“Social enjoyment, as both an important life and employment skill, needs to be taught and practiced as early as possible. We need to provide our young people with safe, predictable situations to practice enjoying a social interaction. The successes I’ve seen in my own work demonstrate that social enjoyment is indeed a skill – and thus, can be learned.”
“Whatever your child’s level of verbal ability or behavior, don’t pass by the possibilities provided by animals. Non-verbal children are as capable as anyone of establishing a positive relationship with an animal. Your child may well surprise you with her compassion, connection and willingness to build a relationship with a non-human friend.”
“True empathy is part of a very genuine understanding of the other person. And we learn this through dramatic playing which we can observe in the first few hours after a baby is born: they will try to imitate the expression on the mothers face…the baby is responding as if they are the mother; this ‘dramatic response’ continues to develop in those early weeks and months, like a life rehearsal for the development of empathy.”
By Gill D. Ansell, author of Working with Asperger Syndrome in the Classroom: An Insider’s Guide Being a Teaching Assistant is not what it once…
This moving video about the new JKP book, Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre, was made by author Jonathan Shailor, and chronicles the uplifting and profound…
“We are in groups throughout life. Many different kinds of groups occur in social clubs, health and social care, industry, commerce, education, politics, churches, and voluntary organizations. People of all ages are involved, including small children. Most of them have no idea they are involved in ‘group processes’! Groups are natural, and usually get by without analyzing themselves. So why bother to spend time in training? … We have written this book because we believe that using a group isn’t mystical, but can be considerably more enjoyable and effective if members know a little about how groups function.”
“Although I have made a good recovery from CFS/ME and currently have few symptoms, I have to live a much reduced lifestyle to stay well – good sleep routines, minimizing stress, not saying yes to every request and seeking a lot more support than I used to, especially when I get over-tired…The danger for people whose CFS/ME symptoms have improved is that others see them looking well and doing things again (and writing books!) and think this means they are fine, when the reality is far more complicated!”
“We know that most workers are under extreme pressure with ever increasing workloads and there can be a reluctance to give recording the priority it deserves. Increasing workloads can be partly due to a lack of resources. It is important that people in positions of power argue for an increase in resources, but to do that arguments have to be put forward that there is a real need. Keeping good records can aid this.”
Tonight BBC Three will screen the documentary ‘Can’t Bully Me’ about the important work of the charity Red Balloon, which runs a network of schools that cater exclusively for…
“Prison theatre works because it provides a sanctuary apart from the harsh prison environment, where it is safer to be vulnerable, to self-disclose, and to experiment with new ways of expressing oneself and relating to other people. There is both support, and structure. We have a play to perform. We are accountable to one another. In programs that culminate with performances for prison audiences, and (especially) public audiences, there is an opportunity for prisoners to display and celebrate the culmination of their weeks or months of hard work. They can show themselves to themselves in the mirror of the audience, as people of value, as people who can make a contribution.”