LEARNING THROUGH THE ARTS

 A NEWSLETTER FOR SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHERS OF THE ARTS

 Spring, 2001

Welcome to the sixth annual newsletter written for those who use and value the arts for special education students. The newsletter began as a way to alert special educators to the time and place for the Special Interest Group for Teachers of the Arts meeting held each year at the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) convention. The “reminder” soon grew to include descriptions of arts presentations for those unable to attend the CEC convention. The newsletter provided a connection to the presenters who teach the arts to special education students. Members (I did not write a newsletter one year and heard about it) have valued this information because CEC attracts teachers from schools and universities around the country. An overlap between CEC and the National Art Education Association (NAEA) was inevitable and since 1998, the newsletter described presentations from both the CEC and NAEA conventions.

Our on-going wish has been to build bridges between special educators and art educators who advocate the arts for special education students. Significant steps have been taken. One is the Special Interest Group for Teachers of the Arts that, for the past seven years, has met at the CEC annual convention. The meeting is a chance to network and share ideas (more about the meeting below). For the second time at CEC, Dian Berry and Binney & Smith brought art education to the Exhibit Hall. For art educators, a national conference without Binney & Smith would be unthinkable, and quickly demonstrates a difference between CEC and NAEA. For the third year, the P. Buckley Moss Foundation organized a conference on art and special education in Virginia (described below). And, Barbara Suplee and other art educators have been moving the formation of a special issues group about teaching art to special education students towards a delegates' vote and NAEA adoption.

What could be bad about these developments? “Be careful what you wish for because you may get it” fits here with a little help from “Murphy's Law.” For many years, CEC and NAEA headquarters were located just next door to each other on Association Drive in Reston , Virginia . Just as a dialog between CEC and NAEA seems possible, CEC has moved its headquarters to Arlington . Talk about getting together! And, last year CEC's and NAEA's annual conventions, usually held in different parts of the country and separated by almost a month, were near each other in time and location. Both were on the West Coast and NAEA ended just as CEC began. Sounds good, but going to both felt like one very long jet lag.

The CEC and NAEA annual conventions offered a varied menu of special education and arts related presentations that are described below. Art educators probably won't be surprised to learn that Dian Berry's session at CEC was filled to capacity long before it was scheduled to begin. Look for information about last year's Special Interest Group for Teachers of the Arts meeting at CEC in Vancouver, British Columbia and a reminder about this year's meeting in Kansas City ( Friday, April 20th, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown in the Yardbird A room ). The date, time, and conference room location are listed in the front of the CEC convention program.

CEC's 78th annual convention was held in Vancouver , British Columbia . It is difficult to imagine a more spectacular setting. The convention center, which resembles a series of sails, is located on a harbor dramatically surrounded by snow capped mountains. Seaplanes, water taxis, and ships of all sizes add to the excitement of this beautiful location. The parade of water and air transportation takes place before a backdrop of new hotels and office complexes located next to a carefully restored historic district.

Vancouver is a unique, multicultural city that combines big city buildings with an accessible park and beach shoreline. Stanley Park, with its many beaches, is at the tip of a peninsula next to the commercial downtown. Its miles of walking paths and gardens surround a museum, an aquarium, marinas, and weekend art festivals. The mild climate year round makes Stanley Park a regular destination for families and walkers of all ages.

But, the visually stimulating environment of Vancouver had to compensate for the very few arts presentations at CEC this year.

PRESENTATIONS:

Tammy Whitten , music instructor at The Helen Keller School of Alabama, Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talledega, AL began her presentation, "Music for Children Who Are Sensory Impaired and Have Multiple Disabilities" with a videotape of her students. Whitten teaches a continually changing population of students with multiple disabilities who range in age from three to twenty-one years old. They all have some degree of mental retardation and sensory and/or motor problems. Whitten adapts her music program to the students' many levels and needs by using signing, color coding, and large print. Some of Whitten's students can learn electronic keyboarding skills while others learn to use rhythm sticks. Velcro straps help students grasp instruments, while others require a hand over hand approach.

Whitten often adapts song lyrics and reduces them to short, repetitive phrases that are reinforced with rhymic beats to help students remember them. She uses a variety of teaching strategies to help students with vision and hearing impairments. For example, Whitten brought in a wooden platform-like box, large enough to lie on, for students who are both deaf and blind. The wooden box traps the vibrations so that the student can feel the “sounds” of the music. Each year, Whitten's students dress up and proudly demonstrate their skills with a musical performance for everyone at the school.

"Integration of Arts in Schools for Students with Disabilities: Challenges and Successes” was a roundtable discussion led by Linda Hickson , Columbia University. Hickson gave an overview and brief history of the severe budget cuts made to the arts in New York City schools. She described an Annenberg Challenge grant and an Empire State Council for the Arts grant used to bring the arts (visual and performing) to students with severe disabilities who are in separate, rather than inclusive schools. Half of the students in this project had severe behavior problems while the remaining students had severe mental retardation and/or sensory disorders. Artists-in-Residence were hired to bring the arts to students whose program traditionally focused on life skills and career development training.

