SchoolArts - December 2011

MEETING INDIVIDUAL NEEDS
Making Art Special

Here’s the art room. Let’s go in.

Here’s our table. Let’s sit down.

the artroom for an entire class period. This gradual transition was suggested by the special educators in my building and proved to be very effective. The professionals in your building can be an excellent resource to guide you through this process.

Here’s Mrs. Shafton. Let’s listen to her.

Be Prepared!

Have your supplies ready, troubleshoot your lesson ahead of time, consider seating arrangements, assess the appropriateness of the materials you are using, consider the simplicity of your directions, and look at the vocabulary you will be using. Taking the time to think through these important factors can help identify potential problems and lead to success for your students.

Have a couple of lessons ready, as some students can move through activities more quickly than expected. Have free-choice activities ready, too, so you can transition smoothly.

Depending on the particular challenges facing your students, you will probably need a variety of art supplies.

For example, there are some suppliers
who offer special spring-loaded scissors
that will be helpful to students who
have difficulties with
fine motor skills. There
are also rolling scissors
that are safe and can be
very helpful. Chubby
crayons, pencils, and
brushes are excellent for
students with fine motor
limitations, as are universal cuffs with
Velcro to assist with holding supplies.

Check with the special educator and physical or occupational therapist in your building for suggestions on what supplies would be most beneficial to the special-needs students in your art program.

Social stories are
books created to
explain something
new to students
with disabilities.

When we are done working we wash our hands at the sink.

The artroom is an amazing, visu- ally stimulating place filled with a variety of materials, some of which students with disabilities should not touch for their own safety and that of other students’ artwork. Here are a few suggestions to prepare your classroom for your students and your students for the room. Helen Goren Shafton

Safety

First, think about safety. If your room is disorganized, reorganize it so there is a large area that is free of dangerous materials and objects, that allows students to move about freely.

Social Stories Introduce the idea of coming to the artroom and behaving appropriately through the use of a social story. Social stories are books created to explain something new to students with disabilities. These books are particularly useful with students on the autism spectrum, but they also work well with any group that struggles with change or transitions.

For one social story, I photographed
the entire process associated with
going to the art classroom and making
art. The final story included photos of
students lined up at their classroom
door, the artroom door, me
in my apron, their table
in the artroom, art sup-
plies, students working
at a table, the clean-up
sink, free-choice activi-
ties, rewards, and students
lined up to leave the art-
room. The caption for each picture was
simple and brief, such as “It’s time for
art. Let’s line up at the door.”
When we finished reading the social
story, we actually went to the room for
a tour. When we walked into the art-
room, students sat down at their tables
without being asked. That made me
smile!

We repeated the process a few more times, encouraging students to take individual tours of the room and look at materials up close. The following week, students were ready to come to

Helen Goren Shafton is an elementary art teacher at District 89 schools in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, and is the author of Making Art Special: A Curriculum for Special Education Art (CreateSpace, 2010).