Making Movies, Making Friends

Using Filmmaking to Teach Social Skills

Pamela LePage, Ph.D.

At Autism Social Connection, we use art-based groups to help children and teens develop social skills and make friends. It is a naturalistic, play-based program and such programs have a research base for improving social skills in children with autism (National Autism Center, 2009).

At ASC, we have had music groups, drumming circles, light and shadow puppet groups, drama groups, different types of animation including Claymation, and also more traditional art classes. But the film groups have been the most popular and the most successful, having retained children much longer.

Filmmaking

Children with ASD need to have fun with their friends - this is something that is often missing in their lives, and is so important. They also need a project to collaborate, to produce something together. Otherwise, they get bored learning skills with no tangible outcomes. Children also want to be creative and express themselves; our experience has been that children spend a lot of time laughing while shooting their short films, many of which are funny movies. In addition, filmmaking provides children with a structured environment for learning in other areas such as writing (scripts), acting, art, and technology.

Social Skills

The only way to learn some skills is experientially. It is possible to watch a 100 videos on how to swim, but if you don’t jump in the pool, you will never learn to swim. To learn how to be a friend, you have to make a friend and feel the connection. For example, kids should learn that friends sometimes fight, make up, and fight again. Many of our children on the spectrum have experienced losing friends due to unresolved conflicts or reasons unclear to them. With facilitation, students are guided to rebuild friendships through effective communication.

But beyond making friends, facilitators also reinforce social skills. For example, in one of the films, two actors were asked to walk down a hill and sit under a tree. The two boys went through the gate separately, dropped thor bags down on different sides of the tree and sat down. Not once did they look at each other. The instructor asked them if this is how friends would come down a hill together. On the next attempt, one of the boys held the gate open for the other. As the other boy closed the gate, the first boy naturally waited for him. They walked down the hill together, dropped their bags on the same side of the tree, and sat next to each other. That small difference in interaction made a big difference in how their relationship came across - changing it from being next to each other yet isolated - to being together.

Video Modeling

Some special education teachers have used videos to model behavior for children with autism (Bellini and Akullian, 2007). According to research, video modeling is effective in teaching social, language, and play skills to individuals with autism (McCoy & Hermansen, National Autism Center, 2009).One way to implement this technique is to show a video of people in various social scenarios acting inappropriately and then talk with children about these situations afterward. This is a highly effective technique because it is highly motivating and can help children focus on targeted behaviors, yet it relieves anxiety by removing the individual from the social interaction being discussed (Charlop-Christy & Freeman, 2000).

Script Writing

When making short films, children also write their own movie scripts and tell stories. By acting out these scripts, they are putting themselves in other people’s shoes and getting a sense for how other people might think or feel.They have the chance to use the voices, tone, facial expressions, and body language of various characters. And, many of the stories are about friendships. One film was about a group of boys sitting around and changing TV channels because they were bored, Each channel had a different skit. Another video was a spoof on The Lord of the Rings, a hero type of movie with a band of buddies. These films about friendship have helped them think about how friends act and interact with each other.

Building Lasting Relationships

For children with autism to feel connected, it takes at least a year of frequent interaction. Many of our children, pre-teens, and teens have been involved in the film groups for over three years; they interact not only at the center but also outside the center in their daily lives.

We hold a movie premiere twice a year at the end of each session when we invite family and friends to see our latest movies. This brings the parents to the center for interaction and connection. It is very rewarding for the parents and the facilitators to watch the children making connections and working collaboratively toward a common goal. For the first time in their lives, many of these children and teenagers are forming real, long-lasting friendships.

References

Bellini, S., & Akullian, J. (2007). A meta-analysis of video modeling and video self-modeling interventions for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders. Exceptional Children, 73, 264-287.

Charlop-Christy, M.H., Le, L., & Freeman, K.A. (2000). A comparison of video modeling with in vivo modeling for teaching children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30, 537-552.

McCoy, K., & Hermansen, E., (2007). Video modeling for individuals with autism: A review of model types and effects. Education and Treatment of Children, 30, 183-213.

National Autism Center (2009). Evidence-Based Practice Autism in the Schools: A guide to providing appropriate interventions to students with autism spectrum.

About the Author

Pamela LePage is a retired Associate Professor of Special Education at San Francisco State University. She has worked as the Mild to Moderate Coordinator in SPED and the Director of the Combined Credential Program. Before coming to SFSU, she worked as the Director for the Committee on Teacher Education at Stanford University and has served as Academic Advisor to Autism Social Connection. Dr. LePage has worked with experts across the country to understand what teachers need to know to be effective.

More information on film groups can be found at https://www.facebook.com/GatepathSocialConnection/