Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Infancy’

Drama:  Narrative Pedagogy and Socially challenged Children

Melanie Peter

Another article by Ms. Peter, this one written in 2009 and a more in-depth discussion of how children with social challenges are helped through a concentration on fostering  dramatic, narrative play towards contributing to a greater understanding of “effective communication, sensitivity in interaction and creative problem solving.” (Peter, 2009)  the piece contains a helpful, clear description of how people relating experiences to one another narratively go beyond the stating of the mere details but also use vocal inflection, facial expressions and gestures to get their points across to their audiences.

I also found very interesting the author’s statements on how engaging in narrative “requires sensitivity to patterning, sequencing and ‘framing’ of experience”
(2009) and that this learning begins in infancy with give and take games – games like “peek-a-boo” and “how big is the baby?’” -  which have structure and predictability and require turn taking.  It is stated that children with autism frequently fail to master these early patterned games and that this could offer insight into their having trouble with “anticipating routines, coping with changes, and understanding intentions and consequences.” (2009)

Ms. Peter also points out in this article that she feels there are three positive aspects of creative drama work with children: 1) The enjoyment the child gets from the activities leads to greater engagement and this links the activities to greater cognitive gains.  2) When a child is engaged in an activity she finds pleasurable, it is “possible that the brain slips out of gear as in other states such as daydreaming; this may prompt neurochemical release and {helpful neural} pathways becoming passable that were previously obscured.” (2009)  And finally 3) she suggests that drama activities may trigger engagement of the “action sensitive mirror neurons” that are “known to be fragmented in autism” (2009) thereby possibly providing some healing to that specific disconnection in impaired children toward bridging the gap in their ability to learn by imitation.

Drama – narrative pedagogy and socially challenged children: and article  by Melanie Peter

Link – http://libcore.csd.sc.edu:50080/ebsco-web/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=b77f6ecd-f352-417c-a66c-9311243b17a9%40sessionmgr13&vid=2&hid=111

This article explores the uses of drama toward helping children with social challenges learn to think in terms of narrative conversations.  The theory is that teaching them to use this  skill will enhance their abilities for developing holistic, creative thinking and conversation rather than the analytical sequential mode of thinking that many of these children often use for communication and interpreting the world around them.

Much of the research and anecdotes center on work with children on the autism spectrum.
It is noted that ability to engage in narrative conversation requires”sensitivity to patterning, sequencing and the “framing” of experience(Bruner and Feldman, 1993) and that babies in all cultures are taught this through give and take games such as peek-a-boo, etc.  Children with autism often do not master this skill in infancy and it appears that this is perhaps one of the causes for their failing to understand the sequence of social interaction.  The dilemma for researchers is to understand whether this is a cause or a consequence of autism, but the fact remains that lack of participation in this type of experience at an early age leads to an interference in the way very little ones with these deficits develop normal play and the subsequent narrative thinking and language.

The article provides additional information on the neurological differences found in children on the spectrum, as well as how these differences can effect the development of social language and communication.  I feel strongly that this article speaks to the concerns of teachers of children who struggle in social situations whether they are considered “on the spectrum” or “typically abled,” and the information provided can have a very positive effect on the understanding and practice of all teachers and towards all students.