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/).
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