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First of all, Ive taught many ability ranges in my classrooms. The school where I currently teach, has an inclusion
program for , but the school where I used to teach, oered the other grade levels . So I have
experience with all grade levels in elementary. Its probably best to describe what I identify as inclusion children.
These children have a learning or physical challenge such as Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome or other such
conditions. The degrees of abilities varies so only the children who can adapt into a mainstream classroom join the
homeroom classes for art. Some classes may have 2-4 inclusion children join the art class and they always have
aids. They either sit at their own table, or amongst the other children. Wherever they chose.

For me, I teach the exact same lesson to everybody, but the expectations are dierent. My art lessons progress in
diculty so by the time a child reaches 5th or 6th grade, I expect them to know basic art techniques. After all, Ive
helped them develop these skills over the years. But when a child is no where near the level of being able to even
hold a pencil, this expectation is unreasonable. For these kids, just being in the artroom with their peers is enough.
I remember one boy with down syndrome who listened intently to my instructions and then when the class
embarked on the project, this little boy picked up a pair of scissors and cut, cut, cut. He loved cutting. I suggested
that he apply some glue to a piece of paper and let the pieces fall randomly. This was his art. His work. Didnt
matter if it wasnt the paper-cut owers in a symmetrical vase that everyone else was doing.

But art teachers know this so this isnt exactly helpful.

I nd that any project that includes a template really helps get the project started. Often
times, a child can trace around an object/shape and then color or nish the project as required. Anyone of my
are a huge success. Children can splatter paint either with their hands or a brush. It
gets messy, but thats why art teachers are hired in the rst place. We are to get messy with our
students. If you deny your students this opportunity, then you might not being doing all you can to promote art in
the classroom. (Im saying this with a smile and a wink!)

One of my most successful lessons for younger grade inclusion students is the . The
painted paper is so fun to make and the templates make it relatively easy to create a picture of a bird. I had many
compliments from inclusion teachers who claimed that this type of project works best for their kids.

Watercolor projects are hard to do unless you use liquid watercolor. A good oil pastel resist is always a sure re
success. The child, depending on his ability can make a drawing or chose something abstract. Its the process. For
children with little ne motor skills, the aid can help guide or you can use large brushes or even sponges. Speaking
of sponges, projects that include stamping can be fun and expressive. My lesson is perfect.

The least eective projects are the ones that use pencils, colored pencils or markers. The results are never great.
Tempera paint or cut-paper projects are usually the best as they are the most forgiving.

Im anxious to hear how other art teachers handle inclusion kids. I feel as though I left out a great deal to this post,
including how much help an aid should provide and behavior management. Perhaps Ill save these topics for
another post. Meanwhile, if you teach inclusion kids, please weigh in and share your tips or suggest art projects for
us to try.

19 Comments
I had a student in my 4th grade last year who was blind. Instead of drawing projects everything had to
be adapted to three dimensional work. When showing him prints of master artists work I would use
Wikisticks (waxed string) to outline the major features of the picture so he could feel the shapes the
artist used. This would help him when scuplting his own reproduction either out of model magic or
plaster wrap (wed use a newspaper skeleton and then hed cover it with the plaster strips). Teaching
color to him was pointless, so we focused on shapes, forms, creating movement, and creating textures
(glueing feathers to a bird statue or glueing buttons to a dog to make the spots).
The best recomendation I can give to make use of the special education sta in your school the
tutors, sped. teachers, physcologists, etc. and nd out what they know about the childs disabilities and
what they do to adapt things. Often these things will translate into your own room. Dont be afraid to
ask for help.

Reply
Jen Cooper

April 11, 2011

I have a huge box full of stencils and pre-cut shapes for students with special needs to use to create
drawings. I feel that this helps a lot with condence and gives these students a chance to succeed that
would not be possible with out the help of these tools.

Reply
Nathan

April 11, 2011

Patty,
Thank you for addressing a topic that is so near and dear to my heart. I think you are an expert on this,
because you have tried things that work and dont work. In the end that is how we all learn. I appreciate
you putting it out there for us to learn more as well. I totally agree that templates help. I know some
people disagree with using templates, but our job is to set up for success.
I wanted to share 5 Smart Supports for Special Artist that I wrote about recently on The Art of
Education. I am happy to share and collaborate with one another. Enjoy!
http://theartofeducation.wordpress.com/2011/01/26/5-smart-supports-for-special-artists/

Reply
Jessica Balsley

April 12, 2011

Thanks, Jessica!

