A Home Built on a Child's Needs

A few years ago, her mother discovered the Art and Drama Therapy Institute, and Katherine enjoys it so much that on school holidays, her brother said, "she's a little bit sad."

The facility operates on the premise that "God gave everybody a gift," said Margaret Dickinson, one of the founders. To rouse their interests and build their self-esteem, Katherine and her 140 classmates are bombarded with drama lessons, music sessions and art workshops. When she started there, Katherine was apprehensive about many things -- refusing to step on a stage, for instance -- but gradually, she has come out of her shell.

Part of her day is spent in speech class. Working one-on-one with teacher Regina Thomas, she sat tense with concentration on a recent morning, as Thomas flipped through a set of picture cards. Katherine correctly identified a cat but hesitated when the teacher showed her a picture of a boat.

"Cat?" she ventured, then used the sign language she recently learned to ask for "help."

"Boat," Thomas said, and Katherine repeated the word emphatically, looking relieved.

In theater class that same day, the once-stage-shy Katherine surprised everyone when she tried out for a part in a play. Asked to choose a mask to wear, she picked a flamboyant one, pale blue with a trailing veil. "That's a diva mask," Dickinson whispered from the sidelines. "She would never go for that one in the past."

But in a few minutes, Katherine, clad in the mask and a Japanese kimono, walked onto the stage, holding an unopened fan in front of her face. As she took a bow, her classmates clapped and cheered: "Way to go, Katherine!" She had won her first part ever in a play.

Later, she climbed aboard the white van for the ride home. She hugged the waiting Howard, ate her dinner of a hamburger and a salad, then went upstairs to her puzzles and pictures. Before long, her mother would come home after her own busy day -- and they would settle in together for the evening.