In room 3199, a collection of colorful boxes sits on the counter. These three-dimensional collages, full of everything from toilet paper rolls to toys, are the product of much hard work from the Adaptive Arts students, whose work was showcased at a reception on May 1. 

 Adaptive Arts is an art class geared towards students with intellectual and developmental disabilities as part of the TEAM program. TEAM stands for transition, education, access and mainstream, representing the goals of the program to transition students into everyday life, educate them, give them access to opportunities and help them navigate mainstream activities. 

At the end of the one-semester class, teachers and the 10 students enrolled hosted a gallery walk and reception in a third floor hallway. They spent about two weeks setting up the gallery, according to Melinda Novotny, who teaches Adaptive Arts. 

“We would have the students help us,” she said. “We wanted to make sure that we had a big amount of space so every student could have their own location in the hallway. So we made sure we had all the walls cleared.” 

Adaptive Arts is one of four adaptive electives, along with Adaptive Drama, Adaptive Choir and Adaptive Culinary Arts. In the past, these classes were held two at a time, so if, say, Adaptive Choir and Adaptive Drama were being held one year, Adaptive Arts and Adaptive Culinary Arts would be held the next year. However, as the size of the classes increased, it was decided that all four would be held each year. 

Adaptive Arts is a longstanding field in the world of disability education, but it was brought to OPRF by Lauren Arends, who works in disability education full-time and co-teaches Adaptive Arts with Novotny. About 10 years ago, she would bring her class into Tracy Van Duinen’s Fine Arts class. 

“It was great, but it was hard to modify what he was doing with his art class to do with my class and to get the students to work together,” Arends said. So she wondered, “What if we start with this idea and make it into a class where we are planning a fine arts experience for students with intellectual disabilities, and we’re bringing in students without intellectual disabilities to work alongside them?” 

Arends is referencing the peer leaders. Peer leaders are students from 10th to 12th grade who want to assist the Adaptive Arts students. It counts as a class, and peer leaders get credit for their work. 

One peer leader, senior Annie Whitmore, said, “Adaptive Art, and all the Adaptive classes are such a wonderful and fun experience to be a part of. The relationships and the fun that we have makes going to school so worth it.”