A group of nervous kids gather at the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center. They all wear the same gray T-shirt, featuring a green, abstract person and navy blue words that read “Life skills through stage skills.” Many of these kids get bullied at school and haven’t yet warmed up to their peers. By the week’s end, these same kids, who were once quiet, are running down the hall and volunteering to improv a scene in front of the group. They validated the words on their shirts and gained one of the most important life skills: confidence.
The program that teaches the kids this valuable lesson is Next Steps, a one-week program offered during spring break and at the end of August by the First Stage theater company in Milwaukee. Next Steps isn’t your typical theater group; they focus specifically on teaching students with autism who are in grades 6 through 12.
Many theater programs focus on product and not process. However, First Stage classes teach students the craft of acting as well as social skills that come with that craft. Next Steps started teaching these skills in the summer of 2012, but this wasn’t the first time First Stage had kids with autism in their classes.
“Students [on the autism spectrum] have done really well [in our classes] and they found a place where many of their social anxiety is lessened because we use such an accepting atmosphere that accepts everybody and celebrates us for all our differences,” Jennifer Adams, the program director and headmaster of Next Steps, says.
The only problem was that the programs offered at First Stage before Next Steps existed couldn’t effectively teach all students in the ways they needed help.
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects the way a person interacts and communicates with others. The disorder is set on a spectrum, encompassing varying degrees of the challenges associated with the disorder, meaning that while some kids had success in the regular classes, others needed a different classroom approach. One of the more difficult challenges children with autism may have, especially in learning environments, is sensory issues.
According to Dr. Christina Iyama-Kurtycz, an associate professor of pediatrics at UW-
Madison who works with children with autism, students with sensory issues can be jumpy around unexpected noises. To ensure the kids feel comfortable in the environment, the instructors at Next Steps inform the kids where they need to be, how everything is going to work and what is going to happen.
But, just because kids with autism have some challenges in certain environments doesn’t mean they aren’t talented. Many children with autism have incredible memories or musical talents, which allow them to thrive in theater.
Kelly Lawrence’s 10-year-old son, Beck, experiences some of these challenges. “[First Stage] wasn’t an option,” Lawrence says as she wipes the moisture from the corner of her eye. It was hard for her to come to terms with her son not being able to participate in this theater community because of the challenges he faces. She knew First Stage would be a good fit for Beck, but at the time, he couldn’t be in one of their regular classes.
By adding a program like Next Steps, First Stage was able to extend their reach to kids like Beck, which has broadened the theater community as a whole.
Lawrence remembers when she found out about Next Steps. One day, Beck came home with a flier about the program in his take-home folder. She thought this was perfect for Beck, as he has always been fairly dramatic and into music. However, Lawrence was worried. Because there aren’t many things for kids like Beck to participate in, she was wary of how successful this program would be.
Luckily, Lawrence found out that First Stage did their homework in creating Next Steps. The program uses special education professionals as well as organizations, such as the Autism Society of Southeastern Wisconsin, to help make sure the program is a success.
One technique the instructors use to help students overcome their challenges is the use of puppets, which helps the students to calm down. Beck remembers one of the acting teachers giving him a furry, brown dog puppet with a red bandana to help him show emotions.
To Lawrence, one of the most important things the program does to make sure the instructors understand the individuality of each student is an interview before the program starts.
The students sit with an instructor of the Next Steps program and discuss how they would react to or handle themselves in particular situations. The instructors not only discuss the problems the kids may have, but they also talk about the kids’ interests. They incorporate these interests into the program to keep the kids interested.
“As a parent, that was really important, and I wouldn’t have brought him if they hadn’t done the interview part first,” says Lawrence.
After each student goes through his or her interview, they are ready to begin Next Steps. Each day of the program starts and ends with an assembly led by the headmaster. Before they start performing, they all participate in the First Stage cheer, a cheer written by kids, for kids.
From there, the students then go to acting class. On a stage with shiny wooden floors and a dark red curtain pulled closed behind them, a couple of students at a time act out finding a table in the lunchroom or dealing with a confrontation in a friendship. The kids get really into it, showing intense concentration and emotions on their faces as they pretend to get fired or go to the movies.
Other times, they act out parts of a script and develop the character they are playing. These character exercises can help students expand their point of view by trying to understand the motives of a character which they don’t relate to. The students can then translate this skill to other people around them.
After practicing their acting skills, they all get together on the stage and move on to a musical theater class, where they dance, sing and show off their musical talents to each other. As a class, they use masks and pretend to be ninjas. They also form a group that works together to create one moving object. Beck remembers having fun pretending to be a popcorn popper and a roller coaster.
At the end of the week, the students put on a final performance. Some of the kids become nervous at the thought of acting and dancing in front of all the students’ friends and families. “I was afraid of the final performance we did, but once I got to it … it was fun and I had a lot of fun doing it,” Beck says, who had a lead role in the performance.
During the week, Adams sees how Next Steps influences the kids. One mother told Adams that the program gave her daughter a sense of purpose and confidence, something she may not have been able to easily find if it wasn’t for Next Steps. Another mother explained to Adams how her daughter always hated going to school and fought her mother when she had to enter the building. Yet, when she had to attend a school orientation after participating in Next Steps, she told her mother she was going to take a risk, like the Next Steps kids say in their cheer every morning, and marched into the school.
Lawrence, like these other mothers, also saw the moment when she realized Next Steps had influenced Beck. Beck participated in the program twice, and acted in two final performances. At the first performance, Lawrence was heartbroken to see her son affected by some of his “stuff” on stage, a word she uses to describe the struggles Beck experiences.
“I felt like Next Steps was the exact right place for him to be, but in my heart sometimes I wish that he could be with all the other kids,” Lawrence says, remembering that day he was on stage.
Lawrence could tell her son was nervous by his mannerisms, but all it took was one more session of Next Steps for Beck to find his confidence. At his final performance on his second time participating in Next Steps, Lawrence saw him standing tall on stage and smiled as she remembered how his “stuff” was no longer up there with him.
“I learned that … nothing is too hard to do. You can do anything,” Beck says.
The influence of Next Steps didn’t stop at Beck’s confidence. One of Beck’s acting teachers recommended he join one of her regular acting classes, Lawrence says with a big smile. Lawrence was a bit unsure at first, but because Beck was already familiar with the teacher and it was only an hour every week, she was willing to let him give it a try.
What Lawrence once thought wasn’t an option was finally something Beck could do. Next Steps gave him the confidence and tools to be with all the other kids at First Stage.
Beck brings tears to his mother’s eyes by explaining that his challenges don’t restrict him from being with other kids. “[Next Steps] helped me realize that you don’t have to be normal to do the other class,” he says.
Check out Families and Autism for more information.
