Abstract

Many aspects of drama therapy make it an ideal technique to use with students with special learning needs. This practical resource book for professionals covers the broad spectrum of students attending special needs schools, including those with attention deficit disorder, autism and Asperger syndrome, and students with multiple disabilities.

Paula Crimmens places therapeutic storymaking within the context of drama therapy and offers practical advice on how to structure and set up sessions to be compatible with special needs learning environments. She shows how story sessions can address issues of self-esteem and self-mastery, and how their use in groups is invaluable for building social and communication skills. The book includes traditional stories from around the world as session material, and includes guidance on how to devise stories relevant to older students, as well as a review of recent research into the effectiveness of drama therapy in engaging and retaining the attention of students with an intellectual disability.

It is a valuable text for non-professionals too. Having taught for many years in special education prior to training as a dramatherapist, I would have found this book an exciting resource in the classroom. Her style enables her to speak to dramatherapists and non-therapists alike. She gives examples of how dramatherapy can actively support the curriculum and help integrate the therapeutic experience of the children and young people into wider areas of their education. She also demonstrates how to support the stuff and encourage them to become involved and gain a greater understanding of dramatherapy.
Sesame Institute Leaflet
Paula Crimmens has pioneered the use of drama therapy in special education in her adopted country New Zealand where she has been resident since 1996. She has a Masters of Arts in Creative Arts Therapies and is currently piloting a project to provide drama therapy to groups of at-risk children in primary schools in Auckland funded by the Ministry of Education. She is the author of Storymaking and Creative Groupwork with Older People, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
It is an inspiring read from cover to cover as well as a text that can be read a chapter at a time. This is Paula Crimmen's second book following her successful Storymaking and Creative Group Work with Older People. I look forward to her next book.
Dramatherapy
Paula Crimmen's new book is a practical resource book for professionals working with a broad spectrum of children and young with special needs, including those with attention deficit disorder, autism, Aspergers Syndrome and students with multiple disabilities. It is a welcome addition in the field of dramatherapy literature and should be on the reading list of dramatherapy training courses. Its structure and format offer clarity and accessibility, exploring many themes that challenge the professionals within the field of special education prior to training a dramatherapist I would have found this book an exciting and accessible resource in the classroom.
Dramatherapy
Above all this is a common sense book that uses many practical examples from the author's considerable therapeutic experience. Ideal for students following a practice based course. She shows how story sessions can address issues of self-esteem and self-mastery, and how their use in groups is invaluable for building social and communication skills. This is a very good book and is a recommended buy for all play therapy trainees and also for experienced Play Therapists
Play for Life, Journal of Play Therapy UK
A practical resource book for professionals working with a broad spectrum of children and young people with special needs, including those with attention deficit disorder, autism, Asperger's Syndrome and multiple disabilities. It is a welcome addition to the field of dramatherapy literature and should be on the reading list of dramatherapy training courses.
Sesame Institute Leaflet
It is an inspiring read from cover as well as a text that can be read a chapter at a time'.
Sesame Institute Leaflet
The educational context for Crimmens's book is very clearly within special educational provision. It will be an excellent resource for professionals working in such a context and for those involved in group work with adults with a learning disability. I would also recommend it for the many mainstream teachers who are striving for more inclusive classrooms and engaging in more creative teaching and learning. I think it's a very readable book... I enjoyed the vivid descriptions of her practice, which are easily imagined. And I also feel that it's a "grownup" book, with good academic references to be followed up if you would like to do further research in this area.
Support for Learning
This is a practical book, placing therapeutic storymaking within the context of drama therapy and offering advice on how to structure and set up sessions to be compatible with special needs learning environments. Using traditional stories from around the world as session material, Crimmens shows how stories can address issues of self-esteem and self-mastery and how their use in groups is invaluable for building social and communication skills.
Human Givens