Special Olympics

A Little Game Change-Up 

On your marks, get set, go! The gun goes off and a few seconds go by and no one makes a move. 

"Come on, run! It’s time to start!" we yell encouragingly.  

Within moments of hearing our voices, there is an unmistakable glow of excitement on the athletes’ faces and they begin running. It is an unlikely start to a highly competitive race, and yet it is the weekly norm at Grant High School's Special Olympics track and field practice.  With an innate sense of team work and competition much like any other practice, it is hard to imagine that these athletes have varying degrees of both mental and physical disabilities. These athletes are truly remarkable in skill and perseverance and yet the minute they step off the field of Grant high school, they are categorized and often their potential overlooked.  

We don't often talk about games in regards to people who are mentally or physically disabled.  While the rules might change a little to fit the specific needs of the players, the games themselves are not taken from their original nature.  As an assistant coach for both track and field and soccer, I watch as these athletes use games to learn more about life, skills, and friendships.  As normally developing children, we often relied on games to make friends, enjoy our time, and compete against one another.  With a somewhat different childhood, these athletes use games to learn new skills, make new friends, foster sharing behaviors, and understand the importance of following rules on and off the field.  There skills, much like us, vary.  There are promising and VERY talented athletes who use the Special Olympics to receive gold medals and break records, and there are also the athletes who struggle with the game itself but provide the encouraging words the team needs.  

The problem is that millions of people in any given day, in countless numbers of social settings continue to discount these special people and athletes.  They can attend school, work, drive cars, get married, participate in decisions that affect them, and contribute to society in many ways.  People with intellectual and developmental disabilities are capable and enjoy sharing life experiences – listening to music, playing video games, watching the latest movies, having fun – as well as working together toward athletic excellence and mutually enriching one-to-one friendships as demonstrated constantly through Special Olympics.  

Games for a Cure

Starlight Children's Foundation

The Gamification of Terminal Illness 

At first it seems a little strange, if not morbid, to present children with games depicting their often terminal illnesses.  The doctors diagnose a young child with Stage IV cancer, and then she is expected to enjoy blasting the cancerous tumor cells and they pass on the computer screen?  I must admit I was a little skeptical at first.  Wouldn't you rather play FIFA, Mario Kart... something other than what your body is already fighting every day? 

However, research done by the top psychologists, gamers, children, and medical professionals alike prove that children and teens both better cope with and enjoy playing games that reenact their medical conditions.  Paired with PlayStation, the Starlight Children's foundation creates gaming centers in hospitals to help kids fill hours in hospitals or treatment centers with therapeutic fun, find distraction during long or painful medical procedures, and stay connected with the outside world and keep up with school work during extended hospitalizations.  It's kind of like Facebook, Wii, CTools, and an Iphone all wrapped up in one germ-free computer.  

We learn about games in all different ways, but we never learn that games can a healing force.  When confronted with the same cancer cells that we might not be able to kill off in our own body, these games help to create a sense of power and control in the virtual world without explicitly stating the nature of the game.  These kids, much like any other kid their age, play the video games and instantly become addicted to them.  With so many games to choose from, these "Fun-Centers" bring both joy and a sense of hope to terminally ill children.  

Relay For Life

Where competition can increase profits.

Relay for Life happens every year, all over the country to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  Its branches are deeply rooted and connected, I would say, to almost every high school and college campus around the nation.  I'm the type of person who loves these types of things, charity events, donations, you name it and I probably will find myself signing up.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not some altruistic person looking to do good everywhere, but for some reason I can't say no.  In order to hopefully prevent yet another year of an early morning wakeup for Detroit Partnership Day, I want to see why we are so compelled to give my time and money to these causes. Charity aside, there must be some sort of motivation, some sort of underlying competition. 

Steven Garcia explains that in order to increase competition, there must be a relatively small group of people competing against one another.  This makes the goal seem more tangible.  In the case of a charity fundraiser, people compete to raise the most money.  However, if competition works best in smaller groups, how can a charity increase participation while continuing to make the most amount of money?

Well... In order to even sign up for Relay, you must join a team-- a team that is a small group, usually consisting of people you know and interact with often.  This helps to increase overall participation and it breaks down the overwhelming nature of thousands of competitors into a small and familiar group of people to compete with.  This is where it all goes downhill.  They make it very easy for you to send out a prewritten email to friends and family soliciting donations to the charity.  Unlike most events where the money raised is usually disclosed, Relay for Life conveniently creates a website for each group, comparing members to increase incentive for competition.  Members end up competing in order to be the highest fundraiser.  Then they compare teams in order to foster competition within the larger groups making it so that even the person who has no chance to win the highest fundraiser, still wants to help out their team by continuing to donate smaller amounts of money.  While I am not naturally a competitive person, the end result helps out a good cause, and at the end of the day competition isn't gonna hurt someone to raise more money for charity.  

