SPECIAL NEEDS

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UCP/NYC 23rd STREET DISPLAY WINDOW, SPRING/SUMMER 2009

For those with special needs, whether they are learning issues, physical
limitations, or developmental disabilities, this process is very forgiving.

We worked with children and adults with many different challenges:
cerebral palsy, autism spectrum, Down syndrome, visual impairment,
aphasia, speech delays and attention disorders, among others. And the
process worked equally well for English language learners.

We were consistently told by teachers that they have never seen students
with attention issues remain engaged in an activity for as long as they have
in our workshops. Students who don't usually stay focused on something
for more than 10 or 15 minutes have been known to work for over an hour!

For the physically and/or developmentally challenged, our workshops enabled
them to compete with their typically developing—or, in the case of adults,
developed—peers. They ended up with something they could be truly proud of.

And for those in the late stages of terminal illness, our workshops were
therapeutic, while providing participants with a way to express themselves.

"These workshops, with their abundance and variety of surprising materials,
provide a terrific opportunity for opening up a child's vocabulary, as well as
for stimulating their imagination. Children with special needs are as adept at
creating exciting art as their typically developing peers."
- Beverly Ellman, Director, UCP/NYC Bronx Children's Program

"As a developmentally trained eye doctor, I couldn't help but notice the
educational value in your workshop! It helps to develop eye-hand
coordination, fine motor skills, visual-spatial organization, perceptual skills,
task sequencing skills and others. These skills are important for literacy,
mathematics, scientific and logical reasoning, creativity and imagination,
self-esteem, and others. Populations (other than [typically developing] children)
I think would benefit from your workshops are:
- low-vision patients (by helping to stimulate visual awareness and utilizaiton of
existing visual field areas)
- ADD and ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder) children and adults"
-Dr. Ellen R. Ettinger (optometrist)

PALLIATIVE CARE

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"Calvary hospital focuses on providing programs that enhance the quality of
life of patients with terminal cancer. We incorporate an approach that directly
addressesthe patients' and their families' physical, emotional and social needs,
and your art program orchestrated just that. . . Allowing our patients to create
collages fromdifferent types of trinkets gave them the opportunity not only to
express themselves,but to complete an image uniquely theirs. Your program
was truly beneficial to the goals and standards of our Therapeutic Recreation
philosophy. . . On behalf of ourpatients and familes, thank you for making it all
possible."
- Jeanine Guadi, Therapeutic Recreation Supervisor

GALLERY
These are just a tiny sampling of pieces done by people of all ages with developmental and/or physcial challenges in Erik Wood workshops.

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