Stages of Success: The Theatre and Therapy Project

CSD and theatre students received seven-and-a-half hours of intensive training on adaptive behavior assessment; developmental disabilities; activity-based intervention and video-modeling; drama warm-up exercises, movement and vocal techniques; acting exercises, performance and text work; and social and behavioral issues related to assessment and treatment of people with developmental disabilities. Some examples of targeted goals include: * Pragmatics (eye contact, turn-taking) * Socialization (teamwork, conflict resolution) * Semantics (vocabulary building) * Syntax and grammar (sentence length, complexity) * Speech and articulation (consonant and vowel sounds) * Fluency (word repetitions, stuttering) * Reading comprehension (reading scripts, narratives) * Cognition (sequencing, story recall) * Voice and prosody (projecting voice, intonation) We also use video modeling and video self-modeling to teach targeted communication goals, and send home flash drives of recorded scenes so participants can practice at home. [...]we all cherish the theatre community we have forged together over the weeks.