ARTS SHANAHAN MODULE 3

Recently, my son came home excited that he got a solo part in the upcoming Easter play. Not just an ordinary solo either, but a rap solo. My son loves to rap and make up rap lyrics. This form of expression has benefited his journey with Autism. I bought him a lyrics journal and weekly he locks himself into his room and writes raps, with his keyboard that has built in beats. IN addition, he is involved in a weekly hip-hop class and cooking class. I know this is the main reason why we decided to go with a homeschool charter school this year. Academically is has been such a struggle for him and being able to incorporate these extra artistic elements has been a benefit for him, his schooling, and for me as a mom. Special education in schools is full of statistics and figures, for children to succeed in school that programs such as fine or performing arts often get kicked to the curb in the desire to achieve those goals. However, today we are teachers, therapists and organizations are understanding he fact that some students learn most effectively through the arts and by having arts integration in schools. A past case study shows, facts of non-verbal students who can sing before they learn to talk. Elements such as social skills and friendship teaching can be taught through drama, as demonstrated in the Friendship Circle’s drama program, in which students write and perform their own musical. Friendship Circle focuses on: “Friendship Circle of Michigan is a non-profit organization affiliated with Lubavitch of Michigan. Our goal is to provide every individual with special needs the support friendship and inclusion that they deserve. What we do Friendship Circle aids and support to 3,000 individuals with special needs and their families by providing recreational, social, educational and vocational programming. In addition to helping those in need, the Friendship Circle enriches its vast network of volunteers by enabling them to reap the rewards of selfless giving. Friendship Circle also provides support to individuals and families struggling with isolation, addiction and other family-related crises. Our Mission Friendship Circle creates friendship in the lives of individuals with special needs and those facing isolation while providing an opportunity to become a contributing member of the community. Through our programming, Friendship Circle aims to promote an inclusive community that values all individuals regardless of the challenges they face. Our Values Friendship Circle is founded upon the idea that within each person is a soul; and that soul is equal and worthy of boundless love. With this inspiration, the lives of the families we serve are enhanced while the volunteers reap the rewards of selfless giving” (www.friendshipcircle.org/about). What about subjects like: science, math and other academic subjects? These subjects can be made more accessible through drawing, painting, art, mixed media, and even sculpting. Honestly, that is just the beginning! As, I mentioned above, my son has been doing a weekly cooking class at a place in our city called, Young Chef’s. It has been amazing to witness the academic skills he has learned through this class: Volume – Liters or milliliters for water, milk, oil, or a cup of milk, water. Weight – Kilograms/grams of butter, flour or a cup or ½ cup of flour Shapes – different dishes require ingredients to be cut/prepared differently. Estimates – learn what it means when the recipe says pinch of salt, estimate the length of different cuts…estimate the amount of time to prepare the ingredients. Students can also learn about the timing of the cooking; for example, they must learn how to set the timer to make sure the food is cooked within the time frame and how to set the oven. Time Management – children must learn how to allocate time for preparation and cooking before the joy of eating. Research shows that involvement in the arts increases student success across all subject areas, as well as social skills. Karen Wang describes it as, “this is due to the multi-sensory nature of the arts: memory and cognition improve when academic content is combined with color-coding, movement, rhythm, sound phrases, textures and other sensory input”. Sensory is a main struggle for children with autism. In addition, to the cooking class helping my son with math, it has also help with his sensory processing disorder: Touch: Learn to feel the texture of the food, for example to feel the different texture of meat, flour, different types of vegetables, different texture of cakes, i.e. too soft, too moist, too dry etc. Smell – Learn about food through smell, such as spices and herbs. Sight – Learn to differentiate and identify food through color, for example, identifying red and green capsicum, differentiate ripe and unripe papaya, see if a cake has risen or not…. Taste – This is the best part of it. Children can learn different tastes, i.e. hot, spicy, sweet or sour. Hearing – Listening to the blender working, chopping the raw ingredients, pounding with pastel and mortar (different ingredients have different sound) …., sound of stir frying, deep frying, the sound of pots and pans…. I’m again brought back to my son and his new love of rap. I think of his therapeutic goals and how music has been a strong instrumental component of his autism journey. Music and dance have the largest body of evidence to support its effectiveness for students in special education. Scientists hypothesize that, “music engages the mirror neuron system in the human brain, which supports development in sensory-motor integration, speech and social skills”. When it comes to music and dance, these forms can be individualized to accomplish goals in many areas: fine motor, speech, social skill, and emotional procession and memory. Today, some classrooms already take time every day for music and movement. But, honestly where we live not enough time. Again, this was a huge deciding factor as to why we now homeschool. Some school districts have a music or dance therapists either on staff or under agreement to provide amenities for students in special education. In this situation, the therapists come to the classroom and provides lessons tailored to the students’ needs and goals. How awesome is that?! Art, music and drama classes are based on artistic expression instead of test scores. For students with special needs it is even for important to add the arts into the curriculum. One organization that is committed to this purpose is Urban Arts Partnership: “Urban Arts Partnership (f.k.a Working Playground) was founded in 1991 on the belief that the arts are essential to human development, education and culture. Our mission is to advance the intellectual, social and artistic development of underserved public-school students through arts-integrated education programs to close the achievement gap. For over 20 years, Urban Arts Partnership's (UAP) community-based, in-school, and after-school programs have helped New York City's youth to develop the creative and analytic skills that serve them as academic achievers, budding professionals, and healthy, empowered citizens. We specialize in developing targeted programming for at-risk learners, including previously failing students, English Language Learners, and Students with Disabilities. This year, UAP will provide more than 12,000 at-risk students and 450 teachers in more than 100 schools with innovative arts programming”. I love this mission and vision! I was thrilled when Luna Dance Institute was a recommend read for our assignment. Luna is a two-hour drive from my home-town and where I received my Autism Movement Therapy Certification. Their vision, and concept is one that I personally love, and it inspires me. I periodically check their web-site to see if they are hiring for dance instructors! I believe that integration the Autism Movement Therapy program into schools would be a successful benefit to kids with special needs. “Autism Movement Therapy (AMT) is a fun, empowering sensory integration strategy that connects the left and right hemispheres of the brain by combining patterning, visual movement calculation, audile receptive processing, rhythm and sequencing into a “whole brain” cognitive thinking approach to significantly improve behavioral, emotional, academic, social and speech and language skills. AMT combines music and dance and appeals to all ages. The program is available through live classes or an instructional DVD, aut-erobics®. AMT is divided into three levels that take approximately 12-15 minutes to complete, with a fun Hip Hop level at the end. The student begins with Level 1 and moves to the next level when he has mastered the movement sequence and patterns, tempo and rhythm in each level. He moves on when he has “mapped” the sequence and pat- terns and when his body will reliably respond to the information”. I have been able to witness first-hand the benefits of this program, for my son and other children. “Arts Integration is an APPROACH to TEACHING in which students construct and demonstrate UNDERSTANDING through an ART FORM. Students engage in a CREATIVE PROCESS which CONNECTS an art form and another subject area and meets EVOLVING OBJECTIVES in both” “Defining Arts Integration” by Lynne B. Silverstein and Sean Layne © 2010, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts 10