For Autism Awareness Month I’d like to highlight an exciting arts program that I learned about last summer at the Mississippi Summer Arts Institute. For the past three years, Madison Avenue Elementary K-2 has participated in an arts grant created to bring arts integrated instruction to children in special education classes in Mississippi schools. Through my involvement in this program, I learned about a project called the Prism Project, led by Ryan Hourigan and Amy Hourigan. Ryan and Amy are husband and wife professors of music at Ball State University in Indiana. They have two personal children on the autism spectrum. Prism Project is a dramatic arts program offered on Saturdays and as summer day camp to children with disabilities who live in the Ball State area. University students interested in the arts and/or special education assist children as needed with their participation in the arts. Recently, the Prism Project has expanded to New Orleans. Please follow the Prism Project link to read about this exciting and innovative program. There’s something for children of all ability levels, including children who are non-verbal and/or need assistance with mobility or attention to task. I especially enjoyed reading about the impact of arts participation on social competence for this population of children.
Check out the videos of student performances for a parent audience. Two of my personal favorites are The Very Hungry Caterpillar and The Very Snowy Day. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could have a program like this in the Jackson area?!
*This post has been written by a guest author, Lisa Gerard. Lisa Gerard has been a special education teacher at Madison Avenue Elementary in Madison, MS for the past nine years. During this time she has been awarded Madison Avenue Teacher of the Year (2011), Jackson Metro Area Teacher of the Year (2015) and the Arts Advocacy Award from the Mississippi Alliance for Arts Education (2015) for her efforts at integrating the arts into the special education curriculum at Madison Avenue. Lisa is currently finishing her Master’s degree in Special Education with a focus in Autism. She has done contract work in the past for Jackson Autism Center.
