Special Needs Show

[Jacob L]

Hey there guys! October 23rd I'm doing walk around magic for the Full Circle Program at the YMCA where I work. Full Circle is a program for special needs children to have a safe and fun place to be with friends. One of the head people came to me today asking if I could do balloon animals and magic for a bit for their end of the year (summer) party. I totally agreed and I have a few things in mind as to what to perform. I have spongeballs, sponge to cube, growing ball, sponge bunnies, a thumb tip (not really a lot of ideas as to what to do with it though, besides the silk blendo I have) rubberband stuff, and cards, although I'm not sure how well cards would play with special needs children. I guess it depends on how severe their condition is?
Anyway, if anyone has any advice, suggestions, or comments on this matter, I would greatly appreciate it!

Jacob

 

[William Draven]

Losander has some brilliant work out there on thumb tip use. I'd look his stuff up. try googling his name for his product page.

 

[praetoritevong]

Although I've never performed to special needs kids before, I have a small amount of experience with them...

I guess the first and most important thing that came to mind to ask is - do you know exactly what their special needs are? Don't have to post them here, but as in, are they all completely different for example, or all somewhere along the autism spectrum, are some of them more serious than others, other things you should know, etc.? These are definitely things you need to ask of their carers...

By way of example, I know of one lovely boy with autism who is terrified of balloons (the popping). This by itself isn't necessarily an issue, but it definitely needs to be managed, and the carers will need to know what you're performing ahead of time (or at least, it's optimal if they do). If this boy did get upset though, I also know of other kids that he plays with that would basically be terrified and act out as a result of the first one being upset, etc. Then, you have other kids who are afraid of social situations (e.g. don't pick them to volunteer), and so forth... Probably the most important here is communicating with the people who look after the kids!

 

[Jacob L]

William: I'll definitely look him up, thanks for the reference.
Prae: That makes a lot of sense, since who knows them better than the people who look after them? I'll talk more with the head guy today to get some more details.

Thanks for the help guys!

Jacob

 

[Zenn_Darkfire]

Hey there! First off major props to you, I've performed for several Special Needs groups before (both children and adults) and it is such a rewarding feeling doing magic for them. My question is will this be a show or walkaround gig?

First off if you have any kids effects do them. I'm talking Hippity Hop Rabbits, Magic Coloring Book, Vanishing Bandanna, etc. Rope magic is really good, so if you do Fiber Optics or Prof Nightmare that will do fine. If you have d'lites, use them.

Sponge magic is great, just make sure that the kid doesn't have issues with holding things. Also with Sponge magic try giving them names instead off Ball one and Ball two. You mentioned that you have sponge bunnies? Those will be PERFECT

Vanishing silk is killer if you do it humorously. What I normally do is I stuff the silk in my hand (no TT) and push through so it falls to the floor, then when I open my hand act like its gone (they will point it out) then freak when you see it on the floor. Stuff it in your hand (again no TT) then when you open your hand, kinda toss it up in the air and freak. Finally vanish it for real and then cause it to reappear in your mouth.

Try to avoid things they might want to imitate (Pen through bill, quarter bite, etc)

Tend to avoid cards, but if you plan on doing card, try some gaff magic (rubbing the ink, shaking pips, etc) this is visual and they'll like that. If you do card stuff then make sure you have them interact a lot. for example if you want to do an ACR, use a blank deck or a blank card. let the kid draw on the card and have them say their own name every time it appears.

Basically your best bet would to treat the show like you were doing magic for really little kids, even if the kids aren't that young.

Here's a video of my full special needs show, that should clear some things up. If you need anymore help send me a PM!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jupagPyejFo

Good luck!

 

[Jacob L]

Hey Zenn! I was really hoping you would reply, so thanks a lot. I watched your special needs video a while back when you first posted it, and it guided me in what to get for my kids show and gave me performance ideas, so thanks for that as well. This will be a walk around gig in a gymnasium for maybe an hour to and hour and a half tops, so hippipty hoppity rabbits and magic coloring book will be a little hard to carry around. I'm not sure how many kids will be there, but 3 full programs will be attending, so they are expecting a really solid number. I don't do rope magic, but I have a TT and the silk blendo trick, which I've extended beyond the simple "put four silks in, pull one silk out" and I use the same-ish presentation you do with vanishing a silk that you mentioned. Also, how close can you be with D'lites before someone notices?
Thanks again for the reply!

Jacob

 

[Zenn_Darkfire]

Hey Zenn! I was really hoping you would reply, so thanks a lot. I watched your special needs video a while back when you first posted it, and it guided me in what to get for my kids show and gave me performance ideas, so thanks for that as well. This will be a walk around gig in a gymnasium for maybe an hour to and hour and a half tops, so hippipty hoppity rabbits and magic coloring book will be a little hard to carry around. I'm not sure how many kids will be there, but 3 full programs will be attending, so they are expecting a really solid number. I don't do rope magic, but I have a TT and the silk blendo trick, which I've extended beyond the simple "put four silks in, pull one silk out" and I use the same-ish presentation you do with vanishing a silk that you mentioned. Also, how close can you be with D'lites before someone notices?
Thanks again for the reply!

Jacob

Sorry it took so long for me to reply!

The silk effects will be perfect, deff do those. D'lites you can be right next to someone as long as you keep moving. What non card magic close up stuff do you have? You could always do a Miser's dream with quarters and a cup (just make sure that certain people don't have issues with noise)

 

[Jacob L]

Sorry it took so long for me to reply!

The silk effects will be perfect, deff do those. D'lites you can be right next to someone as long as you keep moving. What non card magic close up stuff do you have? You could always do a Miser's dream with quarters and a cup (just make sure that certain people don't have issues with noise)

That's fine!

I don't have D'lites yet, but I can definitely pick some up. Honestly What I mentioned is basically all I have at the moment for non card stuff, I'm kind of just now branching out. I ordered Bobo's coin magic, since I have no experience with coins. I do have some rubberband stuff, would that go over well? Like CMH, band through thumb, and band up nose.

 

[Zenn_Darkfire]

Yeah rubberbands would be great! Also pick up some spongeballs, those go over great

 

[Jacob L]

Ok nice, I have sponge balls, including color changing ball to square and growing ball outdone.