‘E’, a Y6 pupil with SEN and possible autism, was struggling to communicate with her peers and adults. E was introduced by her teachers as extremely shy with group work of any kind.
Ariel Trust facilitators worked on various role play activities exploring the characters and story of Send Me a Selfie. At first E automatically sat out of activities.
Facilitators adapted their techniques dynamically - allowing E to work with her close friends. She was also able to participate in silent action and body language activities. She enjoyed ‘freeze frames’ and was gaining confidence.
Ariel’s facilitators added more body language activities and continued to offer encouragement to support E through fluctuations in her confidence.
E unexpectedly began stepping into the roles of characters, communicating emotions and asking for help from her peers. Then, in a workshop with parents, E didn’t want to speak; but after she had watched her peers for a while and understood there was no pressure to perform; she joined in with freezeframes and spoke aloud as part of games.
Over 12 weeks, facilitators saw improvements in E’s confidence, communication skills and resilience. They also saw teachers respond to her more positively. By the end of the sessions E was being praised and rewarded for her efforts, and both she and her teachers had discovered ways of adapting activities to help her to communicate.
