Self-advocacy skills development promotion supported by drama activities in a child with several developmental disorders

Self-advocacy skills are one of the main skills that an individual requires in order to efficiently and successfully integrate in the wider social environment. People with special needs are also able to develop such skills, where they can be responsible for their own lives, individual integration in the society, in education etc., yet it is necessary to teach them these skills in a modified and to them understandable manner. The main goal of this research was to explore the possibility of planning and executing drama activities to support the development of self-advocacy skills in a child with several developmental disorders, who was in the adapted educational nine-year primary school programme with lower educational standards from the fourth to the sixth grade; and follow the changes in the daily functioning of the child during and after activities that promote self-awareness, communication, leadership skills and knowing your rights. We developed self-advocacy skills with the help of drama activities, which were developed after the performative drama method AV (Ars Vitae) by Alenka Vidrih. The data gained through various measurement instruments was assessed qualitatively. The findings support that drama activities helped the child’s development of self-advocacy skills