Jordan Litt-- highest overall fundraiser 2011

The Race to the Finish Line

We are all down to our final weeks of our sophomore year. The first half of our college career will be completed in a matter of days. As the remaining days go by, I start to think about how many exams and papers and assignments I have to complete before I leave Ann Arbor for four months. Finishing these assignments is dreadful, but I know that I have to compete against my peers for the better grade. Planning our last few weeks is like a game.

First, we plan out how we are going to go about finishing our assignments. Then, once we have a game plan, we actually complete it. The feeling of finish a 20 page Psychology paper (for me) is the best feeling. Knowing I put in so much effort into an assignment is rewarding, no matter the grade. For me, finishing something I put a lot of time into gives me the same feeling as winning my first soccer game. I was nervous about it, but in the end I was proud of how the game, and the paper, went.

Getting past the academic aspect of my final days, there are a bunch of activities and places I want to go to in my last 10 days. An omelette from Angelo's, sit outside for lunch at Charlies with my friends, visit the farmer's market, and one last night out on the town to celebrate.

We are almost at the finish line. We are almost done with dreadful papers and exams. We are so close. W are so close to four months of sun and relaxation :)

image from: http://www.askcms.com/mind-body-spirit/easy-ways-improve-relaxation-home/

Soul Surfer

I love the movie Soul Surfer! This movie focuses on Bethany Hamilton and her life growing up in Hawaii as a surfer. While on an annual surfing trip, Bethany lost her arm from a terrifying shark attack. But losing an arm, would not keep her from getting back in the water and competing in surfing events. Once her stitches healed, Bethany was back. She started with the simplest board to surf on and worked hard every single day until she was able to stand up on a short board. Bethany was back in competition mode. She competed against girls her age who were just as good as her, and would not let her disadvantage get the best of her.

Bethany did not compete against girls like her. She competed against girls who could compete with her before and after the shark attack. Her biggest competition did not treat her any differently.

I praise Bethany for wanting to compete with people who have two arms when she does not. Her biggest competition takes no mercy on Bethany.

How would you react in this situation? If you were Bethany, could you get back in the water and surf? Could you compete with one arm against girls who do not have this disability? If you were her competitor, would you be able to treat Bethany as the surfer she was before the shark attack?

Game of Iphones

I am the last girl person in this world without an Iphone. Yes, I still use the device from "centuries" ago. A device where you push buttons to dial a phone number, have a miniature screen, and does not have the Apple logo on it. I am the proud owner of a lowly blackberry. I don't know when the shift exactly occurred, but suddenly I went from having 50 active BBM chats to 4. We 4 are the only survivors of this iphone hysteria.

Now in order for you to better understand my perspective with which I write this post, let me explain my tech history. I suck at technology. I manage to operate technology with a medium skill base, yet am hardly that of an expert. I don't download music or TV show (Though I DID just begin to use a netflix instant play account!). So perhaps I come at this with a horribly biased perspective. Perhaps I'll never "get it" with technology.

On to the real point - I don't get the iphone craze. Sure the internet is faster, but is there anyone like me who doesn't want to use a touch screen? Its inefficient and given a large thumb pad, very difficult to type accurate thoughts. And Iphone users will admit this...so what is it about this device that makes it SO great?! Games. There are thousands of "aps" where one can draw with friends, scramble with friends, facetime with friends, angry birds with friends, (insert here) with friends. The iphone is the newest gaming device.

Although I am not a gamer I will admit, the Iphone games are fun. This morning my roommate and I spent an hour playing "draw something", the latest iphone pictionary type game and the family feud on her iphone. And even I will admit, I secretly wanted an Iphone. Now I wonder, was the master mind of Steve Jobs really intended for that of recreation? Did the creators of this cutting edge communication device intend for games to be an outcome, perhaps even a focus for this device? Is this gaming aspect the single quality that really does set apart this phone from other devices? Wait 'till I get my iphone when I have an upgrade in July - I'll tell you then!

(Photos from: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/draw-something-free/id488628250?mt=8
                      http://www.t3.com/news/draw-something-app-surges-to-20-million-downloads-1)

Video Games: The New Type of Medicine

When people think of video games, they usually associate it with leisure time or a hobby of some children. However, the use of video games has evolved and is becoming a major player in medicine. Here is an article about a 9-year-old boy who was in a car crash, suffered a month-long coma, and was declared to never again eat, walk, or talk on his own. Thanks to video game systems, the boy is now has equivalent skills with his other peers in school. The video game therapy allowed him to fully open his right hand that used to be paralyzed closed, and it has helped improve other functions such as memory. Using games is a newer toy of treatment being used in medicine due to the increased popularity of electronics and animation. Video games are not only used to help those who have suffered brain damage, but also a useful tool to make anxiety and pain more manageable for sick children in a hospital, and children who suffer from ADHD and learning disabilities. 

Do you see video games being incorporated into the another field of medicine in the future? How about any other fields or departments outside of medicine?

-Jen Joseph

The Fantastic Four