Willa June Wamsley
Motor Activity Clinic
Motor Activity Clinic
This clinic provides physical activity programs to support the health and wellness of children with disabilities. I partnered with a student taking the class preparing for our client, learning their likes and dislikes and how to help them if they become overwhelmed. The student I am partnered with prepared activity plans for each week and I would assist in leading our client through activities. My client in the photo to the left loved to shoot baskets, talk about her cats, and swim and find toys around the pool.
This was a great experience that provided me insight into working in pediatrics! I learned how to adapt to specific needs for each client I worked with, as well as remembering to make it fun and to enjoy the activities as well!
Ability Fitness Clinic
In this class, I had the opportunity to work one on one with a client at NIFs. Every Tuesday, I would meet with her at the gym to go through an exercise plan I created for her. We worked on balance, leg strength, cardio, and abs every week. She was very motivated to exercise and was also a great motivator for me, especially if she caught me yawning a little after a long day :)
This was an experience that got me out of my comfort zone and I loved getting to know my client and work with her for a few weeks!
Live Laugh Dance
This is a program for individuals with Down syndrome to express themselves through dancing. As a Live Laugh Dance volunteer, I was paired with a dancer. We all learned the dances as a group, and at the same time, I would work with my dancer individually to help teach the dance moves, using verbal cues along the way. She was a very fun individual to work with, and I was able to get out of my comfort zone by working with my dancer and the other dancers, performing in front of a crowd for the recital. My dancer was very sweet, loved showing off her nails, and sang to Taylor Swift's "22" every time we practiced it. I had such a fun experience during this program!
As I was getting to know my client at the start of this program, I realized I needed to adjust my approach to teaching. Showing her the moves next to or in front of her was not as effective, so I started using verbal cues that would help her remember them and to associate the cues to a specific move. This seemed to be very helpful, and I learned a lot through this experience by making helpful changes in real time!
Camp Brosius
In May of 2024, I attended a leadership camp for the School of Health and Human Sciences known as Camp Brosius at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. I experienced a week of leadership training and activities with my "Family", other students that I have never met or know very well. Working together through these activities allowed us to build trust and connections with one another!
Activities that we completed together as a team include helping each other up over this wall, building a tent without the use of our vision by being blindfolded, carrying each other through a man-made web, solving a puzzle by determining as a group which pieces fit and where they go, and more. This experience helped me to depend on others when I cannot do something alone! It gave me the confidence to lead and to follow others through group work that I will be able to apply in my education and career in the future!