Engagement through art for special education

Introduction:

Art and art curricula do not always get the attention or respect they deserve when compared to what are considered core educational subjects. This needs to change because art and art curricula do so much for students, including special education students. Through art, students can learn and improve different skills and abilities such as fine and gross motor skills, express unique creativity, creative problem-solving, and social-emotional learning. These skills and abilities and more are often turned into goals and short-term objectives for special education students inside their Individualized Education Plan/Program (IEP). Art gives students with disabilities a different way of gaining knowledge, expressing their knowledge, and expressing themselves. Art is such a diverse subject and a creative realm that allows all learners to become highly engaged and motivated in their learning.

Art sparks curiosity in learners

Special Education students are exceptional students who at times struggle to express themselves, their thoughts, knowledge, and interests. Art gives them a creative outlet to express themselves as well as spark their curiosity. When curiosity is sparked within a learner, they will become more engaged and motivated in their learning according to Keller and Deimann (2018). With art being a wide umbrella for creation it allows students to explore the different mediums within it and this can lead to the discovery of new and hidden talents (The Importance of Art in Special Education – Education Alternatives, 2021). Exploring art and its different mediums keeps the learners from experiencing boredom because they are constantly engaging with new stimuli such as finger painting and sculpting instead of just writing on paper and pencil (The Importance of Art in Special Education – Education Alternatives, 2021; Keller & Deimann, 2018). With Tornero and Kan, students who were struggling with creating a representation of themselves because they did not have the knowledge or skills to draw people, the teacher modified the assignment to allow them to create animals that they could draw (2017). This simple modification allowed them to use their skills to solve a seemingly unsolvable problem of using art to show their understanding. The modification of the art project eliminated the boredom the students would have felt from not being able to engage with the learning. Allowing the use of animal drawings allowed the students to become engaged and motivated to show what they know.

Art helps special education students reach goals

Any learner will become more engaged and motivated with the material when they perceive it to be meaningful to their goals (Keller & Deimann, 2018). This is especially true for students with disabilities who have IEPs, which have specific goals to accomplish (The Power of the Arts in Special Education, 2021). Art-based education can teach basic job skills and opportunities, which are often goals and objectives for older special education students, through areas like customer service and textile creation (The Power of the Arts in Special Education, 2021). Students with disabilities will have an IEP that sometimes has goals that are focused on cognition, language skills (expressive and listening), and emotion style goals (Roncaglia, 2018). These goals can be met and taught through participating in many realms of art including performative art (Roncaglia, 2018). Performative art has students working together with constant written and verbal communication, regulating emotions as deadlines come, practicing appropriate facial expressions, and emotional control for their roles (Roncaglia, 2018). This practice and repetition will increase their understanding of these goals and work towards completion (Collier & Wix, 2017). Some IEPs will have social-emotional (SEL) goals for students. These goals are not the easiest to teach in a traditional sense. Casciano, Cherfas, and Jobson-Ahmed state that through art programs and instructions such as EASE students can build SEL skills and accomplish their goals by building and working within the classroom community (2019).

Art education increases student mastery

Art is more than just creating something for the sake of creating it. Art is about demonstrating and expanding your creativity and knowledge while feeling successful with what you have learned. Learners' engagement and motivation will be increased when they feel that they can be successful in the learning task (Keller & Deimann, 2018). Art allows anyone to demonstrate they are mastering their task because art is open-minded with its interpretations and meaning. Art gives students a sense of control over what and how they create art to show their understanding (The Power of the Arts in Special Education, 2021). The study conducted by CAHELP demonstrated that special education students engaged and motivated by art understood what they were being taught, regardless of the content, at a high level (2021). The study conducted by Casciano, Cherfas, and Jobson-Ahmed, stated teachers and students who were taught and engaged through art showed an increase in understanding of social-emotional skills and abilities (2019). Students with disabilities have been shown to learn leadership skills, interpersonal skills, and self-control skills, amongst others through engagement with art. While they were engaged with art students showed an increase in motivation to learn. Michael Bingham mentions that he helped create a way for a student with a disability to participate in his art class and have some locus of control over the art she creates by building something for her powerchair (TED, 2015). This self-efficacy of his led to increased art engagement for her and others.

