OUTSTANDING SPECIAL NEEDS ART EDUCATOR

Mary Louise Dallam is the recently retired as Educational Consultant with Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistant Network (PaTTAN). Dallam has her Doctorate in Art Education with Ohio State University and her BS in Art Education with Moore College of Art.

Along with being NAEA’s Co-founder of the Special Needs Issue Group, Dallam:

• Served as Special Needs Issue Group’s first Secretary in 2001
• Special Populations Representative to PAEA 1987-2004
• Co-Chair 2003 and 1990 PAEA State Conference

Dallam has given her own time, her own resources and her skills in the name of art education immeasurably. She has designed print materials for the PAEA conferences, her region Red Cross, volunteered for CHICS, has developed print materials for PDE and PaTTAN and donated her own personal collection of over 1,000 children’s books to the Newport Perry County Library to extend their under-funded library section.

In addition, her unique expertise extends to help our most special and exceptional students. Dallam has developed programs for the PA Deaf Blind Program, created the Special Needs PDE web-section online, assisted Very Special Arts Pennsylvania and National Very Special Arts. From 1998-2002 Dallam initiated, developed and implemented the Children’s Arts Institute at the National Autism Institute held at Pennsylvania State University.

While working with Arts in Special Education Project of Pennsylvania from 1987-1996 she has conducted the Very Special Arts Festivals for over 4,000 students with disabilities and their teachers and staff in the School District of Philadelphia and VSA Festival in Harrisburg for over 1,000 every year.