Reply

Patty

April 12, 2011

I teach art classes for adults with disabilities. I just want you to know, I check your blog weekly and have
gotten many, many ideas from you. All art projects can be adapted in some way. Thank you for helping
me nd projects that work well for those with special needs.
 Reply
Barb

April 17, 2011

Hi Barb,

Where do you teach art classes to adults with disabilities? Is it through a group home? This is
something Id like to get into more. Currently I teach art to a special education high school
class and to at-risk elementary age kids, so this site has been really helpful with these
endeavors (thank you patty!) but Id be curious to know more about your experience and
what lessons have been the most successful.

Reply
Claire

April 17, 2011

Hi Barb,
I teach art at a public elementary school in California. I dont teach adults. Some of
my art classes include inclusion kids which I describe above.
Sorry for the confusion!
Patty

Reply
Patty

April 17, 2011

I am an Art Teacher in Tuscaloosa, AL. Two schools in my system (Alberta Elementary and University
Place Elementary) were severally damaged during the tornado that occured last week. I teach at
University Place Ele. Dick Blick has a wonderful thing on their website called Art Room Aid. Individuals
can go online and purchase art supplies from the list provided. Our list name is: Tornado Relief
location: Tuscaloosa, AL This is the link to take you to Dick Blick. http://www.dickblick.com/lists/nd-
artroomaidlist/
Art programs often get overlooked in schools. Please help us to rebuild what we have lost.

Thank you for all your support!

Dana Skinner

Reply
Dana Skinner

May 2, 2011

I put your request on my Facebook page. Hope it helps.

Reply

Patty

May 5, 2011
this space evokes happiness & beauty.
in return, much love & peace, dear teacher!

Reply

zedbee

October 29, 2011

Hi!
I love your blog and look forward to reading your ideas. They help me so much in my classrooms. I
teach k-12 in an alternative school. Because of the system we use to separate our kids into classes,
there are often multiple grades and abilities in each room. Some kids stay in the same room for a
couple years. Because of this, I cant re-use a lesson for several years. I have to come up with so many
original ideas for my students, I am usually spent by December!
This topic really piqued my interest because I have two classrooms with kids that would be inclusion
in a typical setting, but they are together in our community. They do not work at grade level, but are
socially aware enough to know if they are doing a lesson that is too babyish for them.
Anyway, I agree that templates, stencils, and careful step-by-step are key to creating successful lessons
for these kids. I, like you, have a general goal in mind, and am not bothered by the child who spills his
paint on the page, then sticks all the scraps in the wet paint rather than follow the directions. However,
in the end the simple steps to a complicated looking product build condence and trust in my
students.
Thank you for sharing your ideas with the world. I wouldnt be sane without people like you. (Oh, and
dont worry I pay it forward. I post my original ideas on a blog, as well.)
THANK YOU.

Reply
Leah

January 16, 2013

I work in a school that is only made up of students with severe cognitive and behavior disabilities. Art is
one way that my nonverbal students can have fun and express themselves. its a huge reinforcement
for them not to mention the sensory benets they get. I love your site, its given me some great ideas.
Thanks!

Reply
kara

January 19, 2013

Thank you so much for bringing this topic to your page. I am a mom who loves and encourages my
daughters to express themselves through art. One of my girls has developmental delays and it is tough
to nd projects that will be successful for her, without getting frustrated. So thank you for the ideas
and suggestions and thank you for all the comments above as it takes a village!

