the body and also to
think of activities they can do to alter/regulate their arousal state so that they are
better able to focus and participate in classroom activities.

2) Group composition (why each student was selected): Provide 1-2 words
defining the social participation strengths and limitations of each member.
(5)
The group consisted of three male students my FWEd regularly sees together for
group therapy. Once I told her about the positive mental health group assignment,
she eagerly suggested this group of students, saying it would be a perfect for them.
So, I planned my group session for these students, however the day of
implementation one student was sick, so there were only two students in the group.

Student Strengths Limitations

B Listens, Kind Shuts-down (when

challenged), Avoidant

N Encourages, Impulsive, Reactive

Interactive

D* Humor Talkative, Distracted

* Did not participate in group (absent)

3) Expected group activity preparation. Describe how you prepared the group
members (and others) for this activity. (5)
To prepare for the activity I reviewed my intervention plan with my FWEd and the
Level 2 student in the morning before the kids arrived. I explained how the Jenga
game would work and got their approval for implementation. They were so excited
about the activity that they had me perform the intervention with a different student
during a 1:1 session, before the group session time. This allowed me time to
practice the flow of my activities/ intervention before the actual group therapy
session.
Once B and N arrived for group, I went into introductions with an ice breaker activity
that involved both of them, my FWEd, the Level 2 student, and me taking turns
saying our names and an ice cream flavor that started with the first letter of our
names. After introductions, I transitioned into explanation of the activity by asking
“Have you guys ever played Jenga before?”. I then explained how we were going to
play a game of Jenga, but that each block will have a certain color underneath with
an emotion written down. From there I asked, “Have you guys heard of the Zones of
Regulation?”, while showing them the worksheet and zone explanation cards. I then
explained what each color/ Zone meant. Additionally, to prepare the students to play
the game, I started first; drawing a block, sharing the Zone, and reading the emotion
out loud. I then described how my body feels/changes when I experience that
emotion and I gave an example of what I can do to get to (or stay in) the Green Zone
using the sentence prompt “When I feel____, I can___”. Leading by example and
having the Level 2 Fieldwork student join in the game as well, helped B and N to
better understand the concept behind my Zones of Regulation Jenga game.

4) Detailed plan for activities: Explain how you will use 1) occupation-based
activities, 2) social emotional learning, and 3) positive behavioral supports.
(10)
Introduction: Perform icebreaker activity: going in a circle, say your name and an ice
cream flavor that begins with the first letter of your name. Can’t repeat someone
else’s flavor.
Zones of Regulation Jenga: Explain (or refresh) how to play Jenga. Explain Zones of
Regulation. Describe how the game will go (pick a block, identify the color with a
Zone, read emotion, describe how your body feels during that emotion, identify one
thing you can do to move to, or stay in, the Green Zone. Place block on top of Jenga
tower. Continue until tower collapses.
Processing/ Generalizing: I will ask prompting questions, such as: “Did you enjoy
this activity?”, “What was easy? What was hard?”, and “Did you learn something
new (about you or others)?”. I will then point out common responses that I noted
during the game and draw patterns of similarities brought out from our sharing
during the game. For example, “It seems like a lot of our hearts beat fast when we
feel panicked.”
Application/ Summary: I will then ask questions that will help open up a discussion
about how this activity relates back to the groups purpose (of self-regulation and
emotional control) and what we can take away from the session (i.e. how to employ
our emotion regulation strategies in class)

