Students with Disdabilities

Hi folks,
I teach evening classes for adult students and one of my "regulars", about
to return for her fourth term, has Downs Syndrome. Her hand/arm strength
and co-ordination does not allow use of the wheel. We have been using
molds to make various shaped bowls etc and also different types of hand
built wall hangings (e.g. birds, primitive type face masks, fish etc). She
gets so much pleasure from her achievements but I have almost run out of
ideas for things that she could be capable of making and she wants to do
some different things. I have not tried coiling but did try pressing balls
of clay into a mold but for her, it was not really a success.
Has anyone (especially someone who has taught someone with Downs Syndrome)
got any ideas for suitable projects that I could try with her? Any ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, Hugh.

In article ,
Hugh Prosser wrote:
Hi folks,
I teach evening classes for adult students and one of my "regulars", about
to return for her fourth term, has Downs Syndrome. Her hand/arm strength
and co-ordination does not allow use of the wheel. We have been using
molds to make various shaped bowls etc and also different types of hand
built wall hangings (e.g. birds, primitive type face masks, fish etc). She
gets so much pleasure from her achievements but I have almost run out of
ideas for things that she could be capable of making and she wants to do
some different things. I have not tried coiling but did try pressing balls
of clay into a mold but for her, it was not really a success.
Has anyone (especially someone who has taught someone with Downs Syndrome)
got any ideas for suitable projects that I could try with her? Any ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, Hugh.



I've never taught anyone with Down's Syndrome, but I did take some
adult/child classes with my son when he was younger. What works for a
child to make would probably work well for your student. Some of the
projects we did that were fun were making pinch pots, rattles, wind
chimes and coil pots. We also made stamps to stamp designs into our
clay.

The rattles were made by making two half-round pinch pots and putting
little balls of newspaper wrapped clay inside before closing them up.
Then they were decorated on the outside, a little hole was poked into
the rattle, and they were fired. Wrapping the little interior balls
of clay with newspaper kept them from sticking to the walls of the
rattle while firing. The wind chimes were flat pieces of
clay cut into shapes and pressed with our stamps before firing. Be
sure to leave a hole poked into the top for adding string.
They were strung on either a stick or a top piece made from clay.
We made pinch pot coffee cups that were brightly glazed (low fire
clay) and could be used afterwards. The coil pots were fun because
we made them together as a joint parent/child project. Does your
student come with a parent or friend?

Deb R.

On Mon, 5 Apr 2004 21:46:56 +1200, "Hugh Prosser"
wrote:

Hi folks,
I teach evening classes for adult students and one of my "regulars", about
to return for her fourth term, has Downs Syndrome. Her hand/arm strength
and co-ordination does not allow use of the wheel. We have been using
molds to make various shaped bowls etc and also different types of hand
built wall hangings (e.g. birds, primitive type face masks, fish etc). She
gets so much pleasure from her achievements but I have almost run out of
ideas for things that she could be capable of making and she wants to do
some different things. I have not tried coiling but did try pressing balls
of clay into a mold but for her, it was not really a success.
Has anyone (especially someone who has taught someone with Downs Syndrome)
got any ideas for suitable projects that I could try with her? Any ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, Hugh.


No experience with Downs, but I recently tried out "tar paper"
(roofing felt) techniques with my 10yr old nephew. There was
a nice write-up in Pottery Making Illustrated (May/June 2003),
but the basic idea is that you can design your slab work on
paper, trace it on tar paper, roll out the clay, dampen the
tar paper and stick it to the clay, trace around it with a blunt
knife, and assemble the slabs while still attached to the
tar paper. The tar paper backing makes the pieces much
easier to handle without messing them up, and gives them
support during the initial drying. When the work is firm enough,
you carefully peel off the tar paper and apply any surface treatment
you want. You might want to keep the texture left by the tar
paper... it's rather nice.

You can use the tar paper over and over. Tar paper comes in
(at least) 2 grades. You only need the lighter 15 lb grade, though
I suppose the 30 lb might be better for really big or thick slabs.
(Be sure to ask for "roofing felt"). It's quite inexpensive. I think
the roll I got was about $15 and will probably last me as long as
it would have lasted on a roof!

Anyway, the main feature in your case and mine was that the
tar paper guides the knife, so you don't need much coordination
to do it. And because a big construction can be made up from
multiple pieces, you can get fairly complex. For this project we
made a covered butter dish for his mother's birthday.

You don't need to confine yourself to flat sides and rectangles.
I've made (but not fired yet) two mugs by rolling up slabs with
the tar paper backing, and pressing onto a round base. The
only thing to remember is that the clay will of course shrink as
usual, so put the tar paper on the outside so it won't resist
the shrinkage too much. (Also makes it easier to remove.)

Hope this helps!



Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com

"Hugh Prosser" wrote in message
...
Hi folks,
I teach evening classes for adult students and one of my "regulars", about
to return for her fourth term, has Downs Syndrome. Her hand/arm strength
and co-ordination does not allow use of the wheel. We have been using
molds to make various shaped bowls etc and also different types of hand
built wall hangings (e.g. birds, primitive type face masks, fish etc).
She
gets so much pleasure from her achievements but I have almost run out of
ideas for things that she could be capable of making and she wants to do
some different things. I have not tried coiling but did try pressing
balls
of clay into a mold but for her, it was not really a success.
Has anyone (especially someone who has taught someone with Downs Syndrome)
got any ideas for suitable projects that I could try with her? Any ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, Hugh.


I have taught a girl with a similar disorder. Coils would be good to try.
Pinch pots might be good, making them into little sculptures.
Keeping the interest up is tough. Underglaze painting is good.
Good luck.

Hugh Prosser wrote:

Hi folks,
I teach evening classes for adult students and one of my "regulars", about
to return for her fourth term, has Downs Syndrome. Her hand/arm strength
and co-ordination does not allow use of the wheel. We have been using
molds to make various shaped bowls etc and also different types of hand
built wall hangings (e.g. birds, primitive type face masks, fish etc). She
gets so much pleasure from her achievements but I have almost run out of
ideas for things that she could be capable of making and she wants to do
some different things. I have not tried coiling but did try pressing balls
of clay into a mold but for her, it was not really a success.
Has anyone (especially someone who has taught someone with Downs Syndrome)
got any ideas for suitable projects that I could try with her? Any ideas
would be appreciated.
Thanks, Hugh.


I had a group of four here for several days, three of them had Downs
Syndrom, the fourth had something else. This was a while before
Christmas and they made joint project, a nativity set. The building was
a flat piece, oval, about 10 inches in length with a wall out of one
inch balls (stones) around half of it and sort of curved, to make it
look like a cave. The one girl was perfectly happy to build this cave
(with a little help) and the other three had a ball making Mary, Josef,
the baby, shephards, lots of sheep, a donkey, an ox, all kind of
things. I think we ended up having two babies, but that was ok with
them. Of course they all looked a bit funny, but the whole thing was
delightful when it was finished. We even made a star (with a whole in
it) and attached it afterwards to the roof, which also had a whole in
it, with a thin bamboo skewer. They were very proud of it.

Monika

--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik
(If you wish to send me a mail, please leave out the number after my name!)