Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Narrative’

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 and Early Learning

by Melanie Peter

The author of this article is a lecturer in Early Childhood Studies and Special Needs at Suffolk College and has recently focused her research on the importance of social narrative play and understanding as a “vital route to developing social competence.”  (Peter, 2003)  The article maintains that Creative Drama is a valuable route to exploring social narrative and play opportunities, but the experiences must be crafted to meet the child at the developmental stage they have attained in order to best benefit them.

She states that here that children with complex and severe learning needs are less likely to seek out interactive opportunities with other children than their typically developing counterparts, and that this lack of play experience will lead to social impairment.  She cites “play-drama intervention” (2003) as a method for helping the impaired children to engage in play that will “strengthen those aspects of brain functioning necessary for more flexible thinking.” (2003)  The article also points out that children who are seriously affected by their learning impairments very frequently do not have the reflexes for seeking out meaning in what others say and do, and this further damages their chances for finding their way socially.

Drama is seen here as a way to offer children not only a window to their own behavior and the consequences and successes which result, but also as an opportunity to experience role playing and with its inherent opportunities for practicing the perspective of another person.  Drama play “requires holding two worlds in mind simultaneously:  children involved in pretence and watching themselves at the same time… {this} helps to develop their mental agility.” (2003)

I feel this article offered me a very helpful explanation of several different ways that drama activities can alter thinking patterns and create opportunities for children with learning impairments to develop more wide sophisticated understanding of the people and experiences in their lives.