Students in the Skill Builders program at Metamora Township High School will soon have something to sing about. Woodford County Special Education Association (WCSEA) administrator Kristin Fehr was recently awarded a THF grant that she will use to bring an adaptive music initiative to students.
Funds will be used to access the Music Together curriculum and its instruction, as well as to purchase instruments for students in WCSEA's Skill Builders program. Skill Builders is designed to meet the diverse and individual needs of students who require highly specialized instruction.
"Students would have the opportunity to meet the sensory and leisure needs with interactive experiences that otherwise may only be filled with a screen or device," Fehr said. "An adaptive music opportunity would allow the flexibility for the students in the Skill Builders program to explore rhythm and music and engage with it at their own pace and in their own way, not by a scope and sequence designed for typically developing students."
Fehr believes the program, which she plans to implement this fall, will have a positive and far-reaching impact, affecting overall wellness and readiness to learn.
"Practicing listening, singing, exploring rhythm, chant and movement could lead to overall emotional and sensory well-being and thus confidence and security as the students engage in aspects of being a community member," she said.