Passage House recieves Wii as donation
Zack Becker, Opinion Editor
October 15, 2009
Filed under Student Life
The special education department recently recieved a Nintendo Wii for Passage House. Passage House is the building used for a functional curriculum program for students with special needs.
The Wii console was purchased with money donated by the Belton Eagles Lodge. It is being used to help the kids develop social skills. It is also teaching them how to share and have some friendly competetion.
The class has a flexible schedule on getting to play the Wii console. They usually only get to play twice or three times a week. At that, the whole class collectively only gets to play for an hour total. To further limit them, they only have one controller. This means that they are learning some strong skills in being patient and in sharing.
Getting to play the game isn’t just for free time. It is incorporated into actual lessons, such as fitness.
Wii Sports, the game that came with the console, is the only game that the students have to play, currently. The game includes simplified versions of some popular sports such as bowling, tennis and boxing. Each game is just the very very basics of the real sports, such as baseball is simply hitting the ball.
Special Education Paraprofessional Traci Cox said that the students have a lot of fun.
“They really enjoy playing,” Cox said. “They write their scores up on the board. It’s a lot of fun.”
Cox added that the students mostly play bowling. She said the game and system are great for the students who might not be able to play real sports.
“They do get a lot out of it. They cheer each other on and just have a great time,” Cox said.
Special Education Teacher Danielle Conklin said that she hopes to be able to expand the Wii experience for the students. In the future, she would like to have some of the peripherals for the Wii remote, such as a tennis racket or baseball bat add-on. She also said she hopes to get other games like Wii Fit, a fitness game, and Wii Music, a freestyle music game.
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