Kevin is homeschooled and we often take time to attend our church's day school Friday morning Mass. He can even ride his bike on a nice day. In September, the school principal stopped to talk to us. I was happy to share with her (and the music director) that Kevin had said LIKE MUSIC on his Talker after the closing hymn. The principal continued the conversation and asked Kevin some questions. I told her I'd like to get in touch with the school's art teacher to see if she could recommend someone that might be interested in helping Kevin with art...since we no longer have our art girl that left for college. The school principal invited us to attend art class at the school!
After comparing the art schedule to our schedule it looked like the 8th grade class time would be a good fit into our calendar...which is Kevin's age group. I have to admit...in the past I've had some feelings when I see Kevin with kids his age. There have been times when it wasn't easy seeing kids his age grow and develop while we were working hard for so long on Kevin's program to help him. The program has been a big chapter in our life story and many good people at our church have been part of that journey with us. So when the 8th grade art class fit in our schedule I thought it was a good opportunity for Kevin...and me. God always has a plan! I have been so impressed with how welcoming and friendly everyone is when we are at the school in the hallway and classroom. It seems as if everyone knows Kevin's name! Kevin has transitioned really well into this new setting with the kids and teacher and seems to look forward to going to the school for art class.
The first project we worked on was a paper mache mask. It was a pretty big project...needing lots of space to work. Kevin and I ended up working at the teacher's desk. I was planning to ask the teacher to move us to a table with the kids after the project was completed...but one week at the end of art class Kevin said on his Talker MEAT NOONE. I was stunned! We had just recently added the full word version on his Talker and I was surprised he was able to communicate this clear message. I spoke to the teacher immediately and she was more than happy to make accommodations to put us at a table with the other kids the following week.
We worked on the mask once a week for about 2 months. Art class in school is so limited regarding time. Taking into consideration time for the teacher's instruction and clean up...doesn't leave much time for the creative juices to flow and create. After we completed the mask the teacher moved on and we learned and watched a video on Salvador Dali. The next project was to draw an elephant with some of Salvador Dali style. This project was hard to adapt to Kevin who is still working on holding a pencil and drawing circles. One of the younger classes had done a cute project making a snowman on a plaque. The teacher had extra snowman supplies and so we worked on that while the 8th graders worked on their elephant art. At this time, before Christmas break I discussed with the art teacher that maybe a younger grade might be better suited for Kevin's ability. We decided to try a different class after the break.
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