The grants looked at the positive learning outcomes that could occur through the arts. Hickson described the self-esteem profiles, videotapes, interviews, and portfolio assessments used to evaluate improvements in students' behaviors (level of engagement, independent participation, communication and speech levels) as a result of their exposure to the arts. The levels (H/high, M/medium, and L/low) produced data that was more qualitative than quantitative.

According to the assessment tools used, the students showed significant improvement in both their communication and group dynamics skills. The discussion that followed focused on the use of artist-in-residence programs as a substitute for art teachers and the difficulty assessing the outcomes.

Susan B. Eaton , from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN presented a Poster Session, “Social Competence and the Arts: Implications for Children with Visual Disabilities.” Eaton's information focused on the positive impact of the visual and performing arts on the social competence of students with visual disabilities. She addressed both separate and inclusive school settings and included resources on the arts for use by teachers, parents, and community volunteers.

There were two other arts presentations. Jane E. Hughes, Leon County School District, Tallahassee, FL and Diane L. Johnson, Florida Diagnostic and Learning Resources System-Miccosukee, Tallahassee, FL presented “Music Has Power” . They described the ever-increasing body of music-related brain research and shared how music can be used to enhance academic learning objectives.

"Including All Children in Art Activities: Adapting Materials for Children with Disabilities" by Lisa D. Haffner Sternhagen and Denise M. Dobrenski, both from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD focused on ways to enhance the learning of children with different disabilities who had difficulty manipulating objects and materials. Participants were shown how to create projects and adapt materials so children could participate in art activities regardless of their disability.

EXHIBIT HALL PRESENTATIONS:

Music and art once again drew large crowds to the back of the Exhibit Hall. (Those in the know arrived early.)

"Everyone Can Make Music: Music Activities to Promote Development in Students with Severe Disabilities" was presented by Mary Adamek , Assistant Clinical Professor, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA and sponsored by West Music Company. The session began to the beat of African water drum music and quickly engaged everyone, even the “non-musical” types, in rhythmic beats that soon led to a combination of movement and rhythm.

Adamek explained that “children respond to music in many different ways.” She demonstrated that music can be taught, from a directive, step-by-step approach that engages even the “musically challenged,” to a less directive approach. (It was helpful that Adamek began the session teaching the group when to stop playing). She shared ways to adapt the music for different children and reminded everyone that music chosen should be age appropriate. The music should be adapted to meet the children's' needs, not the reverse, which is a “cookie cutter approach.” Adamek frequently described extensions to the music lesson. For example, “The Sailor's Hornpipe” music led to discussions and actions of activities that would be done on a boat (e.g., rowing, using a spyglass, raising sails, and chanting “Yo-ho-ho”).

The music activities included the use of props because “kids love props” and “scarves help students see the flow of their movements." Participants used a wide variety of instruments, from drums of all sizes to tambourines and shaker eggs. Adamek demonstrated developmentally appropriate instruments, from small and easy to use instruments to larger and more complicated music makers. She also showed some instrument adaptations for children with physical disabilities. Music activities can also provide opportunities for students with emotional problems to be leaders in a positive, appropriate format.

Adamek described how music experiences enhance children's learning by focusing their attention and memory skills, improving eye-hand coordination, and promoting language and communication skills, and social interactions. Her handouts were most informative and provided a strong rationale for teaching music to special education students.

Diann Berry , Director of Art Education, Special Needs, represented Binney & Smith, makers of Crayola Crayon art materials at their second CEC national convention. Berry's hands-on workshop, "Teaching Through the Senses" was crowded to capacity. This year, the word was out and participants lucky enough to get into this exciting, hands-on session arrived very early. One of the Binney & Smith representatives had to become a very polite gate-keeper because almost one hundred people had to be turned away . This is a clear indication that special education teachers want more workshops on the arts!!!

The lucky teachers engaged in an exploration of the processes involved in art making. Berry guided enthusiastic participants through the decision making and problem solving for two art lessons, a three-dimensional activity that used clay, and a two-dimensional activity that used rice starch pencils, flat crayons, and marker pens.

Berry combined information about techniques for using an art medium, for example, mixing clay colors (“Start with yellow and add other colors”) with strategies for connecting the art lesson to other subject areas in the curriculum.

Once again, Diann Berry and Binney & Smith showed how “color, shape, form and texture enhance learning and make learning more vivid and more concrete."

