Mainstream Dance Classes and Autism: Is It Possible?

One other thing I'll pass along, is a piece of advice from a professional ballet instructor (too far from me to go to her classes, but I'd asked HER advice on this same issue and I'll share a little of it):

"One more little piece for YOU... dance teachers get paid a very hefty sum of money for your business. Do NOT feel that just because your girls are not listening to each and every direction and participating seamlessly that "it isn't working." It breaks my heart when parents pull students from my dance classes because they feel their little one is distracting to the others or "too much work" for me to handle. I love, and I know other teachers love the more "challenging students." They better us as teachers and as long as they are having FUN in the studio, that is what matters most."

Now, I know she doesn't speak for ALL dance teachers (to whit: the ones who turned my girls down for classes), but it is comforting to know that SOME of them feel this way. We just have to find them. ;-)

Wow. I'm so talkative today that I hit the character limit. To continue:

But I really feel that my eldest could handle a mainstream class if supported properly. And I'm working to make that happen. Our (wonderful more than words can say) Irish Dance School is still willing to have her. I just need to rework things on my end to set her up for success. For my daughter, that means I'm trying to find an older dancer who will do some "private lessons" for a while and drill her in the basic steps. That, added to earplugs for the noise level, ought to get her at a point where she can slide back into the regular class and NOT get frustrated when things go to fast. Which was her major issue in the past. She KNOWS she's not able to keep up with the other girls and she gets angry. But dance does so much for her, up to and including improving her verbal skills, believe it or not.

So this Momma is still trying to make it happen. I think the ideal for us would be a blend of mainstream and targeted Special Needs classes - much the same way that she attacks the regular curriculum in school with supports specific to her abilities.

Wow. That got long. Sorry - this is a current frustration of mine!

Gah! I SO understand this one. I actually had my daughter in a maintstream Irish Dance class for a while. The Dance School is great about it. They allowed us to send her with a local college student who's majoring in Special Ed to kind of keep her in line. The first year it went pretty well, and we had a peach of a student. The second year, my daughter's "helper" wasn't so adept AND my daughter developed a sound sensitivity. Plus the new teacher turned the music up louder and generally WAS louder. So we pulled her out to work on her expanding fear of class.

I've had my daughter turned down for various dance classes because the school or teacher doesn't want to deal with her. And usually I get foisted of with "We're looking into starting a Special Needs dance class." Which irritates me more than I can say for one reason only: I know it isn't true, it's just a way to get rid of me without feeling quite so guilty about it.

I wouldn't have a problem putting my daughters in a Special Needs dance class. The local professional ballet company has one specifically for Downs Syndrome kids. If they start an ASD class, my girls will be first on the list.

Only other parents of ASD children truly understand how hard these decisions can be. My 8 year old son has Asperger's and extreme anxiety. He REALLY wanted to do soccer, so we signed him up at our local YMCA. He seemed to do ok during practice (although would complain and be in a sour mood from doing the soccer drills), but as soon as it was game time he completely shut down and would sit on the sideline facing away from the game all together while rocking and picking out blades of grass one by one (that is if we were even lucky enough to get him out of the car on game day-- a few weekends we ended up leaving before the game ever started because he was too upset and crying to join his team and I believe it should be fun and I wasn't going to force him to do something he wasn't able to handle). Now he is BEGGING us to enroll him in karate-- but I am afraid to do it because of how he handled soccer. It's such a tough one!

This is easy! You child deserves to be in this class. Here's a blog that I wrote link my followers to your post (because it is important that we give our children with autism a great childhood)! I can't repost here due to character length; however, I've got a detailed strategy on my blog for you:

http://www.autismpundit.com

It's a tough call. My general rule of thumb is to go with special needs classes for any kind of athletic endeavor (including dance) and regular classes/camps that are more socially-oriented. Audrey did a typical ballet class for about a year, but it got harder and harder and then she lost interest in it. I definitely think it's gets harder the older that they get, because the typical kids get more skilled and move on to more advanced classes...I don't want her to be in there with toddlers just because that's where her skills are. I tried a typical taekwondo class, but now she's in a special one. Not all special needs classes are mayhem where they let them run around and do whatever they want...sometimes finding the right special class is the answer. Her taekwondo class is run very strictly and she does very well with it. Great post Jen!

I don't have a special needs child. But I wanted to chime in as a mother who's children do extra curricular activities and as a mother who's oldest daughter regularly gets paired with the special needs classmate at school.I think if you can find a troupe who doesn't do this for competition or who is able to help your child deal with the competition side, that would be great. But as with any other extra curricular activity, there are several children in it who will be using this activity to try to get into college on a scholarship. That will be something to take into consideration and see how that will affect your child and the troupe. As an example, my daughters' God sister is in cheerleading and it is extremely competitive and although she is still a preteen, there is a very likely chance of her getting college scholarship, which she has already begun winning in competitions as a prize. So, yes, it gets serious and competitive and not every team is the same within each sport. And this begins as early as the first year when the teams are only 4 years old!

Every special needs child is different so I can't really say how it would or wouldn't affect that with your child.

I worry about this, and my son is still a toddler. We tried a mainstream toddler soccer camp this summer and he stuck out, but not terribly so b/c he was just 2.5. We never told his instructor about his diagnosis. Next summer though, I think it'll be a bigger issue.

My DD took Irish Dance for 13 years. There were a few times when special needs children were integrated into the classes. It works best if there is a teachers aid, we called them drillers, to work specifically with the child who needs assistance. These "volunteers" can be current dancers who are in their confirmation year, or maybe in high school and in National Honor Society, and they need service (or volunteer unpaid) hours.

You could ask the Irish Dance teacher if: a) she would acept a driller or assistant, and b) if she could recommend someone. It never hurts to ask.

However, Irish Dance, depending on where you live, and the level of the school, is a COMPETITIVE sport. The dancers compete against each other at feiseanna, competitions that are arranged by type of dance and age group - similar to dog shows really. Included is the need for costumes, shoes, frou-frou stuff, make-up, WIGS and lots of serious sensory stimulation.

One of my DD's friends has a sibling with Asperger's. All 5 of the girls in the family dances - but Daughter #3 really struggled. brushing and pinning up her hair and putting on the wig was a chore that was assigned to me, since she would coooperate better with a non-family member - but it wasn't easy. To their credit she participated for a few years.

My daughter also took ballet lessons, and they seemed much less stressful than Irish Dance. If you have other questions, I'd be happy to answer them - or, depending on where you are located, I could help you find an Irish Dance teacher who would be good with your child. Our school worked with a girl who was deaf, to help her learn to dance - it's hard without hearing - and there was a Down's girl for awhile too.

I have ran into this problem a lot. It is hard to find "mainstream" classes willing to take on my daughter and her needs. I am lucky to live in a small community where the local dance companies do accept the special needs kids that are able to stay on task. my daughter however has a very difficult time but I was very lucky last year when my oldest daughter was the captain of their varsity dance team and she got her whole team involved and they taught all of the girls from Sis's class a dance that they performed at the end of year assembly. It was an awesome moment and I am hoping the tradition can continue being that my oldest is now off at college but my youngest is also on the dance team now. People need to be more open minded and realize that these kids are more than meets the eye. this experience is what led my oldest daughter to major in Special education. I think its about finding the right group of people that understand even if it is us parents that have to create the environment. Great post and good luck :)