Pathpoint
“PathPoint recently partnered with TRAP to offer the program to participants in our Community Access Programs. In little over a year, we have implemented the program at our sites in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Thousand Oaks, and Simi Valley. We are on track to implement the program in Chatsworth, Lancaster, and Bakersfield by the end of the year. I have been fortunate enough to be part of the training process and have witnessed the phenomenal impact TRAP has on our participants. It is a fun engaging program but also challenges our participants intellectually. I have heard countless stories of individuals opening up and achieving far beyond what was previously expected. The program has been a great success and we look forward to continuing our partnership into the future!”
Ventura County Board of Education
“The Rhythmic Arts Project has enriched the lives of my student’s. The level of student engagement has greatly increased and they are very focused on their drumming. The self-regulation component of TRAP is a skill my students will benefit from throughout their lives. Starting and stopping on cue and eyes focusing on the leader as well as low, just right and high body levels are strategies that are showing improvement with our drumming sessions. My students are receiving the needed extra sensory input from the extra auditory and physical sensations of their music. With the TRAP Program you can teach students most skills from developing learning to learn skills to equations. My students especially enjoy the challenges of patterns, signing colors, learning phone numbers and addresses. The greatest effect of this program is the excitement and elation my students feel before, during, and after their Rhythmic Arts lesson. The source of this joy can be accredited to multiple aspects of the Rhythmic Arts Project including its environment of inclusion and celebration, along with Eddie and his easy going positive spirit. The TRAP program fosters an environment that allows each of my students to express themselves with their own individual style of percussion. This in turn permits each student to feel like a “star” during drumming and dance solos that are immediately followed by peer praise. Denise Pannell, MS Triton Academy.”
-Denise Pannell
Ventura County Board of Education
VCOE Occupational Therapist
“What I love about TRAP is how effectively it engages students across such a wide range of functional abilities and ages. For the past 15 years, I have been working with
students with moderate to severe disabilities, and there are not many activities that can hold the attention and teach skills to students ranging from preschool to post-secondary age the way that TRAP does. Also, Eddie Tuduri’s passion and enthusiasm both for the program and our students is completely infectious! –Heidi Escobar, Occupational Therapist.”
-Heidi Escobar
VCOE Occupational Therapist
Maestra de Educacion Especial
“Mi nombre es Marie Gutierrez. Soy una maestra de educacion especial. Trabajo con estudiantes de la primaria con discapacidades moderadas hasta severas que van desde el autismo a la discapacidad intelectual. Cuando me pidieron que escribiera un comentario sobre como el programa del Proyecto de Artes Ritmicos (TRAP) les beneficia a mis alumnos, me sente muy feliz de escribir algo que, a mi parecer, faculta a nuestros estudiantes. El plan de estudios del Proyecto de Artes Ritmicos (TRAP) ha impactado la manera en que mis estudiantes aprenden a traves del encomio y la inspiracion. El plan de estudios TRAP ofrece una amplia gama de temas que abordan varios niveles de habilidad. Nuestros estudiantes se benefician de tener este curriculo excepcional diseiado para todas las necesidades de aprendizaje de los estudiantes. Muestra una variedad de enfoques que tocan la ortografia, las salabas, los colores, las matemeticas, la diferencia entre derecha / izquierda, etc. He sido testigo de las interacciones sociales positivas de mis estudiantes que participan en los elementos del plan de estudios del Proyecto de Artes Ritmicos (TRAP).”
-Maestra Marie
Education Specialist
“As a Special Educator, I feel so fortunate to have met Eddie in 2013! Since then I have collaborated with Para educators, Occupational Therapists, Eddie and his TRAP team and teachers, to practice using the drums as a teaching tool. Having worked with young and older students in my teaching career, I have seen first hand how students’ faces light up with smiles, they connect with the facilitator, they participate and engage during lessons more often, they learn how to spell and count. These are only a few of the miracles I have observed while using TRAP. ALL students benefit from the Visual, Tactile, Auditory, Speech methodology of teaching social and academic skills through the binder TRAP provides, and just recently the online tutorial eBook which provides video modeling for facilitators. My life and my students’ lives have been forever enriched with The Rhythm Arts Project!”
-Carri Gault, M.Ed. Education Specialist
Dwire School-MOVE, Oxnard, CA
Physician
“As a physician working in the field of neurodevelopment disabilities I can attest to TRAP’s contribution in behavioral control, auditory and visual perceptual matching, prepositional and lateral concepts, temporal organization and spatial awareness; all which are required for true inclusion and strides in independence.”
-Rick Rader, MD, FAAIDD
TRAP Founder
“One of the most rewarding aspects of The Rhythmic Arts Project ishaving met so many generous spirits. I’ve been met with so much kindness and compassion in so many far away places. We have such a myopic view of the world through the media’s distorted lens. I see goodness in all people no matter what their ethnicity or location in the world. Don’t be misled by the actions of a few while you turn a blind eye to the kindness of many.”
-Eddie Tuduri
Educators
“She has multiple severe disabilities and was always curled up in her wheelchair in a closed, egg-shaped posture: looking down, deformed hands with missing and fused fingers covering her ears so only the top of her head was visible. I knew she was blind and didn’t think she could or would speak. However at a TRAP “learning curve” session with other students, I saw her in the back of the room and noticed that she was rocking in her wheelchair. I knew that she could hear!”
-Mike Tempo
“Thank you for the faith you put in people that care for and teach those with special needs. You confirmed to me why I am in this profession and why I’ve stayed with it for as long as I have. It’s all about making a difference in someone’s life. Many times I’ve thought that I am the one making a difference. Now I’m beginning to realize it is the people I care for that are making a difference in my life.”
-Scott Saucie
“It is funny how people with disabilities can be so inclusive when they themselves, usually because of ignorance and fear, are typically excluded and ignored. I guess their behavior is understandable because when you look into their vulnerable eyes, you cannot help but see something mysterious, majestic, and beautiful. You see God.”
-Clara Carpenter
“Drums transcend normal logic; the inherent healing and positive qualities have been documented in indigenous populations since the beginning of recorded time. As the program continues to evolve many new organizations, schools and facilities across the nation and beyond are adopting the classes. We are extremely honored to hear the stories and see press from various countries and through a range of media concerning the success of the project. There are very few times in education that we come across a program that will touch every single part of a child, a program that will make such an enormous difference in his or her life. The Rhythmic Arts Project, TRAP, will do this and so much more”
-Carolina Ulloa