Pantomime, We Do It All the Time
when Communicating with Autistic Children
When communicating with Autistic Children research and experience reveals that using visual supports greatly enhances understanding. As discussed in my book, Choice and Structure for Children with Autism: Getting Through the Long Days of Quarantine, a visual support is anything a child can see that provides information about the message being conveyed. These supports include gestures, pantomime, objects, pictures, and environmental structures.
When communicating with people in general, most of us naturally and unconsciously use visual supports through gestures and pantomime to convey our message. A gesture is a quick body movement that is displayed while speaking a message. Many gestures used are similar across many cultures, societies, and languages. Pointing is a natural gesture. Agreement or disagreement is indicated by shaking our head up and down and side to side. “Hello” is supported with an open hand wave, with the palm facing our intended partner. “Come here” is communicated with a wave of our hand and arm extending our arm away from our bodies and pulling it back towards ourselves.
A pantomime is a longer lasting body movement that is repeated several times to imitate, or act-out the action someone would make when completing an activity. The phrase, “Wash your hands,” is often accompanied by the repeatedly rubbing one’s hands in the motion used when cleaning hands with soap and water. Likewise, a request to, “Wipe your face/mouth,” is often paired with acting out this activity by placing a hand to the face and pretending to wipe one’s own face/mouth.
The good news is that for children with autism these pantomime actions are very helpful visual pieces of information that give meaning to our messages. Pantomime’s length of presentation, specificity of action and lack of need for materials are key components to its communicative value. A Pantomime lasts longer than a word and many gestures which gives the child more time to process the information before it is no longer available. Pantomime motions are very specific actions that can be imitated by the child when responding to the instruction. And, best of all, Pantomime requires no external materials to manage. It is done purely with the body parts people are naturally blessed with.
The challenge is that unlike objects and pictures, pantomime is fleeting information that starts and stops quickly. If the child did not see the action well enough the information is lost when the action stops. The message remains vague and comprehension reduced. Fortunately, this challenge can be improved upon with intentional implementation.
We humans are already pretty good at using pantomime unconsciously. Therefore, it takes just a little mental focus for us to enhance this skill through mindful and decisive practice. When we begin using pantomime purposefully we can further enhance meaning and appropriate responding for children with autism.
Purposeful pantomime is an intentional act. There are several practices that will help make a pantomime more accessible to children with autism.
- Decide to mindfully use the action as an intended enhancement to your spoken words. Your natural habits are often too quick and mixed in with other gestures that can confuse children with autism. A decisive action is clearer and more specific.
- Do the action a little slower than your unconscious habit so the child can see the process thoroughly.
- Act out the movement several times to allow the child to see the repeated action.
- Persist in the motion longer than usual to give the child more time to take-in and process the information before it is gone.
- Use or develop pantomime actions that are not already part of your current habits. This will develop message supports for many more interactions throughout the day.
- Develop a consistent group of pantomimes that you use regularly so the children become accustom to these motions and can respond more quickly to the information.
Colette McNeil
© June 2010. SPSforAutism.com
