The Drama Garden

How does Autism affect Children's Senses?

Children diagnosed with Autism may struggle to organise and interpret the information they see, smell, hear, taste and touch. Experiencing sensory perceptions can be frightening, or even painful, which can lead to anxiety and meltdowns.

Autistic children can sometimes be undersensitive or oversensitive to sensory information. In other words, they either take in too much or too little information from the environment around them. Not all autistic children have sensory issues but some others might have several.

Children with sensory sensitivities can filter out the information they choose to ignore. On the other hand, when the brain struggles to filter out information it pays attention to everything. This causes sensory overload.

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How can Drama help Children Express Their Emotions?

Drama creates the perfect opportunity for children to explore and practice their emotions. Most children find it easy to experiment with their emotions, whereas others may have difficulties controlling their feelings when experiencing some they wouldn't normally feel.

Let's crack on with some examples of how Drama can safely help children cope with their emotions.

1. Create a Safe Environment
Creating a safe space allows children to play and discover their feelings in a comfortable and secure environment.

2. Recognising Emotions
Some children might struggle to understand what different emotions look like. Drama teaches children a whole range of emotions. Children learn how to act them out, read them from other children, and recognise them when they experience them themselves.

3. Verbal Communication
Once these emotions are understood, combined with the security that a safe space provides, children might be brave enough to open up about their feelings and express them verbally.

4. Empathy
Drama encourages children to play different characters, understand the story, and the subtext, and live in their situations, conflicts, and traditions! This teaches them to accept people from different backgrounds, show compassion, and have a healthier perception of others with no judgment.

5. Emotional Reflection through Characters
When playing different characters, children learn about the various emotions their characters feel. This encourages them to reflect on these feelings to help them recognise them easily when they experience them themselves.

If you want to know more about my work, visit my website at dramagarden.co.uk or email me on [email protected]
You can also download my free e-Book "Let's Play" - 5 Drama Games to Unleash your Child's Creative Potential.
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The Benefits of Drama to Early Years Students.

Drama is an incredibly powerful tool that can help shape children into sensible and intelligent adults. Drama helps children exercise and explore their creativity and imagination. The benefits of learning drama from a young age are endless.

1. Drama builds Confidence
Drama allows students to fully express themselves. By providing a safe space for children to be themselves, they feel encouraged to play, make new friends, and learn more about themselves.

2. Creativity & Imagination
When performing, children get to interpret fascinating characters living in different places, times, and social situations. By becoming different personas, children enhance their creativity, learn to express their emotions in creative ways.

3. Emotional Expression
Drama invites children to experience a range of emotions. It encourages the release of powerful emotions in a safe and calm environment.

4. Empathy
By playing various characters, children can understand that, we are all human beings with feelings and emotions. This is what teaches children how to tolerate people from different backgrounds.

5. Communication Skills
Children learn how to communicate with each other, how to process thoughts in their heads, come up with ways to handle conflict within a scenario and so much more.

6. Teamwork, Collaboration & Friendship
Drama invites children to feed on each other's thoughts, share ideas and come up with a solution for their given conflict. Children bond very quickly with each other and theatre gives them that push to start those first conversations and support each other.

Other benefits include:
Co-operation
Concentration
Physical Fitness
Memory Skills
Fun

If you want to know more about my work, visit my website at dramagarden.co.uk or email me on [email protected]
You can also download my free e-Book "Let's Play" - 5 Drama Games to Unleash your Child's Creative Potential. Just click the link in my bio.

How to Help Children with Selective Mutism

Selective Mutism is anxiety characterised by the inability to speak in certain social situations. Children diagnosed with Selective Mutism do not speak because they choose not to but simply because they are physically unable to speak.

Children diagnosed with Selective Mutism might avoid eye contact, feel nervous and withdrawn, have difficulties expressing themselves, feel sensitive to noise, and can also have tantrums.

Let's crack on with a list of strategies that can help children diagnosed with SM.

