The clinical diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder (APA, 2013) include difficulties with social communication and social cognition. Decades of autism research have been devoted to developing and implementing social skills training programs, some of which include drama as an instructional strategy. This dissertation project set out to contribute to that body of research, creating and testing a social skills program that used drama based on fictional stories to provide examples of social behaviour choices. The critical analysis of the research findings, using ethnographic methodology and the dual lenses of weak central coherence theory (Frith, 2003) and context-blindness theory (Vermeulen, 2012), extends the clinical, medical model of autism to create a por[trait of authentic, forthright individuals who are concerned with issues of social justice, who learn by making analogies to build context, whose conversation is associative and collaborative, and who stepped into the fictional worlds of the story-dramas and into the minds of the characters with empathy and commitment.
The Story Wheel curriculum is built on Northrop Frye’s archetypal literary theory (Anatomy of Criticism, 1957) using the dramatic conventions approach of applied drama (Neelands & Goode, Structuring Drama Work, 2015) as a pedagogical strategy. Each of the four archetypes – romance, tragedy, irony, and comedy – are represented by three workshops based on Western literature, chosen to align with the culture and knowledge base of the participants, for a total of twelve drama workshops in the research project. This dissertation includes the curriculum outline, the literary choices, and recommendations for drama practitioners to create a successful and inclusive experience for their autistic participants. / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uvic.ca/oai:dspace.library.uvic.ca:1828/13646 |
| Date | 23 December 2021 |
| Creators | Curry, Nancy J. |
| Contributors | Dobson, Warwick, Prendergast, Monica |
| Source Sets | University of Victoria |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | Available to the World Wide Web |
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