Pac Rim 2009 Info
Setting the Stage for Social Success
Monday, May 4th, 2009: 1:15 pm – 3:30 pm, Hawaii Convention Center
This workshop will teach parents and professionals new techniques that can be used to teach social cognition skills to children, teens and adults whose disabilities impact their social interaction skills. The workshop will be highly interactive, and participants will leave with specific skill sets that can be used at home, in therapy, in the classroom, or in a recreational group. A selection of reproducible forms and tools from my book, Acting Antics, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, will be available for participants to take home.
As the workshop facilitator, I will address how theater and music activities are natural tools for teaching social competencies. Specific warm-up games and activities will be taught and then attendees will participate in the games. The group will then examine the skill areas addressed in each game or activity. The importance of facilitating a group dynamic and gradually building trust and comfort level will be stressed.
Next the participants will be engaged in the next level of activities. These theater games specifically address the use of non-verbal cues. The games include Bamboozle, Flexible Phrases, Sell Your Partner, Props Game, Taxi, and Blah Blah. (See Acting Antics) More advanced improvisation activities will be introduced and volunteers will participate with me, the facilitator, in these activities. Part of my mission for this workshop, is to make participants feel ‘safe’ enough to come up and ‘take a risk’, thereby joining in these improvisation exercises. Techniques to establish that safety net and encourage risk-taking in young actors will be discussed. Video examples of teens participating in these activities will be shown and questions will be encouraged.
This is designed as a dynamic, interactive workshop and has been presented at the national conferences around the United States and in Canada and has received an enthusiastic response!
Presenter Biography: Cindy Schneider
Download Presenter Bio [Doc Format | PDF Format]
