With the time and resources, large-scale theater productions have been executed to benefit students with deficits along with their neurotypical peers.  Programming may include:

• Full school theater productions that allow for modifications to include neurodiverse accessibility (Reading et al., 2015)

• Summer theater camps set up with full week (or longer) rehearsal and performance at the end (Corbett et al., 2014)

• School-wide drama clubs or electives

• Community theater partnerships and participation

• District-level programs focused on theater and communication

If a large-scale production is not feasible, students can still reap the benefits of theater-based instruction in small groups or individually.  Programming could include:

• SLP-led small group theater play

  • Could include role assignment, scripts, improvisation, rehearsal, and performance, just on a smaller scale

• 1:1 sessions utilizing role-play to work on social-problem solving

• Short script scenes 

• Watching and mimicking videos of puppets or theater productions

• Acting games focused on an emotion-based situation

• Puppet acting to allow taking on a role

Quantitative:

• Improvements in social communication assessments (Corbett et al., 2010; Reading et al., 2015)

• Changes in emotional recognition in cues (Corbett et al., 2010)

• Frequency of initiations, responses, and peer interactions

Qualitative:

• Parent/teacher reports

• Observation logs

• Behavioral coding through video (Corbett et al., 2014)

• Observing participation and expressive production (Wu et al., 2020)