The Exceptional Jugglers of the Benedictine School

by Lorraine Slama & Bill Giduz - Photos by Lorraine Slama

 

The vague term "exceptional children" applies to a whole range of emotional, physical and mental infirmities, but juggling is proving to be a valuable tool to help some of these individuals at a school in Ridgely, Md., cope with life better.

 

They are the 30-40 students who, by being good in academic classes, earn the privilege to be juggling students of Lorraine Slama twice weekly at the private, residential Benedictine School for Exceptional Children.

 

These students have a wide range of developmental disabilities and multi-handicaps, including mild emotional disturbance, controlled epilepsy, physical handicaps, learning disabilities and mild to moderate visual and hearing impairments. One student may read at a fourth grade level while another may not read at all. Some individuals lack social skills or demonstrate inappropriate behaviors. The wide range of their abilities means that everything from two scarf juggling to four ball tricks is taught in the same classroom.

 

At the Benedictine School the emphasis is on teaching functional academics, vocational skills and leisure skills. Lessons here are geared towards what the handicapped child or youth will need to learn in order to function in the outside world. Slama said, "We don't just read books. We work on reading things like labels and bus schedules - the things it takes to get by during the day. We teach functional academics that help prepare students for the world of work. Students do many jobs right in school. There's an industrial contract center, a greenhouse, a car wash, and students assist in cleaning the school themselves."

 

Juggling lessons are part of the curriculum now because learning leisure skills is considered a vital component in their education. Slama explained, "A lot of handicapped kids fail not because they can't hold down a job, but because they don't have anything to do in their spare time. They are fine during the day because they have a job, but at night they don't have anything to do. So teaching them leisure skills is important. Besides juggling, we teach card games, checkers, and especially sportsmanship - how to get along with people if you're losing."