THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510210104
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY DAWSON MILLS, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 181 lines
TIM SHURFIELD, 8, didn't know what to expect as he waited for the school assembly to begin.
Fellow third-grader Chanell Parker had some clue as to what was coming. ``Puppets,'' she said. ``They're going to teach me a lesson.''
Classmate Shannon Parker offered even more. ``We're going to see a play about handicaps,'' she confided, ``to teach you that even if someone is different you can still play with them and be their friend.''
On a day when some area schools were closed Oct. 9 to observe Columbus Day, about 100 third-, fourth- and fifth-graders at Port Norfolk Elementary in Portsmouth were treated to a performance by ``The Kids on the Block'' and some valuable life lessons.
Developed in Maryland in 1977 to teach schoolchildren to accept and appreciate the differences among us, the ``Kids'' have turned up at more than 1,600 locations worldwide with more than 40 puppet characters and 35 specially designed programs. Two Norfolk-based organizations, the Endependence Center and United Cerebral Palsy of Southeastern Virginia, are using the ``Kids'' to increase disability awareness in Hampton Roads.
Mainstreaming and inclusion initiatives are helping to integrate larger numbers of those with disabilities into the educational, business and social life of the community, and the ``Kids'' are demonstrating that they can go a long way toward increasing the comfort level of all concerned.
``I think it's an outstanding way to let our boys and girls know all people are important despite their disabilities,'' said Port Norfolk Elementary Principal Barbara Jones-Smith.
The Endependence Center uses six puppets in four programs dealing with blindness, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and deafness. UCP has five puppets used in four programs covering cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, mental retardation, and what it is like to be a sibling of someone with a disability.
The two organizations also differ in how they approach their mission. The Endependence Center employs two professional puppeteers and charges $150 per performance to bring the troupe into schools, military bases and places like Busch Gardens. PTAs and organizations such as the Lions Club frequently cover the cost. UCP, funded by a $15,000 grant from NationsBank and using volunteer puppeteers, schedules the ``Kids'' troupe into schools and other community and public locations at no charge.
The Endependence Center has been presenting the program locally for 13 years, and until two years ago, it contracted with independent puppeteers. When the puppet group dissolved, the Endependence Center acquired the program.
Puppeteers Lisa Russo and Barbara Taliaferro run it now. Russo has a degree in music therapy and an extensive work history in disability training. Taliaferro has a degree in elementary education with an emphasis in early childhood development and worked for the Virginia Beach City Public Schools for 11 years.
UCP's puppeteers, on the other hand, are just getting started. They are volunteers who began training in September to prepare for their inaugural school performance at Port Norfolk.
Puppeteers Suzanne Buhner and Michelle Prendergast of UCP ran through their 30-minute skit dealing with cerebral palsy with puppets Mark and Mike Riley (Mark has cerebral palsy) like seasoned professionals. Next came a question-and-answer period. A brief, awkward silence followed until a Port Norfolk student asked, ``Is it fun to have a brother or sister with a disability?''
That broke the ice.
Before Mike could answer, five more hands shot skyward. Questions began to pour out fast and furiously. As the allotted time ran out, Buhner explained that additional questions could be sent to UCP and would get a reply.
Afterward, fourth-grader Rachel Eure, 9, came away with a lesson: ``That you shouldn't joke on people with disabilities.''
Fifth-grade teacher Deborah Hensley summed it up, noting, ``They learned children with cerebral palsy can learn just like they do. I liked it.''
Two days later, puppeteers Leslie Roy and Monique Newman, students at Old Dominion University, took Mark and Mike to Luxford Elementary in Virginia Beach.
About 90 students in the school's four third-grade classes and a special education class watched the same show that had premiered at Port Norfolk but with one addition: catchy, upbeat music.
After the show, the kids jumped right in with questions, some predictable and some unexpected.
``What's it like to be disabled?,'' asked one child.
``Have you ever been to New York?'' posed another.
``What does it feel like to be disabled?,'' queried a third.
``Do other kids make fun of you?''