1. Understanding and Acceptance
Help your children understand and accept their speech difficulty. Reassure them that they'll feel more comfortable talking if they take things slow and easy.

2. Create a Supportive Environment
Create a safe environment where your child feels safe being quiet and safe to speak if they feel comfortable.

3. Communication Techniques
Come up with a list of non-verbal communication methods to help your child communicate without using their voice. These can include pointing, drawing, etc.

4. Invite Friends Over
If your child feels comfortable talking at home, try inviting a few friends over. Having a safe environment where your child can speak might encourage them to open up to others.

5. Opportunities over Expectations
Create conversations where your child is given the opportunity to speak rather than put in scenarios where they're expected to talk.

6. Inform them of any Changes and Transitions
If any changes are about to happen, give them plenty of notice. This allows them time to prepare themselves mentally without expecting any surprises.

If you want to know more about my work, visit my website at www.dramagarden.co.uk or email me on [email protected]
You can also download my free e-Book "Let's Play" - 5 Drama Games to Unleash your Child's Creative Potential. Just click the link in my bio.

Strategies to help Autistic Children Control their Emotions

Autistic children can struggle to cope with their emotions and can easily have meltdowns, even in mildly-complicated situations. However, there are some techniques that can help them feel more in control of their feelings.

What causes a meltdown?
There are several reasons why autistic children have meltdowns. This could be due to a sensory overload or expressing anger, anxiety, or frustration.

1. Stay Calm
In order to help your child calm down, you need to stay calm. You can help them breathe, give them sensory-friendly toys, in case they felt a sensory overload, put a weighted blanket on their shoulders, etc. Most importantly, teach your children to calm themselves down.

2. Recognise their Behaviour Patterns and Create a Safe Environment.
It is common for children with Autism to exhibit signs of distress before a meltdown. Ask them what upset them and try to create a safer and smoother environment for them to feel calm.

3. Be Positive!
If your child has a tantrum, don't shame them, avoid arguments and keep them by your side until they calm down.

If you want to know more about my work, visit my website at dramagarden.co.uk or send me an email on [email protected]
You can also download my free e-Book "Let's Play" - 5 Drama Games to Unleash your Child's Creative Potential.
https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/ebook

3 Ways in which Drama can Help Children with Dyspraxia

Dyspraxia is a learning difficulty that affects the brain's ability to plan movement and sequences. Dyspraxic children struggle with their motor skills, holding their balance, and coordination.

Children can easily trip over things, bump into things, and have bad posture. They may struggle with reading and writing, have speech problems, display obsessive behaviour, and struggle with their motor skills, which may result in problems grasping pencils, tying shoelaces, playing sports, etc.

Drama can help children develop strategies to overcome their struggles.
Let's crack on with a list of benefits that Drama offers to children with Dyspraxia.

1. Postures
Drama encourages children to discover new postures which can help them understand more about how their own body works. This can happen when children create the physicality of the characters they're playing.

2. Speech
Through scripts and improvisations, they can practice their speech whilst interacting with other children. Dyspraxic children tend to be introverts so engaging with other children can easily boost their self-esteem.

3. Motor Skills
Most children use Drama to help them with gross and fine motor abilities while developing their sensory skills. Enhancing their motor skills help children be more aware of their movement, physicality, and posture.

If you want to know more about my work, visit my website at dramagarden.co.uk
or send me an email on [email protected]
You can also download my free e-Book "Let's Play" - 5 Drama Games to Unleash your Child's Creative Potential. https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/ebook

4 Ways to help Autistic Children Thrive

Learning that a child is diagnosed with Autism can be frightening and parental anxiety can be high. However, there are techniques to help your child learn new skills and overcome obstacles in a healthy and nourishing way.

As mentioned in my previous posts, you need to start by focusing on yourself. By being emotionally strong, you can help your child deal with daily obstacles in a calm and steady mental frame of mind. So, let's crack on with a list of strategies to help autistic children thrive and shine.

