Accommodations for Autism Spectrum Disorder
| ASD Behavior/Symptom | General Accommodation | Drama Accommodation |
|---|---|---|
| Easily over-stimulated by too much sensory input.
Result: can shut down, self-stimulate, or melt-down/ tantrum. |
Keep clutter in room to a minimum.
Do not design a “busy” environment with lots of colors, movement, etc. Provide information through one sensory learning channel at a time (verbal or visual or kinesthetic). Provide a quiet spot in the room with few visual and auditory distractions for student to go to for a break, when necessary. |
Keep games simple at first, building complexity as you get to know your students.
Avoid games with lots of simultaneous Avoid games with lots of simultaneous To refocus, try hand pattern games with one other partner. |
| Aversive to loud, sudden noises. | Find a quiet location for your classroom. | Avoid games with balloons.
Avoid games with sudden loud sounds. |
| May have difficulties with boundaries, such as where his physical body ends or where the socio-emotional and physical boundaries are between self and others. | Provide clearly designated spaces for sitting (i.e., chairs, carpet squares, X’s on rug). Create clear classroom rules, particularly regarding hands and legs to self, and post rules in a place where all can see them. |
Play movement games which teach boundaries (for example, hula-hoop space walk; play with stretchy bands, cooperabands, parachutes). Delineate acting and audience areas clearly and keep them the same each class. |
| Tactile Defensiveness (Does not like light touch). | Use deep touch.
Give high-fives for praise. Provide heavy/weighted blanket, mat, bean-bag chair, or heavy pillows |
Do not play games that involve touching or tagging.
Use isometric exercises in warm-ups (student presses against self, wall, object, or another person). |
| Typically does not easily handle changes in routine. | Stay in the same space from week to week.
Follow the same order of activities in each lesson plan. Post lesson plan where it is easy to see. Try to stick to the scheduled lesson plan. |
When playing a game, remind students several rounds before the end of a game so they are prepared to stop.
Keep arrangement of the room the same from week to week: audience area and stage always in the same place, circles always in the same place, etc. Open and close class with the same ritual drama activity. |
| Typically are concrete, literal, and visual thinkers versus abstract thinkers. | Avoid using figures of speech: “It’s raining cats and dogs.”
Be concise and concrete with instructions. Say what you want students to do instead of what not to do: instead of saying, “Stop fooling around!” say “Come over here and sit down.”) |
Use lots of props and costumes.
At first, play games that involve concrete objects and later move to abstract, “invisible,” pantomimed objects. Remind students that drama class is where we use our imaginations and anything can happen: we are not bound by the laws of physics when we pretend. |
| Might have sensitivity to certain smells. | Do not wear perfume, after-shave lotion, scented lotion when teaching.
Ask if janitor can use scent-free cleaning materials. Avoid room deodorizers and incense. |
Avoid using fog machines in productions. |
| Difficulty making eye contact. | Do not force eye contact, but do encourage students to turn towards each other while communicating. | Avoid playing games where eye contact is necessary, such as mirroring.
If two actors must look at each other in a scene, suggest they look at the other’s nose or another part of the other’s face instead of directly in the eyes. |
| Can obsess about certain topics and not want to talk about or work on others. | Set clear guidelines about what is OK and not OK to talk about.
Set limits (perhaps use a timer) for the amount of time to discuss any one subject. Insist that everyone must have the opportunity to share their own ideas and listen to/respect others’ ideas. When sharing in a circle, use an object like a feather or fake microphone to designate the “official speaker.” |
Try to incorporate your students’ interests into improvs and stories, while encouraging them to branch out to new areas.Add small changes into repetitive routines or stories to create variety and encourage flexibility. Stress the need for an actor to “be in the moment” and respond to all offers with “Yes, and….” Practice this. |
| Has a tendency to be rigidly honest and, therefore, may say inappropriate or impolite things to other people. | Discuss the importance of demonstrating respect to others.Define constructive criticism and why it is important. |
Role play “constructive” and “destructive” criticism before anyone needs to be critiqued.
Role play “appropriate” and “inappropriate” topics of conversation or comments to others. |
Barrier-Free Theater book published
Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010
DRAMA THERAPIST’S NEW BOOK PROMOTES BARRIER-FREE THEATER
MANHATTAN — Sally Bailey, associate professor and director of the drama therapy program at Kansas State University, recently had her third book, “Barrier-Free Theatre,” published by Idyll Arbor. In the book Bailey shares her ideas, tips and anecdotes about making theater accessible to children and adults with disabilities. “If you do theater, but know nothing about disabilities, you’ll learn about them,” Bailey said. “If you know about disabilities, but not about how to facilitate drama, you’ll learn about that. I wanted to give all the building blocks so that people can take what they need. If you have no building blocks, with this book you have a whole kit.”
