Children on a role

‘Process Drama’ helps the youngsters improve their social skills and their ability to relate to others

CARMICHAEL HOUSE in North Brunswick St, Dublin is a kind of oasis of sorts for support groups and charitable health organisations with members scattered throughout the country. One such organisation is Aspire, the Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland, and the venue has become a safe and inspiring place for one particular group of children and teenagers who are often misunderstood and indeed misdiagnosed.

These are children and teenagers with Asperger syndrome (see panel below) and they meet here once a week for a drama class with a difference. With no stage, no set lines and indeed very few props and costumes, the groups are involved in what’s called Process Drama with Dr Carmel O’Sullivan, director of postgraduate teaching and learning in the School of Education at Trinity College Dublin.

“The emphasis is not on performance or public ‘showing’ of participants’ work but rather on a range of creative and active learning strategies which capture the intrinsic motivation of the learners in ‘as if’ scenarios and contexts,” she explains.

Children with Asperger syndrome often lack social and communication skills and the ability to empathise and identify with others.

Researchers suggest that the root of the problem lies in their inability to read emotions in others and understand how others feel in order to appropriately respond and interact.

Because many of the children and teenagers with Asperger syndrome are articulate and intelligent, the absence of social skills often results in them being teased or bullied in school.

O’Sullivan started these classes five years ago to give these children opportunities to explore real and imagined situations so that they could improve their ability to read non-verbal cues in collaborative dramatic situations rather than by a direct social skills training approach.

“These classes are a world first,” says Des McKernan, from Aspire. “They are a very effective intervention for improving the social skills of children with Asperger syndrome.”

Niall O’Neill’s son Sean attended the classes for five years and is still in touch with friends he made at the classes. “Asperger syndrome is a social disability rather than a mental disability so these children have difficulty relating to others and intuitively understanding facial expression and body language,” explains O’Neill.

“Social cues are lost on them a lot of the time and they are often aloof and reject others. The drama classes helped my son Sean model and relate to life as the rest of us do. They helped him form views and develop ethical and moral stances on things that he wasn’t interested in before.”

When we visit the class, a group of eight teenagers are working on a piece of science fiction drama set in 2069. More specifically, groups of four have to devise a strategy how to enter the private chambers of a character without permission. Once inside, the plot changes and they must follow instructions of the character with unknown consequences. They all willingly engage with the story and make plans and work together to enter the forbidden rooms.

O’Sullivan says that each piece of drama is carefully worked out to improve skills such as turn-taking, ability to make eye contact, listening and responding appropriately to others, empathy, problem solving, negotiating and decision making. “It’s important not to teach them these things but to give them the opportunities to learn them through interaction with each other,” says O’Sulllivan.

A research project of the drama classes has found that the children and teenagers with Asperger syndrome showed significant improvement in self-confidence and imagination following participation in the classes.

Parents dropping their teenagers to the class we attended concurred with these results.

Annemarie Durnin says the drama classes have improved her son’s confidence. “He can reason things out much better now because he can bring up different issues that arise at the drama classes,” she explains.

Veronica Leaney says that for her son, the drama classes represent a “place of safety and acceptance”. “They have helped him develop a better level of tolerance and empathy for other people,” she says.

Other parents say the classes have helped their children understand aspects of themselves better, such as how they sometimes invade the personal space of others.

Lesley Conroy is one of three actors/drama teachers who work alongside O’Sullivan at the drama classes. “I have seen the teenagers attending this class come so far in terms of their interaction with each other and their intuition. When they started, they wouldn’t have said a word to each other and now they are great friends.”

WHAT IS ASPERGER SYNDROME?

Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism is a neuro-developmental disorder which impacts on the social and communication skills of those affected. While the individuals have average or above-average intelligence, they lack the ability to empathise and identify with others due to their difficulty reading emotions, following non-verbal cues and understanding nuance and subtlety.

Aspire, the Asperger Syndrome Association of Ireland, will hold an open day for parents in the Mount Herbert Hotel, Herbert Road, Sandymount from 9am-5pm on April 24th. Tel: 01 8780029 for details. See aspire-irl.org