Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 Using Storytelling to Support Children and Adults with Special Needs This innovative and wide-ranging book shows how storytelling can open new worlds for learners with or without special educational needs. Outlining both therapeutic and educational approaches, the leading practitioners who contribute to this practical resource draw upon their extensive experience to provide inspiration for your own lessons. Providing a highly accessible combination of theory and practice, the contributors to this book: • Define their own approach to storytelling • Describe the principles and theory that underpin their practice • Demonstrate how they work with different types of story • Provide extensive case-studies and assessment frameworks for a range of different special needs and age ranges • Provide some ‘top tips’ for practitioners who want to start using stories in this way Using Storytelling to Support Children and Adults with Special Needs will be of interest to all education professionals as well as therapists, youth workers, counsellors, and storytellers and theatre practitioners working in special education. Nicola Grove is the founder of Openstorytellers, the first arts company of intellectually disabled storytellers (www.openstorytellers.org.uk). She is Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University London, UK. She has published widely in the field of special needs and communication. Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 Using Storytelling to Support Children and Adults with Special Needs Transforming lives through telling tales Edited by Nicola Grove Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 First published 2013 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2013 Nicola Grove The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN: 978–0–415–68775–1 (pbk) ISBN: 978–0–203–08092–4 (ebk) Typeset in Galliard by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 Contents Notes on contributors vii Introduction 1 N I C O L A G R O V E 1 Therapeutic storytelling with children in need 11 J A N E T D O W L I N G 2 Healing stories with children at risk: The StoryBuildingTM approach 18 S U E J E N N I N G S 3 What can teachers learn from the stories children tell? The nurturing, evaluation and interpretation of storytelling by children with language and learning difficulties 25 B E T H M C C A F F R E Y 4 Lis’n Tell: Live Inclusive Storytelling – Therapeutic education motivating children and adults to listen and tell 33 L O U I S E C O I G L E Y 5 Interactive Storytelling 40 K E I T H P A R K 6 Speaking and Listening through Narrative 48 B E C K Y S H A N K S 7 Using narratives to enhance language and communication in secondary school students 55 V I C T O R I A J O F F E 8 Learning to Tell: Teaching the skills of community storytelling 64 N I C O L A G R O V E Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 vi Contents 9 Multi-sensory stories in story-packs 72 C H R I S F U L L E R ® 10 Storytelling with all our senses: mehr-Sinn Geschichten 78 B A R B A R A F O R N E F E L D 11 Sensitive stories: Tackling challenges for people with profound intellectual disabilities through multisensory storytelling 86 L O R E T T O L A M B E A N D J A M E S H O G G TM 12 Social Stories 95 C A R O L G R A Y TM 13 Storysharing : Personal narratives for identity and community 102 N I C O L A G R O V E A N D J A N E H A R W O O D 14 Personal storytelling for children who use augmentative and alternative communication 111 A N N A L U W A L L E R A N D R O L F B L A C K 15 Describing and evaluating the storytelling experience: A conceptual framework 120 T U U L A P U L L I Appendix 1: Resources 128 Appendix 2: Digital storytelling 130 Index 132 Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 Notes on contributors Rolf Black has been working with children with complex disabilities since 1993. Being a mechanical engineer and bioengineer, his work first focused on walking orthoses for children with spina bifida and cerebral palsy. He developed a mechanism for an orthotic hip joint and co-founded EO-Funktion (now Made for Movement) in Germany to directly supply a special dynamic walking frame to children with severe motor disabilities, many of whom had no or little functional speech. This experience led in 2005 to Rolf joining Annalu Waller and her team at the University of Dundee as a researcher in alternative and augmentative communication. His main interests are personal narrative and literacy for children with complex communication needs. He has co-initiated research projects such as ‘The PhonicStick’ and ‘How was School today . . .?’, the latter winning the TES Outstanding ICT Learning Initiative of the Year award in 2010 for its partici- pating school. Louise Coigley is an independent speech and language therapist and a trained storyteller (School of Storytelling and Artemis School of Speech and Drama) and curative educator (Camphill). She works at a school for children with emotional and behavioural problems. Lis’n Tell: Live Inclusive Storytelling is an approach Louise has developed over 28 years. She teaches Lis’n Tell on speech and language therapy training courses, nationally and internationally, to parents, therapists and teachers (www.lisntell.com). Janet Dowling is a storyteller who specialises in telling stories and working with metaphor to inspire and to make a difference. Drawing on her previous work and experience as a psychiatric social worker, she develops stories with children, families, adults and com- munities to find their own storytelling voice, celebrating their unity, community and diversity. She is a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow for storytelling in bereave- ment and uses storytelling as part of her work as a Cruse Bereavement Care