Teaching Asperger’s Students Social Skills Through Acting

When given the chance, young people with Asperger’s can be the most charismatic actors that have ever hit the stage. In this guidebook, author Amelia Davies provides the theories and activities you’ll need to set up acting classes that double as social skills groups for individuals with Asperger’s or high-functioning autism. Included are acting exercises and plays that teach actors how to control and use body language, nonverbal communication, tone of voice, facial expressions, and movement, which are all important social skills. Using these and many other skills onstage allows actors to develop social understanding through repetition and generalization. Actors can learn as a group or focus on individual challenges through their characters. Lights, camera, action!

Author(s): Amelia Davies