Dramatherapy and Autism

Deborah Haythorne, Anna Seymour

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781317559153
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychologie
• Subtopic: Autismus-Spektrum-Störungen

Using extensive examples from practice with a range of client groups, Dramatherapy and Autism confronts the assumption that people with autism are not able to function within the metaphorical realms of the imagination and creativity. It demonstrates that not only are people who function along the spectrum capable of engaging in creative exploration, but that through encountering these processes in the clinical context of dramatherapy, changes can be made that are life enhancing.

Bringing in cutting-edge research and practice on dramatherapy, Dramatherapy and Autism aims to contribute to developing the theory and practice of creative arts therapies interventions with clients with autism. The book is part of the Dramatherapy: approaches, relationships, critical ideas series, in which leading practitioners and researchers in the field develop the knowledge base of this unique discipline, whilst contextualising and acknowledging its relationship with other arts and therapeutic practices.

Dramatherapy and Autism will be of interest to a broad spectrum of readers, such as dramatherapists in practice and training, arts practitioners and academic researchers engaged in multidisciplinary enquiry.

1

INTRODUCTION

Anna Seymour and Deborah Haythorne

This book has long been anticipated. Over the last thirty years and more, dramatherapists have been working in the f ield of autism providing dedicated service and achieving life-changing outcomes with their clients, but little of this work has been published. This book reverses that trend and celebrates the practice and research of dramatherapists working with people with autism in a whole range of settings, with clients representing different demographics, ages, genders and sexualities.

The book gives voice to both clients and practitioners whose voices have not been heard before. In doing so, it profiles innovative practice in the field.

We provide evidence for the effectivity of dramatherapy as a clinical intervention with people with autism and also as a way of conceiving the performative aspects of dramatherapy as ongoing metaphors that improve and support daily life for people living with the challenges of being autistic, in an often unsympathetic world.

We intend, therefore, that this book should be a resource for practitioners, researchers, students and carers.

The book is dedicated to dramatherapy praxis rather than attempting to embrace the other creative arts therapies or discuss joint work. This deliberate choice acknowledges that more needs to be published across the arts therapies and respects the work that colleagues are doing in related fields.

Following this chapter, Chapter 2 consists of an introduction to dramatherapy and autism authored by the editors of this book, Deborah Haythorne and Anna Seymour. In this chapter we look briefly at the origins of dramatherapy and the core elements of its theory and practice. We recognise that there are variations in practice depending on the particular orientation of the therapist and in each chapter this is spelled out by the author to locate their individual practice within the field. We then describe features of autism and reference critical literature and current thinking about diagnosis and dramatherapy clinical practice.

Chapter 3, ‘Entering Colourland: working with metaphor with high functioning autistic children’ by Rosalind Davidson, presents a case study with two 10-year-old boys. In this chapter she describes detailed case material that charts how the therapist was able to enter into the clients’ world in contrast to the daily challenge they face of adapting to fit the world around them.

In Chapter 4, ‘Do you believe in Peter Pan?’, Helen Ridlington-White draws on her extensive experience of working with non-verbal clients. We follow the therapist’s reflective process as she records patiently waiting for the client’s story to emerge and the rewards that this brings.

Referencing current research, in Chapter 5, ‘Dramatherapy, autism and metaphor: meeting The Silky Stranger’, Jeannie Lewis recounts using verbal and non-verbal processes to create a metaphorical ‘character’ with her client, a boy making the transition to secondary school.

In Chapter 6, Emma Ramsden examines her work with a girl returning to mainstream education after a period of home schooling, in ‘Supporting agency, choice making and the expression of “voice” with Kate: dramatherapy in a mainstream primary school setting with a 9-year-old girl diagnosed with ASD and ADHD’. The chapter looks at how this school incorporates dramatherapy into a holistic approach to serving children’s emotional and behavioural needs, and highlights the importance of empowerment through dramatherapy.

Turning the focus onto issues of gender, Ann Dix in Chapter 7, ‘Becoming visible: identifying and empowering girls on the autistic spectrum through dramatherapy’, discusses how girls on the ASD spectrum often learn neurotypical behaviours in order to fit in and thus go undiagnosed. The implications are that because of gender stereotyping they miss out on support when early intervention could have prevented later anxieties.

Jeni Treves in Chapter 8, ‘Introversion, mindfulness and dramatherapy: working with young people with autism’, shifts our attention to male perspectives, offering detailed reflections from three former clients looking back on their therapy. In particular she discusses introversion and how her practice of mindfulness incorporated into dramatherapy has been effective.

Maria Hodermarska in Chapter 9, ‘Mother, son and then some: on autism, dramatic reality and relationship’, writes from the perspective of a dramatherapist who is also the mother of a 21-year-old son on the autistic spectrum. She describes how dramatic roles have been integral to developing his sense of self.

Exploration of masculinity continues in Adrian Benbow’s Chapter 10, with ‘Being men: men, Asperger’s and dramatherapy’. Here, Benbow explores the difficult transition to manhood and the particular challenges facing his clients with Asperger’s syndrome as they explore male identity.

In Chapter 11, Adrian Benbow and Jane Jackson share their investigative study into the therapeutic practice of dramatherapists working with adults in ‘“Remember me”: dramatherapy with adults who have autism and complex needs and are non-verbal’.

Finally, there are two chapters on research. Chapter 12, ‘Assessing the impact of dramatherapy on the early social behaviour of young children on the autistic spectrum’ by Roya Dooman, offers accessible pre- and post-therapy outcome measures and the results of her findings. Emma Godfrey and Deborah Haythorne’s concluding Chapter 13, ‘An exploration of the impact of dramatherapy on the whole system supporting children and young people on the autistic spectrum’, provides an evaluation of post-therapy outcomes through the use of audio-recorded semi-structured interviews that have been subjected to thematic analysis. In each of these chapters, wholly positive results confirm the effectivity of the dramatherapy interventions with ASD clients in schools.

