An art centre for special needs toddlers

Age/Grade Level of Children
Creative art forms like drawing, coloring, painting, and sculpting form a key constituent of toddler/ preschooler with special needs curriculum. Engaging in creating artworks supports child development over multiple domains besides facilitating development of small muscle control and coordination. This paper will deal with the planning of an art center for older toddlers with special needs (aged 2-3 years).
Number in Group
The class will comprise of 20 children with special needs aged 2-3 years, an easily manageable number. A maximum of 4 to 6 toddlers will be allowed into the center at a time to ensure smooth supervision. The toddlers with special needs may practice their cognitive skills through experimentation with color, band and texture, which offer self-discipline limits. Furthermore, art helps toddlers develop creativity (Aslin et al., 2014).
Goals of the Center
An art center for toddlers with special needs may aim at achieving a variety of goals which include:
Emotional Goals
· Starts displaying empathy towards peers
· Feels confident and safe when not with parents
· Demonstrates one’s likes and dislikes
· Displays pride after accomplishing something new
· Appropriate self-assertion
· Displays contrasting moods from intractable to amenable
Social Goals
· Mimics elders and peers
· Persuades or influences others
· Attempts at making others happy
· Assists with clean-up
· Has fun ‘exploring’ with peers
· Displays immense interest in the language of adults
Physical Goals
· Sits up properly in a chair
· Climbs stairs
· Washes hands and dries them
· Uses a paintbrush or crayon
· Stacks blocks
· Kicks, rolls and throws ball
Placement of the Center
The art center’s location will be dependent on what space is available within the classroom. Most importantly, it will be situated away from sources of noise and distraction like entertainment centers and traffic. It will also be situated far away from the educator to ensure concentration.
Ideally, the art center may be placed near a large window which will allow ample amounts of natural light into the space. Further, a nearby window means children can easily look out and gain inspiration. Low surfaces will be used for convenient child access. Sliding ladders will be utilized for handicapped children. Lastly, the center’s placement near a sink will facilitate clean-up (Landry 2012).
Rules of the Center
The number of toddlers with special needs that may be simultaneously accommodated in each area will be established, in addition to how their number will be controlled. Method of imposition of time limits (if any) will be established as well. Lastly, rules for area clean-up will also be established.
Spring clothespins or magnetic boards may be utilized such that when children enter an area, they move the clothespin or magnet to indicate that the slot is occupied. When leaving, the clothespin or magnet will be moved back to indicate that the area has been vacated.
Specific Materials to be used in the Center/ Storage and Placement of Materials
Research has revealed the significance of considering the points outlined in this section when planning a child art center. As art may prove to be a key learning experience for toddlers with special needs , it is vital that childcare programs incorporate a well-planned art center, whose set-up will take into account age-specific factors.
Certain materials in the toddler with special needs art center may be accessible to children all through the day. These can include paper and fat crayons which may be independently selected and used by toddlers under the supervision of the educator. Toys appropriate to both boys and girls may be scattered about the space. Other materials which require more supervision, such as paints, glue and preschool scissors will be stored outside the reach of children and only brought out as and when required (Gelineau 2011).
In the modern age, it is pivotal for one to adequately understand, critique and analyze images. Exposure to art education in early childhood will help increase special needs children’s observational skills, facilitate the learning of diverse art techniques, facilitate appreciation of diverse art forms, and help understand the link between art and history/culture. Moreover, children will experience joy when they create their own unique product (West, 2006).
Creation of art by toddlers with special needs necessitates the availability of an inspiring workspace. Hence, the toddler art center will be designed akin to an artist's studio, and filled with artworks created by both children and famous adult artists. After all, the center ought to help toddlers with special needs feel creative when exploring materials for expressing themselves.
Maintenance of materials
Nobody likes spending precious time striving to clear off glitter, paint or glue from the art center’s floor. Hence, the designated art/craft area in the classroom will be equipped with art trays and splash mats for ensuring we won’t be ending up with a big mess to clean at the end of the day. Splash mats will be used under furniture such as easels or will be placed atop tables for better protecting surfaces.
Daily Art Activities
There will be four topics chosen for the development of the toddlers witj special needs that will enhance their cognitive skills. the four topics will be:paint by numbers, modern art, graphics and abstract art. All four of these topics in one way or another will be used to devlope the confidence and cognition of the toddlers with special needs - first aspects of paint by numbers and modern art will give a foundational understanding to children of different art forms and how to replicate them and then topics of grpahics and abstract art will encourage them to design art forms using their own imagination.
Weekly Activities Planned
All weekly activities will be planned and distributed before hand so all toddlers with special needs are aware of what they can expect. Furthermore, choice of weekly activities will also be provided to older toddlers based on their interests and skills.
Methods of Assessment
Assessment will be comprehensive, and will take into account diversity in terms of child background, learning rate and learning strategy. Tools for assessment will support toddler with special needs learning and development, and will take care not to make children feel bad and negatively impact their self-esteem. The ideal child development/growth marker will separate which tasks children can independently perform from the tasks they require assistance with (Riley 2013).
Assessment will be based on classroom experiences and procedures occurring in the course of practical activities, rather than focusing expressly on skill testing. Further, periodic and regular assessments will be conducted in various settings with systematic collection and recording of information on child growth, learning, and progress.
References
Aslin, R. N., Woodward, J. Z., & LaMendola, N. P. (2014). Models of word segmentation in fluent maternal speech to infants. In Signal to syntax (pp. 129-146). Psychology Press.
Gelineau, P. (2011). Integrating the arts across the elementary school curriculum. Cengage Learning.
Landry, C. (2012). The creative city: A toolkit for urban innovators. Earthscan.
Riley, S. (2013). Group process made visible: The use of art in group therapy. Routledge.