TAP Holiday hours

TAP will be closed on December 29th and January 5th. TAP Saturday Program will resume on January 12th, 2013. 

TAP Winter Camp hours:
December 31st - 9:30-12:30
January 2nd-4th - 1:00- 4:00

Season's Greetings

TAP Holiday Show

on December 22, 2012 at noon

TAp Children and STAFF PRESENT…

Holiday Show

The Program

Season Greetings with Yoga Poses

Song: Firework by Katy Perry

Dance: Macarena by Los Del Rio & Gangman Style by PSY

The Love Poem by Rumi

Violin Music by Aiden Gupta

Stars of the Show:

Ian Thatcher                                                TAP Team:

Ian Wozniak                                                   Katryne, Agnes, Mark,

 Jessica Lindsay                                           Sabrina, Maddie, Sarah,

Eric Wu                                                             Paula, Meaghan, Margaret

Carlo Gutierrez

Jaclyn Gupta      

Evan Giamacoulas

 Megan Gupta

Dominic Gupta

Connor Finley

Nikki Rich

Melissa  Giamacoulas

The Love Poem

In your light I learn how to love.

In your beauty, how to make poems.

You dance inside my chest,

where no one sees you,

but sometimes I do, and that

sight becomes this art.

by Rumi.

TAP Winter Camp

Announcements

- The new Eight week session will start on November 17th and end on January 19th, 2013.

- TAP will be closed on December 29th and January 5th. 

December TAP Themes

December Monthly Theme: Winter Holidays

December 1   - Winter Holidays
December 8   - Christmas/Holiday Decor
December 15 - Christmas Play and Show
December 22 - Holiday/Christmas Party

Autism Diet Workshop for Parents

The first workshop will be moved this Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 2:30.

November TAP themes

November TAP Themes: Nutrition Month

November 3   -- Canadian Food Guide
November 10 -- Favorite Healthy Food
***November 17 --Recycling Day*** New TAP 8-week Session starts!
November 24 -- Favorite Food Recipe

October TAP Themes

October TAP Themes:

October 6 - TAP will be closed
October 13 - All about me
October 20 - Thanksgiving
October 27 - Halloween

September TAP Themes

September 8 - Best Summer Vacation Memories

September Monthly Theme: Sharing is Caring

September 15 - Sharing
September 22 - Caring
September 29 - Sharing is Caring

New Fall Flyer 2012

To have a copy of our Fall flyer, you can download it from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?9inj7rjs6ydr3f3 

Why Arts for Children with ASD

Why Arts for Children with ASD.

Parents might question the need for their children on the ASD spectrum to be involved in the arts program. When their children struggle with academic and social skills there is so much to take care of, the arts programs are often considered only when the child shows some visual or musical talent. Who needs “arts and crafts”? We all do. Why? Simply because it makes us human. From the beginning of time, our ancestors marked their stories in caves, made simple toys and musical instruments, and danced to celebrate life’s events. This helped with self-expression, communication, and a sense of belonging in the group. The arts have always been part of our history and innate in all humans. We need to include all children and invite them to the Arts.  We want them to rise above their limitations and especially labels of ASD in order to shine, show their true unique selves through arts, and to be themselves as whole persons.


How does it work?
When children and people explore and engage with arts, they “forget” their limitations — they become fully present. Let’s imagine kids painting together in a group. They have one set of paints, some brushes, water containers, paper, each other, and facilitators. In order to create their paintings, they need to share the paints and water containers. To do this, they have to communicate; at least to gesture to each other to pass the paints. Also they need to take turns with the water containers to rinse their brushes.  The result: even though they make a mess and get dirty, they share, talk and create a positive experience for themselves and each other. This image becomes their mark.
John, our 13 year old with limited speech will mix paints to create wonderful colours. When asked about his art, he will say “John” and proudly sign his artwork, it is his mark, his “cave painting”.

