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Autism and communication: sensory drama may help children


Drama workshops may be a way for children with autism to communicate more easily. New Scientist (April 15, 2014) details a pilot study, called Imagining Autism, which might reveal clues to aiding the communication of children with autism-spectrum disorders (http://www.imaginingautism.org).


Imagining Autism is a collaborative project undertaken by the University of Kent in the United Kingdom, between the School of Arts, the Tizard Centre, the School of Psychology, and the Gulbenkian Theatre, to remediate the difficulties that autistic children have in being able to communicate effectively. Hence the project explores communication, social interaction, and imagination – the “triad of impairments” that are generally the traits of people with autism - in an interdisciplinary approach to improving their lives.


The approach included 22 children aged 7-12 years in a study consisting of one 45-minute session every week for 10 weeks. Groups of children entered an enclosed environment set up with different themes (such as a forest or outer space) designed to simultaneously stimulate the children’s senses using light, sound, puppetry, and interactive digital elements. With the children were skilled performers using techniques to engage the children creatively and interactively with each other.


The children were assessed before the project commenced, and again 2-6 weeks after the 10-week intervention. The researchers assessed emotion recognition, imitation, intelligence, behaviour, and the ability to infer what others were thinking and feeling. Parents and teachers were also asked to provide comments about their observations up to a year later.
The initial results showed significant changes in the number of facial expressions recognized by the children – which is a key communication skill that people use everyday. Nine of the 22 children improved in this skill. Six children improved their level of social interaction. At the follow-up, a year later, the majority of these changes were still noticeable.


Researchers say these results are significant in the world of a child with autism, and credit the fact that all senses are stimulated in an intense session – rather like sensory overload. Researchers say that in this way the children are moving, thinking, and interacting at that same time, without gaps in the stimulus. Children’s reactions and creative expressions were not censored – thus providing an unconstrained response to their 45-minute environment (in a setting that was generally unfamiliar to them).


Although the pilot study was a small sample size (only 22 children), researchers think that it is possible for drama to help some autistic children to learn about social interactions and communicating with others. However, the lack of a control group means that the study is not sufficient to draw conclusive arguments. Nevertheless, the researchers found the results to be encouraging enough to continue with further studies.


The University of Kent plans to collaborate with psychologists at the Centre for Embodied Cognition at Stony Brook University in New York later in 2014 for a larger, more rigorous study.

Other universities are also conducting similar studies – such as the Ohio State University in Colombus in a project called Shakespeare and Autism (http://nisonger.osu.edu/shakespeare-autism) which is exploring music and heartbeat; and the Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, in a two-week pilot study for children with autism called SENSE (Social, Emotional, Neuroscience and Endocrinology) Theatre Project (http://news.vanderbilt.edu/2013/10/theatre-offers-promise-for-youth-with-autism/).


http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn25419-drama-helps-kids-with-autism-communicate-better.html#.U0_YUD_NvIU
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