Posted by:
Mary Messner
K-12 Classroom teacher
North Easton, MA

Topic:
A broad range of needs

Message:
It's never easy to say that one way of learning is good for all children, but I do think that, because choice based art lets children learn in their own ways that it is affective for all children. I don't not, however, think that a choice based classroom with many students talking and moving from station to station is the best thing for all special needs children. I have a ten year old brother with severe Asperger's syndrome. Putting my brother in a choice based art room would be a huge mistake. The noise level alone not to mention the lack of obvious structure would create a high stress environment for my brother. Under high stress, my brother becomes frustrated and often times violent. He would not be able to participate in this sort of classroom. In my brother's case, the best thing would be to allow him to choose something at the beginning of class and take it to a resource room to work on it in a quiet, low stress environment. I feel that most children would benefit from a choice based art classroom, but I can not say that every child's needs would be met.

To reply, please first log into The Knowledge Loom

Back      Return to the Forum

This resource is developed and maintained by The Education Alliance at Brown University. Seed funding was provided by the U.S. Department of Education. Send comments to: loom@alliance.brown.edu