Diana Tholoor, a Movement and Theatre trainer and Director of Plays recently worked with a cast of 50 children and young adults on the autism spectrum to mount a production of Jungle Book on stage. She shares her perspective in the second part of this interview series.
1. Why theatre? How does theatre help children and adults on the autism spectrum?
Theatre is an integrated art form that produces simultaneous results through a single production.
Amongst the many alternate…
Sometimes the routine activities like going to a restaurant or a dentist or a hair salon can seem daunting to a person with autism. Parents often do not know how to help their child navigate through these activities. Children with Autism are able to cope better with new and difficult social situations if they are prepared for it through video modelling.
Social stories [TM] are a technique that was created by Carol Gray in 1991 to help teach social skills to people on the autism spectrum. They are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why.
Related reading: Dealing with tantrums and hyperactivity of a child with autism
Video modeling takes the Social story technique to a new dimension. Persons on the Autism spectrum are usually very responsive to visually based strategies and so when social routines, behavioral functioning and life skills are modelled using videos they are a very effective tool to master those skills.
Amaze Charitable Trust has put together a series of social story videos that you can use to guide your child with autism through difficult social situations. These videos runs them through some typical and essential trips in the Indian context. Parent can pause at relevant places and explain more to the child wherever necessary. These videos help them anticipate the noises, movements, etc that they will encounter.
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Social story video about going for a haircut.
This video runs them through what will happen at a hair salon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_JzyUmzNrU
Social story video about going to the dentist.
This video runs them through what will happen at a dentist's clinic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o1Ojxy1nHo
Social story video about going out to eat at a restaurant.
This video runs them through what will happen at a restaurant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBOXvHItnoU
Social story video about going out to a temple.
This video runs them through what will happen at a temple.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7o5x5QNi90
The child actors in the video are on the Autism spectrum.
Note :The videos have been shot when the places are not crowded so the children focus on the sequence and specific skills and “Managing in a crowd” , “Waiting for ones turn” will be shot as separate videos targeting those skills.
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