Reply
Katie M

May 18, 2013

Thank you for this website lled with fantastic ideas. Im a trained Secondary Art teacher but for the last
year I have been teaching Art (sort of Art therapy) to 3 Autistic adolescent students individually at a
special needs school as part of my teaching there.
Finding ideas and keeping it simple I found keeps them engaged. The boys love cars and trucks so I
made a lot of stampers out of plastic icecream lids cut out with glued handles on them. They drew lines
for roads, using sponge rollers to paint, stamping on cars with the plastic shapes onto sponge pads,
nding anything stampable trees, gluing on real sand and collage to create a road/park and cars
scene.
We then worked on African patterns painting dots, lines etc from images shown to them.
Much painting has been done on A3 photocopies of cars, trucks etc then using kitchen utensils to
stamp with and spray guns of edicol dye e.g. spray painting a car.
The boys went shing at the wharf with photos taken an ocean theme was used for weeks nding
colouring pages to paint boats, underwater divers, sh and aquatic life, etc connecting all of the work
done to make a large collage painting of above and below the water and using the photgraphs of them
shing at the wharf as part of the whole scene. They really engaged with this seeing themselves as part
of a scene and we could wean o doing the cars and trucks again!
Next term I am thinking of doing;
pets such as dogs, cats whatever their pet is for a few lessons,
circus theme clowns, animals, circus acts, tent etc.
Cultural theme such a chinese dragons tissue collaging a dragon of Pattys looks good, perhaps
stamping also in gold acrylic patterns/chinese symbols, also using red and gold papers, putting all
paper collaged onto a colour page of a dragon so they have directions where to glue to.
The 30 minutes with each student is more like Art therapy aimimg to calm them, engage and make the
time enjoyable (usually with an achievable art work to take and show) as a reward and something to
look forward to within the school learning week.
Hope my input helps,
Cheers for your assistance with the site Patty,
Marianne.

Reply
Marianne Miller

July 20, 2013

I work with young and older adults with autism, downs and physically and mentally disabled people.
the most recent project was abstract art.
In our art room we have a saying nothing is wrong we just have fun and can always make our mistakes
into something else. Happy accidents. It seemed to take the pressure o to preform. I no longer hear I
cant paint or draw. Breaking it down into small steps after showing an example and demonstration is
the way it works for us. we laugh a lot too and have a radio on low in the background as it goes silent
when they are concentrating. The supervisor often pops his head in as he cannot believe how quiet it
is with 9 people in the room.
We did the abstract using a ruler for people who cant control a brush, we helped to paint a few of their
chosen colous on the edge of the ruler and played on the paper like car window wipers where the
colours mix wonderfully and create a background unobtainable by brush!.
Then we did straight lines in dierent colours, criss crossing them at random angles either simply
placing on the paper or pulling it towards their body.
After it is dry we use cardboard frames to mount the most interesting parts of the painting.
One student in a wheelchair with severe mobility and dexterity created a set of three framed pictures
from one large painting cut to the frame size. It was beautiful with colour blends, patterns I would have
put them in my living room. He was thrilled at his eort.
This was also done with a man of 50 with low end autism who doesnt like any dirt on his hands and his
mother was shocked he had never done art or a painting in his life. He proudly gave it as a present to
his sister. I have gained trust and worked hard for three years with these wonderful beautiful souls and
have been amazed how far they have come learning a variety of arts and crafts, drawing ,painting
,clay,sewing and decoupage. I made them a canvas which hangs in our room which says BELIEVE IN
YOURSELF AND ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE.
 They amaze me and ll my life with joy BUT a lot of credit goes to the may teachers in the world who
bring kids on at the beginning at schools YOU ARE AN AMAZING BUNCH OF PEOPLE Thankyou xxx.

Reply
marie

June 25, 2014

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences! Love it.

Reply

Patty Palmer

June 26, 2014

Hello Patty! I just wanted to let you know that I love your sight! I am a Life Skills teacher for 9-12
graders. I work with all levels of abilities and I have used your lessons from Kinder to 6th grade. I take
your lessons and break the steps into even smaller steps. My students have produced some amazing
art. We just recently nished a Koi Fish project using chalk pastels and oil pastels. They turned out
wonderfully! Thanks for all the ideas!

Reply
Annie Roberts

October 15, 2014

Wow, Annie. You are so welcome! Thanks.

Reply

Patty Palmer

October 16, 2014

Great Question! I am always looking for resources to help me reach and teach all of my students! My
advice would be to try to get to know your students, ask for help and ideas from sta that work with
these students~ and dont be afraid to experiment. I have students with tactile issues that can be
solved by letting them use a clothespin to hold items that are sticky. I purchased an adaptive scissor
mouse for safety, and Ive used many items as alternate paintbrushes when grip strength or dexterity
was dicult. I have students with limited motility that can create beautiful art using software I think
the key is to give them a chance to participate!

Reply
Jenny Jackson

March 3, 2017

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