Acting With Autism

NASHVILLE (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- One in every 110 children is diagnosed with some level of autism. For many parents, this usually means problems with communication and little interest in interacting with others. But now a new program is changing how we look at autism by putting kids in the spotlight.

As a carefree 10-year-old Kerrick Coble doesn’t hold back. But he wasn’t always like this. When Kerrick was two, the Cobles’ started noticing something was different about him.

“With a lot of kids you would give them something and they would play but with Kerrick there was never an ‘I’m just going to play,’” Kurt Coble, Kerrick’s dad told Ivanhoe.

At three, Kerrick was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder or PDD-NOS– a mild form of autism. Now, researchers at Vanderbilt University are using the theater to help improve the lives of kids diagnosed with the disorder -- from mild to severe.

“We really want to understand whether these social experiences are really stressful for some of our children,” Blythe Corbett, Ph.D., Assistant Professor and Director of the Sense Theater at Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, told Ivanhoe.

Dr. Corbett looks at social and communication skills before, during and after the camp and looks at stress levels by measuring one of the primary stress hormones--cortisol. In three different studies, Dr. Corbett found acting improved the way kids expressed themselves and they also showed lower stress levels. 

“The cortisol level was quite high when they first arrived the first day but after the rehearsal, it actually went down quite a bit,” Dr. Corbett said.

So Far, Kerrick’s been in two plays, even landing the lead role in his last performance. 

“I’ve seen a big difference in his initiating skills,” Michelle Coble, Kerrick’s mom told Ivanhoe.

Helping his new found skills take center stage.

For most people, cortisol-level production tends to be greater in the morning than at night but Dr. Corbett’s research found children with autism show higher cortisol toward the end of the day which was related to daily stress from changes experienced during the day.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

Craig Boerner
National News Director
Vanderbilt University
(615) 322-4747
craig.boerner@vanderbilt.edu