DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF

CENTRAL FLORIDA: SPRING FLING!Chelsea Pearl-Mihalinec

Nicole Sammaro

Casie Dwyer

Elizabeth Brumer

Lissette Torres

Date

EEX 4070

EARLY PERCEPTIONS

Going into the service learning project our group was very excited about the event we were going to host. We quickly got together and started planning what we thought would be a very fun and engaging Family Field Day!

After meeting with the Coordinator of the Down Syndrome Association of Central Florida and looking at the facility we had to work with our plans began to change.

Instead of a Family Field Day we decided that the best event to host for the group we were working with would be more of an indoor arts and crafts Spring Fling Day. Immediately after that meeting we began putting the flyer for the event together…

DOWN SYNDROME ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL

FLORIDA HEADQUARTERS

This is where we did the

storytelling presentation. This

was the largest room we had to

work in.

This is where we did snack

time. The snack was a Cup of

Dirt (chocolate pudding,

gummy worms, and Oreos).

This is the outdoor play area

at the facility, but we did not

utilize it.

This is the conference area where

we did arts and crafts and made

picture frames from foam board

This is where we did

the outdoor craft of

marble painting.

This is the lobby area where

guests checked in.

DEMOGRAPHICS FOR THE DOWN SYNDROME

ASSOCIATION OF CENTRAL FLORIDA

•They serve more than 700

families

•They cover 7 counties in and

around the Orlando area

•There are over 7,000

individuals, families and

supporters

•They are governed by a

volunteer board of directors

•Over 50% of these volunteers

have a family member with

Down Syndrome

ENGAGEMENT ACTIVITIES

•Making Picture Frames

•Snack Time

•Storytelling

•Marble Painting

HOW WE GOT STARTED OR CONNECTED?

•We knew we wanted to work with a

big organization instead of just

going into a classroom

•We considered working with children

who had Down Syndrome or Autism

•After the Down Syndrome

Association’s immediate response

we jumped on board with them

•We met soon after and began

working on our plan for carrying out

the event

PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS

Participants age: 7-18

Ethnic Backgrounds: Caucasian

Linguistic Heritages: English

Exceptionalities: Down Syndrome

People served: 2*

* We planned for 25 children and weretold more people were going to sign uplast minute, but that wasn’t the result.Even some of the people who signedup didn’t come the day of the event.

REFLECTION OF YOUR EXPERIENCE

This was an overall good experience for whole group.

Although we had a great time working with the children, we

wished for a better turnout.

We were most impacted by the little girl Zoe who shared her

own version of storytelling using the props from the original

story.

ZOE’S VERSION OF MISS SPIDER’S TEA PARTY

REFLECTION CONT

We will take with us a better understanding of working with

children that have disabilities, more specifically children with

Down Syndrome.

This was the majority of our groups first experience working

one-on-one with children with disabilities. We gained insight into

some of the typical behavioral issues linked to this disability

Through this experience we have a better understanding of how

to manage and accommodate their learning needs in our future

classrooms