Activity Title 1: Family Totem Pole

Source:
Self-Discovery Activities. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.gamesforgroups.com/selfdiscoverygames.html.
Equipment: Construction paper, glue, scissors, tape, colored markers,
cardboard tube (i.e. toilet paper roll, paper towel roll or wrapping paper tube),
googly eyes, felt, fabric, puff balls, pipe cleaners, or anything else that can be
used to create animal faces.
Description of Activity:
The therapist will as the group if they know what a totem pole is and
explain how each totem pole tells a unique story. Then they will explain to the
group of participants that they are to create their own unique totem poles about
their families. Each person chooses a different animal to represent each family
member and places the animal on the pole wherever they think that family
member should be in their own story. For example, one pole may have a lion for
a brother who is good looking, athletic and everything seems to come easy for
him, and who also happens to be known for being quite lazy. Each totem pole
must include at least three people and each person must put him/herself on the
totem pole s/he is creating. The therapist will emphasize that a family can be
whoever they feel their family is at the time. For some it may be a foster family,
grandparents, a special relative, or even a group home.
Each person will be given a cardboard tube or create one by rolling
construction paper long ways into a tube and taping it. The therapist will supply
the group with all the animal face creation supplies that you have gathered that
can be used to create animal faces. The therapist will instruct participants to
create animals out of the materials and to glue them onto their totem pole. They
will allow quite a bit of time for this activity, so people will do a really good job and
be proud of their totem poles when they are finished with them. Allow for sharing
time at the end so that each person may explain his/her special family totem pole
to the group. During time, the therapist will use it as a discussion and the end
when everyone has presented their totem pole, the therapist will ask questions
like if they enjoyed the activity and if they found anything difficult to do or
understand.
Leadership considerations:
This activity will be best done in large groups because it provides a larger
variety of totem and allows participants to see all the different families they other
participants have. It is recommended that the activity is performed in an indoor
environment, but after completion of the totem pole, they can have the discussion
outdoors for a more Indian feel. The activity is best performed inside because of
all the arts and craft material and participants need a flat surface to draw on their
totem poles. At the beginning of the activity the therapist plays the role of
moderator because they will be explaining the activity to the participants. Once
the therapist has all the participants working on their totem poles without a

problem, they will become a supervisor. At this time the therapist is overlooking
what the participants are doing and providing any assistance if asked. When all
participants are done, the therapist will become a moderator again and ask for all
participants to gather together, so everyone can present their totem pole. The
therapist will supervise the participants present their totem pole and even present
their own. At the end of the activity, the therapist will lead a discussion by
reflexing back to the activity. The discussion questions will be chosen based on
the participants needs and interests. Some safety hazards are the scissors,
tubes and any other arts and craft material. Instruct participants to not run with
scissors ever. They can use scissors while sitting down and for the appropriate
reasons too. The tube for the totem pole is only for the totem pole. They are not
hit other participants with it or do any other dangerous activity with it. All the arts
and craft material is to stay on the table and go nowhere else. Advise participants
to not place any of the materials in their mouth, only on the totem pole. If
participants place materials in their mouth, it can lead to choking accident.
Adaptations:
*Participants with Blindness:
When working with participants who are blind, there are many ways the
therapist can help to make an activity possible for them, During this activity,
participants are asked to design a totem pole by using arts and craft materials
and drawing on the totem pole. This will be very difficult for participants to
complete by themselves, so to assist them the therapist can guide their hand
when drawing the animals they desire (Datillo, 2012). Another way to make this
part of the activity more enjoyable for these participants is using sensory
enhancing materials (Willings, 2015), such as paint. The activity will most likely
be performed indoors, so it is important to adjust the lighting (Datillo, 2012).
Some students with visual impairments will need adjustments to lighting to
minimize negative impact of their visual impairments (Willings, 2015). To
minimize any accidents from occurring, the therapist should keep the groups
rather small (5-8 participants) and act as the participants sighted guide (Datillo,
2012).
*Participants with Intellectual Disability:
As the name of the disability states, these participants have significantly
sub-average general intellectual functioning, which creates difficulties for them
when comprehending responses from others or instructions given to them
(Datillo, 2012). When the therapist is giving instructions to these participants
about the totem pole, they can provide the participants with concrete and visual
demonstrations so they can see what to do and follow along (Intellectual
Disability, 2014). So, the therapist will put images of totem poles and all the
instructions with visuals on the wall. This will help participants if they forgot what
they would have to do after completing a step in the activity. According to
Blomqvisy, it has been found that people with intellectual disability have limited
ability to anticipate postural adjustments when they move from the sitting to
standing position. One reason for the reduced postural balance is that individuals
with intellectual disability have a slower postural muscle responses compared to
individuals without intellectual disability (2014). To prevent participants to stress

because they need to stand up and present their totem pole, the therapist will
allow them to present from their table. This will also simplify the instructions from
the to follow and create a less stressful environment (Datillo, 2012). Participants
will probably have difficulties understanding the comparison of their family with
animals. Instead, the therapist can ask participants to draw their familys favorite
animals. If the therapist wants to still base the animals on their personality to the
familys personality, they would need to review the animals and how they behave
before they begin the activity. They will also need to review each of the
participants family member personality. Due to the detail that the therapist would
need to provide, it is recommended to work with smaller groups of participants
(Intellectual Disability, 2014).
Adaptations References
Blomqvist, S. (2014). Postural muscle responses and adaptations to backward
platform
perturbations in young people with and without intellectual disability. Gait
& Posture, 39(3), 904-908. doi:10.1016/j.gaitpost.2013.11.018.
Dattilo, J. (2012). Learn About People, Inclusion, and Disability. In Inclusive
Leisure
Services (Third ed., pp. 385-485). State College, PA: Venture Publishing.
Intellectual Disabilities (formerly Mental Retardation). (2014, October 3).
Retrieved
November 7, 2015, from http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/teac.
Willings, C. (2015, November 12). Environmental Adaptations. Retrieved
November 12,
2015, from http://www.teachingvisuallyimpaired.com/environmentaladaptations.html