Special education and art leads to positive learning experiences

Students with disabilities do not always have satisfying experiences with learning in a traditional sense, because they can often struggle with showing their understanding and learning the material being taught. Art allows students to learn the material in creative and meaningful ways. When a student learns in a way that they enjoy and experience satisfying learning outcomes they will become more engaged and motivated to continue learning (Keller & Deimann, 2018). Tornero and Kan’s study showed that students who can express their knowledge through art experienced less stress in the classroom (2017). When someone is not stressed about showing their knowledge, they will be happier and more likely to engage with the content. Traditionally a student demonstrates their knowledge through tests and quizzes, which for students with disabilities can prove stressful and cause them to be unsuccessful, which leads to negative feelings. Art grants students the chance to show their understanding uniquely, have success and have positive feelings. Roncaglia demonstrated this through parents and classmates seeing a successful performance that has been worked on by students with and without disabilities (2018). The external motivation of seeing the family's applause and happiness from the performance will turn to intrinsic motivation over time to continue the unique and fun ways students can show their understanding. When a student with a disability is given the ability to engage in art for the first time in their life, they will feel joy and happiness, which is a huge extrinsic and intrinsic motivator (TED, 2015).

Self-regulation skills are taught through art

Self-regulation, volition, and advocating for themselves are concepts that many students with disabilities struggle with. Teaching and learning the process of creating art can help model and teach these skills to students. Keller and Deimann state that for a learner to remain engaged and motivated in their learning, they need to employ volitional skills (2018.) Performing arts teaches a lot of those skills from the process of script writing to making an actual performance. Scriptwriting comes with many distractions and complications, but it takes drive, effort, and self-motivation to complete. Scriptwriting when done with careful consideration of the performers' interests, and disabilities, can teach and increase this motivation and drive (Roncaglia, 2018). This is done by scaffolding the scriptwriting process to reach the level and zone that a learner learns best (Roncaglia, 2018). Through this process, students can gain a sense of autonomy, which for many students with disabilities can be a huge challenge. EASE and K.N.O.W. are two methodologies of art education that have been studied to see the effects of art instruction with special education students as the focus (Casciano & Cherfas & Jobson-Ahmed, 2019). The results of these methodologies have shown that students feel they can be themselves in the classroom. These students feel more engaged, and motivated, and increase their self-control (Casciano & Cherfas & Jobson-Ahmed, 2019). This increase in self-control allows them to ignore distractions within the classroom and work towards their other IEP goals.

References

Casciano, R., Cherfas, L., & Jobson-Ahmed, L. (2019). Connecting arts integration to social-emotional learning among special education students. Journal for Learning through the Arts, 15(1), doi: 10.21977/D915139672

Collier, M., & Wix, L. (2017). Collaboration and care in an art and special education course. Art Education, 70(5), 34–42. https://doi- org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1080/00043125.2017.1335545

Keller, J. M., & Deimann, M. (2018). Motivation, volition, and performance. In R. A. Reiser & J. V. Dempsey (Eds.), Trends and issues in Instructional Design and Technology (Fourth, pp. 78–86). essay, Pearson. Retrieved September 27, 2023, from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/reader/books/9780134237039/pageid/88.

Roncaglia, I. (2018). Performing arts: benefits and potentials within special education and ASCs. Psychological Thought, 11(1), 1–8. https://doi- org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.5964/psyct.v11i1.244

TEDx Talks. (2015, December 18). How art unlocks students’ diverse abilities | Michael Bingham | TEDxUSU [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=EkSeG8wBacA

The importance of art in special Education – Education Alternatives. (2021, April 20). https://easchools.org/2021/04/20/the-importance-of-art-in-special-education/

The Power of the Arts in Special Education. (2021, March). CAHELP. Retrieved October 10, 2023, from https://www.cahelp.org/educators/services/plc/enewsarchive/archive_2020- 21/the_power_of_the_arts_in_special_education

Tornero, S., & Kan, K. H. (2017). Remix with humor: motivating learners in an inclusion classroom with visual culture. Art Education, 70(5), 50–56. https://doi- org.oclc.fullsail.edu/10.1080/00043125.2017.1335551