Rehabilitation
At Home Rehabilitation Exercises
Last Updated:
32- Right-Left Orientation
LEVEL 1 - Ask the student to raise or point to his or her right and then left arm. Have the student identify body parts on the right and left. For instance, ask him/her to touch the right ear. Provide guidance or models if necessary.
LEVEL 2 - Draw a picture of a person (or use a picture from a magazine, preferably of a person standing up face forward). Holding the picture in front of the student, ask the student to point out the pictured person’s right and left features (which are now opposite to the student’s right and left). If there is some confusion, reverse the drawing (if using a picture from a magazine try to find one that is of someone standing facing away from you) so that the pictured person’s right and left correspond to the student’s. If necessary keep reversing in this fashion. Have the student point to your left and right body parts. This would be the reverse of the student’s left and right. You can make this more challenging by crossing your legs or arms.
LEVEL 3 - Make 2 beanbags or get 2 tennis balls. Play catch with the student with only a short distance between you (no more that 10 or 12 feet, less if the student’s physical or visual difficulties require). Once a good rhythm is achieved, ask that you and the student only throw with your right hands and catch with your left hands.
33- Mazes
LEVEL 1 - You can make mazes at home with a pencil and ruler, but most people find it easier to purchase a book of mazes at a teacher’s supply store, grocery stores or department stores in the children’s book sections. Have the student attempt the mazes, tracing them with a pencil or marker. Start with very simple mazes, printed with large pathways and a minimum of dead ends. Progress to more challenging mazes.
Complex mazes also can be found in the Visual Processing Workbook of the Brainwave-R, (ProEd @ http://www.proedinc.com, 800-897-3202), beginning with Exercise 24.
Taken from Tasks for Home-Based Cognitive Stimulation Program, the Traumatic Brain Injury Model System at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Dept. of P M & R, Birmingham, AL. © 1998-2003 University of Alabama at Birmingham