HOME AWAY FROM HOME VALLEY VILLAGE HELPS THOSE WITH DISABILITIES AND THEIR FAMILIES.Byline: MARK KELLAM Valley News Writer Parents of children with profound disabilities can be overwhelmed because of the time and energy it takes to care for them. Valley Village, which has facilities in Winnetka and Sunland, lends a hand by providing programs and activities designed for children and adults with profound disabilities, including severe mental retardation mental retardation, below average level of intellectual functioning, usually defined by an IQ of below 70 to 75, combined with limitations in the skills necessary for daily living. . Founded in 1971, Valley Village serves more than 300 developmentally disabled individuals throughout the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . Some are in the adult day care programs at both sites. At the Winnetka facility, 20830 Sherman Way, there is an exercise room that provides clients with physical therapy. The room has a treadmill and a stationary bicycle stationary bicycle n. See exercise bicycle. , which can be electronically propelled for those needing assistance, said Jerry Lozano, the assistant program director there. There are also daily living classes where clients learn how to do laundry, make snacks and follow healthy hygiene practices. Classes are also available in sign language and computer games. There are two craft rooms -- one in the main Winnetka facility and another, for higher-functioning clients, in a renovated McDonald's restaurant that Valley Village purchased three years ago. The renovated restaurant is a few hundred feet to the west of Valley Village. Called McVillage, the converted fast-foot eatery is adorned a·dorn tr.v. a·dorned, a·dorn·ing, a·dorns 1. To lend beauty to: "the pale mimosas that adorned the favorite promenade" Ronald Firbank. 2. with colorful murals on the outside. The images in the murals show individuals who look like the clients served by Valley Village, all smiling and laughing. ``It has a whimsical whim·si·cal adj. 1. Determined by, arising from, or marked by whim or caprice. See Synonyms at arbitrary. 2. Erratic in behavior or degree of unpredictability: a whimsical personality. look,'' said Susan Basler, director of marketing and development. Crafts in the main facility focus on ceramics and multi-media, while the crafts in McVillage are primarily clay sculptures. On one wall in the McVillage craft room is an under-the-sea, three-dimensional mural mural Painting applied to and made integral with the surface of a wall or ceiling. Its roots can be found in the universal desire that led prehistoric peoples to create cave paintings—the desire to decorate their surroundings and express their ideas and beliefs. , featuring fish and mermaids. One of the most dynamic clay sculptures is a sphere created out of casts of hands. The hands are different sizes, textures and combinations of colors not of the white race; - commonly meaning, esp. in the United States, of negro blood, pure or mixed. See also: Color . Basler said she was particularly impressed with the hand sculpture and that it might be auctioned at next year's fundraiser, held annually the third Saturday in June. Each year, various items created by Valley Village clients are auctioned to help showcase their talents and raise money for the facility, Basler said. Also at McVillage is a music room with drums, guitars, a piano and an electric keyboard. There are also cooking classes, during which clients also tend to tomatoes, mint, daisies, peppers and aloe in a garden outside, Lozano said. Valley Village runs a day care program for children with special needs at the West Valley Special Education Center at Balboa Boulevard and Vanowen Street in Lake Balboa. At the Sunland facility, there is an adult day health center with about 60 clients. Basler said the facility, at 8727 Fenwick St., recently received $450,000 in Proposition K funds from the city of Los Angeles
Some of Valley Village's clients are in its residential program, either living in group homes or semi-independently in condos. In both cases, 24-hour residential care is provided. CAPTION(S): 2 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) TOP: Creating clay sculptures in the arts and crafts arts and crafts, term for that general field of applied design in which hand fabrication is dominant. The term was coined in England in the late 19th cent. as a label for the then-current movement directed toward the revivifying of the decorative arts. room at McVillage is a popular activity. Pictured, clients make sculptures of ice cream cones An ice cream cone or cornet is a cone-shaped pastry, usually made of a wafer similar in texture to a waffle, in which ice cream is served, allowing it to be eaten without a bowl or spoon. . BOTTOM: A group of Valley Village clients play instruments in the music room at McVillage, a renovated McDonald's restaurant near Valley Village's main facility in Winnetka. Mark Kellam/Valley News |
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