Life Skills Instructor

by Connie Ervin
(Indianola, IA, United States)

I have a woman who needed practice with fine motor skills. Among the techniques I have used to help her with this area is playing the Nintendo Wii bowling game.

It took her a while to be able to correctly manipulate the controller to get the desired result - getting the ball down the alley and knocking down pins, but she did it!

She was very proud that she was able to learn to use this. It takes holding it correctly, then pressing one button on one side of the controller and one on the other side, knowing when to release one button while cuing a swing as she looks at the screen. She also needs to use a toggle to align the trajectory of the ball. This activity uses many fine motor movements and good hand/eye coordination.