Using Drama with Children on the Autism Spectrum

A Resource for Practitioners in Education and Health

Carmel Conn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9780429767630
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The second edition of Using Drama with Children on the Autism Spectrum takes the perspective that support for the learning and development of children should have the purpose of giving them the freedom to be more fully who they are and able to function more effectively as themselves in a wider range of contexts. The focus of this new edition is on learning outcomes as expressed by autistic people, for example, to develop better understandings about the social world and to know how to manage everyday situations more successfully.

This practical resource book contains more than 150 activities for use with children aged 5–11 years old. Written for mainstream and special education teachers, speech and language therapists, drama teachers, play workers and creative arts therapists, the book shows how using drama with children across the autism spectrum can provide valuable experiences in being with others and communicating with them in enjoyable ways that support the development of well-being and confidence. In addition, drama is presented as a rich medium for reflecting on everyday social situations and developing children's understandings about the social world.

Complete with case studies, photocopiable resources and step-by-step guidance on how to facilitate drama activities that all children can enjoy, this practical resource will be invaluable for those who are looking for new ways of engaging children on the autism spectrum and their peers. The second edition of this practical resource has been extensively revised, updated and re-focused in line with current practice and thinking.

1
An empty space

Working with the sensory environment

Introduction

Episodes of enjoyable engagement with the world and feelings of pleasure in interaction are thought to be essential to the healthy development of the individual. Autistic people describe slightly different forms of enjoyable engagement with the world, ones that are based less on face to face human interactions and more on interaction with the non-human world. People describe the experience of having autism as having greater awareness of the sensory meanings of objects, people and actions, more than any social meaning, and finding pleasure in sensory ways of interacting. Donna Williams (1996), for example, defines autism as difference in processing, integrating and tolerating sensory and perceptual information. She describes how the storing of information about an object, person or experience was for her based on the sensory or perceptual quality of that thing rather than any generalised concept. As she writes, she loved the inside curving shape of a bowl and knew this object by her word ‘whoodelly’, which she created from its sensory impact on her rather than any commonly known name. As Williams points out, where sensory features define experience, they create a private language that is full of meaning for the individual, but not easily shared with others.

At first glance, drama offers little in terms of sensory relating. It is the most socially oriented of the arts, involving actors, audience and a subject matter usually taken from life. Drama tends to concern the individual in relation to their environment, exploring what it means to be human in a social world. Peter Brook, in his book The Empty Space (1968/2008), describes theatre as a ‘small world’ where life is presented albeit in a narrowed form. Nevertheless, Brook’s ideas about theatre show how it might be possible to think about drama in ways that are sensory as well as social.

Brook makes the point that an important part of theatre involves the combining of life with art, the practical, aesthetic and often highly visual consideration of the colours and shapes of the set as well as the pitch and pace, intonation, rhythm and movement of the drama. In developing a performance, Brook describes how his first thoughts concern the subject matter together with the design so that, during rehearsal, he must always consider ‘the height of the chair, the texture of the costume, the brightness of the light’ (page 98).

Thinking of drama in terms of colour, light, texture, shape, movement and sound gives it potential as a sensory environment. Drama is said to involve a ‘dramatic space’ – Brook’s ‘empty space’ – that can be filled in sentient ways to create a particular atmosphere or mood. Drama work with autistic children can focus on the making of an environment, one that promotes sensory experience but, by virtue of the fact it has been thought about, designed and made by people, gives a greater feel of human agency than that provided by a technology-based sensory room. Relating through one-to-one interaction can take place in and through this created environment.

The basis of interaction may be the sensory environment but, in the words of Margaret Donaldson (1978), the ‘human sense’ of things in drama is never far away. Shared sensory experience is something that autistic people describe as a preferred way of being with others and the basis of a sense of well-being in interaction. Shared sensory experience can provide positive self-experiences for children and a sense of agency that feels valued. In a dramatic space, shared sensory experience can easily move into more social ways of relating, when that feels appropriate, through the introduction of social actions and routines suggested by the sensory stimuli. A sensory environment that involves a light switching off and on can prompt, for example, the social act of lying down and getting up and the language ‘Good morning’ and ‘Good night’.

The methodology of interaction as a form of support for learning and development in autistic children is characterised by a gentle approach on the part of the adult worker (see for example Hewett 2012). The focus is on the child and what they are doing rather than any designated outcome set by the adult. A key factor is the quality of the interaction itself, which should provide some sense of shared attention and pleasure, and thus the beginnings of shared social meaning. Interaction should be slowed down and sensitive to the responses of children, with the aim of minimising their experience of stress in relation to social interaction and encouraging their accommodation to the adult and social learning per se. The adult needs to be attuned to children’s activity and make highly contingent responses, reflecting back the activity in predictable ways that create feelings of safety.

When working through interaction it is important to find the right balance between offering a small amount of stimulus whilst avoiding sensory overload. Gentle experiences of relating should both calm the sensory processing system and serve to engage children just a little. The aim is that children should be able to tolerate stimulus and take in the social experience offered. However, it is important to be mindful of the differential ways in which autistic children communicate and respond to these. Essential features of communication will include some of the following:

• Accepting repeated and non-verbal communication as a legitimate turn within interaction
• Repeating your statements and questions and providing answers for these at times
• Allowing longer response times
• Using artefacts or different forms of communication to mediate interaction, such as music, computers and written communication if appropriate.

