Dramatherapy and Learning Disabilities demonstrates the power of dramatherapy to help clients with learning disabilities, addressing current research, evidencebased work, and methods in the dramatherapy and learning disabilities fields. Featuring contribution from 19 dramatherapists with a range of clients of all ages who have moderate to severe learning disabilities, this book presents ways in which dramatherapists are innovating new approaches to their work in the field. The authors demonstrate their expertise but also acknowledge their limitations. They explore what it is like to work in multidisciplinary teams and with parents and carers of children and adults with learning disabilities. Each chapter provides detailed vignettes of client/therapist experience and enables the reader to gain insight into therapists’ thinking and the process that guides their clinical judgement. Structured accounts of sessions and outcomes, tracking clients’ progress and the use of evaluation tools evidence the effectivity of dramatherapy and creative therapies’ practice. This book will be a significant resource for trainee dramatherapists, arts therapists and professionals interested in incorporating creative methods into their practice. It also provides examples of burgeoning arts therapies research within the field and lays the foundations for future projects.

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.

This title is directed primarily towards health care professionals outside of the United States. It is the authoritative textbook for students of learning disabilities covering a wide variety of topics. It is relevant not only for nursing courses, but also for care workers, OTs, and other professional and non-professional carers. The new edition has been completely updated and includes the latest evidence for practice. There are new chapters which means the book provides comprehensive coverage of learning disablities throughout a person's life. There are also new contributors, including people with learning disabilities. Each chapter is supported by information on further reading and other resources.

"A helpful resource for those undertaking studies in learning disabilities at all levels. I shall definitely be recommending it to my students!" - John Boarder, Bangor University "This book provides a valuable and innovative contribution to the field of Learning Disabilities." - Logan Parumal, University of Manchester Key Concepts in Learning Disabilities is a handy guide to the topics you need to know about whether studying or working in the field of Learning Disabilities. The A-Z format allows you to "dip in" and quickly find relevant information on topics ranging from Autism to Rights and from Advocacy to Challenging Behaviours. Each entry features: - a snapshot definition of the concept; - a broader discussion of the main issues and applications to practice; - key points; - a case study, and - signposts to further reading. Key Concepts in Learning Disabilities is an ideal companion to study and particularly useful for those completing academic assignments as part of training. Written by a team of experienced practitioners and lecturers, the book reflects the multi-disciplinary nature of contemporary practice.

Space, Place and Dramatherapy: International Perspectives provides radical, critical and practical insights into the relevance and significance of space and place in dramatherapy practice. Bringing together an international breadth of contributors, the chapters of this book reveal extensive reflections on the many spaces in which dramatherapists and their clients work and offer research implications for those wishing to critically examine their own symbolic or structural spaces in dramatherapy practice. Chapters consider space and place from many angles: ritual and symbolic spaces; transitional and play spaces; educational and interpersonal spaces; and scenographic and architectural spaces. The book examines the impact of space on human (and more-than-human) relationships, dramatherapy practice and processes and mental health, offering new avenues of research and critical enquiry. This volume is the first of its kind to rigorously elucidate the importance of space within the field of dramatherapy and is essential reading for academics, scholars and postgraduate students of dramatherapy as well as practicing dramatherapists and professionals within the wider domains of arts and health.

In this insightful book, Oldfield and Carr draw together persuasive arguments for combining aspects of music therapy and dramatherapy, whilst retaining their unique facets. Building on the many links between music and drama and the compatibility between the two disciplines, the authors explore how artistic aspects of each therapy can be drawn on to create fresh ways of working. This approach enriches the practice of professionals working to support people with special needs, people recovering from trauma and social deprivation and a wide range of other service users. Despite the significant overlap in music therapy and dramatherapy techniques, this is the first book to directly explore the vast potential of elements of the two disciplines being brought together. Covering a range of different perspectives and practice contexts, this book demonstrates just how much the professions can offer each other both from a clinical perspective and from the point of view of training therapists.

Using extensive examples from practice with a range of client groups, Dramatherapy and Autism confronts the assumption that people with autism are not able to function within the metaphorical realms of the imagination and creativity. It demonstrates that not only are people who function along the spectrum capable of engaging in creative exploration, but that through encountering these processes in the clinical context of dramatherapy, changes can be made that are life enhancing. Bringing in cutting-edge research and practice on dramatherapy, Dramatherapy and Autism aims to contribute to developing the theory and practice of creative arts therapies interventions with clients with autism. The book is part of the Dramatherapy: approaches, relationships, critical ideas series, in which leading practitioners and researchers in the field develop the knowledge base of this unique discipline, whilst contextualising and acknowledging its relationship with other arts and therapeutic practices. Dramatherapy and Autism will be of interest to a broad spectrum of readers, such as dramatherapists in practice and training, arts practitioners and academic researchers engaged in multidisciplinary enquiry.

Supervision of Dramatherapy offers a thorough overview of dramatherapy supervision and the issues that can arise during the supervisory task. Phil Jones and Ditty Dokter bring together experts from the field to examine supervision in a range of contexts with different client groups, including dramatherapy with children, forensic work, and intercultural practice. Each chapter features: theoretical grounding the importance of action methods position in the professional lifecycle application in relation to setting and client groups. Using illustrative examples, Supervision of Dramatherapy provides practical guidance and theoretical grounding, appealing to supervisors and supervisees alike, as well as psychotherapists interested in the use of dramatic methods in the supervisory setting.

Offering a balanced overview of complementary and alternative therapies, this book will be useful for parents of children with autism, ADD or other learning disabilities. The book covers a wide variety of mind-body interventions and manipulative techniques, as well as energy therapies, biologically based methods, and alternative medical systems. For each approach, the author provides a detailed description of what the treatment involves, which professionals will be working with the child, and an explanation of the rationale behind the therapy. She also offers advice on who to approach for treatment, and includes a list of recommended resources and useful contacts for further information. This book will be a valuable source of information for parents and professionals working with children who have disabilities that impact their learning or behavior.

This third edition of Current Approaches in Drama Therapy offers a revised and updated comprehensive compilation of the primary drama therapy methods and models that are being utilized and taught in the United States and Canada. Two new approaches have been added, Insight Improvisation by Joel Gluck, and the Miss Kendra Program by David Read Johnson, Nisha Sajnani, Christine Mayor, and Cat Davis, as well as an established but not previously recognized approach in the field, Autobiographical Therapeutic Performance, by Susana Pendzik. The book begins with an updated chapter on the development of the profession of drama therapy in North America, followed by a chapter on the current state of the field written by the editors and Jason Butler. Section II includes the 13 drama therapy approaches, and Section III includes the three related disciplines of Psychodrama and Sociodrama, Playback Theatre, and Theatre of the Oppressed that have been particularly influential to drama therapists. This highly informative and indispensable volume is structured for drama therapy training programs. It will continue to be useful as a basic text of drama therapy for both students and seasoned practitioners, including mental health professionals (such as counselors, clinical social workers, psychologists, creative arts therapists, occupational therapists), theater and drama teachers, school counselors, and organizational development consultants.