The art materials are themselves nurturing and they give the kids an opportunity to explore and manipulate media, and to use their senses to engage. The children can experience a multitude of sensory stimulation, through textures, sounds and visual experiences. The group offers a social and natural opportunity where things happen in the present moment: paints have to be shared, conflicts resolved with the support of the facilitator. In this nonjudgmental atmosphere, art pieces are honoured and respected. This offers tangible opportunities for reflection and self-observing…. “Look what I have accomplished!” There is no hard agenda, no rigid steps to follow; opportunity for artistic expression, spontaneity, and showcasing uniqueness is created. All these experiences help to nurture the soul; they help a child with ASD to grow and expand in their humanity; to be special beyond their disability.

Sometimes “miracles” happen. These occur unexpectedly and beyond therapists/facilitator’s goals for the sessions. For example, just this June, the art session was held outside to celebrate the first days of summer. The kids had crayons and markers and were only invited to draw what they see in a summer day outside. Adam looked at his white paper and said he will trace the shadows of the leaves that he sees, on it. He took the black crayon and made tracings of the leaves and then said: “let me decipher what’s the message in these scribes”. He looked and showed the facilitator the word “summer”. They kept drawing and the facilitator suggested (as an extension of their idea) tracing their shadows.  One of our very talented kids, Mary, made a spectacular impressionistic painting of herself that is visually extraordinary as she added her visual expression to the tracing of her self-portrait. 


We had a boy with Asperger’s, Mark who came to Movement and Dance. When we put on contemporary dance music, he became a free, wonderful dancer. He danced with such a style and grace that the other kids and facilitators wanted to follow and we did. This paved a path to a popular game we now play, Follow the leader, while dancing. Our original boy was so talented it became his way to connect and build confidence. His self-esteem strengthened so much as a result of the dance and drama that he was able to make friends in his regular school.


A seven year old boy Kevin, with limited speech, who has done yoga with us for two years has become such a skilled yogi that he was able to share his skills at his school’s yoga class. Everyone was so impressed that this boy who would not normally take lead was able to show off his yoga poses, which became a bridge for social connections and confidence building as he felt proud and skilled opposite to the kids who were just learning.

A 5 year old boy, Alex who had been with us for more than a year acted as a big brother to the younger kids in his kindergarten group. He rarely talked to the other kids at the beginning. With time, he gained confidence and he helped the other kids to become part of the group. He would always say “No [child’s name] don’t do that”. He started to interact with the other kids more. He showed care for the other kids when he took initiative to clean and put away a little boy’s snacks into his lunch bag.  His mother told us that every week he is so excited to go to the arts program,  that he would actually wake up his parents to help him prepare, and to drive him. 


During music time, the kids made their own musical instrument using household items. While playing with their instruments, one 5 year old boy picked up a stick and started conducting. He told a 7 year old boy to look at what he’s doing. The 7 year old boy started to make sounds by tapping a water-filled jar with a plastic chopstick. He followed the beat of the conductor and they played for few minutes. Not only were they interacting, but they were making music together. 


In the story time we read the story: Monster and the Tree about respecting environment using an example of the tree.  The kids seemed very touched by the impact on the tree when the monster tried to destroy it.  They could empathise with the tree without needing a long explanation as it was well demonstrated in the story. Yet in an entertaining way, they all acted out the story taking turns to be a tree and a monster who at the very last moment realized that the tree could vanish and started taking care of it and water and nurture it.  The group had so much fun retelling the story, watching each other and make it come alive.  The boys seemed to intuitively know what to do and to act it out dramatically.  Seeing them, one would know how satisfied and happy they were, laughing, working together and being so present in their acting roles.


It is good if arts program offers many choices to children beyond visual arts, music and movement; the culinary arts, horticulture, photography and yoga can be interesting alternatives that will work just as well and may appeal to a broader group of kids.  The variety and atmosphere is crucial.  The team work in the group makes the arts come alive, support of trained facilitators is essential to building strong social skills, model interactions and helping the kids. Much needed sensory stimulation is naturally offered through the visual arts, music, cooking, dancing and yoga. 
At the arts program, which is less structured than a school’s or other specialized programs, the kids feel a sense of belonging, they have a place to unload their stress, to express who they are; to feel, and to be truly themselves. All arts experiences are considered to be special and precious and everyone gets a turn. In this nonjudgmental setting, the children are not expected to “perform” and get “school marks”, their impressions and expressions are all accepted. They also do not need to have artistic talent; they can simply play and be creative. Let’s give our children the Arts and see where their growth takes them.

