FAQs

Why is Clallam Mosaic important to the participants?
 

In Clallam County, individuals with developmental disabilities have few options to continue to learn and grow after they advance beyond the supports offered by the secondary school system. Clallam Mosaic therefore delivers a much-needed service by providing an array of programs for life-long education, leisure and recreation.

By encouraging participation, respecting individuals and providing special supports that accommodate for differences between individuals, Clallam Mosaic:

•  Fosters independence and personal choice
•  Engages individuals in meaningful activities to improve self-esteem, self-determination, self-confidence and overall quality of life
• Helps individuals to overcome stigmas and live as normal a life as possible
• Improves cognitive ability
• Promotes healthy life choices

How can I support Clallam Mosaic?
 

There are many ways you can support Clallam Mosaic.

You can donate funds or supplies.

You can volunteer.

You could join our Board of Directors.

What skills do participants learn?
How do the participants benefit?
Why is it an unique opportunity for growth?

Clallam Mosaic helps participants understand choices and decision-making and the responsibilities of those choices as they live an independent life. Daily activities that many of us take for granted may be an incredible challenge to a person with a developmental disability.
 

The Clallam Mosaic core values are built around maturity in choices, responsibility, and independence.
 

Skills that we encourage include:
Timeliness: meeting deadlines, being on time and being prepared;
 

Team building: honoring each others’ talents and gifts, being responsible to other team members, and working together toward a shared goal;
 

Personal Development: setting individual goals for achievement.
 

Lessons from the theater class
 

The Theater production class provides a voice and a vehicle for people with developmental disabilities to share their stories. In Theater our participants showcase their abilities and talents. Troupe members must collaborate to accomplish the goals of the program. Skills that are needed to collaborate-- honoring diversity, supporting each other’s talents and gifts and sharing burdens -- are skills transferable to general life.
 

A personal story of growth: Doug, Theater 2010
 

Doug, a non-reader with speech difficulties, resists speaking when he is in public and among strangers for fear of not being understood. He hangs his head and avoids eye contact. These physical behaviors have been misinterpreted by others as stand-offish, disinterested, or lacking environmental comprehension.
 

Doug has particular difficulties in pronouncing certain letters. W’s are difficult for him as are many of the sounds that require the tongue to tap the top of the palette or the back of the teeth. He struggles tremendously to be understood and is often frustrated by his inabilities as well as the listeners’ lack of patience in trying to understand.
 

During the Theater production of the ”The KSNAP Radio Variety Show” one of Doug’s lines was “We got to find those dirty dog nappers,”
 

It took Doug four months to wrap his mouth around the two “D” sounds followed by the “N” sound. Before rehearsal, the day before the show’s opening, Doug was on stage at Olympic Theater Arts (OTA), relaxed and reciting his lines from memory. Other actors were also around and I was in the back of the theater with an OTA member when Doug hit his line. As clear as a bell, he said. “We have to find those dirty dog nappers.” There was a moment of silence and then he yelled it out again and then again. That moment, that one singular moment, was a tremendous moment of acheivement for Doug. He proved to himself that with practice it IS possible to challenge himself and emerge victorious.
 

Another need that the Theater class aspires to is educating the public about people with developmental disabilities.
 

Breaking down barriers of fear and ignorance.
Treating each other with respect.
 

People with developmental disabilities are constantly faced with age inappropriate comments. Being referred to as kids or children or in the third person when they are present. The Theater production shines a bright light on how much we are all the same while highlighting the struggles that people with developmental disabilities have to overcome stereotyping and isolation.
 

How does the Clallam Mosaic program address

a need in the community?
There are no other programs in Clallam County that offer nonvocational day programming for people with developmental disabilities. Clallam Mosaic provides educational, social, recreational and creative opportunities for participants to safely practice skills that they can use at home and in the community - e.g. appropriate voice volume, patience to not interrupt, appropriate greetings, inclusion, turn-taking, self-advocacy, and volunteerism. Our programming is developed with person centered choices and skill levels in mind.