volunteer. She worked for 3 years as a therapeutic storyteller at the Children’s Trust in Tadworth, Surrey with children recovering from acquired brain injury or with profound, multiple learning disabilities. Barbara Fornefeld studied special education with an emphasis on the education of people with mental disabilities. After working as a special teacher and university lecturer, she received her doctorate in 1989 on the concept of ‘Elementary Relationship’. Since 1990 she has been working as a professor at the universities of Ludwigsburg/Reutlingen, Heidelberg and Cologne. Her field of research is the education and rehabilitation of people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD) within national and international contexts. In 1994 she completed a postdoctoral qualification at the Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 viii Notes on contributors University of Cologne on the theory of the special education of people with profound disabilities. Currently, her research interest is focused on the development of cultural possibilities for people with PIMD. Chris Fuller has taught in both mainstream and special schools. In the 1980s she wrote and designed the prototypes for six multisensory story-packs to enable children with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities in her school to access and enjoy stories. In 1989 her ‘do-it-yourself’ manual was published, but later research indicated that many readers lacked the time to assemble the stories. She then secured National Lottery funding to found and head Bag Books, a company with charitable status employing skilled craft artists to produce story-packs. Multisensory storytelling and training tours throughout the UK followed, and within 15 years the number of titles grew to 37. Bag Books has now produced and distributed over ten thousand story-packs. Now retired, Chris is a member of the editorial group for the journal PMLDLINK and is on the board of trustees for ClearVision, a postal library for children with visual impairment. Carol Gray is President of The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding in Zeeland, Michigan, a non-profit organisation serving people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and those working on their behalf. She is an internationally respected author and speaker with 30 years’ experience as a teacher and consultant working on TM behalf of children and adults with ASD. In 1991, Carol developed Social Stories , a strategy used worldwide with children with ASD. She has published several articles, chapters and books addressing such challenging issues as how to teach social under- standing and social skills; bullying; death and dying; loss and learning; and categorisation and generalisation. Carol is the recipient of several awards for her international con- tribution to the education and welfare of people with ASD. Nicola Grove PhD started out as an English teacher and turned into a speech and language therapist 35 years ago, specialising in the use of sign language, early communication and the design of inclusive programmes of study for the National Curriculum. She developed resources to support access to literature for all pupils, and then discovered traditional storytelling. Since 2004 she has been practising as a storyteller and facilitator of storymaking with children and adults who have communication and learning difficulties. She set up Openstorytellers, a charity which empowers people at risk of social exclusion through the use of narrative (www.openstorytellers.org.uk). She runs projects and training courses in schools, day centres and residential homes. She is exploring constructs of learning difficulties in myths and legends, visiting South Africa, Japan, Australia and Canada in search of stories that can empower tellers and listeners, and challenge social exclusion. Jane Harwood is a workshop leader, storyteller, musician and music leader working in and outside educational settings. Her experience of teaching all ages and abilities includes much work with learning-disabled adults and children. She has worked with the charity Openstorytellers since its inception. She also runs two small organisations, Count Me In (community music) and Strata Collective (media arts/landscape). Jane runs Storysharing groups with adults and children, including many with profound and multiple disabilities and sensory impairments. She is currently engaged in delivering a 3-year action-based research project that investigates the impact of shared personal narratives on the lives of young people with complex communication needs. Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 Notes on contributors ix James Hogg has undertaken research in the field of profound and multiple disabilities (PIMD) for a number of years, and through the White Top Research Unit at the University of Dundee works closely with PAMIS on research into and evaluation of the organisation’s activities. Over the past 5 years he has undertaken research into adult safeguarding for the Scottish government, participating in the local and national implementation of adult support and protection legislation. Sue Jennings PhD is an author, storyteller, play and dramatherapist who works inter- nationally as a trainer and project leader. She started life as a professional dancer and actor before devoting her middle years to the pioneering of drama and theatre as therapy. Her doctoral research was with the Temiar of the Malaysian rain forest, where storytelling has a central role in community cohesiveness. Most of her time is now divided between the UK and Romania, where she lives and writes both stories and therapy books. Victoria Joffe PhD is a specialist speech and language therapist and senior lecturer in developmental speech, language and communication impairments in the Department of