Inclusive Environment for Working with Children with ASD Organisation Problems in Different Types of Museums

Museums today play a pivotal role in creating an environment that follows principles of social inclusion and is accessible for individuals with disabilities including museum visitors with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Extracurricular activities are an integral part of comprehensive support for children with ASD that require coordinated efforts of museum professionals, psychologists, and educators. However, museum professionals may lack information about autism and appropriate approaches. The Federal Resource Center for Organization of Comprehensive Support to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders at MSUPE studied this process by conducting a survey about the availability of resources for accommodating individuals with ASD as independent visitors as well as participants in museum programs. The results of the survey attest to a high level of engagement of museum community in creating provisions for visitors with ASD in addition to the demand for consulting centers that would facilitate development of appropriate tools. We present a project that has introduced “social narratives” as an instrument for ASD in a setting that can serve as a model for such a center.

How do people with dementia respond to different types of art? An explorative study into interactive museum programs

ABSTRACTObjectives:Various art programs are available for people with dementia. These have been shown to contribute to the patient’s quality of life. But are all types of art suitable for this purpose and for the target group? This study investigated whether responsiveness during museum programs depends on the type of art work shown and/or characteristics of the person with dementia, such as severity of dementia or specific cognitive impairments.Method:A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in which the responsiveness of people with dementia to different types of art was investigated as part of a study into the implementation of the Unforgettable program, an interactive guided museum tour program in Dutch museums for people with dementia.Results:The appreciative and active responsiveness and interaction with others during the program appeared related to the severity of dementia, to specific cognitive impairments, and to type of artworks. People with more severe dementia responded less to art than people with mild dementia. Artworks with more natural elements revealed less interaction with others. Artifacts (i.e., objects not originally meant as artworks) evoked more reactions than artworks.Conclusion:The study results are important to take into account when designing and offering art programs for people with dementia. Knowing which type of art works appeals most to (subgroups of) people with dementia will contribute to the optimization of art programs for this target group and to their active participation in such programs.

Stalne muzejske postavke: od alternativne učionice do turističke atrakcije: uporedna analiza posete postavkama Narodnog muzeja Valjevo u periodima 1951–1961. i 2001–2011.

The purpose of this paper is to fully observe the differences in the structure of the audiences attending permanent museum collections and to point to museums’ present day tasks. While the introductory part examines the problematic concerning museum audiences and the varieties of museum programs, the main portion of the paper presents the results of an analysis of the numbers and the structure of museum visitors in two periods set half a century apart: 1951–1961 and 2001– 2011, with a control group: a more complete analysis of 2013’s visitors. The analysis of attendance during the fifties and the beginning of the 21st century was conducted on the basis of existing physical materials from the museum’s internal archive, while the control analysis of 2013 attendance was conducted by a search of an electronic database. The research pointed to significant differences in the structure of the visitor body in different periods, whether they were concerning the company arriving (individuals or organized groups), or their residence (in or out of town). In the 1950s, town residents were the dominating visitors. They were frequenting the museum of their own accord, in their leisure time, as per their own wishes and needs, led by the desire to have a cultural experience and an informal self-education. Half a century later, with a broad spectrum of new media offering pastimes that were unavailable before, the audience was dominated by organized groups arriving from out of town; predominantly students on excursions. These differences indicate that there was a big shift in the function of permanent museum collections in the last fifty years. Their role as permanent educators of local population has significantly diminished, but their role as a leading tourist attraction has inflated nonetheless.