Customer Reviews

Acting Antics: A Theatrical Approach to Teaching Social Understanding to Kids and Teens with Asperger Syndrome

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I used some of the exercises in this book for my boys group, consisting of 1/2 kids on the Autism Spectrum and the other half are kid with ADHD and emotional difficulties. All of the boys loved the exercises. HOwever, I have two kids on the spectrum, who have been reluctant to participate in past activities, but after a few minutes of watching the other kids perform the skits, they begged to take part. It was so exciting to see their enthusiasm and willingness to participate. I can't wait to continue using this activities in the book for future sessions.

Acting Antics is a good beginning overview of how drama can be used with students on the ASD spectrum. It is written in a very user-friendly manner so it will be accessible to anyone who is familiar with theatre, but not with ASD and accessible to anyone who is familiar with ASD, but not with teaching theatre. It's exciting to see that many people have started discovering how valuable drama is as a teaching tool for people who are on the autism spectrum!

This book is well-written and easy to follow. It is a wonderfully creative way to work with kids on the spectrum who need help with nonverbal communication. I love the author's full descriptions of activities to use in group or in class. I have used several of these techniques in social skills therapy and the kids respond well to them.

Another teacher recommended this book when I was given an Intro to Theater class for life skills students to teach. With no drama background, this seemed like a daunting (impossible?) task. Using this and Teaching Asperger's Students Social Skills Through Acting: All Their World Is a Stage! I ended up using activities straight from the book as warmups, and also I created some of my own after gaining my stride. We ended up putting on a full length play by the end! I would not have had that success without the help of these books.