The Ball Bath

At one of the group homes we had what's called a ball bath. It is a huge bin on the floor that holds many small plastic balls. We had to get rid of it for various reasons but mostly because it was difficult to keep clean. Imagine disinfecting 500 balls after taking them out of the bin one-at-a-time then putting them back in on your overnight shift. I digress. The reason we had the ball bath was for one of the individuals with profound intellectual disability to play in. She loved the sensory experience of running her hands through the balls for hours. Some people are very happy to have that ball bath gone. It seemed meant for children and only adults live in the home. On the other hand, some people are upset because this young woman really enjoyed this activity. They believe that it is her preferred activity and she should have access to the things she loves.

This is how I see it...yes, she loved it. But we offered her very few activities that provided the same type of stimulation for her yet were adult activities. If she loves to run her hands through things, she might love running her hands through soapy water to wash dishes. Or run her hands through sand at the beach. Maybe she could start a collection of something and manipulate those items - much like the rest of us have collections we tinker with. A staffer at the home recognized her need and has started having her work in the flower gardens scattered around the home. Perfect! She runs her hands through the dirt, digs with the trowel, and pulls out the weeds. We give up too easily looking for adult activities thinking the individuals are like children when they really are not at all.

We, as a society and as people who work with folks with disabilities, are under the impression that if a person's I.Q. is comparatively that of a 3-year-old, that they need and prefer child-like things. But as one of my mentors explained to me last week, that's not how that works. Assessments that compare individuals with intellectual disabilities with the norm, are meant as a tool to determine their current skill-level, not to determine that they have the mind of a child. A person who has the reading skills of an average 7-year-old doesn't mean they are 7-years-old mentally and need everything in their lives geared to 7-year-old preferences. Not at all. The adults I work with (and live with) have a range of skills. But they are still adults and should be offered adult activities and adult respect.