Psycho-physical theatre practice as embodied learning for young people with learning disabilities

In a dominant Western tradition that reveres cerebral learning, embodied learning approaches have received limited research attention – and less in education than other disciplines. This paper draws on previously reported empirical data from a five-year Creative Partnerships study to argue that psycho-physical theatre practice can promote embodied cognition, has particular value for young people with learning disabilities in special schools and has potential for inclusive education in mainstream schools. The paper describes a psycho-physical actor training process developed with, and for, actors with learning disabilities. Its application within special educational contexts, which we call ‘mimetics’, has focused more keenly upon physicalised interaction as the core communication. In this form of communication, reading, interpreting and responding to the individuality of others happen through the development of non-verbal dialogue. This focus has illuminated the importance of an intuited or ‘felt’ understanding which is generated by and recognises such communications. In special education settings, being different is inherent, and physicalised interaction more routine, so ways of working different from the mainstream are required. The paper suggests that such settings are rich sites for research to develop, value and recognise the significance of embodied cognition and realise its potential for special and inclusive education

CAN MIMETICS, A THEATRE BASED PRACTICE, OPEN POSSIBILITIES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES -A CAPABILITY APPROACH? МОЖЕТ ЛИ ПАНТОМИМА, ИСПОЛЬЗУЕМАЯ В ТЕАТРАЛЬНОЙ ПРАКТИКЕ, ОТКРЫТЬ ВОЗМОЖНОСТИ ДЛЯ ПОДРОСТКОВ С ПРОБЛЕМАМИ В ОБУЧЕНИИ? ПОДХОД, ОСН

Non-verbal communication; learning disability, drama, special education, capability approach Whilst the signiicance of the social model of disability for articulating inclusive approaches in education is recognised, the application of capability theory to education is less developed. We consider how a particular theatre based practice, here described as «mimetics», can alter and extend the aspirations and achievements of children and young people with learning disabilities, and might be understood as applied capability theory or «capability practice». Mimetics has been crafted from experimental psycho-physical actor-training processes by Open Theatre Company working in collaboration with actors with learning disabilities, and adapted to support the learning and development of young people with learning disabilities. We draw upon an action research project set up by Creative Partnerships with Open Theatre Company and a special school, where children demonstrated increased motivation and capacity for communication and socialisation, improved well-being, learning and wider achievement. To illustrate the process we offer the case of one child with an autistic spectrum disorder. Невербальная коммуникация; проблема с обучаемостью, драма, специальное образование, подход способности Пока значение социальной модели нетрудоспособности для озвучивания содержащих подходов в образовании признано, приложение теории способности к образованию менее разработано. Мы рассматриваем, как особый театр базировал практику, здесь описанную как «способность к подражанию», может изменить и расширить стремления и достижения детей и молодых людей с проблемами с обучаемостью, и мог бы быть понят как примененная теория способности или «практика способности». способность к подражанию, как метод, был обработан в экспериментальных психофизических процессах в учебных условиях актером Open Theatre Company, работающим в сотрудничестве с актерами с проблемами с обучаемостью, метод был адаптирован, чтобы поддержать изучение и развитие молодых людей с проблемами в развитии. Мы разработали проект исследования в целях выработки мер, между творческим сотрудничеством с Open Theatre Company и специальной школой, где дети продемонстрировали повышенную мотивацию и способность к коммуникации и социализации, улучшенному благосостоянию, учась и более широкому успеху. Чтобы иллюстрировать процесс, мы предлагаем случай одного ребенка с расстройством аутического спектра

The incidence function model as a tool for landscape ecological impact assessments

Landscape-scale approaches to assessing the impact of land-use change on species' persistence are necessary because species depend on processes acting at varying scales, yet existing approaches to ecological impact assessment tend only to be site-based. A further major criticism of current ecological impact assessments is that they tend to be qualitative. Here we develop methods that apply the Incidence Function Model (IFM) in real urban planning contexts, by generating repeatable and comparable quantitative measures of ecological impacts. To demonstrate the methods for a case study (Nottingham, UK), we estimated landscape-scale measures of species' persistence that indicate metapopulation viability. We based these on Nottingham’s landscape when urban developments were recently proposed, then adjust the land cover to include the proposed developments, and also for two projected landscapes where 10% and 20% of the original natural or semi-natural land cover is lost. We find that the IFM shows promise as a tool for quantitative landscape-scale ecological impact assessment, depending on the size of the impact. We detected minimal differences in the species' viability measures between the original and post-development landscapes. This suggests that for small (around 2%) cumulative losses of natural/ semi-natural space, current site-based approaches are sufficient. However, when the cumulative effect of continued development was modelled by increasing the losses of natural/semi-natural land cover to 10–20% of existing cover, the impact on many of the species studied was more substantial. This indicates that a landscape-scale approach is necessary for larger, prolonged and cumulative habitat losses

The elusive butterfly : the challenge of developing a framework for evaluating the impact of drama work upon the social, personal and learning growth of children in a special school setting

This article draws upon an enquiry based, partnership project between a special school and Shysters Theatre Company, an ensemble of actors with learning disabilities. The project, entitled The Butterfly Effect sought to explore how this model of theatre practice can influence learning and teaching. A key question has been to understand why the exploration of the physical, sensory and essentially non-verbal interactions has led to the significant development of a range of key personal and social skills and abilities within the children, including ironically an increased use of words as a means of communication