Event gives children with disabilities full sense of the season – Houston Chronicle

Jack Frost might not have been nipping at their noses, but more than 400 Houston-area children with disabilities still got to enjoy the sights, sounds, smells, tastes and feelings of the season Monday at the Health Museum.

The Harris County Medical Society Alliance hosted its annual holiday event, Touch, Smell and Hear, to delight the senses of sight- and hearing-impaired children as well as those with other physical and mental challenges. The children, invited mostly from public elementary schools in Harris County, were treated to two 12-foot Christmas trees trimmed with special ornaments, including bubble-blowing Santas, wind chimes and scented pine cones. Tactile ornaments were made of feathers and faux fur.

Santa often a scary prospect and perhaps more so for children with an impairment proved worth the wait, which was kept shorter than usual. He and Mrs. Claus posed for photos and gave each child who came to sit on Santas lap a plush teddy bear. In an adjacent theater, magician David Hinkins tricks garnered lots of applause accented with the ringing of jingle-bell bracelets the kids received when they arrived.

Rucker Elementary School teacher Iris Hinojosa brought seven third- to sixth-graders with autism and speech delay. This gives them socialization and a chance to enjoy Christmas without it being too intimidating, she said. Their parents arent worried about how their kids are going to be perceived.

For children who rarely if ever get to go on a field trip, its really wonderful to see their faces light up, event chair Emily Morgan said.

ON HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM:Disability-friendly Houston events to ring in the season

Held each December since 1976, Touch, Smell and Hear is an all-volunteer effort. About two dozen Harris County Medical Society Alliance members put it together. The Health Museum closes its other exhibitions for the event, and Thompson Nursery in Magnolia provides the Christmas trees.

Students waiting to meet Santa listened to the Christmas Belles perform. As his Field Elementary School classmates enjoyed Winter Wonderland, White Christmas and Sleigh Ride, Fabian Rivera, a 12-year-old with specific learning disability and dyslexia, said his favorite things about the season are presents and having our family together.

Keegan Melton, 9, doesnt speak. The first time he sat on Santas lap years ago didnt go well. But this time he posed for his stepfathers photo, high-fived the Jolly Old Elf and smiled.

Santa, aka Jim Davis, starts growing his white beard in September and is used to kids tugging it. He said he and Mrs. Claus, aka Luz Mara Munguia, hope to impart the spirit of Christmas to children with special challenges.

I hope to make a little difference for one day at least, Munguia said. To make them feel that life is different, touch their hearts in some way.

Set off in a room away from the hubbub, other Medical Society Alliance elves served cookies with red, green and white sprinkles, juice and water. At a table topped with a small tinsel tree sat the Sable family father Perry with his daughter, Yael, 8, and son, Ilan, 10, who has cerebral palsy and autism and was happily jingling his bracelet. The Alliance had invited the private Arbor School, which Ilan attends. The Sables are Jewish and have nothing against Christmas, Perry said. Still, to be truly inclusive, he said hed like to see the event broaden to embrace other faith traditions.

The Alliance is celebrating its 100th anniversary as an auxiliary to the Harris County Medical Society, a professional physicians organization. The Alliance engages in educational and philanthropic activities, the biggest of which is a gala that funds scholarships to medical and nursing students and gives to groups such as Star of Hope and DePelchin Childrens Center. But Touch, Smell and Hear holds a special place.

The parents always thank us, Morgan said.

The goal is that every child leave with something more than a bear and a bracelet: the full sense of the season.

suzanne.garofalo@chron.com

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Suzanne Garofalo has worked as a senior copy editor for the Houston Chronicle since 2004, primarily on the newspaper's features sections. She also writes feature stories about experiences and programs by and for the disabled in Greater Houston. Garofalo grew up in San Marcos and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a bachelor of journalism degree.

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Event gives children with disabilities full sense of the season - Houston Chronicle