I really can't say what sparked this idea. I have no clue. But one day I had this very thought. What if my therapy room looked nothing like what you'd expect for a therapy room or even a classroom? It may have started when the thought popped into my brain about whether or not I should or want to take all my current classroom decorations with me when I go. Part of my brain said "well yeah...I bought that stuff...why wouldn't i?" and another part said "because it's all paper and bulletin board cardstock style pieces...they never look the same once taken down...and....do I really LOVE Dr. Seuss?" Don't get me wrong, Dr. Seuss...he's a great guy! Love his work and what he does with language...but his aesthetic doesn't speak to my heart. Dr. Seuss illustrations are cute, colorful, and fun...but they're not my favorite. So what IS my favorite? Well, all things Disney and Harry Potter...Harry holds a VERY special place in my heart but when I really reflected back on the work that gave me the deepest appreciation for and understanding of children's literature - it's Alice!
Back during my undergraduate program I took a class called Symbolism and Archetypes in Children's Literature. I was first drawn to the course by a poster made by the professor that was hung up in the Language and Literature building at Arizona State. She had recreated an illustration from the original book featuring Alice but had made the poster three dimensional by crafting Alice's dress from fabric and affixing it to the drawing of her in such a way that her skirt (petticoat and all) flared out from the image as if she were stepping directly off the poster toward me. This eye catching moment led me to read about the course and ultimately enroll.
This class, while not specifically required for my program, laid the foundation for an appreciation for characters in fiction. It was my first experience studying and discussion archetypes. It gave me an avenue to look at literature more deeply than ever before. My favorite feature of this course was that Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was one of my required text books - and we REALLY treated it like a text book! While high school English certainly attempted to teach me how to interrogate a text, it wasn't until this class that I began to really learn how to do it. Now, I say "began" for a reason...this was not the easiest course for me and I did not get the grades on my assignments that I had become accustomed to in high school. But it was a beginning. A beautiful start to something I appreciate more and more every day as I have moved into adulthood and find myself reaching backwards to literature written for youth. I find that children's fiction brings me immense joy. For a long time, it was a mechanism for escape from the monotony of day to day adult life. When I could, I would steal away some time to read books written for kids one third my age.
But now I realize I have an opportunity to surround myself with the whimsy of...any place I wish....what would I wish for....If I could spend a lazy afternoon exploring anywhere.....where? Most definitely: Wonderland! So...what if...what if I created a therapeutic space where kids could come and feel like they've stepped out of school, fallen down a rabbit hole, and landed somewhere new? What if the surroundings brought my students the calm of a quiet forest and the curiosity of a mysterious new place? What if this space allowed for tactile and spacial options that could stimulate or calm sensory needs? What if I changed the aesthetic of institutional components like a white board and classroom tables in such a way that my student's forget they're in a school and start to think outside the box...outside the classroom....outside their usual world??? And so, Project Wonderland was born!
I got really excited about the potential of this idea and went out on a limb. I sent an email to the other SLP I will be working with - a woman I have only emailed with a bit and still have yet to meet in person - and I asked if it would be possible for her to send me a few pictures of the room I'd be working in. I wanted to know if I needed to really focus on just a corner of a room or if I could really get into it. Turns out, there's a LOT of space to work with! Now, I will be sharing this room with an Occupational Therapist so there's a chance they'll all think I'm completely MAD and I'll need to keep my crazy in one corner, or half the room,....or, maybe....just maybe...they'll happen to like my special brand of crazy and I'll get to go nutty all over this room! Who knows! But, I've decided I can make this as big or as small as I need to. Check out the new digs! It's not much right now but oh....if you could only see inside my head!
