Traditionally special education has provided a modified mainstream experience for students with special needs. Recent research and exemplars of good practice illustrate the importance of a paradigm shift in the delivery of special education. There is a growing national and international awareness of the need to develop new strategies. Special education through the Arts delivers a sensory approach to learning assisting students to move from the non-verbal to the verbal, from being an observer to a participant and to fully awaken student potential. These changes have been realised through the power of the Arts intertwined with Arts Therapy.

This symposium will provide learning opportunities for participants to explore and discover the processes and programming required to re-imagine special education.
Aim:
• To re-imagine special education through the Arts;
• Explore and discover the processes required to re-imagine special education;
• To recognise the power of intertwining arts education/arts therapy within the learning & teaching program;
• To use the Arts as a model to illustrate possibilities for transferring the model to other educational foci/specialisms.