 This Article was written by Katryne Cunnanan and Margaret Guzowski.  Katryne is a coordinator of the Therapeutic Arts Program (TAP) in Mississauga, ON.  Margaret is a director owner of TAP.  For more information please visit: www.therapeuticartsprogram.blogspot.com.  The names of the children were changed and parental permission given to use their artworks in order to protect the clients’ privacies.

Tap Picnic June 23, 2012 at Hilton Falls, Conservation Park.

 To end the School Year and celebrate the summer, we invited everyone in the TAP family including our TAP kids, their siblings and parents as well as TAP team to our first picnic.

It turned out to be a wonderful day and absolutely great event.  We all met at the parking lot and waited for a while for our two missing families. After contacting them and knowing that they will catch up with us, we started our hike to the Falls. 

It seemed to be a perfect day as it was not terribly hot and yet sunny and warm.  The kids were curious how long it will take us to reach the falls as we walked the trail.  Everything seemed to feel green, bursting with life.  Everyone was excited to reach for the falls and curious.  We saw a beetle and butterflies on the way.  Carlo who was at the front of our group kept asking about how long it would take us to the falls. He wondered why he could not hear it.  It was a 1.5 km walk through the forest that everyone walked with ease. 

Closer to the falls, Fergus got excited and was leading our group.  As we got to the falls our “lost” family, with Jacky, Megan and Dominick joined us and we were finally all together.

All kids headed straight for the actual waterfalls so parents had no choice but to go with them and explore the stream (that almost everyone crossed) to reach the ruins of the old mill. 

 How much fun it was to cool off our hands in the water, hear the sounds of the waterfall and bask in the coolness of the natural shade and oasis that was before us.  We stayed there for a while touching the wet mosses on the rocks, jumping through the creek and just being together in the nature.  Everyone seemed to just absorb the beauty. 

We started feeling hungry and it was time to have a snack.  But the snack was in our cars at the parking lot where there were many large picnic areas.  We walked back and so close to the parking lot, little Abby, Ian’s sister fell and scraped her knees.  It was good that her dad was right there to comfort her and by the cars we quickly cleaned up her wounds and put bandages.  She stopped crying and joined the girls’ play.  The picnic was set up under a large tree on three picnic tables.  Ian’s family even had their own table to contribute.  Thanks to Gabriella, Connor’s mom, who coordinated the food we had delicious snacks that all kids were able to eat as she made sure they were gluten and dairy free.  We had Gabriella’s delicious lentil/rice balls, great veggies and salad, hummus and guacamole, chips and popcorn lots of fruit and even Filipino Empanada that Carlo’s family brought for those who could eat wheat and meat, they were great!  What was amazing about our picnic is that the kids really played.  

Our TAP boys, Carlo, Ian, Connor and Fergus played together their own game of being Pokemon Characters and tried Frisbee too.  Unfortunately, accidently the Frisbee hit Fergus’ side forehead, he got hurt but he quickly recovered and went back to play.  The girls played dolphins on the blue mat, they also blew bubbles with Dominick and tried Badminton.  Fergus played Badminton too.  Katryne and Kaushal along with Nathan stared playing volleyball and we invited parents too, Chris and Jacky, Ian’s parents and Gabriella joined in.  Ferg and Samantha along with their daughter Klara played Badminton and so did Carlo’s parents.  We had time to talk and connect as well as we rested and had more food.  At the end, kids had fun with water-balloons. Connor seemed to be particularly intrigued and even helped the girls to toss them until they popped and sprinkled cool water…

The picnic was a great success, no one wanted to leave two hours after the planned departure time… and we made sure to conclude that we must keep meeting like this to connect and to be together to support and build our community.  Thank you everyone who came, let’s do it again soon.

