In November of 2019, we had our pilot program. It went well and our two guinea pigs (I mean, students) seemed to benefit from the short 6 session trial run! We organized the sessions so that the students had one hour of cognitive training (Feuerstein method), one hour of vestibular therapy (Think, Move, Learn) and one hour of vocational training in the kitchen sandwiched by a connection time and a recap time.
The cognitive training went as well as we knew it could (the cognitive trainers have been doing this for awhile, so this was not their first rodeo!) ! The students were very receptive to the challenging pages of dots and shapes to be identified as well as the thought process that was taught regarding problem solving.
Tracy Murray, the occupational therapist who developed Think, Move, Learn was able to adjust the task or exercise for having two students who were full grown young men. She was used to working with little ones so it was a bit of an adjustment for her. The agility ladder, the balance boards and the bean bags were a hit, and the students were willing to try anything she introduced!
Working in the kitchen on cooking and cleaning skills was very important to our sessions as we used some of what we cooked to sell at events as well as donate to a local Christmas celebration. The young men didn’t balk at cooking muffins or washing dishes or putting the kitchen back together :)
To start our evening, we had a time of connecting and conversation. At the end of the evening, we closed our time by recapping what was taught and what the students learned throughout the time.
It was the best pilot program we could have hoped for! We had put so much prayer, time and energy into planning the program, and the Lord blessed it beyond our expectations!