Purpose: To develop visual spatial predictiveness for hand and foot action patterns.
Materials: Balls of various sizes
Procedure:
Jump Ball
1. Roll ball toward patient. He is to jump over the ball. The jump action should be symmetrical. Feet should lift and land on the floor together.
2. Patient’s arms should also lift symmetricallly in support of the jumping action.
3. Roll the ball from different directions and at different speeds.
4. Start with a small size ball – tennis ball – and work toward a larger size – basketball.
5. Next, instruct patient to jump 1/4 or 1/2 turn clockwise or counterclockwise as he jumps over the ball.
Hand Jump Ball
1. Two players stand three to four feet apart on the same side of a table. Both players place their hands on the table, palms down and about twelve inches apart. All four hands should be in line. An alternate method is for each player to kneel on the floor with hands placed as stated.
2. One player rolls a ball toward his own hand and hands of other player.
3. He lifts own hand to let ball under and immediately puts it down again.
4. Other player lifts his first hand at the last second and puts it down again after the ball passes under and catches it with the other hand.
5. Now second player repeats process. Switch places every five rolls so that the role each hand plays is reversed.
6. Repeat with both players looking at some target straight ahead while controlling the ball with peripheral seeing.
Aspects to be emphasized:
Jump Ball
1. Symmetrical jumping pattern using whole body with feet together.
2. Ability to jump over ball gracefully regardless of the speed or direction from which it comes.
Hand Ball Jump
1. Simultaneous awareness of self and other players when rolling the ball.
2. Flexibility in shifting the “lift” and “catch” roles from one hand to the other, under the direction of visual clues.