Margaret Guzowski.

Summer Themes 2012

TAP Olympics
July 07-  Opening Ceremony
July 14-  Volleyball/Basketball
July 21-  Badminton
July 28-  Soccer
Aug. 04- Track and Field
Aug. 11- Closing Ceremony

Trip Around the World
Aug. 18- Brazil
Aug. 25- Kenya
Sept. 1-  India
Sept. 8-  Hawaii and back to Canada.

TAP Summer 2012

We are offering exciting TAP Summer Programs including Summer Camps at Streetsville Children's Centre with Olympics and International Themes, TAP Adventures Tuesday Trips and Weekdays Wed./Tues. Afternoons and Saturday Program. 

 

*TAP on Saturday runs in July and August from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, full days, single hour and four hour special rates are available.  The eight week sessions can be used up any time during the summer months up to September 8th, 2012. 


To receive copy of our flayers, please download it from here:
TAP Flyer: http://www.mediafire.com/view/?3cuwdduz85ymdm8 

Summer Camp: http://www.mediafire.com/?gas9y6uhx7scgmi

June Themes

June 2   -- International Children's Day
June 9   -- TAP's Got Talent!
June 16 -- TAP Picnic on Father's Day
June 23 -- First Days of Summer 2012
June 30 -- Canada Day and End of School Year Celebrations

Due to parents' request we are bringing back:

Tuesday Movie Night Out for Parents

and TAP activities for kids.

at Kids Can on May 29th

Your children will enjoy the activities of the Therapeutic Arts Program, in addition to indoor and outdoor sport games and play.

5:30 – 6:30 Story Time and Cooking Dinner

6:30 – 7:30 Visual Arts/Group Sports

7:30 – 8:30 Yoga or Photography/Gardening

Cost:

One evening - $60

Hourly rate - $25

May TAP Themes

May 5   --- Kids' Workshop: Preparation for Mother's Day
May 12 --- Mother's Day Celebrations
May 19 --- Spring Planting & Growing/ Celebrating Spring's Abundance
May 26 --- Teacher's Appreciation Day

TAP's First Eco Trip

On April 21st TAP kids, team, siblings and parents went on an excursion to Rattary Marsh Conservation Park in Mississauga.  The trip was a great success even in a cool weather.  We walked through the trail and observed our natural environment we saw Swans and their nest, Red winged Black birds, Robins and lovely yellow bird.  We saw the marsh and many grasses and trees.  On the rocky beach we learned about how the rocks called Shingles helped to create the marsh by obstructing the flow of the creek into the lake.  We made rock signs of our two teams: Tidal Waves and Rock Stars.  We had snack there too. On our way back we played a discovery game where we had to find different parts of the natural environment.   The closing ceremonies were held at the hill of Green Glade School were we took group photos and checked out the results of the game.  All kids loved to roll down the grassy hill and had lots of fun.  When we got to parking lot everyone had such a good time that they did not want to leave.  It was a great experience for all of us and we look forward to having another outing soon.  At the beginning of June we plan to have TAP picnic.

Check out our  Facebook Page to see more pictures. 

April Themes

April 7    --- Spring Holiday Easter
April 14  --- National Wildlife Week
April 21  --- Earth day - Rattray Marsh Trip
April 28  --- National Ocean Week  

Spring Flyer

To have a copy of our Spring flyer, you can download it from here: 
http://www.mediafire.com/?3cuwdduz85ymdm8

March Break Flyer

To have a copy of our March break flyer, you can download it from here: 

 http://www.mediafire.com/?44bzvz7ukjbnaz0

March TAP Themes

March  3  -- Feelings

March 10 -- March Break (Spring Vacation)

March 17 -- St. Patrick's Day

March 24 -- Spring

March 31 -- Space (First walk in Space)

February TAP Themes

February 4  -- Friendship

February 11 -- Valentines Day

February 18 -- Family Day

February 25 -- Friends like me around the world