Special Needs Drama Students Shine at Roosevelt

Now this is exactly what should be happening - a notable activity at a high school evolving to bring in more students. 

From the Times:

But these weren’t your typical drama kids. When one girl wanted to talk, she used her hands and a sign-language interpreter. Others didn’t speak at all. One girl walked slowly, her gait uneven because of cerebral palsy.

They are members of a new drama group at Roosevelt, open to special-education students and their typically performing peers. On Thursday, the group will give its first performance of a play, “Voices,” they helped create.

Called “unified drama,” the after-school club is based on a similar, successful sports program at Roosevelt and a similar drama class at nearby Nathan Hale High. It’s also part of a wider effort to include special-needs kids in more regular high-school classes, and regular extracurricular activities.

This group is open to all students.

One goal is simply making sure special-education kids have some of the same opportunities as any other student. But Thomas Ledcke, the Roosevelt special-education teacher who started the club this year, has bigger aspirations, too.

Drama, he said, can teach social and emotional skills that some special-needs students, especially those with autism, lack.

Playing new roles can help students face old anxieties. Memorizing lines can reinforce letter sounds dyslexic students often struggle to remember. Acting out a range of emotions in a variety of scenarios can help autistic students practice the social flexibility that their disability makes it so hard for them to grasp.

“There’s many ways of learning, ” Ledcke said. “That’s our job as teachers, to keep on looking for that key.”

Their first performance of "Voice" is tonight.