Bailey was first exposed to drama therapy and learned about accommodating people with disabilities when she worked for various arts programs in Washington, D.C. After becoming a registered drama therapist, she used her skills while working with recovering drug addicts at the rehabilitation facility Second Genesis, and with people with disabilities at Imagination Stage, a nonprofit arts center. She moved to Manhattan to head up K-State’s drama therapy master’s program in 1999. She also is the director of the Manhattan Parks and Recreation’s barrier-free theater. “By chance, one of the families whose children I had worked with in the D.C. area had moved to Manhattan and had talked the parks and rec department into creating a barrier-free program,” Bailey said. “They believed it was so important that every town should have one.”
Bailey’s new book is nearly a decade in the making. She said publishers could not understand who the audience was, but she knows that since 20 percent of people have some kind of disability, the audience is definitely there. “Drama can really level the playing field and allow many different people to work together,” Bailey said. “In the theater all people can express themselves and be creative as equals. Drama can be a part of more people’s lives if directors and teachers know how to include everyone.”
Ideas for Inclusive Playwriting
Think in terms of the strengths and talents of your actors – what do they do best?
INCORPORATE THEIR STRENGTHS AND INTERESTS INTO THE SCRIPT.
Think of ways to SIDE-STEP the WEAKNESSES of your actors.
- You can do this by not giving actors action or lines that you know would be difficult for them.
- Incorporate other actors into the scene who can help them (see ideas below).
CAST the play before you begin to write so you can pair up people who can help each other in different ways during the course of the play.
INCORPORATE SPECIAL TALENTS: - Playing an instrument,
- Dancing,
- Singing,
- Pantomime,
- Juggling,
- Magic Tricks,
- Telling jokes,
- Howling like a werewolf,
- Puppetry,
- Pratfalls, etc.
INCORPORATE wheelchairs and other devices into the play so there is a reason for the devices to be onstage: - Thrones,
- Carriages,
- Royal litters,
- Haywagons,
- Ambulances,
- Trucks,
- Cabs, etc.
• On the other hand, you don’t HAVE to have a rationale or excuse for a character to be in a wheelchair or to have another obvious disability – you can have that just be part of that character that is not even remarked upon in the play.
• Don’t let a device or a disability stop a character from doing what he or she needs to do in the play. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
IF A LINE IS DIFFICULT TO SAY, rewrite it:
- Use different words
- Change the order of the phrases
- Shorten the line
USING MEMORIZATION STRENGTHS:
• Use the natural speaking rhythms, phrasing, and vocabulary of your actors, especially if the script is based on their improvisations. If the lines are already in their words, speech, and thought patterns, they will be easier for actors to speak and remember.
• If you have an actor who is a good memorizer, have him or her ask questions in a scene to an actor who is not as good at memorization. It is easier to remember the answer to a question (especially since you know the answer from the script) than it is to remember a question.
• However, don’t have characters answer just “yes” or “no,” as they may become confused about which answer to say. Have answers be with specific Who, What, Where, and When information that relates clearly to the story and which can be more easily remembered.
• An actor who is a good memorizer can also handle the part of someone in authority, who gives orders.
• If an actor has a joke – make sure he/she understands the humor/meaning behind it, or he won’t be able to remember it.
• Incorporate reminders for actions and lines into the dialogue of actors who can memorize – make sure those reminders are phrased in positive terms. An actor with a cognitive disability will do what he or she is told to do, but can become confused if the hint is phrased in a negative way (For example, if you want an actor to go into a cave, a hint from another actor like, “Don’t go in there!” probably will be taken as a direction to not go in!).
If a line is phrased indirectly (“I wonder where we should go next?”) the actor being cued won’t be helped…because there is no hint in the line.
• Use a live or recorded narrator to structure the scene.
• Use music and/or sound effects to remind characters about entrances or exits or cue changes in the action within a scene.
• Incorporate video or film into your play. These scenes won’t have to be memorized. And they can be filmed as many times as you need in rehearsal until they are just right.
SIDESTEPPING problems with MEMORIZATION:
• A character like a TV interviewer, talk show host, doctor, or detective can have a clipboard of notes that can be referred to for the questions they might have to ask other characters. It looks realistic to incorporate the lines written on those props.
• Create groups of characters who work together onstage with at least one actor involved who has a good sense of direction and memorization. Everyone else can follow along and do their appropriate lines and actions if they have someone reliable to follow.
