I haven’t been writing in my blog nearly as much as I once did. Much of that is because I’m connected to so many people through Twitter, Facebook, and Foursquare that you know my day-t0-day activities without having to write them here. But I know that some of you aren’t connected with me so, please, take a moment and do that:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kevinwspencer
Twitter: @kevinspencer72
The last few months have been incredibly busy. In January and early February, we toured in Florida performing for wonderful audiences in beautiful places and warm temperatures. In February, we moved the show to the Midwest where we toured Iowa – where we also performed for wonderful audiences in beautiful places and COLD temperatures!
After a nice run through Iowa, the team flew back to Virginia for a few days while I made a visit to Kansas State University to work with some of their drama therapy students. Over several days, an amazing group of people gathered to prepare for an exciting research project happening this summer at the Flint Hills Summer Fun Camp. We will be exploring the impact that learning/performing magic tricks can have on the executive function skills of children with Autism and ADHD. This will be the first multidisciplinary, arts-integrated intervention model designed to document this type of program!
After a few days in Manhattan, KS, I drove back to Kansas City to present a 3-hour workshop at the Midwest Symposium for Leadership in Behavior Disorders. This was a wonderful opportunity to share the Hocus Focus program with special educators across the U.S. The workshop was overwhelmingly received with more than 40 schools signing up to participate in future research.
Once things wrapped in Kansas, I was on a plane to College Station, TX where I would meet up with the rest of the team. We had a great show and spent several days working in the area: 3 television interviews, 1 newspaper interview, 1 radio interview, 8 workshops for 205 special education students in 7 schools, and 2 professional development workshops for 53 teachers and therapists. It was a productive week!
We drove on to Amarillo for a performance at the Globe-News Theatre. This is a truly spectacular theatre – one of the most unique I’ve ever seen. The audience was amazing and we wrapped it all up with another standing ovation.
As I write this, I’ve been partnering with Lone Tree Performing Arts Center and Developmental Pathways in Colorado. It’s been a busy week working with a variety of young adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities throughout the Metropolitan Denver area. But it has been an amazing experience! Tomorrow is the last of our events here and then I’ll be on a flight to Virginia on Sunday to spend 36 hours at my house…just in time for another snow storm.