Name: Abbey Wapinsky

Activity: Know Thy Neighbor

Sources:

Banajee, M. H., & Brinton, B. (n.d.). Social communication disorder. Retrieved February 18,
2021, from https://www.asha.org/Practice-Portal/Clinical-Topics/Social-Communication-
Disorder/#collapse_6

Dixon, C. C. (n.d.). Therapeutic recreation activities & Tx Ideas: Know Thy Neighbor. Retrieved
February 18, 2021, from https://www.recreationtherapy.com/tx/txneigh.htm

Scheeren, A. M., Koot, H. M., & Begeer, S. (2012). Social interaction style of children and
adolescents with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and
Developmental Disorders, 42(10), 2046-2055. doi:10.1007/s10803-012-1451-x

Equipment: Individual pieces of paper and pencils or pens.

Description: The objective of this activity is for everyone in the group to get to know each other
better by developing or working on social skills through answering and asking questions about
each group members life. This activity is best for participants with social communication
disorders, autism or individuals recovering from loss of memory because it focuses on different
ways to engage in natural skills used to communicate with someone new. It also is focused on a
group effort, and not singling an individual out.

1. Create 20 questions that relate to getting to know a person. For example, "Do you like
pizza?"
2. Pass out the paper with the 20 questions on it to each participant and have them answer
every question with a pen or pencil. Each participant must keep the answers to themselves. Once
finished, collect the papers with the finished answers on them.
3. Divide the big group into 2 smaller groups or "teams" and have them stand on opposite
sides of the room. Each team will have a letter. The first team will be A and the second team will
be B.
4. Read aloud the first question. For example. "Do you like pizza?"
5. Team B will vote how many people voted YES to liking pizza. If team B is correct,
they earn a point. If team B is wrong, team A earns a point.
6. Next, you will reverse it and ask Team A the question, "Do you like pizza?"
7. Repeat the above steps with each different question you have.
8.When the activity is finished, the team that can repeat what they learned the most about
each other, wins.

Primary Interaction Pattern: The Primary Interaction Pattern of this activity would be intergroup.
It is intergroup because the interaction is of a competitive nature which is between two or more
intragroups or teams. The action is directed toward earning points in the game.
Adaptation: The participants in this activity will be individuals with social communication
disorders, autism or individuals recovering from memory loss. Individuals with these disabilities
tend to not seek interaction with others, show less eagerness to interact socially and have less
mutual friendships than individuals without a disability. Because of this, many of the individuals
that would participate in this activity respond to the initiative of another person. For an
individual with a social communication disorder, clinician- directed group interventions help
practice communication in functional settings and it promotes generalization. This activity may
challenge an individual to interact with individuals they have never met before. An adaptation
that could be used is to have the RT split the groups into smaller quantities. Instead of two
groups, the activity could hold four groups and have two small games going on at the same time.
Another adaptation that could be used is providing a picture board. This will help the individual
to replace speech or interaction with symbols, signs or gestures. Another adaptation an RT could
use is to aid in assistance to the discussion. For example, selecting a few individuals to tell a
story about the question asked. For example, "Do you like pizza?" would be the question and
then the RT can pick an individual to tell what shop or restaurant their favorite pizza is from.
This would give extra time to bring discussions to the floor and give everyone an opportunity to
share what they want about themselves.

Participant: 45 year-old woman who experiences a traumatic brain injury.