• In rehearsals encourage actors to improvise if they forget a line and to help fellow actors remember lines through asking them appropriate questions in character. Let them practice so they will be ready if it happens in performance.
SIDESTEPPING problems with actors who are NOT CLEAR SPEAKERS:
• Have another character repeat the line incredulously, pretending they understood what was said.
“I didn’t do it!”
“You didn’t do it? How do you expect me to believe that?”
or…more subtly…
“You expect me to believe that you didn’t do it?”
“I went to the store”
“Yes, I know you went to the store, but what did you buy there?”
• Have the actor who does not speak clearly play a foreign character who nobody in the play understands or play someone who always mutters under their breath. (Example: Swen Swenson, the Swedish cinematographer, has been hired because of his movie making talents, but he speaks no English. That’s ok because all he needs to understand to do his job is “Action” and “Cut.”)
There could be a legitimate reason why a character can’t speak. For instance:
- She is a professional mime,
- He has laryngitis because he yelled too loudly at the football game,
- She’s taken a vow of silence for religious reasons,
- He is refusing to speak because he is angry,
- Her voice was stolen by an evil wizard.
SIDESTEPPING problems with actors who CAN’T REMEMBER BLOCKING:
• Have the character teamed with a duo or trio of others who can remember blocking.
• Cast the actor a character who is a ruler or rich person who needs a personal assistant to be at his beck and call. (The personal assistant can be an actor who knows what to do and where to go and will be the one who is really in control, but will not look like it).
Social & Recreational Settings
One of my first drama therapy jobs was to create an arts access program for children with special needs at a non-profit community arts center in suburban Maryland. I integrated students with disabilities into regular drama classes and productions by helping teachers identify ways to make adaptations and accommodations that leveled the playing field. I created programming in special education classrooms for teaching social skills, self-expression, or an aspect of the curriculum. Theatre companies comprised of adolescent actors with and without disabilities created original plays dramatizing their own ideas. Some of this work could be categorized as educational drama, some as therapeutic drama, some as drama therapy, some mixed them all together.
The performing troupes were originally designed to be venues for disabled actors to explore issues of difference and to provide awareness education to non-disabled audiences. However, my actors had different ideas. They told me right off that they were sick of thinking about their disabilities because they had to deal with them “24-7.” They wanted to explore issues that were universal to adolescents like rebellion, responsibility, growing up, falling in love, being rejected, friendship and family. We created many plays together through improvisation. Each play became a metaphor for exploring their struggles, allowing them to fictionally explore and express their concerns, hopes, and dreams. Each rehearsal process became a laboratory for the development of better social skills, flexibility, responsibility, self-discipline, communication abilities, and the development of higher self-esteem.
Making Connections, a play about a video dating service, provided opportunities to explore appropriate dating behavior, first impressions, and unfair assumptions. During our improvisations, we explored all the WRONG ways to behave on a date and all the right ways. We practiced what information is appropriate to reveal to someone you just met and what is inappropriate. We role-played anxious, overprotective parents waiting for their daughter to come home from a date and laid-back, gentle ones. In the play that resulted, one couple arranges to go on a date based on viewing each other’s video interviews, but the girl doesn’t reveal that she uses a wheelchair until they meet outside the restaurant. She wants to be chosen for her personality, not rejected on the basis of her disability. Her date has to get past his expectations of what he thought she would be like. Another girl chooses a guy who, unbeknownst to her, turns out to be a foot shorter than she is. At first, she is horrified, but later learns that he’s a wonderful person, no matter what his height.
Making Connections was later turned into an educational video for the purpose of modeling social and dating behavior to young people with disabilities and their parents. It won Honorable Mention in several video/film competitions, was shown on WETA, the PBS station in Washington, DC, and for many years was marketed by Choices, Inc., a non-profit that sponsors educational videos for people with developmental disabilities. In the course of this adventure, the actors got to “film on location” and learned about acting “in the movies.” They had a chance to share their ideas and what they learned during our rehearsal process with a much larger audience. Self-esteem sky-rocketed when people who saw them on TV came up to tell them how wonderful their “movie” was and to ask for their autographs!
Parents report that the dramatic experiences their young people had in our performing companies helped them develop a greater level of independence, responsibility, and self-discipline than their peers who didn’t participate in drama. Most of my former actors are now middle-aged adults holding down full-time jobs and living independently in apartments. One job coach at a school-to-work transition program confided he could always tell which of his clients had been actors of mine: they had more self-confidence, better communication skills, and the self-discipline necessary for succeeding in the world of work.
© Copyright Sally D. Bailey, Registered Drama Therapist. All Rights Reserved.