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Section 8
Track #8: Color Pattern Cards

Table of Contents | NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet

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Transcript of Track #8

Colored pattern cards are a way of increasing the difficulty of color sorting. Take a piece of corrugated cardboard approximately 6 inches by 6 inches and glue yellow construction paper over it. Then use your gallon milk bottle caps to trace circles in corresponding colors to your gallon milk bottle caps. If your milk bottle caps are red and blue, you would trace and cut out red and blue circles. Then glues these circles to your 6 x 6 color pattern cards. Use a clear contact paper over the surface of the color pattern card for extra durability and stain resistance.

The patterns can vary from a simple two-dot pattern to a 12 or 15-dot pattern card. Use your imagination regarding patterns. My cards consist of a two dot pattern card where the dots are side by side, 3 dots in a row, 4 dots in a square, a right triangle with one dot, two dots, and so on. Each card has approximately a 50/50 ratio of red to blue dots on them.

The way to introduce this activity to the resident is to say something like “I’ve got a game for you Martha to play today, would you like to play a game?” always assess the resident’s understanding and seeming willingness to go along with the activity. If they seem to be receptive, offer them a cap assessing whether they take the cap or whether you have to place it in their hand. This is a good indication of motivation physical and mental ability. Then say, take the cap and put it on the dot. Initially do not request that they place the cap on the corresponding color.

If they seem to get the idea place a second cap in their hand and make the same request. Down the line ideally, you would place a color pattern card in front of the resident and a stack of caps and they would place the caps on the dots.

Three Ways of Adapting the Exercise
A way of adapting the difficulty level of color pattern cards is by varying the amount of instruction you give. One goal might read to do a three-dot color pattern card after three or four demonstrations. A revised goal might be to do a three-dot color pattern card independently.

Obviously another way to increase the level of difficulty of color pattern cards is to increase the number of dots on the card. So an initial care plan goal might be to do a three-dot pattern card independently once started. The revised goal might be to do a 7-dot card.

A third way to adapt the difficulty level of the color pattern cards is to ask your resident to match the appropriate color to the cap. So a goal might read to do a 3-dot color pattern card matching the correct color with the cap of the corresponding dot. Approaches with this would be to demonstrate the activity or to encourage with praise or to remind the resident that they are helping to keep their finger movement fluid.

A reminder about working surface height, remember we discussed Caps in a Bowl. Notice the angle of the resident’s elbow related to the over the bed table. This simple observation and adjustment of the working surface height can greatly assist your resident’s accomplishment of success. The resident will not be able to tell you they are having a problem with the angle of their hand to the working surface.

You need to observe and adjust the height accordingly. This would then be indicated in the approach perhaps to lower working surface to convenient height or to provide a tall rest for their elbow or wrist. With the colored pattern cards, you need to stabilize the card for your resident if they cannot stabilize it themselves. That is if they are right handed, can they use their left hand to hold the card stationary. Most residents are unable to do this, so you may tape the card to the over the bed table or clamp it with the C clamp. The next success therapy project we’ll discuss is the geometric puzzle.

Question 8: What is one way to stabilize the color pattern card for a resident with shaky hands?

NCCAP/NCTRC CE Booklet
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Table of Contents

Note-Taking Exercise
Color Pattern Cards

What are three ways to adapt the difficulty of Color Patterns Cards?
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What are three suggested Approaches for Color Pattern Cards?
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Residents with whom to try Color Pattern Cards

Culture Change Implementation: Place Color Pattern Cards  in an  Activity Project Bag left in resident’s room for CNA, volunteer, etc. use.