A Step Up Academy
As an artist my life is reflected in my work. So, what happened when that life is rocked to its core?
What does it mean to be an artist?
My world was rocked in 2009 when my twin boys, Nathan and Xander, were both diagnosed with autism just prior to turning two years old. When my life took a major shift in the manner that it did, I found that the road I was on did not simply take a sharp turn; I found I was no longer on that road at all. I was transported to a entirely different landscape: one with new vistas and complicated signage with different language. At the time, I was aware that the path I had been on was way off in the distance; I could see it, but I could not get to it any longer. Along with all of the expectations I had for my life, I could no longer find the drive to create the artwork I had been making for a decade.. During a period of adjustment, that drive was surpassed by the pressing parenting issues at hand. My ability to find meaning in that work could not compare to whether my children would ever talk, finish school, or live independently.
At the same time, the artist in me was still viewing the world and trying to solve problems. When the paramount issue of my twins’ education came about, I found that the solutions my family needed did not exist. In 2013, with the same vigor of my studio practice, I founded a new school for children on the Autism Spectrum. Currently located in both Jenkintown and Abington, A Step Up Academy (ASUA) began in the same way as my other creative projects. I had an idea, I needed to build something that fit a concept in my head, and I needed supplies to bring it to reality. This time, rather than metal, gems, and lenses, I needed funding and expertise. Without a doubt, this monumental project changed me and my scholarly work in a fundamental way.
A Step Up Academy began as an idea that incorporated aspects of other private settings with the deliberate addition of what so many parents felt was missing for kids with significant effects of autism. Many of these students require intensive interventions in speech and language, occupation and physical therapy, behavioral support and academics. In addition to these critical aspects of learning was the sheer necessity and lack of supported inclusion in almost every school in and around Philadelphia. The ‘unicorn’ was a school that could provide that time with typically developing peers while also providing the specialized education the students required. ASUA has forged multiple partnerships that do just that. Our community partners have provided opportunities for all students to learn through a supported inclusion environment. This step-by-step inclusion allows for ASUA students to engage with peers of differing ages depending on their skill level, and slowly work towards a less restrictive educational setting. Some students do this through a reverse inclusion model where students from Abington Friends School, The Center School or The Crefeld School join our classes for social activities. Others will then move on to opportunities to join those peers inside a classroom. Germantown Academy has welcomed multiple ASUA students into their school for portions of the week so that they can gain additional experience in a typical class.
What is obvious to all of those involved is the impact this model has on ALL students – not just those from ASUA. I have watched the student-peers from Abington Friends develop leadership skills, and then go on to volunteer with ASUA for the summer, focus their junior year project on autism, and a few eventually make the decision to pursue their higher education and career in one of the many fields they experienced during their time with our school. ASUA has grown from opening its doors in 2013 with two students, licensed for Kindergarten and 1st grade, to currently forty-five students, licensed for Pre-k through 8th grade. In 2020, ASUA completed a 5-year Strategic Plan which includes plans to expand to the high school level, with additional community partnerships for job-based learning. ASUA employs forty-two professionals (including three Arcadia graduates), and provides internships, student teaching, and field work opportunities for students from multiple surrounding universities.
Since founding the school, I remain the Board President of a seven-member Board that includes fellow Arcadian’s Kimberly Dean and Paayal Nair. Together, the ASUA Board continues to shape the vision of what inclusive education looks like, but also what it means to reshape the past societal norms that have kept students with disabilities isolated. At ASUA, the mission is to prepare our students for the world, while helping to change/improve the world that our students will live in.
While I was building a strong foundation for ASUA, in my studio, I was searching for ways to find meaning in the previous work I had been making. I knew that I could still produce that artwork, but my passion for its content felt inauthentic, given the challenges I was facing at home. My work was always content and/or narratively driven and my life had changed too much to go back. The hard work of allowing myself to create artwork that felt authentic in the context of my new reality was in front of me, and I needed to face it. In my time building ASUA, I had done more than just create a school. ASUA created a new community, and a new avenue of artistic practice for me. My connection into the world of special education, parents of special needs children, the mission of ASUA, and other parts of the community surrounding the school was deeply integrated with my research interests and creative practice. This understanding has clarified and re-invigorated my research and scholarship. I knew that it was time to talk openly about what it is like to be a parent in this new reality, and do so in a way that opened conversation, and changed perspective though narrative discourse in my artwork.