Famela Restrepo

LEI 4724
Activity File 30

Activity title: Communication Relay

Source: Arnheim, D., & Sinclair, W. (1985). Auditory Impairment. In Physical
education for special populations: A developmental, adapted and remedial
approach (p. 292). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.

Equipment: indoor multipurpose room or outdoor activity area, tape, paper, and
pencils.

Description of activity: the objective of this activity is to develop expressiveness in

communication skills. Also develop socialization, cooperation and creativity. This is a relay race.
One student from each team will run up to the instructor, who in turn will tape a piece of paper
containing a message to each of the childrens foreheads. The students then run back to their
teams. Each team must read the message and communicate it to the runner entirely by charades.
With the exception of the runner, no verbalization is allowed. Once the runner guesses the
message, the entire team must sit down. The winning team is the one taking the least amount of
time to guess the correct message correctly.
Leadership consideration: the setting for this activity is in a spacious room or outdoor area.
Make sure that there is no extra distraction in the area, so participants can focus only in the
activity. The number of participants are between five to ten participants per team. The facilitator
can give an example of how to execute the activity if he/she feel that is necessary or ask to
participants who can demonstrate to the rest player how to play it. Some examples of the
message are; animal (e.g., elephant, dog, cat, horse) emotion (e.g., happiness, sadness, laugher,
crying) action (e.g., running, biking, swimming, skating)
Adaptations:
Participants with aphasia: Aphasia is a communication disorder that results from damage to the
parts of the brain that contain language (typically in the left half of the brain). Individuals who
experience damage to the right side of the brain may have additional difficulties beyond speech
and language issues. Aphasia may causes difficulties in speaking, listening, reading, and writing,
but does not affect intelligence. The specific symptoms and severity of aphasia vary depending
on the location and extent of brain damage (Aphasia, n.d.). The facilitator has to get the
person's attention before he/she start explaining the activity. These advices will help you to
communicate effectively to a person with aphasia. Maintain eye contact and watch the persons
body language and use of gesture. Also minimize or eliminate background noise (other people),
keep your voice at a normal level. Do not speak loudly unless the person asks you to do so, give
the individual time to speak.

Participants with hearing impairment: A hearing impairment is a hearing loss that prevents a
person from totally receiving sounds through the ear. If the loss is mild, the person has difficulty
hearing faint or distant speech. A person with this degree of hearing impairment may use a
hearing aid to amplify sounds. If the hearing loss is severe, the person may not be able to
distinguish any sounds (Definition and accommodations for hearing Impairments,
n.d.). To communicate effectively with participants with hearing impairment, the
facilitator will smile and maintain eye contact during the time he/she is talking to them.

Depending on the level of the players, the message may be either written or picture. Teams may
also use sign language to communicate the message. The facilitator may use sign language only
if he/she are qualified. Otherwise, incorrect information may be conveyed or if a sign language
interpreter is present, talk directly to the person who is deaf, not the interpreter. Participants
always needs to be able to see your lips if he/she has learned to read lips. If at all feasible, use
complete sentences, especially when communicating with children. Good language development
is dependent upon correct use of verbs, adjectives, adverbs, nouns, etc. Speak slowly and clearly,
but do not exaggerate. Be expressive, but not overly so, if a word is not understood, try another
word. Demonstrate if possible. In addition, if all else fails, use a pad and pencil to communicate.
Adaptations References
- Aphasia. Retrieved November 10, 2015, from
http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/Aphasia/

- Definition and accommodations for hearing Impairments. Retrieved November 10,

2015, from http://ada.ky.gov/hearing_imp_def.htm