An artist cannot fail; it is a success to be one."
Charles Horton Cooley, Life and the Student

Our 7th annual meeting brought representatives of art and special education together. These were obviously people who could find their way through a maze because the Vancouver Convention Center is connected to adjacent hotels by both street and underground passageways. Locating meeting rooms became an interesting challenge.

The Special Interest Group meeting was a time to renew acquaintances and to meet others who teach and/or advocate the arts for special populations. Each meeting brings new faces and a chance to reconnect with colleagues from across the country. This meeting brought representatives from Very Special Arts, Binney & Smith, The P. Buckley Moss Foundation, music education and therapy, universities, and schools. As usual, a wide range of topics was covered. Diann Berry , Director of Art Education for Binney & Smith, shared information about the work of national arts related organizations like the Arts Education Partnership. There is a need for special education representation on these groups. Dell Philpott of the P. Buckley Moss Foundation, talked about the upcoming Moss Foundation conference at the Airlie Conference Center in Virginia and the annual teacher award given to teachers who use art with special education students. Kim Paynter , special education teacher at the Diamond Mines School in Houston, TX, shared information about an Educator's Evening offered once each month by the Houston Art Museum. The museum brings teachers, parents and students to previews of art shows and to learn about art materials, and is similar to a program at the Cleveland Art Museum.

Research in the arts has become more important as education focuses more and more attention on testing. Information about the 1999 study by Judith Burton, Robert Horowitz, and Hal Abeles at the Center for Arts Education Research, Teachers College, Columbia University was shared with the group. Their study of over 2000 New York City students, grades 4-8, found that, among other things, “young people in the ‘high-arts' groups performed better than those in ‘low arts' groups on measures of creativity, fluency, originality, elaboration and resistance to closure-capacities central to arts learning. Pupils in arts-intensive settings were also strong in their abilities to express thoughts and ideas, exercise their imaginations and take risks in learning. In addition, they were described by their teachers as more cooperative and willing to display their learning publicly.” The study provides a valuable service for all those who need to justify the use of the arts.

It was hoped that more people in the arts would submit presentation proposals for the CEC convention (Kansas City in 2001 and New York City in 2002). CEC members squeezed into the hands-on workshops and demonstrated that interest in the arts is high.

Join us in Kansas City for our next Special Interest Group meeting. It will be held on Friday, April 20th, from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. in Yardbird A conference room at the Kansas City Marriott Downtown .

"I paint objects as I think them, not as I see them."
Pablo Picasso

It seems to get more and more difficult to fit a multi-layered convention schedule into limited time slots without overlaps. Any day's presentation schedule competes with hands-on workshops and off-site visits. But in Los Angeles, a number of special education presentations had to compete with the 800-pound gorilla of off-site visits. They were scheduled on the same day NAEA had arranged to visit the Getty Museum's spectacular hilltop site. The views of Los Angeles in the distance, terraced gardens, hilltop mansions, and the Pacific Ocean distracted from the Getty Museum buildings and exhibits. Talk about competition!

The presentations addressed a wide range of topics from paraprofessionals in the art room to forming a special issues group for teaching students with disabilities. With apologies to those missed because of schedule conflicts, others are described below.

“The Relationship of Special Education Teaching Aides/ Paraprofessionals to Students in Art Education Classrooms and to Art Teachers” and “Clarifying the Role of the Paraprofessionals? Special Education Aides in the Art Classroom” were presented by Doris M. Guay , Associate Professor of Art Education, Kent State, OH.

In her first presentation, Guay shared the results of her two-year, multi-site (20 schools) study of the role of the special education paraprofessional in the art room. Art teachers are entitled to the same aides and support systems as other teachers, but there is a lack of understanding about the roles of paraprofessionals in their classrooms. The presence of a paraprofessional in the room requires a change of the art teacher's role because they are dealing with another adult in their classroom. There has been a general lack of understanding by art teachers about the paraprofessional's role whose role, in fact, has been changing from a clerical or housekeeping helper and extra pair of hands to someone who may monitor IEP goals.

Paraprofessionals usually do not have training in art and are unaware of the developmental levels of art. Many do the artwork for the students. It falls on the art teacher to help define the paraprofessional's role in the art room and to help them work on effective ways to work with the students. Guay cited some special education research that described ways that paraprofessionals had been misused. For example, “velcroing students,” the process of assigning one or two difficult students to the paraprofessional for most of the day. Guay shared that the paraprofessional can “circulate among the students and maintain a watchful eye” and “help students focus their attention and stay on task.” Guay felt that paraprofessionals needed to feel psychologically safe in the art room and must be shown regard and valued.”

