Learning to say "stop"

[Adam Blatner]

Kids with Asperger's Syndrome and others with Learning Disabilities: Using action methods.

 From: Pat Schissel <pats at ahany.org>   To: AHA-AS-PDD at yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Tue, 4 Dec 2007 10:08 am  Subject: Learning to say 'stop' - Great idea

 http://education.guardian.co.uk/schools/story/0,,2221200,00.html

 Pupils with learning disabilities are raising awareness about bullying with their own DVD
      Caroline Roberts > Tuesday December 4, 2007
> The Guardian <http://www.guardian.co.uk>
>
> A series of faces flash up on the screen. Each subject looks directly into the camera 
> and says, "I've been bullied" or "I've been a bully".The faces belong to a group of 
> pupils with learning disabilities who are previewing part of the DVD they are making to 
> explore the issue of bullying. Although they giggle at each other and pretend to cringe 
> when their own image appears, there's obvious excitement at seeing themselves on screen, 
> and pride in their work, which will be used to help raise awareness among mainstream 
> pupils about "disablist" bullying.
      The DVD is part of a project funded by a grant from the national lottery and run by 
Roundabout, an organisation that provides dramatherapy to schools and other social and 
healthcare settings in the London area. The participants, pupils at Cricket Green School 
for Children with Diverse Needs in Merton, south London, are on the autistic spectrum or 
have another form of developmental delay. Like many children with learning disabilities, 
they have personal experience of bullying.

 Physical abuse
       Last month, a report by the charity Mencap revealed that eight out of 10 children 
with a learning disability have been bullied, and for six out of 10 it has involved 
physical abuse. With 40% of the children saying that the bullying continued even though 
they told someone, the report raises concerns that their plight is not being taken 
seriously enough. This may be partly because children with learning disabilities can find 
it hard to understand what is happening to them and give a clear account of events. "They 
may take everything literally and have problems reading facial expression and social cues. 
This can mean that it's very easy for other children to manipulate them and get them into 
trouble," explains Cricket Green's headteacher, Celia Dawson.
    Dramatherapy can be of particular benefit to them, says Lynn Cedar, one of the project 
leaders. "Many children with learning disabilities find it hard to express their feelings 
verbally," she says. "Taking on a character in a story allows them to explore those 
emotions in a safe environment and in a more distanced way."
      The weekly sessions use the pupils' own experiences as starting points for 
dramatisations that help them to explore different outcomes and resolutions. One of the 
group, 14-year-old Luke Pillay, who has Asperger's syndrome, suffered bullying at his 
previous school, where a year of taunts culminated in a vicious physical attack. "This 
bully put his fist in my face and all his friends pushed me down on the ground and kicked 
me in my stomach, my head, everywhere," he says. "I was upset and terrified." Like many of 
the children in the survey, he had complained about the
> bullying prior to the attack but felt that little was done to help him."The teachers 
> always said I hurt them first," he explains.
    "He was traumatised and it was painful for me to drop him off at school," says his 
father, Morris Pillay. "He would say things like 'Dad, I'm going to my death'. The onus 
was always on him to explain what was going on. My son has speech and language 
difficulties, but he deserves to be heard." After the attack, Luke's father took him out 
of school and it was a year before he was able to find a place at Cricket Green, following 
the family's move to the area.

Position of power
     "Pupils often arrive from mainstream schools with their self-esteem at rock bottom," 
says Dawson. One of the main aims of the dramatherapy sessions is to counteract this. "If 
they can learn to carry themselves with confidence, they are less likely to be picked on," 
says Cedar. Even the warm-up activities are designed to allow each pupil their moment in 
the spotlight. "It's important to give them the experience of being in a position of power 
within the group," she says.  After the warm-up, two of the pupils explore a 
confrontational situation in which they are only allowed to use the words "yes" and "no". 
Eventually, Lewis, who is watching intently, has had enough and gets up to intervene with 
a forceful "stop it". They all agree that "stop" is a key word.
     After the session, the two dramatherapists make notes on each pupil's contribution 
and responses before deciding on the specific issues to be explored the next week. When 
the DVD is completed early next year, it will be used in mainstream schools as a starting 
point for discussion and workshop activities. As well as giving pupils with learning 
disabilities a voice and a sense of achievement, those involved in the project hope it 
will help non-disabled pupils to understand them better. "They need to understand what it 
feels like to be disempowered by bullying, but also to focus on these pupils' abilities, 
not their disabilities," says Cedar.
         Patricia R. Schissel     President, AHA     Asperger Syndrome and High 
Functioning Autism Assoc.
 PO Box 916   Bethpage, NY 11714    516.470.0360 p    http://www.ahaNY.org
>
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