Velvi’s Theatre Intervention for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): An Assessment of Effect of Drama Therapy

Pages: 361-366
Nirban Manna (Department of Humanities and social Science, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, Jhakhand)

Theatre and dramatic techniques have long been practiced in a wide range of therapeutic settings like educational intuitions, detoxification counseling centers, hospitals, community organizations, rehabilitation and correctional homes for achieving definite sets of goals. Over the years, several approaches across different contexts have established for the development of different set of population. By using movement base intervention, role play, pretend play and improvisation, the drama-based activities improve cognitive and adaptive functioning of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) by achieving social awareness, imaginative ability, cognition, communication, sympathy and empathy. In India, the art therapy with specialization of the special population is an emerging area. Ramamoorthi Parasuram, one of the very few drama therapists in India, founded drama for autism Centre, Velvi and been working for the development of ASD children since 2004. This paper brings forth his module for drama therapy and analyses how his use of mask, face paint and rehearsing life technique has improved the attention span, eye contact, gross and mine motor skill of the people with ASD. The effect of Velvi’s drama therapy is assessed by conducting survey among the parents of such children, then Chi-square test and paired t test is performed for 14 social, behavioral and cognitive indicators.