“A Computer Program for Students with Mental Retardation: Task Analysis with a Touch Screen” was presented in a RoundTable format by Beverly Levett Gerber, Professor of Special Education, Southern Connecticut State University. Large photographs were used to show high school students with moderate mental retardation engaged in the use of a computer art program. Two factors brought about the success of this collaborative project between the classroom teacher and the University. First, a “TouchScreen” connected to the computer monitor was used because drawing on the “TouchScreen” with a stylus most closely resembles drawing on paper with a pencil so no transference of skills, or learning to draw in a new way, was necessary. Students did not have to learn to draw with a mouse instead of a pencil, or to draw on one surface while looking at another. Second, a task analysis approach to teaching was used to introduce one or two skills at a time. What might otherwise have been an overwhelming amount of information for the students was broken down into small steps. For example, the icon for drawing lines was introduced and mastered before the students learned to use another icon to vary the line thickness. Color icons came later.

Students learned to master the steps they needed and independently use the computer art program bundled with the “TouchScreen” to create their own art.

"We Need A New Special Issues Division in NAEA: Educating Students with Disabilities" was organized by Barbara P. Suplee and Mary Lou Dallam to address the concerns of art teachers who work with children with disabilities. Suplee encouraged those attending her session to sign a petition that would encourage NAEA to form a group to deal with the special teaching concerns of this population. A question and answer session followed and Beverly Levett Gerber , Professor of Special Education and Janet Fedorenko , Ohio Art Consultant were asked to join the panel. Questions ranged from ways that special education laws impact the art class to information about specific disabilities. A spirited discussion led to suggestions for next steps and bringing in others that are interested in forming this new group.

Suan Guess-Hanson who described a nine-week program at the Metcalf Lab School of the University of Illinois, Bloomington, presented “Middle School Memory Books Made by Hearing and Physically Impaired Students on the Computer” . Students used the “Flying Colors” CD ROM program to produce their own memory books. They chose their stories and were not bound by subject (or reality) constraints. For example, one boy with physical disabilities drew himself in a circus. Another student, who had hearing impairments, created a book about his outdoor camping experiences. The completed books were laminated and spiral bound. Throughout the project, both special education and regular education teachers met frequently and worked closely together. Other sessions included “Autistic Children's Art Expression” a research study presented by Hsiu-Chu Hsu that looked at the art expression, color choices, and expressive strategies found in the drawings of children with autism.

“Disability Awareness at Your Institution,” presented by Francesca Rosenberg, was addressed to those new to museum education. It was designed to replace misconceptions about disabilities with facts, and to better understand the needs of people with disabilities and special needs in order to make their museum experiences more enjoyable. Ermyn F. King and Rana McMurray Arnold once again shared their considerable expertise in their presentation, ”Multisensory Gateways to Art for Persons with Sight Loss and Other Special Needs.” King and McMurray Arnold have an extensive collection of materials that they bring to their interactive sessions to help participants experience and better understand those with disabilities. Their session highlighted their programs, “Festival Eyes/ Accessible Arts” Docent Training and “View Via Headphones' Audio Description Service” held at State College, PA.

 Sharron Pollack and Cindy B. Borgmann described “A Model for Preparing Preservice Art Education Majors to Teach Students with Disabilities,” a partnership that combined two university teacher training programs with Very Special Arts of Indiana. The university art education preservice teachers worked as aides to “Master Artists” trained to work with students with disabilities. They learned about instructional strategies, problem solving techniques, and curricular ideas. Pollack and Borgmann recommend this training model for preservice students who plan to teach in inclusive classrooms. MaryLou Dallam , Art Consultant for the State of Pennsylvania, shared information about the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and a student's Individual Education Plan (IEP). Her presentation, “It's Your Idea,” was addressed to the role of the art teacher.

The third P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children's Education conference was held from October 20 th to 22 nd at the Airlie Conference Center in Virginia. Changes were made to both the location and time of year to make the conference accessible to more people.

The keynote speakers, representing both special education and art education, were Esther Minskoff , Professor of Special Education and a national leader in the area of Learning Disabilities, Sally Smith , Founder and Director of the Lab School in Washington, D.C., a school that has long valued the role of the arts in teaching special education students, and Janet Fedorenko , Ohio State Art Education Consultant. The P. Buckley Moss Foundation is special, not only because it represents the artistic success of Pat Moss , an artist with dyslexia, but also because their conference showcases art education for special education students. Conference presenters from around the country shared their skills and experience teaching and/or advocating art for special education students.

Mark your calendars for the fourth conference of "The Creative Mind: Advancing Special Education Through the Arts" to be held at the Airlie Conference Center in Warrenton, VA from October 13th to 15th, 2001. The keynote speaker will be Eldon Katter , Past-President of NAEA. Information about the conference and/or the Annual Teacher's Award that is presented by the Moss Foundation can be obtained from The P. Buckley Moss Foundation for Children's Education , 601 Shenandoah Drive: Suite 1B, Waynesboro, VA 22980; (540) 932-1728; FAX (540) 949-8408; Web: www.mossfoundation.org.

"Use what talent you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” Henry van Dyke

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