Center Stage Youth Theatre

Posts Tagged ‘Role Playing’

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.