The role and importance of adapted activities in support

THE INTEREST OF DOING ACTIVITIES

• Doing activities is a basic need that allows us to have goals
on a daily basis. Why would I want to shower if I don't have
nothing to do in my day

• Doing activities contributes to a sense of identity. Playing a social role
is a human need. It contributes to feeling useful. If everyone
The world is made for me, I'm no longer of any use!

• Doing activities helps reduce the risk of depression

THE FOUR RULES TO RESPECT TO OFFER AN ADAPTED ACTIVITY

An activity that promotes independence

Encouraging independence means showing the person that you have confidence in
her and her abilities.
Even if it may seem faster to us, the objective is not to
do things for the person. By doing things for them, you
remove the possibility of maintaining certain abilities or learning from them
new.
Rather, position yourself as a facilitator, prepare the environment in advance,
look among its preserved abilities for what it can still do,
allow her to do things on her own.

A meaningful activity

Proposing a meaningful activity requires taking an interest in the person
accompanied, to know her and to discover what is important for
her. A meaningful activity is one that doesn't have the sole purpose of keeping her busy. We want the person to get a result from their action, to find a use for it.

An activity that offers a sense of control

It is important to take into account that every interaction we have with the
accompanied person offers him an opportunity to make a choice. Even
If you don't offer a wide range of choices, it will give the
no one feels like they are an actor in the decisions that affect their life
daily.

An activity in a suitable environment

Not doing something for someone does not mean doing nothing to help them.
“Help me to do it alone” should be the principle that guides us most when
we support a person with cognitive difficulties. We
We are here to provide her with everything she needs to
accomplish his goal.

Concretely, what are the benefits of adapted activities?
When you give a person the opportunity to express themselves, to respect
her choices, to do things that you (and surely she herself) don't believe her
more able to achieve, we observe a magnificent evolution of well-being.
This includes a tendency to do more things alone, to feel better

How to put this into practice?

• Always base yourself on what you have actually observed: is the person
Is she incapable of doing this or am I convinced that she is not capable of it? Perhaps she could participate in carrying out tasks
of daily life that you hadn't thought of.

• If I propose to a person who has no interest in art or hobbies
creative, to draw and that I observe a lack of concentration, of
restlessness, wandering, is this due to illness or a
bad activity proposal?

• Systematically offer the person at least two choices. You
you will see that she will be able to choose. If her abilities really do not
do not allow you to choose, is it still possible to offer him a
unique choice, giving him the space to choose whether to do it or not

• She fails to achieve something that was before her
liked it a lot, how could I organize it better?
the environment for it to achieve this?