Language...

Everything we know about the world and ourselves has come through our senses. All our knowledge therefore is the product of what we have seen, heard, smelt, etc. Though individuals in the spectrum live in the same physical world and deal with the same ‘raw material’, their perceptual world turns out to be strikingly different from the others.

We think about the world in a way we experience it and perceive it to be. Differences in perception lead to a different perceptual world that inevitably is interpreted differently.Bob Morris calls it a different set of SPATS - Senses, Perceptions, Abilities and Thinking Systems. Of course, it is very difficult to communicate with someone who uses a different ‘language’ .

Anything is possible within the drama, and the dramatic play gives permission to do things that in everyday life would not be permissible or wholesome. (Jennings 2002)

Although children in the spectrum do not have extensive verbal skills to express what they have stored within themselves, they do have an alternate language which allows them to express their experiences and tell stories fairly effectively. For instance, if there is a hill in a story , it will be made up of a symbolic shape of a hill and not in the form of the word, hill. Hence, for children expressing themselves through the language of arts forms is more satisfying than doing so by the language of words .Mental imagery is an essential part of the thinking process.

Art based therapy that encompasses music, drama, play and visual art is a form of expressive therapy. In drama, training of the eye, hand, body and voice is only a tool; the objective is to build a creative, fulfilled and well balanced personality. The integration of the senses, body and the brain is necessary for experiencing learning.

The body is the primary means of learning (Jennings 1990), all other learning comes through the body.

Children in the spectrum have an ability to think visually - "in pictures." That ability can be turned to good use in processing memories, recording images and visual information, and expressing ideas through drama and artistic media.

Drama as an art form is a vehicle of communication that would allow one to be "heard," and understood, empowering one to be a part of something larger than oneself. In being a part of a larger whole, self-awareness and consciousness expand allowing one to experience new ways of being.