Tips for Writing a VSA Program Site Proposal 2024-2025

The Office of Accessibility and VSA seeks arts, education, and cultural organizations to provide accessible, arts-based education experiences to students with disabilities, pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Organizations are invited to submit proposals to implement VSA Programs. Read more about the proposal process.

Why Caption?

McKenzie Wren, MPH,  Wren Consulting

The link to the recording of the webinar "Engaging with The Tiny Survival Guide" can be found under Webinar Recordings.

"Adult providers need healing too! Healing centered engagement requires that we consider how to support adult providers in sustaining their own healing and well-being. We cannot presume that adulthood is a final, trauma-free destination. Healing is an ongoing process that we all need, not just young people who experience trauma.” - Shawn Ginwright, The Future of Healing: Shifting from Trauma-Informed Care to Healing-Centered Engagement

Dr. Julia Heath Reynolds is part of the music faculty at Belmont University.  The link to the recording of Dr. Heath Reynolds' webinar “Inclusivity with Intention" can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Rehabilitation Act - Section 504

★ Rights
• Attend 504 Plan team meeting
• Receive a copy of the 504 Plan
• If you disagree with the 504 Plan:
          - Express view at a meeting & suggest alternatives
          - Refuse to sign the plan
          - Contact your union rep if you believe the plan alters your terms and conditions of employment

The link to the recording of Joahna Tupas' webinar “Encouraging Self-Awareness and Self-Confidence in Special Education Classrooms Through the Arts” can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Big Ideas

• When we want to impart a complex subject matter to our students, it is best to relay it to them through their language, which is through play, art, song, dance, and other activities. This will engage their five senses, and therefore exercise muscle memory, which allows their unique being to process and embody the subject matter naturally and with intention.
• Harnessing self-awareness within students is essential to their growth, and thus, promotes their ability to assimilate random concepts that come through their five senses at every moment. In lieu, we have to approach students with an understanding of what they are feeling, thinking, and doing in relation to their actual environment in real time;
• By being self-aware, students will have a firmer grasp of behaving appropriately in a social setting, from the values that have been inspired within them by their educators at home and at school. In this way, they will be able to learn to self-regulate and navigate their way in the world outside of their own harmoniously;
• Supporting their unique personality comes with helping students manage their unique behaviors by giving them options, enquiring about their feelings, needs, desires, and next course of actions, and by giving them boundaries that would allow them to exercise their will and freedom to be creative and independent in their thought, words, and actions;
• Ultimately, our students should arouse the confidence they need in order to face life’s circumstances through the consistent support and education that we consciously and intentionally cultivate within them.

• Use appropriate, culturally acceptable terminology.
  • Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH).
  • Do not use Hearing impaired, disabled, handicapped, or disorder to describe a DHH student or deafness.
    
    
• Keep in mind that Deafness and Deaf Culture is a spectrum.
• Not all DHH students are the same.
• Each should be treated individually.

• Engage with your DHH student to find out what they prefer as far as identity markers, their sign name, attention getting strategies, and how they prefer to work with you.

• Always subscribe to the cultural perspective of Deafness, not the pathological perspective. 
  • Deaf people are linguistically and culturally rich. They CAN do anything except hear.
  • They do not need to be fixed.

• Ensure all classroom content is accessible. Do not rely on the ASL interpreter to make everything accessible.
  
  
• Learn ASL!

• Remember, Deaf students need teachers, not helpers. So, teach them and hold them to the same standards as you would any hearing student, just be sure to provide accommodations.

Resources for you
ASL Connect: https://www.gallaudet.edu/asl-connect/
The ASL App: https://theaslapp.com
ASL University: https://www.lifeprint.com
Resource List: https://asl.mit.edu/online-resources-asl
VL2 Storybook: https://vl2storybookapps.com/research
ASL Nook: https://aslnook.com

Dr. Brian Cheslik is a professor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and it the administrator of the American Sign Language interpreting bachelor's degree. The link to the recording of Dr. Cheslik's webinar “Deaf Culture & Etiquette for Hearing Professionals in the Classroom” can be found under Webinar Recordings.

Social Security Resources

Work Incentives Planning & Assistance (WIPA): Programs to provide free benefits counseling to people who receive SSI and/or SSDI beneficiaries to help you make informed choices about work. WIPAs provide information and referral services related to work incentives. Find your local WIPA at https://choosework.ssa.gov/findhelp/

In their webinar, Andre Avila and Robin McCall of ComMotion - Community in Motion explain how to combine the power of technology, unique partnerships, and multidisciplinary arts to bring authentic voices of Latin America into your classroom through adaptive and inclusive movement programs. Students learn about the world while also exploring social and emotional learning competencies, including self-awareness, social awareness, and relationship skills.

1. The physical and emotional benefits of dance are enjoyed by neurotypical and atypical students alike. Physically, as we strengthen our bodies and voices, we become more expressive and resilient overall. Emotionally, dancing helps us relax, refresh, and feel connected to our community.

