Drama Enhances Communication in Kids with Autism

By Rick Nauert PhD

Communication in Kids with Autism Enhanced by DramaResearchers at the University of Kent suggest that creativity and intermedial languages can be used as a bridge to communicate with autistic children.

In a new study, researchers engaged autistic children in an all-surrounding drama experience. This immersion environment exposes children to lights, sound, puppets, and masked characters. Moreover, the intervention allows children to free play and respond, drawing out eye contact, speech, and shared play within the rich sensory context.

In a joint article, “Material voices: intermediality and autism” appearing in the journal Research in Drama Education, Dr Melissa Trimingham and Professor Nicola Shaughnessy say autism continues to be regarded as a community that is difficult to access due to “perceived disruptions of interpersonal connectedness”.

Their pioneering research using drama with autistic children started with a project “Imagining Autism: Drama, Performance and Intermediality as Interventions for Autistic Spectrum Conditions” (2011-2014). The intervention began in special schools and has now extended to working with families.

The project aims to help the whole family through teaching them new play skills using drama and puppetry, multi-sensory materials, and even comedy to help with challenging behavior.

The family program developed from workshops with teachers and caregivers in NAS (National Autistic Society) schools and was funded by the University of Kent.

The writers are parents of autistic children themselves and have personal experience of family life with autism.

Through detailed observations of two children, they demonstrate how “intermediality” unlocked some of the many and various languages autistic children use, facilitating their self-awareness.

They argue for wider use of creative ‘material’ languages such as puppetry, costumes, projection, microphones, lights, and sound in play as a bridge between the lived experience of autism and practices of education and care.

Original Article: http://psychcentral.com/news/2016/07/29/drama-enhances-communication-in-autistic-kids/107836.html

Related Continuing Education Courses on Autism

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Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation 501(c)(3) approved to offer continuing education by the American Psychological Association (APA): the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB); the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA); the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA); the Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR); the Alabama State Board of Occupational Therapy; the Florida Boards of Social Work, Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Psychology & School Psychology, Dietetics & Nutrition, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology, and Occupational Therapy Practice; the Ohio Counselor, Social Worker & MFT Board and Board of Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; the South Carolina Board of Professional Counselors & MFTs; and by the Texas Board of Examiners of Marriage & Family Therapists and State Board of Social Worker Examiners. We are CE Broker compliant (all courses are reported within one week of completion.