| Discover Programs for Children with Disabilities |
|
YAH “Discover” Programs for Children with Disabilities YAH Discover Programs were implemented in 2007 in response to community needs for specialized art programming for children with special needs and learning differences, such as Autism, ADHD, DownSyndrome and Cerebral Palsy amongst others. YAH’s customized special needs programs, focusing on increasing attention, and developing motor and verbal skills through interventional art curriculums made great strides in 2008-2009. Initial work at the Briarwood School supported by the McNair Foundation has led to the establishment of new multi year programs at Yates High School, where 23% of the student body are categorized as Special Needs, Dodson Elementary, and specialty schools such as the Rise School, Briarwood School, and Monarch School.
In 2009-10 YAH expanded the Music 4 Everyone project to three schools that include Dodson Elementary, Helms CLC and T H Rogers Elementary. This interventional music curriculum pairs a teaching artist and board certified music therapist, called “Discover Teams”, to provide music activities to the special education students at low income schools while also providing professional development training for the classroom teachers. By providing both quantitative and qualitative researched based information on music intervention integration, and managing and supporting new science based research activities “Music 4 Everyone” will evaluate the best of the curriculum and will become shared information with educators and administrators in HISD and districts representing Houston, as well as, teaching artists who work with children with disabilities. The purpose of the process evaluation conducted is to gather information and feedback in order to determine the effectiveness of our Music 4 Everyone program for children with special needs in order to improve the future quality of this program so that other individuals can benefit from this experience. The curriculum which is adapted from the Developmental Therapy for Young Children with Autistic Characteristics, written by Ann W. Bachrach, Ada R. Mosley, Faye L. Swindle, and Mary M. Wood, is designed for the structured learning, multi-impaired and autistic students and covers the basic curriculum areas of Developmental Therapy which are: Behavior, Communication, Socialization and (Pre) Academics. Here are some teacher evaluation results in diagrams below:
Overall, 93% of the teachers and teaching assistants from Dodson Elementary, Helms CLC and T H Rogers feel it is an excellent program and 95% of the teachers witnessed slight to significant increases of development in the areas of behavior, communication, academics and socialization. http://www.youtube.com/user/Arts4Learning Annual Student Art Exhibition and Artists Residencies The artist’s residencies and exhibit titled “Master Inspirations” presents the art of Houston area students from schools that serve children with learning differences and difficulties. Through the guidance of a YAH teaching artist(s) during the residencies, the students create works of art in various mediums from the study of a master’s work while also learning of the life and time of that master artist(s). Teachers are given the opportunity to learn strategies for integrating the arts in the classroom that as long term benefits. The exhibition presents the art of Houston area students from schools that serve children with learning differences and difficulties. It features works of art in various mediums from the study of a master’s work and serves as an outlet for creative self-expression and communication for these unique individuals. The exhibit also works to disseminate the latest information on Autism and raise the awareness of Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Local art fans can enjoy the creations of students from artists’ residencies at HISD and private schools in the Houston and surrounding area throughout the month of April (Autism Awareness Month), thanks to a partnership between HISD, Texas Southern University’s (TSU) Department of Human Services & Consumer Sciences, and the Young Audiences of Houston’s “Discover” program. The works remain on display from April 1st through April 30th and coincide with Autism Awareness Month (April).
Social Networking The YAH Discover program also shares information provided by both the DePelchin Children’s Center and the Univeristy of Houston-Clearlake Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities to provide artists, educators and families information concerning free and low cost training workshops in order to effectively help that work to his or her full potential.
|
