Theater as Therapy: Davis’ SENSE Program

By Jamie Lober
Edited by Amy Crelly

Fifteen-year-old Esteban Marchant used to find the sight and sound of crowds unbearable, yet last February he walked onto the stage of the Davis Musical Theatre, before an audience of more than 200 people, with an easy smile on his face, took his place under the lights, listened for his music cue, and began to sing.

He performed Elton John’s “Your Song,” swaying to the melody and smiling, beaming as he finished crooning that last line—how wonderful life is when you’re in the world. The crowd responded with applause that quickly swelled into a standing ovation. “I loved it,” Esteban says of the experience. Esteban’s achievement on stage that night would make any parent proud, but because Esteban has autism and did not speak for many years, it was an especially meaningful moment for his mom and dad. (To see a clip of Esteban's '07 performance of the same song on YouTube, click here.)

David Villasenor, Esteban’s dad, still remembers his son’s first sentence: I want outside. “It was like a metaphor,” David says, “like he wanted to go outside of his autism and start talking.” Now Esteban is helping other kids “go outside” of their autism. His solo performance in February was part of a community fundraising event for SENSE Theatre, a unique research program designed to help children with autism communicate better, stress less in social situations, and gain confidence.

THERAPY MEETS FUN: A SCRIPT FOR SUCCESS

The stage may seem like an unlikely place for children with autism to shine. After all, performers need to understand emotions, body language, facial expressions and voice intonation; they have to learn choreography and blocking (positioning on the stage); and they spend a lot of time interacting with others, all skills which are typically extra-challenging for individuals on the autism spectrum. Yet that’s precisely why theater proves therapeutic for children with autism, who practice speech, movement, and social skills all in a day’s rehearsal. “It really doesn’t feel like therapy,” says SENSE Theatre co-founder and parent advocate, Christine Totah, “it feels like a lot of fun!” That fun factor is a key part of the program.

SENSE Theatre’s other founder, Blythe Corbett, Ph.D. and assistant professor of Psychiatry at UC Davis, is a pediatric neuropsychologist with a background in professional acting and writing. She researches autism at UC Davis’ MIND Institute (Medical Investigation of Neurological Disorders) with Joan Gunther, Psy.D., who has dedicated fifteen years to working with children with autism. (SENSE stands for Social-Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology.)

SENSE Theatre debuts its first full production, Disney’s The Jungle Book Kids, in June at the Davis Musical Theater Company. Corbett and Gunther supervise the children’s progress while Jeni Price, who has a background in developmental psychology and early childhood special education, directs the show. The cast is currently comprised of thirty-five children (ages 7-16), eight of whom have autism.

Each child with autism is paired up with a non-autistic child to be his peer model. The children with autism learn by imitating their peer models in rehearsals. In the process, they also gradually become more comfortable, and less stressed, interacting with peers. “You instruct the child to practice, imitate and have fun with it until he gets a certain level of confidence,” explains Corbett. “Then, you can put that child on video, which is part of having himself as a model. He will learn more by watching himself perform the very skill you wanted him to learn.”

“Theater is so nice because it is practiced interactions,” says Gunther. “Children with autism are very comfortable with a routine and structure, so when something is scripted… it takes the fear away. They know what is coming… and what they can expect.” Over time, a child may come to understand why he is making a certain expression in a particular context. He may even learn how to use that expression appropriately offstage.

BRIDGING THE GAP

To gauge the program’s effectiveness and measure changes in the kids’ stress levels before and after the study, researchers look at their stress hormone levels, measured through saliva samples. “Neurological tests are [also] done that look at social behavior, emotion processing… and language,” Corbett adds. These measures taken at the start of the program will be repeated after the musical takes place in June. What may be more difficult to measure is the impact the program will have on its participants who do not have autism.

“Non-autistic children gain an understanding and appreciation of children who are different. They realize that children with autism have a lot of the same desires and needs that they do,” observes Corbett. “We need to build empathy for children with autism,” adds Gunther. “Theater bridges the gap between them.”

Jamie Lober is a freelance health writer with an MS in Psychology and the author of Pink Power.