A really special luau

blairluau032: A really special luauSince they could not take the children to Hawaii, the staff of the Harry E. Blair Learning Center in Bakersfield did the next best thing. They held a July 17 luau for them at Sequoia Middle School. There were plenty of leis in evidence, dishes of tropical fruit, Hawaiian music, a few grass skirts and even a pig roasted in banana leaves.

It was the music that made the biggest impact. The students are children with severe disabilities and through the process of trying and observing, Blair staff has discovered music is an important learning tool.

“The children are excited about coming to school in the morning,” said Jackie Cooper-Glenn, Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS) speech pathologist. “There is a new theme every week. Last week they learned about fish featuring music from the movie ‘Finding Nemo.’ This week it was a luau with plenty of sensory activities planned around the music.”

One very observable fact about this luau — although activities lasted for at least an hour with loud music a major component of the event — not one of the dozens of children cried.

“We made a major discovery during this year of activities,” Cooper-Glenn said. “Initially there was crying when we played loud music. Then the children began to associate the music with fun activities, and the crying just stopped happening. We think the crying was not because of the music. It was because most of the children were just used to the quiet that comes from environments where they were not being challenged.”

While the themes are designed to engage the children to learn by having fun, there is a structure to the activities. Blair Teacher Linda Ynostroza said, “Each activity may include art, storybooks, literature, games, plenty of physical action, scientific experiments, cooking and of course lots of songs.”

The approach has been so successful that Blair staff was asked to present the structure to the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and was written about in the Speech Therapists Magazine.

“We just reported what we have observed — increased participation, interaction, focus, vocalization, mobility skills, tactile stimulation and noise tolerance ,” said Ann Caragher, special education classes and services coordinator.

Luau observers included Kern County Superintendent of Schools Larry E. Reider, staff from KCSOS Special Education, Mobility Opportunities Via Education (MOVE) and family members. They could easily see how the techniques were producing results.

“Aloha” was recorded on tape recorders and as each student was greeted they made whatever movement they could to activate a switch on the recorder which played “Aloha” back to the greeter. On one upbeat song about a centipede crawling on a knee, the students laughed as they tried to knock a beanbag (representing the centipede) off teacher Denise Jorgensen’s knee. In a group participation song, each student activated their recorders when they heard the chorus “come to Hawaii” being sung. Teacher Julie MacDonnel, who roasted a pig covered in banana leaves, had students smiling as they tried to stretch their arms out to remove a banana leaf to uncover the pig. And the biggest smiles came on the concluding song when aides Carmen Hernandez and Norma Urena took turns dancing with the students.

“We have found activities in which students can participate, and not just passively,” said Cooper-Glenn. “It is giving them multi-sensory experiences and getting them interested in the world so they will want to participate.”
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