As some of you may know, I have been a dance teacher now for a while, and have taught so many students. But very recently, I have joined a school that a lot of the students have various forms of autism, some very subtle, some more noticeable. And it got me thinking...
- Have you taught children or adults who have a form of autism?
- Do you think that dance/drama/singing is a good outlet for them? If so why?
- What difficulties have you faced when dealing with problem situations regarding children with autism?
- What is the best thing about teaching children/adults with autism?
- Should mainstream schools be promoting activities like dance to help the children who do have some form of autism?
I have done a bit of research on autism recently, as my partners child has suspected Aspergers syndrome, and just reading the article on symptoms it all made sense. This link shows probably just some of the symptoms of autism but this link shows some treatments the NHS recommend. And one really rang true for me.
'cognitive skills – such as encouraging imaginative play'
I immediately thought back to some of my kids that I do teach and do have autism and how they were when I first started to how they are now, and I do believe that dance and also drama and singing really does help the children learn new skills and also helps them with everyday life (eg. interacting with other children, being in a large group etc)
I want to see how far I can go with this enquiry, as it is something that I feel I can really get my teeth stuck into and also see what other teachers, and maybe also the children's feedback on certain topics. Obviously these questions are only draft for the moment, but with the help of various contacts, I'm sure I will get some good solid questions to help me progress into module 3.
Hi Steph,
ReplyDeleteLast year I joined an agency who contracts sport specialist out to schools my first placement was at a AEN school. It wasn't something I'd ever considered before and I was very nervous about taking on the challenge, before that I had never worked with anyone with additional needs before and was unsure about my ability to perform well at the job. I found it extremely rewarding. Although my experience was with children with a wide range of disabilities both cognitive and physical, I can relate to what you say in this post. Through movement and song children can learn so much. Teachers use song during their classes to help children to learn days of the week, letters and numbers etc. I think dance can help strengthen their learning, I taught a simple exercise involving the parts of the body which was accompanied by a song, it worked really well the children would come into class singing the song and doing the actions. I think this inquiry would help teachers understand how to plan and structure their lessons and how dance can help children learn skills that will improve there daily life. I would be interested to see you results.