Puppets Help Kids Break the Ice With Disabled Classmates

The sight of the 3-foot-tall puppet wearing crutches and leg braces prompted many questions from the children at Palm Crest Elementary School in La Canada Flintridge.

“Do your legs hurt?”

“Did you catch spina bifida, or did you have it when you were born?”

The questions were from a group of about 75 fourth-graders. But when the puppet’s adult operator, Kris Clark, replies, she lets “Valerie” do the talking.

Valerie is a large puppet for which Clark provides voice and movement. They are both part of the “Kids on the Block” program. Together with a group of about a dozen volunteers from the Women’s Council of Verdugo Hills Hospital and Foundation, they are helping schoolchildren make friends with disabled students in their classrooms.

“This program makes it much more comfortable for everyone,” said Clark, a housewife who is co-chairwoman of the local group. She is not handicapped but has an 8-year-old daughter with spina bifida, which attacks the legs.

Clark and the “Kids on the Block” characters have been visiting schools two or three times a month for the last three years. Clark said the volunteers and their colorful puppets, which depict specific disabilities, perform for groups of about 60.

The puppets are about the size of a 3-year-old child and are expensive--$700 to $1,200. Part of the expense lies in the accessories, such as Valerie’s crutches and leg braces.

Alyce Russell, who operates one of the puppets, said: “It’s so important for (the children) to be able to ask questions. That breaks down the barrier.”