During my third and fourth visit to Apex Harmony, there were multiple problems we encountered while doing our activities. Each student was paired up and organised an activity to do every week. These activities had to be simple, fun and had to improve the clients’ cognitive skills. On the fourth visit to Apex Harmony, the activity was organised by two grade 10 boys. The activity was to make the people follow a certain music rhythm. One major problem we encountered was that it was very hard for us to get the people to follow a rhythm. They would often play their own rhythm or did not understand what they were supposed to do.
During this activity, we were paired up so the students could teach the people with dementia how to play the rhythm. I was very focused and caught up on my own partner that I was unaware one person did not have an instrument although she was sitting next to me. This is one mistake I should often reflect back on as it is important to be aware of my surroundings and I should be helping as many people as possible.
Another challenge I face was the communication barrier. Although I was paired up with a person who could speak English, it was very difficult to communicate with her as she could not hear well, understand well and speak loud. One advice I got from my teacher was to use simple words and to talk clearly.
LO 1 Identifying own strengths and develop areas for personal growth
LO 2 Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
LO 3 Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
LO 4 Show commitment to and perseverance in your CAS experiences
LO 7 Recognise and consider the ethics of choices and actions