2. To help students practice spontaneity and leadership skills, invite them to add their ideas to a dance. Start with a follow-the-leader approach and then ask for volunteers to contribute new movements. For example, demonstrate three circular movements and then ask, “What other circles can we make with our body?” Their answers form the building blocks of the dance.

Trauma and its effects on learning have significant impacts on the K-12 arts classroom, and these are often be compounded for students with disabilities.  In their webinar "Addressing Student Trauma through Mindful Art Practices: Lessons from New Orleans," J. Celeste Kee and Renee Benson explore how mindful engagement in art making can allow students to release their trauma.  Below are some of the practical tips shared in the webinar.

Big Ideas

Special Education Lawyer, Lawrence Lee Wentz, Esq., provides useful tips on ways to advocate for students with disabilities in public schools.  The tips are based on his VSA Webinar, "An Overview of Special Education Rights in Public Schools" in which Wentz discussed current US federal laws that protect students' rights in the public school system, as well as how to effectively navigate legal nuances associated with those laws, and ways the legal landscape has changed as a result of COVID-19. 

• Parents can request that the school district pay for an evaluation by a qualified third-party.
• The school district must either pay for the evaluation or file for a due process hearing to prove that its evaluation was appropriate.

• IEPs (individual education programs) must also contain a statement about the student's placement and where the student will be educated, i.e., least restrictive environment.
• The legal obligation is for inclusion wherever "appropriate" (i.e., mainstreaming)
• A large body of research shows this is more effective for students with disabilities and the students without disabilities.

• Parents or school districts can request a hearing, a "due process" hearing, regarding the provision of a FAPE (free appropriate public education), a students placements, or other matters affecting the student's education.  Less formal than a judicial hearing, but not completely informal.
• Parents can hire an attorney.

• Persistence, persistence, persistence.
• Believe what you see.
• Insist on new services and/or goals and/or progress monitoring (request an IEP meeting).
• Request an independent evaluation
• Be cooperative.
• Use written communications (and save documents).
• Hire a professional advocate.
• Hire an attorney.

To Matti Hammett, Accessibility Programs Manager at the Houston Museum of Natural Science (HMNS), “accessibility means working towards opening doors for audiences that may not have been historically focused on or prioritized.” Earlier this year, HMNS achieved recognition as a Certified Autism Center by theInternational Board of Credentialing and Continuing Education Standards (IBCCES), demonstrating their commitment to creating accessible and inclusive experiences.

“Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems” is a webinar by Mo Willems, Kennedy Center Artist in Residence and author of Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. With students suddenly and unexpectedly home from school due to the COVID-19 epidemic Mo Willems began his lunchtime doodle session with a suggestion: “Let’s find a way to be isolated and together at the same time,” he said.

As we, globally, transition to school shutdowns as part of social distancing, arts continue to be a vital tool for engaging diverse students in learning remotely and at home.

Jessica Thom describes herself as an artist, writer, and part-time superhero. The website she started with collaborator Matthew Pountey, Touretteshero, just celebrated its tenth anniversary. Thom, who is based in the United Kingdom, talked with us on March 20, 2020, about her own work, her experience as a disabled artist working remotely, and ways she is engaging creatively during the the COVID-19 pandemic.

Office of VSA and Accessibility: Tell us about Touretteshero and how it began.

Co-founder of Arts Access for All, Sherry Shirek is a passionate advocate and accessibility consultant in the Fargo-Moorhead area that straddles the border of North Dakota and Minnesota. Shirek recently produced “Artist First,” an accessible, multimedia arts exhibition featuring artists who identify as having a disability. 

Playwright Tim J. Lord received the inaugural Apothetae and Lark Playwriting Fellowship for a writer with a disability, a two-year award spanning 2017-2019. His work has been developed and produced at theaters across the United States, and he will be the writer-in-residence at the William Inge Theatre Festival in Independence, Kansas, this spring. Here, he talks about his career path, the connection he found with disability in his work, and the importance of honing your craft.

VSA and Accessibility: Where are you currently based?

Mockingbird, a play by Julie Jensen, adapted from the novel by Kathryn Erskine, features a main character on the autism spectrum.

“We were determined to cast an actor with autism to play the character with autism in Mockingbird”, says Erica Berman, Mockingbird’s director and Children’s Theater of Madison’s (CTM) Director of Education and Community Engagement. “In doing so, we are deepening our commitment to representation in the theater for people who are underrepresented.” Berman cast Mattie Olson, an 11-year-old on the autism spectrum, in the role.  Olson found it to be a natural fit.  "Acting has always helped me figure out the world,” says Olson, “It's like the whole world is kind of a script to me. And what I say is my script."

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Council for Exceptional Children, and Division of the Visual and Performing Arts published the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Arts and Special Education (JASE).  JASE is the first scholarly journal to focus on the intersection of the arts and special education. 

Historically there have been very few research studies that focused on both arts education and special education that met high-quality research standards.  The Research and Evaluation Department at the Kennedy Center, as well as leaders from across the field, have been pushing to change that.  This change will make more, and better, information available that educators can utilize to inform their evidence-based practices.