by Myra Hunter

Created on: June 20, 2010   Last Updated: June 22, 2010

Art for special needs children should not be an option, art should be a requirement. By definition, a special needs child is unable to make effective use of "regular" educational techniques. The usual auditory methods of teaching are unavailable for this child, if the outcome is learning. The TKV - tactile-kinesthetic-visual - methods of art instruction are some children's last real chance at achieving academic success and being able to join their peers in an education.

By the time some special needs children have reached middle school they have the sure and certain knowledge tat they are too stupid or damaged to be able to learn. They have learned this from teachers who are caring and socially conscious, but frustrated by what seems to be a student's willful refusal to try. Even though a child may have been identified as special needs, teachers are only human and can sometimes allow their feelings of supposed inadequacy effect their student interactions. It is easier to let Johnny sit in silence than it is to try one more time to get him to learn a new skill; and for Johnny, it is easier to be an actor-out than to seen as stupid by his peers. "Better bad than stupid" has gotten more than one kid into my self-contained emotional and behavioral classroom.

What does this have to do with art, you might well ask. Art may be the last place a child has to go where he is not always wrong. It may be the place where he can do what seems to be different without that difference being a bad thing. A child can take a color or a shape and make it into anything, and that thing will be excellent. Once he is willing to accept the fact of his own talent - and all children have artistic talent - then he can accept the facts of his own "specialness". Once his cycle of unrelenting failure is broken, a newcycle of success can begin.

The physical skills needed for art, whether visual arts or performance arts, are skills needed in all areas of academics. But more importantly, the mental skills such as discipline and focus are absolutely vital. The discipline to gather materials and put them into usable order is a first step to anything. The focus needed to decide on a project, then start the project, and finally to finish the project, is something required for every known academic area. And these are skills which many special needs kids have not learned in the regular academic class.

An LD child can't, by definition, perceive the world like his peers. He misses the cues that tell everyone else the rules, and because of that missed read, he often makes errors that seem to be intentional. Teachers and peers alike seem to think this child is stupid. But in an art class, working on an individual project, this "stupid" child can shine with the skill and talent he has no other way to show. He may not be able to recognise a right triangle, but he can possibly see the color patterns in clouds. He can get the recognition he needs to be able to build his self-image up enough to take chances in other fields.

A non-judgemental art class may be the only thing a special needs child has to hang on to. It may be the only thing he has to keep him in school and trying for success. So, in answer to the question, "Why is art good for children in special education?" I can only say, Because it can be and often is the only thing a child has to let him be normal for a while. And isn't that what all special needs children need?"

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