Theater therapy aids autistic kids

[Guest guest]

http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2007/08/14/autismcamp/

Theater therapy aids autistic kids

by Tim Post, Minnesota Public Radio

August 24, 2007

Theater workshops are a popular summertime activity for kids. Most

often the goal is to teach youngsters a few basic acting skills. But

in Willmar, one theater workshop is teaching social skills to

teenagers with a mild form of autism.

Willmar, Minn. — A girl and two boys sit on a bench in a second-floor

classroom above Willmar's Barn Theatre. The teens look shy and bit

reluctant when they're asked to sit in a circle and join hands. And a

stranger hovering nearby with a microphone doesn't help put anyone at

ease.

Most adolescents would be at least uncomfortable holding hands with

peers they've only known for a few days. But for these kids sometimes

it can be downright terrifying. They've all been diagnosed with

Asperger's Syndrome, a mild form of autism.

Kids with Asperger's don't have problems with language like those

with more serious forms of autism. For them the challenges are more

social in nature. They have a hard time understanding body language

and facial expressions. They tend to avoid physical contact. And they

prefer not to make eye contact.

Nikki Bettcher kson, the theater director who helped develop this

program, puts the kids through acting exercises; some are familiar.

During one, a girl and a boy sit face to face, touching finger tips

and moving in unison as if facing a mirror image.

The exercise is intended to make them more comfortable with touching

and eye contact.

Another challenge for kids with Asperger's is understanding emotion.

So Betcher kson developed an exercise to help the kids express

how they feel and understand how other people are feeling.

" I'll start out at the beginning of a circle and we'll go around in a

circle and see how many different levels of sad we can use, " she

says. " For instance I would start out saying 'I'm sad,' and then the

next person has to make it more sad. And then it keeps going up,

until the last person in the circle is the most sad. "

" And we do the same thing with happy, or angry, or stressed out, or

calm. We try to use all these different levels of emotion, "

Bettcher kson uses these same techniques in local schools when

she works with kids with behavioral problems.

Bill Sheehan, a psychiatrist based in the western Minnesota town of

Benson, thought the same approach would work for kids with

Asperger's. So Sheehan worked with Bettcher kson to develop the

workshop. He says it's a new approach to therapy.

Theater therapy, as it's called, is already used to help treat

depression and addiction. But the two say their program appears to be

the only one in the country aimed at kids with autism.

Sheehan says their activities give the teens a chance to practice

interacting with peers in a safe atmosphere.

" Gradually as they get their confidence up or they practice these

kinds of things, it greatly improves their ability to be able to

function in a social world, so that's the goal of this whole

approach, " Sheehan says.

Sheehan says this theater therapy has been embraced by not only

parents, but the kids themselves. He considers that an

accomplishment, especially because children with Asperger's are often

reluctant to take part in therapy sessions.

Proof he says is the enthusiasm of participants like Caitlyn Wheeler,

17, from Atwater. Wheeler hams it up in an acting exercise, while her

classmates try to guess what emotion she's acting out.

After the workshop, Wheeler grabs her dad's hand and heads straight

to the door, not eager to stick around and talk with a reporter. But

her dad encourages her, and in the end she's willing to stay and

offer a strikingly mature assessment of the dreams she has for her

future.

" More acting, and maybe get my acting degree in theater, see if I

could get into a Broadway musical or famous play or whatever, " she

says.

Whether or not the therapy helps Wheeler's social interaction with

other people is yet to be seen. But for now it's given her the

confidence to consider spending more time in front of people on

stage.

Organizers of the workshop say their next step is to find funding to

study and develop hard data on the therapeutic benefits of theater

for kids dealing with Asperger's Syndrome. The next workshop is

scheduled for September in Willmar.