Non-face to face interaction will be important as will be confidence that interactions are meaningful even when you are not sure. Different expectations of interactional ‘norms’ should operate, for example, greater engagement in involvement in children’s special interests with no expectation that this will involve some kind of back and forth communication.

○ The activities

The activities in this chapter use sensory-based experiences to mediate simple and safe-feeling forms of interaction. Activities focus on different types of sensory experience, including colour, shape, perspective and the creation of sensory environments. Many of the activities involve one-to-one interactions, usually with an adult, but some can be used with a group of children.

In order to achieve the aims of this chapter, it is important for the adult working with children to think and act in certain ways. They must seek to provide an environment that is predictable through gentle, slowed down relating and sensitivity to children’s level of tolerance for stimulus. The adult should provide contingent experiences through mirroring responses. These may be slightly exaggerated or not exactly the same as a way of marking out some aspect of the interaction. In this way an experience that is safe and familiar whilst ‘not exactly the same’ is provided. Finally, the adult should seek to promote the ‘human sense’ of interaction by acting in lively ways with pleasure and a belief in the humanness of the child, attributing intention and agency even where this is not clearly the case.

An empty space Aims

• To participate in and relate to others through sensory-based activity.
• To have enjoyable experiences of interaction that provide positive self-experiences.
• To engage in social interactions that are characterized by non-face to face and mediated engagement, higher levels of repeated and non-verbal communication, and longer response times.

An empty space Activities

○ Working with atmosphere and perspective

1 Lairs

2 Perspectives

3 Perception and emotion

○ Exploring colour and shape

4 Colour

5 Shape

○ Working with opposites

○ Mirrors

6 Looking in the mirror

7 Three-way mirrors

8 Looking in the mirror together

○ Things to do, say and look for

Working with atmosphere and perspective

The purpose of working with the environment is to encourage noticing behaviours in children and the taking in of experience that is at once safe and knowable but also potentially rich in shared emotional meaning. The emphasis here is on sensory experience though there are elements of introducing a more social element if that feels appropriate. Working with the environment involves one or more of the following:

• Creating an environment that has a particular atmosphere, for example, a particular quality of light or sound, or where the atmosphere can be switched from one thing to another;
• Setting up an experience where the environment is perceived in novel ways that are intriguing to children;
• Working with objects that make a strong emotional impact by virtue of their shape, movement or noise.

1 Lairs

A lair is an enclosed space that is associated with the idea of shelter, hiding and careful watching. I have found that lairs can be very appealing to children, who enjoy not only the getting in and out but also the being inside. Inside a lair, outside sounds are reduced and inside sounds are purer and simpler. Light is diffused and it is possible to create all sorts of lighting effects. You can build lairs that are dark inside, have low lighting, or lighting that can be switched on and off. It is also possible to work with sound by putting in objects that make a noise – a fan for example, or a ticking clock.

Lairs can be built of different types of materials and have different shapes, being long and thin, round, big or small. They can differ in terms of the interior atmosphere and have different ways of getting in and out. Tunnel entrances are often an exciting way to get in, as are a series of curtains. Children also love small doors and it is possible to build an alternative entrance/exit somewhere low down at the back of the lair. It is good to experiment to see what appeals most to a child and then recreate similar lairs over a period of time.

snapshot Kabir

Kabir liked to play with things that poured – sand, water and rice – but did not feel comfortable when someone tried to join him in play, pushing away their hand or taking away their equipment. He appeared never to notice when a lair was being constructed in the corner of his classroom, yet, when it was ready, he would always go to the entrance without prompting. One afternoon, the teacher built a large, long lair with a blacked out tunnel entrance. Inside it was also dark though lit with some long travelling lights that were draped down the walls so that the light travelled downwards. A support worker waited in there too, with different gifts to greet the children as they arrived through the tunnel. For each child, she gave them a small something to eat and a glow-ball to hold. When it came to Kabir’s turn, he received his gifts and then looked around the lair with interest. When he saw the curtain of moving lights, he pointed at it, looking back at the support worker and vocalising to get her attention. She looked with him and said, ‘Lights, going dowwwn,’ mimicking the movement of the lights with the sound of her voice. As she said the last word again, Kabir followed the movement of the lights with his gaze, moving it down in time with the word.

I like the idea of creating and dismantling different lairs, rather than building permanent ones. The repeated act of building a lair, creating each time one that is similar but cannot be exactly the same as the ones before, promotes the idea of mirroring a child’s experience whilst moving it on slightly. Human agency is present in the changing of the environmental atmosphere, when something is switched on or off, moved, turned up or dimmed. The fact that the lair is a pared down environment that can have one or two focus features unad...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of activities
• Preface
• Introduction
• How to use this book
• 1 An empty space Working with the sensory environment
• 2 Simple groups Noticing others and joining in
• 3 Sculpting Using the body for expression
• 4 Props, puppets and costume Exploring the language of objects
• 5 Exploring ‘me’ Different aspects of myself
• 6 Role playing Exploring roles in everyday life
• 7 Storytelling Thinking about what happens next
• 8 Improvisation Making sense of social situations
• 9 Endings Finishing and moving on
• List of resources
• References
• Index