Recreational Therapy for School Students: Benefits and Challenges

Running head: RECREATIONAL THERAPY
RECREATIONAL THERAPY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1RECREATIONAL THERAPY
Introduction:
School students often feel unenthusiastic about the mundane routine that they follow in
school. At the same time it has further been stated that school children must be exposed to
activities that would promote team spirit in them (Wozencroft & Kardin, 2014). By virtue of
these activities it would be easier for them to inculcate team spirit and at the same time enhance
their confidence level. Further, the skills gained through these activities help in the professional
front. The students would be able to coordinate in an efficient manner with the team and be
comfortable working with a number of people.
Recreation programs aim at enhancing the skills of the students to participate in group
activities with convenience (Widmer et al., 2014). It further imparts effective training to the
students so that they are able to work in a coordinated manner and at the same time are able to
handle difficult tasks together. I was appointed along with my team to deliver effective leisure
training sessions to the school children. I specifically designed interactive sessions in order to
grasp the attention of the students and keep them engrossed in the activity.
The school site and students level of engagement and motivation with the topic:
Venue: Campbelltown TAFE
Class: Certificate 3, ‘English for further studies’ (called ESOL/ABE: English for speakers of other
languages & Adult Basic Education) class.
Age range: 18 years to 45 years
Ethnicity: Multi-ethnic

2RECREATIONAL THERAPY
In order to assess the level of involvement of the students a form was provided to the
students that asked about the knowledge of the students regarding recreation therapy. Initially
there were 19 students, but one left. In total 18 students participated in the process including
the teacher. 13 students affirmed that they had heard about the concept of recreation therapy
before, however the others stated they had no knowledge about what it was. Further, another
question was asked that included the response of the students about recommending the
session to anybody else, while 13 students gave a positive response, 2 students were neutral
and 2 students voiced their opinion that they would not recommend. Another question asked
about the effectiveness of the sessions, to which the students 15 students said that it did help
them while 1 student gave a negative response.
Identification of your strengths and weaknesses during the presentation:
Some of the barriers that were experienced while delivering the presentation included
distraction from other students. Since the class room where the session was being held was a
shared one, other students from different class rooms were constantly interrupting. The students
were also wishing to use the computer where the presentation was stored. The students were
even asking for the computer so that they could print their documents. No cooperative effort
could be seen. Further, it was also seen that the students were talking among themselves and
making it difficult to focus on the audience and deliver the presentation with precision.
The strengths could be identified as the ability to grasp information that was being
delivered. Questions from the students facilitated that they were keen on learning about
therapeutic recreation. Also, the willingness of the students to participate in the activities