INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A canvas tote bag with handmade fish prints on the front holds a special place in Patti Oliver’s heart, not only because the designs were created by her 17-year-old son, Nick Gilmore, but because it took six weeks of time, focus, and effort for him to complete the project.
“It’s an awesome feeling knowing that Nick did this himself,” Oliver says of Gilmore, who has nonverbal Down’s Syndrome.
“He has a short attention span and it really takes time and patience for him to sit still and focus, as well as assistance. But he did it.
“This bag means a lot to me because Nick understood this was for Mom,” she says with pride.
Gilmore, a sophomore at Wabasso School, was one of dozens of students at the school whose artwork was featured and sold in a recent student art show.
The show raised $800, the largest take in its five-year history, says Shannon Glaser, a varying exceptionalities teacher at the school who also organizes the annual event.
“It was definitely a successful event. We sold stained glass, paintings, fish-print bags and jewelry, and also received donations,” Glaser says, adding that the money will be used to purchase school spirit t-shirts for students, faculty and staff.
However, the real payoff of the art project has nothing to do with money.
In a school for students with moderate to severe physical and/or mental conditions — where nearly 50 percent of the student population cannot speak — art projects like this help foster a sense of self-expression and pride.
“We have so many non-verbal students here, it’s really a great way for them to express themselves and build self-esteem,” Glaser says.
“Look at it this way, students in a regular education classroom may get 100 points on a test and feel a sense of accomplishment. It’s a little different for our students,” she explains.
“They look at this as their artwork, their own achievement. Some of them may have had to paint with one finger or their feet because of limited range of motion or paralysis, but they did it, and that’s where their sense of accomplishment comes in,” Glaser says.
“As teachers, it’s really our job to find those educational inroads that allow them to learn and express themselves,” she adds.
For Spencer Cushman, the art project came down to one thing: creating an homage to his love of WWF wrestling.
“I called mine ‘Generation X’,” says Cushman, 20, who will be a graduating senior at the school next year.
His stained glass artwork – consisting of a Plexiglas square colored in green, blue and yellow ink – hangs in his bedroom.
“It makes me think of Randy Orton, a WWF superstar,” he says, his blue eyes widening. “I like him.”
Cushman, who also works at Disney’s Vero Beach Resort through a school-affiliated job program, says he likes creating artwork with bright colors.
“I definitely want to do more of it,” he says.
Oliver, a Sebastian resident, says the art project is just one of several activities Wabasso School teachers use to engage the students.
“They are a great staff, really gifted, caring, and compassionate people,” she says. “Nick has made progress in all areas, especially with his behavior during the day. All the activities that they do at school help.”
Dr. Tom Gollery, the school’s principal for 21 years, says Wabasso’s teachers strive to come up with refreshing and impactful ways in which to involve both verbal and non-verbal students in learning.
“Like other schools and other instructors, our teachers look at the individual education plan (IEP) and what Florida State Standard should be taught, then they develop curricula to meet those goals.
“However, our teachers make an extra effort to come up with creative ways to provide individualized but differentiated instruction so that all of the students are involved in the learning activities,” he says.
As an example, he points to Glaser’s recent success in teaching a math lesson to her students.
“Kids don’t typically like math, but Shannon used these big rolling green dice to teach a particular math lesson. I was doing classroom observations and was there to see how she incorporated the lesson into the activity.
“It was so much fun that the kids didn’t even know they were being taught an academic lesson. The activity also involved both her verbal and non-verbal students, and everybody had fun. I even forgot for a minute that I was there to evaluate, and just got involved,” he says.
Another example is the vegetable garden started on the school’s campus by physical education Coach Tom Moorehead.
The garden, which boasts tomatoes, green peppers and herbs, is tended by Moorehead and several student volunteers, Glaser says.
“They just planted green beans and Tom plans to add more vegetables. The students love it,” she says.
Gollery went on to add that Wabasso School is encouraged by the Indian River School Board and Superintendent Fran Adams to continue to find creative ways to connect with students and educate them.
“(Glaser’s) art show project is great, and she’s one of our most creative teachers. But she’s indicative of all my staff and I am very proud of all of them,” Gollery says.
Heidi Vaughn says the school may have a direct impact on the students, but parents are also affected.
“If it wasn’t for this school, I don’t know what we would have done for my daughter,” she says, referring to 23-year-old Alita, who has a rare birth defect known as Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (ACC), where the structure connecting the brain’s two hemispheres is either completely or partially absent.
“Alita learns at a much slower rate than others but she has blossomed here at Wabasso School,” says Vaughn, of Vero Beach, adding that her daughter will soon graduate from the school.
“She really loved doing the painting and hand prints for the art show. As a parent, it was great watching her get excited about it. We all love what this school and these teachers are able to do,” Vaughn says.
Gollery says some in the general public may see a person who depends on a wheelchair and cannot speak, and immediately underestimate their ability to learn.
“The teachers here understand that learning comes in various forms. Our teachers believe that everybody has the potential to learn and be involved, and they go after that in the way they instruct,” he says.
Glaser, who has taught at the school since 2004, says no two students are alike in how they process and learn the material.
“That’s why the art project was so successful for the students because we were able to try all sorts of new things to get them to express themselves. It’s amazing how much they loved it,” she says.