1. Create a Personalised Care Plan
After having learned about your child's diagnosis, you can create a personalised plan to help with your child's specific needs. This care plan might need to change over time to see what works best for your child.

2. The Use Structures and Routines
Make sure your child knows what's expected of them. Create daily timetables and make sure they can see them so they won't expect any surprises.

3. Ask for Help
Ask for help when you need it. It simply means you need extra support when things become too much to handle.

4. Learn to Communicate with your Child.
After a tantrum, approach them gently and try to understand what made them irritated or upset.

Click on the link in my bio to read more about my work - www.dramagarden.co.uk

5 Different ways in which Drama can help Children's Development

Drama is a creative medium that allows children to explore new characters, learn about themselves and, most importantly, have fun! Besides helping children enhance their creativity, Drama can also help them deal with their daily lives.

Previously, I explained how Drama helps children develop collaboration skills, enhance social interactions, and boost their self-confidence but let's crack on with a list of some other great benefits that Drama has to offer.

1. Understanding Language
Through script work, children learn how to ask questions, debate, give advice, give and take instructions, persuade other characters, etc. These are all fundamental skills needed in their future.

2. Problem-Solving Skills
Drama allows children to solve their character's problems when they're facing conflict.

3. Mental Health
Drama encourages children to play in a safe space where it's acceptable to talk about the issues that are troubling them.

4. Empathy
Drama teaches children to accept people from different backgrounds, show compassion, and have a healthier perception of others with no judgment.

5. Provides Knowledge
Drama teaches children to deal with real-life situations. It teaches them about life itself.

Click on the link in my bio to read more about my work
www.dramagarden.co.uk

Self-Care Tips for Parents Raising Autistic Children

When things get too stressful or too much to handle, do reach out for help. Raising a child isn’t an easy job but raising a child with Autism has its unique challenges. There are so many people out there willing to help you out. Look after yourselves because your children need healthy parents with a strong and healthy mind to take care of them.

Let's look at some self-care tips to help you make your life slightly easier:

1. Join a support group - You can find support for anything. When joining support groups, you can meet people willing to share their experiences, coping mechanisms, reliable techniques, etc. Moreover, you can also meet new friends.

2. Go in Nature and Exercise - Being in nature brings amazing benefits to your health and can help you feel better mentally, emotionally, and physically. All you need is 20 minutes a day to breathe and get some sun. You deserve this!

3. Manage Stress Effectively - We all experience stress and anxiety. It's part of our everyday life. But, learning how to manage stress is a life changer. By managing your stress, you feel more in control of your emotions which makes you in control of anxious situations. You can take a nice bath, do yoga and meditation, breathe, go for walks, etc. Do what feels best for you!

4. Ask for Help: There is no shame in asking for help. When life feels like it's getting out of control, ask for help. There are days when you can handle it on your own and others where everything becomes slightly overwhelming. It's not a sign that you're not capable of handling things, but that you simply need some support to help you cope.

5. Schedule Personal Time - Do something for yourself. Never take yourself for granted. Have your nails done, do some shopping, meet friends for coffee, go to the gym, etc. Invest time in yourself because it is as important as investing time to take care of your child.

Click the link in my bio to read more about my new work.
https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/
Also, check out my new blog post: Drama for Aspergers!
https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/blog

Autism is a spectrum. This means that people within the spectrum are different. It is not one shoe fits all. Some autistic children require little to no support and others might need help and care on a daily basis.

Below are some strategies that can help Autistic children make their lives easier:
- Provide sensory support
- Setting the right environment
- Create a structure and a routine

Click on the link in my bio to read more about my work.
https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/

Never let Autism define a diagnosed child! ❤️ We must constantly encourage diagnosed children to believe in themselves. They need to set their personal expectations and, with the right educational and emotional support, they can make it! Again, never let Autism define a child! 🌻

Click on the link in my bio to read more about my work.
https://www.dramagarden.co.uk/