newsletter Fall 2002

T I P S & T O P S

This column (helpful tips and top-notch topics) is for and by teachers, caregivers, etc. who champion the arts for children with disabilities.
We solicit your contributions for future inclusion.

MY EXPERIENCE WITH ART ADAPTIVE AIDS by Sondra Horning When I plan a visit to a classroom for an art lesson, I try to find out about the class. Our district mainstreams students with special needs as much as possible. I start my lesson by determining the objectives or outcomes for the lesson. Then I try to keep my art adaptive aids as simple and direct as possible. The tool I use the most is masking tape. I use it to secure newspapers to cover table surfaces, to secure art paper, to fasten art smocks or hold sleeves up out of the way. With a sticky ring of tape, I keep paint cups from moving, and even use it to pick up glitter and small pieces of paper. I also use Velcro. It makes a great strap to help hold materials in the hand and to a table top surface. The next tool I use the most is Crayola brand Model Magic. It is lightweight and air-dries. I use it	For painting, I sometimes use a child’s tipsy cup. Since it has a weighted bottom, it is less likely to tip over. For printmaking, I have used sponges mounted on large handles, spools, or even empty film canisters. There are commercially made mounted sponges also. You can use them directly on paper, on top of a
to make custom grips for brushes, crayons, markers, and pencils. Starting with large handled brushes, crayons, markers, and pencils will help students who have difficulty gripping. Another way to make a grip is to use foam or foam insulation for pipes. The foam insulation for pipes comes in different sizes and already has a circular hole for the writing or drawing tool. You can also use a large rubber band and a lark’s head knot on both ends to secure the band to the tool. Then slip the hand under the band. Be sure the band is large enough so that the hand is secure, yet doesn’t pinch.	stencil, or the positive cut from a stencil secured down with masking tape on the printing paper. The tracing wheel (a seamstress tool) is used to outline raised shapes or objects for a student with a visual impairment. I also use a dried glue line, a hot glue line, or a waxed line commercial product called Wikki-Stix. For cutting, there are many different kinds of adaptive scissors; hand over hand, spring loaded, loop scissors, or even mounted varieties. I use a pair every day with a cord attached
	to prevent them from dropping and quite often loan them to a student with a need. There are many ways to create adaptive art aids. These are just a few that I have used that were successful. If you discover a difficulty, think about what you can do to make the process more successful for the student. Then it’s just a matter of trial and error. Good luck and have fun!

Sondra Horning was Accessible Arts’ 1999 Educator of the Year in Arts and Disabilities. She is currently an Elementary Art Instructor in the Hutchinson Public Schools.

Do you know an outstanding individual who has made a difference in the lives of students with disabilities through the arts? Perhaps a teacher, therapist, community member or artist?

The Honors Committee of Accessible Arts and the Kansas State Board of Education invite you to take a moment to think of someone who deserving and nominate them for the 002 Educator of the Year Award. The award will bepreented March 12, 2003, in Kansas City, Kansas.

Selection is based on the following criteria:

Length and Extent of COMMITMENT to arts opportunities for students with disabilities.
CONTRIBUTION to integrating arts into basic education of students with disabilities.
DEMONSTRATION of innovative teaching strategies.
INVOLVEMENT & LEADERSHIP in the community working directly with students with disabilites.
ADVOCACY and program development efforts.

Valuable Resource Materials
Viewers are encouraged to let us know of other exceptional materials we might consider adding to our collection

We are happy to continue sending our newsletter to all persons who wish to receive it. If you would like to remain in our database as a consultant, artist, etc. but no longer wish to receive the newsletter, please let us know. Our new database will allow us to make this distinction. However, if you no longer want to remain in our data base, please help us by letting us know. We will immediately remove your name from our list. If you have any changes or updates for our mailing list, please notify us. You can e-mail us at accarts@accessiblearts.org or drop us a note at Accessible Arts, Inc., 1100 State Ave., Kansas City, KS, 66102-4411 or feel free to call us at (913) 281-1133. We also welcome feedback about our programming, the content of our newsletter, and our web site. Thank you for your help in this matter.

NOMINATION FORM	.
Name of Nominee____________________________ Telephone (Day)_____________________________ Agency/Business/School_______________________	Title/Position______________________________ (Eve)___________________________________ Address__________________________________ __________________________________
Your Name/Nominator________________________ Telephone (Day)_____________________________ Agency/Business/School______________________	Title/Position______________________________ (Eve)____________________________________ Address__________________________________ __________________________________

	Accessible Arts Welcomes New Program Director In mid July, Kit Bardwell began her work as Program Director for Accessible Arts. She comes with a background in several of the performing arts as well as experience in teaching children who are deaf and adults with developmental disabilities.
Kit holds degrees in music from the North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of Missouri – Kansas City. She was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Pocket Theatre, a touring company that offered participatory theatre for children from 1987 to 1993. Over the past twenty years, Kit’s experiences include working as a Program Specialist for Young Audiences of Kansas City, General Manager for Paul Mesner Puppets and as a freelance performer, director, and playwright.
She has presented at numerous national and international conferences and is well known for her work as an Orff Schulwerk clinician. Her experience in working with individuals with disabilities includes teaching music at the North Carolina School for the Deaf and working as a Program Coordinator for Triality, a provider of day habilitation for adults with developmental disabilities.
Kit is already busy with a wide variety of Accessible Arts projects. These include teaching classes at the Kansas State School for the Blind, presenting arts workshops throughout the community, organizing special events and developing the new Arts Center to be located in the historic Carriage House on the campus of the Kansas State School for the Blind.

