Second Base: Plan Step 1

Contents

  1. Second Base: Plan Step 1 Introduction
  2. What is the Environment?
  3. The 11 Parts of the Environment
  4. Second Base: Plan Step 1 Game Plan Worksheet


Second Base of the Game Plan is called Second Base: Plan. When we plan, we think of ways to meet our goal. Second Base: Plan has three steps, or three things we have to think about. The first step of Second Base is Plan Step 1. During Plan Step 1, we ask the question, “What parts of the environment help me or make it hard for me?”

“What parts of the environment help me or make it hard for me?”

Each base of the Game Plan has a hand motion to help us remember what it means. When we ask “What parts of the environment help me or make it hard for me?,” we make this motion which represents things that help (thumbs up) or make it hard (thumbs down).

thumbs upthumbs down

Another way to remember that Second Base: Plan Step 1, is by remembering the symbol. The symbol for Second Base: Plan Step 1 is a thumbs up and a thumbs down.

a thumbs up and a thumbs down

Now it’s time to ask yourself the Second Base: Plan Step 1 question: “What parts of the environment help me or make it hard for me?”

In Project TEAM, we use the word environment to describe the people, places, and things all around you. That’s because this is how other professionals like teachers, therapists, counselors, and other staff use the word environment. Using the same words that professionals use might help you be a better communicator or a more effective advocate. Everything around you is part of your own environment.

Other teenagers with disabilities have described the environment like this:

  • It’s everything that surrounds you.
  • It’s part of your life and the things you do.
  • It’s the things that you use each and every day.
  • It’s the places you go each and every day.
  • It’s the people and places that you come into contact with while doing activities.

So, for example, the computer you are using and the room you are sitting in right now are part of your environment. Can you think of some other things that are in your environment right now?

Sometimes activities might be a little hard to do because of a disability, a condition, or the unique way you learn. But sometimes activities are hard to do because of your environment. What sorts of things make it hard for you to do the activities you want to do?

In Project TEAM, we talk about 11 categories of parts of the environment. The 11 parts of the environment are:

  1. Things: Includes objects that you use to complete activities.
  2. Inside Places: Includes spaces inside buildings and the size, shape, and layout of the space. Includes the spaces in between rooms or floors.
  3. Outside Places: Includes nature such as parks and forests, and other outdoor areas such as streets.
  4. People: Includes adults and friends that you talk to or interact with during activities.
  5. Services and Organizations: Includes schools, clubs, religious groups, offices, governments, businesses, and other groups that are in charge of organizing activities or events for people.
  6. Rules: Includes directions about how activities should be completed. Includes the amount of time given to complete activities.
  7. Technology: Includes computers, electronics and adaptive equipment that help people do things.
  8. Ground: Includes the surfaces you walk or wheel over when going places. Includes man-made or natural surfaces, like concrete, sand, or snow.
  9. Entrances and Exits: Includes all the ways to get in and out of buildings.
  10. Signs and Information: Includes all things that give people the facts they need to do or find things, like maps, symbols, lists, websites, brochures, or announcements.
  11. Light, Sound, and Smell: Includes sensations such as how bright something is, how loud something is, or how something smells.

To learn more about the 11 parts of the environment and to see photos that may help you understand, download and look over the Parts of the Environment Slideshow. You can print this out to help you complete future Project TEAM activities.

What parts of the environment help me or make it hard for me?

In order to answer this question, we first have to find all the parts of the environment that are involved in your activity.

Download and print out the Second Base: Plan Step 1 Game Plan Worksheet. Go down the list of all the parts of the environment, and for each part of the environment, think if it is a part of your activity goal. If a part of the environment is in your activity, put a big circle around it. Not every part of the environment will be in your goal activity. For example, if you are doing an indoor activity like going to the movies, outdoor places may not be involved in that activity.

Ready to learn more?

Go on to the next part of the Game Plan:

a person thinking Second Base: Plan Step 2