The Annual Reports Submitted by the E.S. Ashburn Staff

Mark Hartmann has ben coming to the art room with his aide, Mrs. Leader, and Mrs. Johnson's second grade class since the beginning of the 1993-94 school year. He is in the art room for approximately 45 minutes each week. On his very first visit to the art room, he found a stuffed animal" in the room and has gone to get it upon.entering the "room since that day. Mark was placed at a table with two other students who are particularly helpful to him and try desperately to draw him in and be of help. They kindly encourage him to color, paint, tear paper or roll clay, but Mark pushes them away and often cries.

Having had very little experience teaching autistic children, I drew upon books and colleagues who teach autistic children as a source of ideas and tried to implement them with Mark .. I find that as long as I let Mark do what he chooses (which is playing with the animal or filtering one of the 4 containers I have made for him) he is content and calm. As soon as I or Mrs. Leader suggest putting that activity aside (as we have told him we are going to do in a few minutes) and doing his art activity, I see an immediate change in behavior and vocalization. This is often followed by pinching or kicking the person who has suggested that he do something else. I have had very little success in finding activities that Mark seems to enjoy. Since he enjoys filtering so much, I designed 4 containers with four different textures for him to filter. He seems to enjoy the tactile experience in that case, but touching any of the art materials that get on his hands is anything but enjoyable. The amount of time he is wiling to spend on an activity before taking a break is no more than 5 minutes (maximum). The art room is of course a very busy and hectic place as children get up and down to get supplies, wash their brushes and handS and clean their tables and Mark often finds this unnerving.