One, two, three, four; We all want to come back for more!
For those who did not attend 'The Art of Learning' Professional Development Workshop, this headline needs a bit of explanation. One of the most memorable presentations was by Dee Hansen, Kansas State Department of Education. Following her talk with power-point presentation about learning styles/personality characteristics, she asked us to use what we had learned to group ourselves according to our strongest traits. Ones: Imaginative Learners. Seek meaning, learn by listening/sharing ideas.
They absorb reality. Interested in people and culture, look at things from many angles, idea people, (innovative, involved in issues, bring unity, ask why/why not).
TyType one singers	Twos: Analytic Learners. Seek authoritative facts. Learn by thinking through ideas. They form reality, less interested in people than ideas, like traditional classrooms, (create concepts and models, seek self-satisfaction and intellectual recognition, ask what). Threes: Common Sense Learners. Seek usability, want to know how things work. Learn by testing theories.
They edit reality, want hands-on experiences that lead to personal discovery, want relevance between action and real life, depend on sensory experiences, (practical application of ideas, view of present is influenced by future security, ask how).
Fours: Dynamic Learners. Seek hidden possibilities. Need to know what can be done with things. Learn by trial and error. They enrich reality, perceive information concretely and process it actively, like change, at ease with people but sometimes seem pushy,	Type threes laugh
often reach accurate conclusions without logical justification, test experience (action oriented, visionaries who work toward goal, ask what can this become?).
Type fours sing	As we all divided, there were so many type ones, they made up four subgroups! Each group was asked to create a slogan, a logo, and a song, and we had as much fun as children, showing off our creativity. Revitalizing and enriching our lives and our teaching (to be more childlike) was a separate message related during the conference.
As I reflect back on the experience, the power of hands-on learning really made an impact on me. I remember vividly the concepts related through small dramatizations. Second place impact goes to the table discussions. The 'lectures' were invaluable, but to use them I need to refer to my personal notes and the outstanding learning materials that were provided by all trainers. We sang songs, laughed, cried with empathy, frolicked, and LEARNED.
Mini-dramas included a wrong-way meeting of principal and artist; collaborative planning by wacky science teacher and artist; a right-way meeting of principal, artist and teacher; an experience doing simple art projects with simulated disabilities; and an excellent demonstration of easy-to-make adaptations to facilitate arts participation by children with physical disabilities.	A one, a two, a three, and a four read a script of "The Four Little Pigs."
The 60 participants asked for ways to keep in touch and continue their learning process. They will meet again February 8, 2003 in Wichita, and we anticipate having video clips by then. The next Art of Learning Workshop is tentatively scheduled for June 25-27, 2003, in Kansas City, Kansas and repeated July 16-18 in Salina. Accessible Arts will gradually add to our website (www.accessiblearts.org) other information gleaned from the workshop. The Fall 2002 newsletter includes a new column, 'Tips and Tops', which will relate tips for facilitation, and topics of special interest related to the arts and children with disabilities.

The fifth annual Oregon Trail Trek, conducted by Accessible Arts and the Kansas State School for the Blind, engaged twelve teens with visual impairments in pioneer adventures along the 2000-mile Trail. Each year’s trek staff includes artists to stimulate our imaginations and facilitate creative reflection and expression of our modern pioneer experience.
Dubbed the “artists colony,” this year’s group was led by actor and storyteller Wolfgang Bucher. Kendall Kerr served as artist and videographer, Jolan Smith as musician, and Cathie Meighan as artist and sculptor.	“Our intention as artists was that each member of the wagon train would acquire skills in storytelling, record their experiences, and use a variety of art forms to share their experiences of ‘the elephant’ with others,” Bucher said.	Bucher discovered that more than 2,500 journals, diaries and letters remain as records of the pioneer adventure, which led him to choose journaling and storytelling as the major focus of the 2002 Trek.
Trail pioneers called their extraordinary and dangerous Trail experiences “seeing the elephant”. Under huge cottonwood trees at Fort Kearny, Nebraska, our group of twelve teens and eleven adults were regaled by two gifted storytellers, presenting women’s tales of the Trail in poetry, song and journal readings.

Over three thousand students and four hundred adults experienced Accessible Arts’ touring production of The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel during the month of April, 2002. The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel, a musical play about the hero in each of us, featured a fast-paced plot with clever dialogue, delightful original music and plenty of action.
	Following each performance, the artists and Accessible Arts staff conducted interactive arts workshops in drama, music/movement and visual arts. The workshops focused on the themes of self-worth, tolerance, respect, problem solving and teamwork.
	The target audiences included children, ages 7-14, with and without disabilities across the state of Kansas. Students, educators, and parents in Kansas City, Bonner Springs, Olathe, Independence, Victoria, Hays, Dodge City, Liberal, and Wichita had the opportunity to participate in this project.
The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel project was generously sponsored by Kansas Arts Commission, VSA arts, Theresa Foundation, Francis Families Foundation, Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation, Junior Leagues of Wyandotte & Johnson Counties and Sisters of Loretto.

		The final line from Accessible Arts’ touring production of The Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel summed it all up, “All for one and one for all!”
The line was sung out proudly by the diverse cast of characters including Percy (who used a wheelchair), Margaret (who was visually impaired), Trevor (who had a learning disability), Percy’s Grandfather and Uncle Lou.