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My son's school may have a dilemma next year. The art room is being eliminated due to space needs (the room is going to become a regular classroom), but I think the idea is that Art will become an itinerant subject, traveling to each classroom. The beloved art teacher is retiring -- I think in part because she doesn't feel she can do her job properly traveling from class to class. (And, this is my guess but, since she's older, she probably doesn't care much for the idea of carrying cartons of Craypas upstairs and down.)
The librarian already has to do this sometimes, because the library is often the only available meeting space for folks from the district and so on.
But, with more budget cuts likely in store for all NYC public schools, and especially for small, already-doing-well, outlying schools like ours that cutting their funding won't cause an uproar, the arts may be in jeopardy.
The school still has a full-time music teacher.
But DuckyBoy struggles with music class. NOT his favorite. The winter concert was not a successful arts learning experience for him (or me).
What if it's the only art left next year?
Several other Nest parents audibly groaned at the PTA meeting when the art teacher's retirement was announced.
I'd love to know if anyone has opinions or a line on any research indicating arts preferences among people with autism slash Aspergers. Maybe if we can point to a reason why our kids need the visual arts, we can keep it.
I do know that a number of other kids with DB's dx in his grade have a real heart from drawing.
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I'm so sorry to hear that! My school didn't have a formal art class, but I got to do art as much as I wanted in my after-school program. It was mostly craft-oriented, and I enjoyed anything that involved making things with my hands because I was terrible at drawing things to scale.
In 7th grade, my teacher took a few of us aside for an oil painting elective and not surprisingly I was the only one who stayed after school and finished my (beautiful) painting of whales. I didn't like it, though, because my fine motor coordination just didn't match up with what I saw in my head. To this day, as capable as I am with Photoshop and I'd rather just work with my hands!
Do you use twitter? There are a lot of parents and grownup aspies on there who could share their experiences with you...
Come to think of it, many of the children in the program may be strongly visually oriented. Art is probably a talent and interest for them, but they'll never know if they're never exposed to it or taught!
Case in point: There's a neighborhood school nearby that has a strong arts curriculum and the students develop portfolios. Several of them use their portfolios to get into an architecture and design high school, which gives them a chance at a career they probably wouldn't have had otherwise. (This HS was mentioned in Daniel Pink's book A Whole New Mind) I really think that kids on the spectrum who have strong visual-spatial preferences and talents should be given a chance to develop them into a career.
Okay, rant over.
Thanks Sandy, for the idea and the rant! I think I will see if twitter turns anything up. Maybe I'll end up with an unscientific poll at any rate! I posted to my program's listserv as well.
Did you read about Google Sketchup and people on the spectrum? I forget where I first saw this -- sorry if it was right here!
http://sketchup.google.com/spectrum.html
My son, who has Asperger's, loves origami, and paper airplane folding in particular. I think it's the functional aspect (you can actually fly it) that appeals, but also the concrete guidelines. He likes to follow directions on how to fold the planes, but then is free to create his own adjustments and variations.
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