Acting Antics: A Theatrical Approach to Teaching Social Understanding to Kids and Teens with Asperger Syndrome »

This fun and inspiring step-by-step program provides a full set of tools for developing social understanding in children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) through drama. Cindy B. Schneider explains how the central processes in acting - including making and interpreting inferences from non-verbal cues, taking another's perspective, and formulating language - can be highly effective ways of addressing social cognition deficits in children with AS. Acting Antics contains a wide repertoire of activities and ideas for immediate application at home, in the classroom, in therapy workshops or social groups, ranging from initial warm up techniques, through paired activities, to larger group scenes and staging a show. Also included are helpful appendices that provide questionnaire forms to enable both the child and the program leader to assess and monitor the child's understanding of their roles, along with photocopiable scripts and suitable scene designs. This complete, practical program provides a wealth of enjoyable educational ideas for parents, teachers, and therapists of children with Asperger Syndrome.

About the Author:
Cindy B. Schneider is currently Director of her own Acting Antics Theatre Company and Autism Consultant for Chester County Intermediate Unit in Pennsylvania USA

Foreword   Tony Attwood     9
Preface     11
Introduction     15
Who? What? Where?     21
Getting Started     27
Paired Activities     36
Scripted Partner and Group Scenes     43
Whose Line Is It Anyhow?     53
Starting Your Own Troupe     69
Ready or Not, Here They Come!     75
Antics Summer Camp     80
The "Really Big Show"     87
It's a Wrap!     91
Sample Schedules and Activity Lists     93
Photocopiable Forms     109
Photocopiable Partner Scripts     123
Group Scripts     161
References     182
Resources     183
Subject Index     187
Author Index     191