Including Students with Disabilities in Theater Education

Abstract

This chapter addresses how drama improves engagement in school, enhances social and emotional learning, and adds to critical thinking in other school disciplines by allowing students to embody their learning, with a particular focus on students with special needs. It introduces drama curricula targeting social, emotional, and academic learning for students with disabilities. Drama activities can be incorporated into education as tools for teaching about life, academics, and aesthetics. Creative drama, based on theater games and improvisation, allows students to learn how to assess situations in their environment and practice appropriate behaviors. Incorporating drama into classrooms through arts integration and/or discipline-based study provides a framework for introducing and developing the skills she recommends, including self-efficacy, senses of belonging, growth mindsets, social awareness, and relationship skills. Drama helps students develop intrapersonal emotional skills, such as recognizing and managing emotions, cognitive and emotional empathy, and decision-making.