Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts received a Burton Blatt Institute Innovation Grant to fund Literacy, Community and Photography (LCP), a year-long photography residency, in Ed Smith Elementary School in Syracuse, New York, a pioneer school for inclusive education. The photo/literacy residency is based on photographer Wendy Ewald’s “Literacy through Photography” model. Literacy through Photography was launched in 1990 by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University, working in collaboration with public schools in North Carolina. Literacy through Photography has received national recognition and has been acknowledged by Harvard University's Project Zero “Arts Survive” Survey as one of ten arts partnerships in the United States that have successfully sustained high-quality collaborative work. LCP in Syracuse, in partnership with the Syracuse City School District (SCSD) and the Burton Blatt Institute, has the potential to become a premier model for literacy, arts, and inclusive learning.

As an arts education program, Literacy, Community and Photography is designed to encourage children to explore their worlds as they photograph scenes from their lives, and then use these images as catalysts for verbal and written expression. Framed around one of four thematic explorations - self-portrait, family, community and dreams - LCP provides children an opportunity for expression through both a visual and narrative connection by linking the forms of photography and writing. In connecting picture making with writing and critical thinking, LCP promotes an expansive use of photography across curricula and disciplines. The program builds on the skills that students naturally possess while improving their verbalization skills in relating images and events, and encouraging their creativity.

In spring 2006, a successful collaboration of Literacy, Community and Photography began between Syracuse University, Light Work/Community Darkrooms, and Ed Smith School/SCSD began. Of the approximately 100 fourth and fifth graders participating, 28 students receive special education, and eight are diagnosed as autistic. Ed Smith is based on the philosophy of whole whole school inclusion, which means that every child — including children with learning disabilities, those with autism, and those without disabilities — participates in the arts programming. Art teacher Mary Lynn Mahan and special education specialist Karen O'Neill Covell work together with the classroom teachers to introduce LCP to the entire fifth grade. Covell has a 6:1:1 class and follows her students as they fold into the larger class.

The LCP program offers success to the child with special needs in a variety of ways. Prior to LCP, the non-verbal children came to the art class with an assistant, and they shared the work with the assistant. According to Covell, frequently it was felt that much of the work is completed by the assistant and not the child. The LCP project is entirely driven by the child and by the family. Mahan first outlines the themes; for example, "the favorite part of me," and the child and the assistant brainstorm on their favorite parts. The camera then goes home with the child so the child can take photographs with his or her family. Whether the child takes the photo or the family does, the child feels complete ownership over the image that is taken, and the family is integrated into the class project. It is a stated goal of the entire school that the academic success of a child is dependent on family involvement. LCP is a prime example of family involvement.

It has been observed that non-verbal children have a different sense of spatial reasoning than the typical child—either their ability to draw representationally can be delayed or can be dramatically advanced. Whereas the typical child will draw the positive or the actual object, the non-verbal child will frequently draw the negative spaces around the object. Studies have been done on accessing different sides of the brain (Betty Edwards, “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”), and art students around the country are trained to draw the way a non-verbal child seems to draw naturally. In the art world this is referred to as "drawing on the right side of the brain.” Mahan, also an alumna of Syracuse University’s art education program, studies and assesses the gains in verbal and visual literacy of the child -- including those with autism, as a result.

Finally, LCP allows children with reading and learning disabilities who struggles with writing to succeed at the same level as all children. The story of the photograph is told through images, and only a few words are required to complete the narrative. Whether it is a complete paragraph or simple sentences, the story is told, and all children feel as though they succeeded.