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Our Stories – Told by Teachers
Helen – Visual Arts (Professional Artist). When I first saw Helen, she was huddled in the corner of a classroom at the Flint Institute of Arts. Dressed in a dowdy outfit with her hair in a non-descript style, I first thought she was frightened of our big crowd of general ed and special needs students. This was their first trip to the FIA for an 8-week residency, which included gallery tours along with hands-on arts experiences. Our instructor was the curator of education and while not too organized, a fantastic teacher. As Helen tentatively joined the class once the painting process got underway, we didn’t figure out until the next class that she was a volunteer assistant. As the weeks flew by, she became more and more outgoing with the kids and even started talking to the staff. The curator kept Helen under her wing and within a couple years after that initial experience, she became a fine metalsmith and started to produce her own jewelry. She even started teaching classes on her own and joined our local VSA committee, becoming a very active member. She even became quite a fashion plate, having her hair styled on a regular basis. Up until that point, we never realized that she had severe learning disabilities, along with some mental health problems and has since been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Life isn’t fair – but you could never say that to Helen. She just determinedly keeps going like the Energizer Bunny.
James – Storytelling (Student). Nothing ever seemed to affect James – he was always pleasant, but preferred sleeping to interacting with others in his new classroom. According to his former teacher, it didn’t bother him to not be able to read. He didn’t care about much, other than eating and playing his video games at home, which was the reason he couldn’t stay awake – he stayed up all night playing. Until he “met” Bud. When his special education class started having the Depression-era book Bud, Not Buddy read to them as part of their VSA literacy program, James suddenly woke up. He started participating in the accompanying activities – drawing a portrait of what he thought Bud must have looked like, engaging in drama games to increase his comprehension and vocabulary, designing and building a shelter out of a box like the characters out of the book did by the Flint River, and cooking and eating “possum stew”. Of course, he had to be able to read the recipe…in the two years James took part in Genesee County’s VSA arts program, he not only started reading, but advanced to a fourth grade level and could comprehend everything he read. Pretty good for a kid with an IQ of 50! The year after we read Christopher Paul Curtis’ book, the class took a field trip to Meijer Gardens. As the bus headed west on I-69, James suddenly saw the Owosso exit sign and yelled out, “Look, you guys – that’s the place Bud went through on his way to Grand Rapids!” Literacy and the arts – an unforgettable combination.
Delon – Music (Student). An unusually beautiful child, Delon not only had Down Syndrome, but strong Autism Spectrum Disorder characteristics as well. His outbursts were very disruptive, but more disturbing was his withdrawal 90% of the time. We tried everything to reach him – visual and performing arts activities, music, physical activity, but nothing worked. Until Kevin Collins showed up with his African drums. Suddenly Delon’s fact lit up and through 8 glorious weeks of drumming, he was successful and joyous and alive. If only we could drum our way through life!
Josef – Creative Drama (Student). Josef, a 13-year-old with Down Syndrome had recently lost his mother. In an effort to prevent further loss of his already limited communication skills, his father enrolled him in Flint Youth Theatre’s first Drama Games class for teenagers with disabilities in partnership with VSA. Josef had withdrawn so much, he wouldn’t even make eye contact at first. But at the end of the first session, you could see the beginning of a smile when the kids played a drama version of the game Twister. Each session brought more glances at others, more smiles. During the second to last time, puppets were brought out to “talk” to each other and Josef actually spoke! His words were difficult to understand, but he didn’t miss a beat when his puppet answered another – and he told everyone “bye” when he left that day.
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