A review of literature on the therapeutic use of drama to support communication with young autistic children

Abstract

This literature review seeks to chart the current landscape of research related to drama, therapy and young autistic children needing support with communication. Beginning with key concepts to set out definitions for the review, I then demonstrate the search process as a scoping exercise and discuss the findings of two separate collections of studies: one of wider practices using drama as therapy, including group dramatherapy, and one collection of studies describing one-to-one drama as therapy. The aim of the review is to gather the available evidence of whether drama as therapy can support the communicative strengths of young children on the autism spectrum, in particular those described as non-verbal or minimally verbal. I then seek to extrapolate how this might occur through presenting the outcomes of a theme analysis of seven case studies of one-to-one drama as therapy.

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