April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
SILVER AWARD PROJECT
Girl Scout creates safe space for brother with autism
Girl Scout creates safe space for brother with autism
"They do have their moments of fighting like all siblings do," noted their mom, Darcy, but Brigid is the only one who can help Cooper with his homework when he's struggling at the end of the day.
Cooper has autism. To earn her Silver Award -- the highest honor for Girl Scouts in grades six through eight -- Brigid completed a service project to raise awareness for her brother and other young people with special needs.
"Bullying is a big issue, especially if you have special needs," explained Brigid, who is a seventh-grader at Gardner Dickenson School in Troy. Cooper is in the first grade there.
Brigid, 13, attends St. Jude the Apostle parish in Wynantskill, where she sings in the choir and is a member of the Junior Ladies of Charity.
For her project, she collaborated with the school to create a "sensory space" where students with special needs can go to calm down when they need a break. She called it the Blue Room.
"It's so they can relax and feel safe," Brigid said.
People with autism may struggle with sensory dysfunction. Spaces or activities that hone in just one of the five senses can help, such as running their hands through sand or looking at colored lights.v The Blue Room at Gardner Dickenson is also right outside of the guidance counselor's office, making it easy for students to get help if they need it.
Cooper was the inspiration for the room, said Brigid. Often, he needs time to himself to decompress.
Gardner Dickenson's principal, Mary Yodis, actually approached Brigid with the idea to create the sensory space.
There are "a handful of students with autism in the school," Ms. Yodis told The Evangelist, and "we need to raise awareness [of their needs] with other children," not just those in the special education classrooms. "It was a huge need that the district had."
The Girl Scout Silver Award focuses on making positive change in one's community. To create the Blue Room, Brigid raised money at her school and elsewhere. She sent letters and cardboard snowflakes she'd made out of puzzle pieces to potential donors and put up a "snowflake tree" asking for donations at her school. A multicolored puzzle piece is the international symbol for autism; it symbolizes how complex the autism spectrum is.
Brigid also did face painting at a craft fair and had a donation day at the store Five Below. She raised more than $1,000 to furnish the room.
Then "I made a blueprint of what I wanted," she said. She researched what color to paint the room, choosing blue because of its association with calm; with help from her mother, she made a "sensory bin" filled with toys and soft beads students can hold to help them relax. The mother-daughter duo also built a rocket ship out of cardboard that students can sit inside.
In addition to creating the Blue Room, Brigid also wanted to spread autism awareness among students at her school to educate them about autism and bullying.
She recruited Jesse Saperstein, an author and anti-bullying advocate who has Asperger's syndrome -- a condition on the autism spectrum -- to speak with students in the afternoon and to the wider community in the evening.
"I had some money left, so we bought some autism awareness posters" to hang in the school hallways, Brigid told The Evangelist. She was also able to buy autism awareness bracelets for all of the students in her school.
This isn't the first time Brigid has done a project related to her brother's autism. When she was working on her Girl Scout Bronze Award, she made visual aids for Cooper's preschool class to help them with the transition into elementary school, taking pictures of different areas of the school so the younger students would be familiar with where to go in the building, which is larger than their old school.
To finish applying for her Silver Award, Brigid only needs to submit some paperwork. But she said her effort is really about making sure her brother has a positive experience in school.
"I did it for him, so he doesn't have to worry about bullying," she said. "I think that what I did really did make a difference." The project "shows that just because someone is different, you need to show mercy. You shouldn't treat them bad because they are different."
The Blue Room was technically finished in April, though items are being added to it all the time. So far, it has been received well -- especially by Cooper.
"He goes into the blue room a lot," Brigid remarked. "I don't know if he really realizes how much work I put in," but that's OK with her.[[In-content Ad]]
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