Professional Development

Front row: Hilary Cohen, Cindy De Clerck, Sandra Prew, Jennifer Lovett
Back row: Tom DeFrange, Aniel Redelinghuys, Kevin Crosby

The theme for the 2008 Heartspring Award Summer Session was The Art of Possibility based on the book by Rosamund Stone Zander and Benjamin Zander. And what possibility there proved to be with the award winners that participated and presented this year!

The Heartspring Award for Innovation and Creativity in Special Education winners spanned the globe, coming from as far away as Belgium and South Africa, and as close as just a few miles from the Heartspring campus. Our award winners can be described as an anthropologist, a speech-language pathologist and professor, a fully accessible theater company, a musician and videographer, an outdoor classroom teacher, a PB&J program leader, and a bridge builder. Creativity, passion and possibility were vital components to the presentations given by the award winners.

In the classroom, award winners Sandra Prew and Kevin Crosby incorporate learning groups into their teaching, making it possible for students to learn in an unconventional classroom setting.  Prew developed several programs in her school because as she puts it, “there are no special education gas stations or grocery stores”. The Poetry, Breakfast & Jazz (PB&J) Club, Red Hot Readers and Kids in Action Programs urge her students to utilize their creative spirit. She believes that life is not a spectator sport. Much the same, Crosby used his imagination to start new projects in order for his students to gain valuable work experience including The Sunrise Coffee Shop, a garden/greenhouse and a computer lab. Through these projects, his students gain necessary social, vocational and academic skills to succeed.

For teachers to achieve success working with students with special needs, they must first learn to relate to the children they teach as well as their colleagues. Jennifer Lovett is a teacher of teachers and a bridge-builder. She has been a special education teacher for several years and now teaches and helps train other teachers. Her passion for team building through realizing similar goals and finding common ground was evident throughout her presentation. She was able to take a group of individuals who did not yet know each other well and bring a common purpose to the group in a fun way.

Cindy De Clerck and Aniel Redelinghuys, the international recipients of the Heartspring Award, are from different corners of the globe, but their passion for what is possible for children with autism is united. With a background in Sinology, the study of Chinese language and culture, De Clerck is working on a doctorate degree in anthropology. She currently works in China with families who have children with autism, known in China as “the loneliness disease”. There, she hopes to help increase autism awareness, education and recognition. Whereas awareness for autism is growing in China, it has taken a back seat in Africa to AIDS and tuberculosis. Redelinghuys is a professor and speech-language pathologist in South Africa and has been shifting requirements at the University at Pretoria so that students studying speech-language pathology and other related fields have to take additional courses to gain knowledge about autism. She is doing more and more to raise awareness and make it possible to educate children with autism.

Utilizing the arts to relate to children with special needs opens endless possibilities for communication, understanding and learning. As co-director of Wild Swan Theater, Hilary Cohen brings theater to everyone. This unique and accessible theater seeks to make everyone equal and is a place where everyone has the same opportunity to play a role. Through hearing devices, special pre-show stage tours and workshops, everyone can be included and participate in the theater, regardless of their disability.

Tom DeFrange, a man of many talents as a teacher, musician, singer, composer, playwright, illustrator and videographer, also makes learning accessible to his students.  Diagnosed with ADHD, he relates well to students with ADHD and Asperger syndrome and advocates for them. He presented in a creative and unique way by sharing DVDs that he made. He also encouraged participants to play a video game and explained that if you want students to learn from you, you have to give them a little of what they want too.

The belief in possibilities for children with special needs motivated our winners to apply for the Heartspring Award for Innovation and Creativity in Special Education. And the possibility of new and bigger ideas and friendships were taken back home when the weekend was over. Improvements to programs all over the world will be made because of one weekend in Wichita where we all believed that anything is possible.

2008 Heartspring Award for Innovation and Creativity in Special Education Winners

• Aniel Redelinghuys - South Africa
• Cindy De Clerck - Belgium
• Kevin Crosby - Bakersfield, CA
• Sandra Prew - Key Largo, FL
• Wild Swan Theater - Ann Arbor, MI (Co-Directors: Hilary Cohen and Sandy Ryder)
• Jennifer Lovett - Wichita, KS
• Tom DeFrange - Akron, OH