Spying the small, doll-like shoes on the puppets, one child asked, ``Are your shoes made of plastic?''
The nature of the questions implied that the kids see the disability as of no greater consequence than the material the shoes are made of, or where one has traveled. Score one for the program.
``To little children,'' Luxford Principal Lee Capwell pointed out, ``everybody's the same. That's the beauty of it; get to them early.''
The kids, of course, came away with their own lessons.
``I think I learned it's not polite to tease people,'' said Ashlie Stark, 8, ``because it could hurt their feelings, really.''
Classmate Danny Doyle, 8, got the message ``that some people with disabilities can still do some of the stuff we do.''
Jill Campbell, 9, was more succinct: ``Be nice to people.''
Stephen L. Johnson, executive director at the Endependence Center, explained that his organization's troupe already has reached 4,200 people - children and adults - this year, with five more appearances scheduled through November. The year's total should be around 5,000, a number he hopes to double next year.
UCP Executive Director Kathy Prendergast originally expected her program would reach 5,000 children the first year but noted the group will reach that many by mid-January. She is optimistic they will reach 10,000 in their first year.
The Endependence Center's troupe has made 16 appearances this year, including one at Langley Research Center on Thursday and Busch Gardens on Saturday. Scheduled appearances will take them to Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach.
The UCP ``Kids'' have scheduled appearances at 23 area schools and one community recreation center. Last week they also appeared at two NationsBank centers in Virginia Beach, putting on their show in the branches' lobbies, despite at least one unexpected twist.
That was on Monday, while Mark and Mike were at the Bayside branch as part of customer celebration week. A group of third-graders from Baylake Pines was already on its way over when it was learned that one of the scheduled puppeteers had been involved in an auto accident and wouldn't be able to make it. The branch's vice president and manager, Leah Weisman, stepped in and - after a 10-minute cram course in puppeteering - filled in so the show could go on. MEMO: This story also appeared in the Portsmouth Currents, Sunday Oct. 22,
1995
ILLUSTRATION: Photos
LEFT: ``The Kids on the Block'' from United Cerebral Palsy of
Southeastern Virginia held the interest of these third-graders -
Rebbekka Jarman, left, Gerald Dodge, Raheem Lomax and Lamon'te Banks
at Port Norfolk Elementary in Portsmouth.
RIGHT: The UCP puppeteers Leslie Roy, center, and Monique Newman
performed with puppets Michael and Mark Riley, who has cerebral
palsy, at Luxford Elementary in Virginia Beach.
Staff photos by CHARLIE MEADS
ABOVE: Suzanne Buhner of the United Cerebral Palsy puppet troupe
holds a lively question-and-answer session with students at Port
Norfolk Elementary after the performance.
LEFT: Lisa Russo of the Endependence Center troupe uses Renaldo
Rodriquez, a ``blind'' puppet, in her performance.
Graphic
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
``The Kids on the Block'' will be appearing at:
VIRGINIA BEACH
Lynnhaven Elementary - Oct. 23 and 26
Plaza Elementary - Nov. 2
ODU-NSU Graduate Center - Nov. 18
College Park Elementary - Nov. 30
NORFOLK
Granby Elementary - Oct. 27
St. Helena Elementary - Dec. 1
Mary Calcott Elementary Dec. 6, 8 and 13
Larchmont Elementary - Dec. 19
PORTSMOUTH
Very Special Halloween Party - Oct. 28
Churchland Primary - Nov. 3
Brighton Elementary - Nov. 15
SUFFOLK
B.T. Washington Elementary - Dec. 15
CHESAPEAKE
Tidewater Adventist Academy - Oct. 27
G.A. Treakle Elementary - Nov. 7
Crestwood Middle - Nov. 8
E.W. Chittum Elementary - Nov. 14
Deep Creek Central Elementary - Nov. 17
Camelot Elementary - Nov. 21``The Kids on the Block'' will be
appearing at:
KEYWORDS: HANDIDCAPPED PUPPET DISABLED < by CNB