Drama Therapy with Children
by Judith Rubin, PhD & Eleanor Irwin, PhD
In Drama Therapy with Children, Dr. Eleanor Irwin helps viewers understand the vast potential of play-acting as a tool in child psychology. Topics include spontaneous dramatic play, puppetry, body movement, storytelling, and dream exploration by children of all ages in school and community settings. 

The video includes two films:
  • Playing & Pretending 
  • The Pleasure of Play
Playing & Pretending is about spontaneous dramatic play, puppetry, movement, storytelling,
and dreams by normal children of all ages in school and community settings. It demonstrates many forms of drama with preschool and latency age children, including creative movement, puppetry, roleplay, and improvisation. It's also about the nature of creativity, the importance of impulse control and expression, and the cognitive and affective learning that is possible through drama. The role of the leader is emphasized.

The Pleasure of Play provides a series of vignettes from sessions led by six drama therapists, the dreams, traumas, and anxieties of youngsters with special needs are the core of the drama therapy experience. It shows work by different drama therapists in residential schools, rehabilitation centers, and outpatient clinics with children who have neurological, cognitive, sensory, and emotional disabilities. Also, it stresses the leader’s role in facilitating therapeutic growth and change.

As a co-founder of the National Association for Drama Therapy and a licensed psychologist, Dr. Eleanor Irwin has helped countless young patients find creative ways to express themselves and achieve emotional healing. She has also taught and written widely on the subject, helping to raise awareness of the life-affirming power that comes from acting out stories, scenarios, and feelings.
In Depth
Specs
Bios
The video includes two films:
Playing & Pretending
The Pleasure of Play
Playing & Pretending is about spontaneous dramatic play, puppetry, movement, storytelling,
and dreams by normal children of all ages in school and community settings. It demonstrates many forms of drama with preschool and latency age children, including creative movement, puppetry, roleplay, and improvisation. It's also about the nature of creativity, the importance of impulse control and expression, and the cognitive and affective learning that is possible through drama. The role of the leader is emphasized.

The Pleasure of Play provides a series of vignettes from sessions led by six drama therapists, the dreams, traumas, and anxieties of youngsters with special needs are the core of the drama therapy experience. It shows work by different drama therapists in residential schools, rehabilitation centers, and outpatient clinics with children who have neurological, cognitive, sensory, and emotional disabilities. Also, it stresses the leader’s role in facilitating therapeutic growth and change.

As a co-founder of the National Association for Drama Therapy and a licensed psychologist, Dr. Eleanor Irwin has helped countless young patients find creative ways to express themselves and achieve emotional healing. She has also taught and written widely on the subject, helping to raise awareness of the life-affirming power that comes from acting out stories, scenarios, and feelings.

This video was formerly included in the Expressive Media Arts Therapies Films Collection distributed by Expressive Media Inc.  

Length of video: 00:53:04

English subtitles available

Group ISBN-10 #: 1-60124-637-4

Group ISBN-13 #: 978-1-60124-637-0

Judith Rubin, PhD, is a psychologist and art therapist and is on the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh Psychoanalytic Society & Institute. Dr. Rubin is the author of five books, including The Art of Art Therapy.

Eleanor Irwin, PhD, is a psychologist and drama therapist, as well as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh.
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