Each Friday at HMS, our department of Recreation Therapy holds a school-wide group activity. For the first Friday in January, our school came together to solve The Case of the Missing Catapult.
These Friday programs help students practice a variety of skills and hone their cognitive abilities—all while engaging in a fun activity with their peers. In fact, most students would never guess that they are actually working to improve important physical, social and life skills.
Recreation therapists develop each activity to appeal to our students’ interests. In The Case of the Missing Catapult, students were charged with solving clues to identify a person—in this instance, a much-loved member of our social work staff. Finding the clues, and solving them, required all participants to follow directions and practice their communication, cooperation, memory and organizational skills. The entire group enjoyed solving the mystery, which bolstered their sense of self-confidence and self-esteem.