1. Occupation-based activities: Occupation-based activities were addressed in

several ways during the intervention. For example, leisure and social
participation were addressed through the nature of the game itself. Playing Jenga
allowed the students to engage in a healthy leisure activity and practice social
skills. Additionally, both students had goals of improving classroom work through
 gains in fine motor, visual motor, and handwriting skills. The students practiced
fine motor coordination through pinch grasp when pulling out a Jenga block, and
visual motor integration when using fingers to place the block on top of the tower.
Furthermore, an additional aspect was added to the intervention to address
handwriting skills by having the students right down their example of a regulation
activity underneath the appropriate Zone on the worksheet (see pictures below).
fine motor coordination, visual motor activities, and handwriting.
2. Social emotional learning: Social emotional learning was utilized during this
intervention activity by addressing specific skills such as self-awareness, self-
management, and responsible decision-making. The objective of the game was
to have the students understand the physiological components of emotion (so
they’d better be able to recognize them) and identify/ engage in use of personal
regulatory activities that help to change and keep them in the Green Zone. This
promotes self-awareness and self-management of emotions and behaviors.
Additionally, responsible decision-making was addressed through use of
hypothetical situations throughout activity and during Application discussion.
3. Positive behavioral supports: Positive behavioral supports were addressed
during the intervention activity by providing an alternative to undesired behavior,
using positive reinforcement for an appropriate behavior, and teaching the
students new skills and behaviors. For example, B has a problem with completely
shutting down in the classroom when in the Yellow or Red Zones so while B
provided examples of regulation activities during the game, I had him consider
applying these strategies as an alternative to shutting down in the classroom.
Additionally, when either B or N fully engaged in the activity and used real world
examples of themselves, I provided them with verbal praise as a positive
reinforcer to support self-awareness skills. Acquisition of new skills and
behaviors were addressed through thinking of regulation activities and providing
examples of these activities in order to obtain a bank of regulatory behaviors that
the students may confidently employ in future situations.

*Obtain FWEd approval for above before you run the group*

5) Outcomes. What happened? Describe participation. (10)

The group went really well. Prior to the intervention, I thought B would have an
extremely hard time talking about his emotions and that N would take-over the
activity by focusing the conversation on this own life. Also, I wasn’t sure if B and N
would like to play Jenga. Much to my surprise, B shared his experiences with the
different emotions and provided examples of regulation strategies. B was actively
participating in not just the physical aspects of the game (moving the blocks), but
also the cognitive ones (thinking/ sharing personal experiences). One thing B did
struggle with was the pace of the activity; because each person’s turn was longer
than in a normal game of Jenga, B would sometimes lose focus and start to try and
pick a block before it was his turn. N also displayed better participation than I
expected he would. I expected N to “take-over” the group by focusing the
conversation around himself or change it to another subject all together. However, N
was engaged with the activity and even encouraged B to pay attention engage,
because he thought B would really benefit from the game. While N’s participation
was great, he also struggled with staying on task sometimes do to the long nature of
each individual’s turn.

6) Reflection. Lessons learned. Evaluation of the group, including social

interaction. (10)
Overall, I really enjoyed this experience. I found it very beneficial to focus on mental
health during school OT. I felt as though we were not only addressing fine motor and
visual motor issues, but also behavioral ones. Learning to understand emotions and
how to regulate arousal is imperative to success both inside and outside of the
classroom. I think the group did great overall. It was good to have B and N together
because B looks up to N, and N was good at encouraging B to participate in the
activity. Additionally, N displayed good control of emotions and allowed B to talk and
take his turn without too much interruption or distraction. B also displayed increased
assertiveness and engagement during the activity. B and N displayed great social
interaction skills such as taking turns and listening to each person share personal
experiences with judgement or ridicule. There are several things I learned during this
experience. First, I learned that children respond extremely well to encouragement
from peers, especially those in their pre-teen years when image starts to become
very important. Additionally, I learned that adding movement into an activity helps
kids focus on the task longer and engage more fully during that time.

7) What will you do differently next time? What is an optimal next activity for
this group of students? (5)
There are a few things that I would do differently next time. First, I would either focus
on describing the physiological changes (how our body feels) during an emotion or
identifying regulation strategies, not both. This would speed up the game and
hopefully allow for less distractibility during intervention. Furthermore, I would like to
add another component to the game that inspires the students to participate. I don’t
want there to be “winners or losers” but I think it would be fun to add a competitive
component in order to have them fully engage and not get distracted. For example, if
you topple over the tower, you are required to act out the emotion on the block. The
optimal next activity for this group of students would be intervention activities that
focus on implementing the emotional regulation strategies they listed during the
game and additional ones they can use to stay in the Green Zone during school (i.e.
yoga, breathing exercises).