Language and Communication Science at City University, London. Victoria runs various workshops for trusts, local authorities and schools on child speech disorder, evidence- based practice in speech and language therapy and collaborative practice in education, and provides training for therapists and teaching staff on working with children and young adults with speech, language and communication needs in education. Victoria is currently involved in a large-scale intervention project, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, on enhancing language and communication in secondary school children with language impairments, on which this programme is based. Loretto Lambe founded PAMIS, University of Dundee, 20 years ago, developing support services for families caring for a member with PIMD throughout Scotland. As director of the organisation she undertakes innovative research into a wide range of issues of concern to such families, notably on healthy lifestyles and leisure and, more recently, self-directed support. With colleagues she has developed the concepts and practice of multisensory storytelling and is at present undertaking a study of bereavement and PIMD. She ensures that issues to do with people with PIMD are carried into national and international forums of which she is a member, notably the Royal Society of Medicine Forum on Intellectual Disability and the International Association for the Scientific Study of Intellectual Disability Special Interest Research Group on PIMD. Beth McCaffrey PhD completed a MEd in 1996 (Can the Excluded Become Included?), using story to develop empathy in 6 to 7-year-olds, and went on to complete her doctoral dissertation at the University of Exeter in 2009. She has been teaching for 15 years at a special school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties and other complex needs. Keith Park has worked in a number of educational settings in the UK and Australia for more years than he cares to remember. With Nicola Grove he is the co-author of Odyssey Now, the first book to make classical literature accessible to people with severe and profound learning disabilities. Keith is a teacher, writer and performer and runs inclusive workshops on a variety of topics and in a variety of community settings, including Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre, Bible stories in cockney rhyming slang at Westminster Abbey, and Hans Christian Andersen at the Royal Academy of Arts. Tuula Pulli PhD is a Finnish adventurer on leave, still seeking treasures with her grandson. As a speech therapist she specialises in hearing, autism, language and developmental Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017 x Notes on contributors disorders. She has researched, lectured and published about alternative and augmentative communication (AAC), community-based rehabilitation, creative and trans-disciplinary teamwork and drama education, with many publications in Finnish and Swedish, and some conference abstracts in English. She is Finland’s representative for a long-term network developing AAC with persons with profound learning disability in northern countries, and she has also worked in China. In the 1990s she started a study of drama with communities and staff working with persons with multiple disabilities who cannot speak, gaining her doctorate in 2010. Now retired, she is lightening the darkness by developing and researching applied and devised drama and storytelling, and listening to messages from the archives of literature and hermeneutic philosophy. Becky Shanks works as a senior specialist speech and language therapist in North Wales for Betsi Cadwaladr University local health board as part of the speech and language therapy mainstream school team. She has worked collaboratively with education for more than 15 years in both England and Wales, promoting integrated speech and language therapy services to children and young people within primary and secondary mainstream settings. She developed the Speaking and Listening Through Narrative approach in 2001 as part of a collaborative project with education whilst working in Stockport. She continues to work with Black Sheep Press to develop and extend a range of resources based on her approach for children and young people in both primary and secondary settings. Ingeborg Sungen studied English with an emphasis on American literature and French at Duisburg University, Germany. Since 1982 she has been working for film festivals in Oberhausen and Mannheim and for the Theatre for Young People in Dortmund, and she also works for film and television in national and international productions. She has been editing and translating for 30 years and is currently working as a secretary at Cologne University. Annalu Waller PhD holds a personal chair in Human Communication Technologies in the School of Computing at the University of Dundee. She has worked in the field of augmentative and alternate communication (AAC) since 1985, designing communication systems for and with non-speaking individuals. She established the first AAC assessment and training centre in South Africa in 1987. Her primary research areas are human computer interaction, natural language processing, personal narrative and assistive technology. In particular, she focuses on empowering end-users, including disabled adults and children, by involving them in the design and use of technology. She manages a number of interdisciplinary research projects with industry and practitioners from rehabilitation engineering, special education, speech and language therapy, nursing and dentistry. She is on the editorial boards of several academic journals and sits on the boards of a number of national and international organisations representing disabled people. Downloaded by [University of Florida] at 02:22 05 April 2017