A note on the use of terminology

The authors have used a range of terminology to refer to people with autism. We have purposely embraced this in order to reflect current research into the preferred used of terminology as identified by people with autism, professionals, parents, carers and friends. Extensive research into the use of terminology was carried out by the National Autistic Society (NAS), the Royal College of GPs and the UCL Institute of Education, and the findings are based on the preferences expressed from people on the autism spectrum, their families, friends and professionals. The results evidence no preference for a specific term and clearly show a shift towards more positive and assertive language. ‘There is likely to remain, therefore, a wide and understandable plurality of perspectives when it comes to talking about autism for years to come, not as the result of any error or false perception but as the result of divergent experiences and ranging points of view’ (Kenny et al., 2015, p.18)

A final note

As editors we have been at turns informed, impressed and moved by the work contained in these pages. We are grateful for the generosity with which the authors, clients, professionals, families and carers have shared their experiences, and we feel inspired and honoured to be able to present their work.

Reference

Kenny, L., Hattersley, C., Molins, B., Buckley, C., Povey, C. and Pellicano, E. (2015), ‘Which terms should be used to describe autism? Perspectives from the UK autism community’, Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 19:5, 1–21, at http://aut.sagepub.com/content/early/2015/06/10/1362361315588200.full.pdf+html [accessed 25 July 2015].

2

DRAMATHERAPY AND AUTISM

Deborah Haythorne and Anna Seymour

This book sets out to examine the use of drama as a clinical intervention in dramatherapy and how it can support clients on the autistic spectrum.

Drama and theatre arts are practised in a whole range of settings, from drama classes in schools, to putting on plays, and in forms variously titled Applied Theatre, (Nicholson, 2005; Prendergast and Saxton, 2009), Arts in Health (Brodzinski, 2010) or Social Theatre (Seymour, 2009, pp.27–37). Activities take place in theatres, community, educational and health settings, with the intention of improving well-being and sometimes encouraging behavioural change.

In each of these contexts the fundamental idea is that, by taking part in drama-based activities, people can feel better and make positive changes in their lives. Sometimes the sheer exposure to theatre can be deeply affecting, when being part of an audience enables identif ication with the plight of a character, a story or a situation. In his book Nine Ways the Theatre Affects Our Lives (2013), dramatherapist Roger Grainger examines different roles that the theatre can play, concluding with a chapter on ‘Healing theatre’ (Grainger, 2013, pp.147–165).

But what does this mean? If it is possible for someone to experience ‘therapeusis’ or a ‘therapeutic effect’ because they have taken part in drama activities per se, how is dramatherapy different from the other uses of drama we have referred to?

What is dramatherapy?

Dramatherapy grew out of a movement that began in the late 1970s, which, responding to the changing political climate, sought to explore new possibilities in the theatre by taking it out of theatre buildings and into communities. In this period the existing formal aesthetics of theatre practice were challenged in every way, from the content of plays to the ways they were produced. The bourgeois theatre became an artistic medium for everyone – a functional expressive art form to be put to use for learning (theatre in education), for political activism (community theatre), for aesthetic exploration (alternative theatre) and for healing (dramatherapy).

The core principle emerging from this work was that theatre can be used to deepen our understanding of the human condition and that the skills and means of making theatre can be flexible, mobile and inestimable in their scope. This also coincided with an expanded, liberatory view of whose story could be told in the theatre, valuing voices that had not been heard before. In dramatherapy the client learns that their ‘voice’ is respected and valued and the therapist is the kindly audience or ‘witness’ to what they want to show. Many of our clients have suffered vilification for their incapacities, so the straightforward acceptance of who they are, in the present moment, can of itself be reparative. The theme of empowerment runs through all of the work described in this book, so that dramatherapy as a clinical practice may be justifiably associated with a tradition of theatre for change.

In order to understand why we believe that dramatherapy can be an effective therapeutic intervention for people with autism, it is important to recognise its unique features.

A significant and broad starting point is provided by the definition used by dramatherapists’ professional body:

Dramatherapy has as its main focus the intentional use of healing aspects of drama and theatre as the therapeutic process. It is a method of working and playing that uses action methods to facilitate creativity, imagination, learning, insight and growth. (British Association of Dramatherapists (BADth) website)

Dramatherapists use drama and theatre arts intentionally as the therapeutic process. This process rests on two fundamental premises about the nature of drama:

1. Drama is part of being a human being.

2. Metaphor in drama is a way of encapsulating human experience that is accessible to everyone because, to paraphrase Lakoff and Johnson (1980), we ‘live by’ metaphors.

So drama is regarded as an implicit function within human development and as part of the metaphorical vocabulary through which human beings express their thoughts and feelings.

Both Sue Jennings’ and Marian Lindkvist’s work in the 1970s was foundational in instituting dramatherapy training and practice. Lindkvist created the ‘Sesame Method’ based on an oblique approach to using arts-based therapeutic interventions. Her commitment to the power of using ‘Movement and Touch’ in the work, led to the earliest research of dramatherapy with children with autism, published in the late 1970s (Lindkvist, 1977).

At the same time, Sue Jennings was developing her groundbreaking EPR (embodiment–projection–role) paradigm, which has become a core principle of dramatherapy (Jennings, 1992). This model regards human development as an essentially dramatic process whereby the individual’s growth can be understood through metaphors derived from the theatre process. The earliest stage of sensory experience (embodiment) is analogous with the material p...