
In a compendium of 64 educational studies, Critical Links (Deasy, 2002), several studies make the connection between the impact the arts have on academics for students with disabilities: There are additional considerations for the role the arts play in influencing students' academic and social development.
#MAC ENABLE ACCESS FOR ASSISTIVE DEVICES SYNERGY HOW TO#
These benefits, however, are only reaped when teachers are provided the professional development and support to learn how to integrate and fully involve the arts in the classroom (Fiske, 1999). Support extended engagement in the artistic process (Fiske, 1999).Enable young people to have direct involvement with the arts and artists (through "artists-in-residence" programs) and.Connect learning experiences to the world of real work.Provide new challenges for those students already considered successful.Provide learning opportunities for the adults in the lives of young people.Transform the environment for learning.Connect students to themselves and each other.Reach students in ways that they are not otherwise being reached.In both general education and special education populations, the arts have been found to: Teachers have noted that the arts provide a platform for individualized instruction, a key element in meeting the needs of diverse learners, as well as a way for teachers to understand the strengths and weaknesses of students to incorporate that knowledge into their teaching and classroom planning. Research has made connections between the arts and academic achievement, particularly when it comes to three areas: listening to music and spatial-temporal reasoning learning to play music and spatial reasoning and classroom drama and verbal skills (Mason, Steedly, & Thormann, 2005). The arts also help students grasp concepts and make connections between academic subjects, such as math, English, and science. Research by The Lab School, a school that specializes serving children with learning disabilities, has found that the arts continually engage students with disabilities in observation, rehearsing, weighing, and judging - all of which are essential meta-cognitive tools for learning with which students with learning, behavior and attention disabilities often struggle.

Schools that integrate the arts into their curriculum have discovered that the arts capture the attention of students and teachers alike. Benefits of the arts for students with disabilities This Information Brief will summarize some of the research pointing to the benefits of the arts for students with disabilities and offer a number of technology resources teachers, families and students can explore. Today's technologies offer multiple ways to accomplish this in the classroom alongside already established curricula.

For students with disabilities in particular, the opportunity to be self-expressive and successful in an artistic medium can often diffuse or transcend the sense of isolation and frustration they may feel when working with their disability in daily life. Research has found that students at-risk for dropping out of school who participate in arts programs gain a more positive attitude about themselves and their future, increase academic achievement, and decrease delinquency. Through the arts, students gain self-confidence and self-esteem by expressing and exploring their identities, as well as communicating issues and personal reflections through alternative mediums of expression. The arts offer important benefits for children with disabilities, including access to the general curriculum required by IDEA 2004, as alternative assessments for children with cognitive disabilities, and as alternative learning methods for English language learners (Sclafani, 2002 Hutinger, et al., 2005). Adding creativity into students' daily schoolwork can sometimes seem like a daunting task, but the synergy between the arts and academic learning is one that can be harnessed by students with disabilities, their teachers, and their schools as a way to integrate the arts into curricula to enhance student motivation, engagement, and learning, and as an alternative means of increasing academic achievement.
