IML 543 Documentation Book

Theoretical Evaluation

Implementing a dance-based intervention in a school setting presents unique opportunities and challenges. In particular, the classroom offers not only the opportunity for students to initiate and respond to social interactions, but also for educators to observe a wide range of children in different situations and environments. As such, therapists and facilitators must be fully prepared to support and give guidance to their target students when needed, which may be especially necessary in social, movement-based activities such as the ones we are proposing.

 

Ideally, a specialized educational assistant (EA) will be assigned for each target student or client that is participating in the activity (recognizing that this level of support may not always be available and is not essential for the success of the activity). These individuals will work to support and aid their students independently from the teacher, who will be facilitating the entire class activity as a whole and monitoring the play of the other children. In larger situations where there are multiple groups/activities going on (see documentary video), more adults may be brought in to administrate each different activity. However, EAs will still remain with their individual student as they transition from activity to activity.

 

While dance-based interventions may seem to add a layer of complexity that goes beyond simply facilitating routine instructions or encouraging social interaction/verbalizations, it should still be possible to distill them down to the core concepts of providing support in the classroom. In other words, things such as establishing rapport with the student, encouraging language with the student, facilitating social interactions through both verbal and nonverbal cues, facilitating parallel play or cooperative play, and managing problem behavior appropriately are still relevant and important concepts in supporting them through a movement-based activity.

 

In this way, EAs will be able to effectively support their student in learning the RYBG system while still making the experience fun and engaging for all parties. For example, if multiple activities were going on at once (like in the documentary video), an EA would remain with his or her student as they do the activities. If the student fails to respond to the activity, the EA can step in and provide guidance. This can be done through vocalizations to help facilitate a correct response, and gently guiding them physically when necessary. E.g. the student fails to perform a movement when ‘red’ is prompted. The EA might try to say things like: “Can you name that color?” or “What movement are you supposed to do when it’s that color?” Encouraging a larger variety of activities as well as more social activities may be helpful as well if the student is not responsive to a specific activity.

 

The systems presented in this book need not necessarily be used outside of (ie, in addition to) normally scheduled class time. There is evidence that using dance as a new way to supplement teaching of traditional school topics such as science, social studies, or language arts can academically benefit children with and without disabilities (see Skoning, 2008). We encourage educators to consider how they might adapt the systems presented here to fit into existing lesson plans for a new approach to learning and demonstrating students’ understanding of school subjects.

 

Effects of these kinds of interventions in a classroom can vary widely based on many factors. However, there are certain positive outcomes on social-emotional skills often seen with dance and movement interventions that you might observe. For instance, teachers using DMT with children in special education noticed effects such as improved regulation (children were more focused and relaxed, better able to transition between tasks, and better able to regulate their emotions); improved group cohesion; the ability to flexibly address the children’s sensory sensitivities (if using music or props); and a rejuvenating effect on the teachers themselves (Devereaux, 2017). You may notice improvements in students’ moods. Positive emotions they experience may in turn better prepare them for activities such as creative work, integrating information, or building social relationships (Fredrickson & Branigan, 2005). Symptoms of conditions such as autism, anxiety, or depression may lessen (Koch et al., 2014; Scharoun et al., 2014). Students may display improved awareness of themselves and others and improved social skills generally (i.e. appropriate behavior in social contexts; Koch et al., 2015). It may be useful to keep these potential outcomes in mind as you implement and reflect upon the activities suggested in this book.

 

In this next section, we present two methods that can be used by teachers and educators to understand and assess the impact of dance and movement therapy in the classroom. We focus mainly on basic observational methods in order to better understand the experiences and perceptions of the students, but also on methods that enable students to express their own ideas and thoughts.

 
  1. Allow students to reflect on their own experience

After each session, get students to reflect and express their thoughts right after the intervention. The goal is to get them to express their feelings in regards to different aspects of the experience in whichever form they're most comfortable with. Here are some sample questions:

  

For those whose verbal expression is limited, prompts can be answered by drawing or painting a picture, writing a short poem, or by using existing imagery or physical props that can help them express certain feelings and emotions. Movement itself, both during and after the activity, might also be taken as a form of communication.

 
  1. Journal and Field Notes

After each dance and movement therapy session, record your thoughts on a journal. Note how students reacted to the activity, or how they felt afterwards in comparison to days without the dance sessions. Capturing the sessions on camera might help to offer a better overview of their interactions and performance over time, and identify any powerful or negative moments you might have missed, allowing future sessions to take those into account and to tailor the intervention to meet the individual needs of the students. It could also be valuable to observe and record how students interact in a group over a certain period of time, comparing the first intervention day and the last one.

 

References:

 

Devereaux, C. (2017). Educator perceptions of dance/movement therapy in the special education classroom. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 12(1), 50–65. http://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2016.1238011

 

Fredrickson, B. L. & Branigan, C. (2005). Positive emotions broaden the scope of attention and thought-action repertoires. Cognition and Emotion, 19(3), 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699930441000238

 

Koch, S., Kunz, T., Lykou, S., & Cruz, R. (2014). Effects of dance movement therapy and dance on health-related psychological outcomes: A meta-analysis. The Arts in Psychotherapy, 41(1), 46-64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2013.10.004  

 

Koch, S. C., Mehl, L., Sobanski, E., Sieber, M., & Fuchs, T. (2015). Fixing the mirrors: A feasibility study of the effects of dance movement therapy on young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 19(3), 338–350. http://doi.org/10.1177/1362361314522353

 

Scharoun, S. M., Reinders, N. J., Bryden, P. J., & Fletcher, P. C. (2014). Dance/movement therapy as an intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. American Journal of Dance Therapy, 36(2), 209–228. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10465-014-9179-0

 

Skoning, S. N. (2008). Movement and dance in the inclusive classroom. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus, 4(6), 3–9.

 

Zitomer, M. R. (2016). Creating inclusive elementary school dance education environments. Retrieved from https://era.library.ualberta.ca/files/ctm70mv19p