Body language and autism

[MoelFammau]

Hello

I do hope this is the right place to post this. Basically I'd be very interested in having some opinions from parents of children with ASD.

I've worked for 15+ years as a character animator on TV shows, commercials etc. My job relies on me having very finely-tuned observation of body language and also the ability to reinterpret it into an inanimate object.

Recently I have had contact with children and students with AS - once in an animation workshop I was running for home-schooled children and another time with a lovely work experience lad at my studio.

On both occasions I ended up working with them on body language recognition, expression and emotion. This was something initiated and led by them but I took it very seriously and gave them as much understanding as I could, drawing on my skills as an animator to demonstrate things in an easily accessible way. On both occasions I saw a marked improvement in their understanding.

I really enjoyed the experience very much and I would like to do more of this, perhaps in a more structured way.

Do you think this would be a useful resource for parents?

Any comments greatly appreciated.

Meeting them on Nov 20th.... I'm also meeting someone about the App tomorrow afternoon so if anyone has any ideas of what would really benefit their child, please feel free to PM me.

I am not good with technology, but for my ds my hope is that he can develop friendship, so anything in an app/animation that helped with that wold be good.

Hi all.

Animator here again. I'm now organised and am looking to spread the word that I'm available to teach body language and expression recognition and interpretation to SN children and adults who might benefit from this.

My sessions would be tailored to suit each individual or small group (max 6) but would use a combination of acting (mainly from me at first), animation and video examples to explore the range of human emotion and expression in a fun and memorable way.

Please do PM me if you'd like to have more info. I'm starting off with Scotland and Cumbria but am hoping to hold London sessions if I get enough demand to warrant the trips.

Thank you very much!

'Yes Woffling. That's exactly it, except we don't usually crouch down nearby and announce their every move in breathless tones :-)'

Not such a bad idea actually...

Like Woffling, When I point out a social ritual or a facial expression in a scientific / reporter type way (as if I am reporting on another species in a Spock-like manner ), ds finds it really interesting.

Definitely useful imo too. It seems that animation really captures something in the minds of many children/young people with ASD.

It could also be a good way to teach not only recognition of emotion, but also to teach how to respond. My ds isn't too bad about recognising his own or others' emotions, but we have to put a lot of work into teaching him how to respond appropriately.

So for example, if we have identified a particular problem (eg not realising that another child wants to play something different) we engineer situations and scenarios which enable him to practice recognising what the other child is feeling, and also, crucially, what to do about it, how to respond.

Videomodelling (bit like a live social story I suppose) has been great for this, and mind-mapping, and I could see your idea being helpful here too.

That's great, Bloom.

Thank you so much for the suggestions. I'm very committed to doing the best job I can here so all info is viewed positively!

I'm planning on face-to-face workshops with either one student or a small group. I currently have two approaches to the workshops:

No.1 is based on real-life human body language so it's about looking at and analysing realistic, subtle cues. I have used Parkinson interviews with the sound off as a starting point here, as the sitting down interview format removes a lot of the subject's excess movement. The session also takes in some acting things out and working on reactions to different types of body language (ie responding to a nervous/shy person, or recognising when someone is upset etc).

No.2 is a hands on approach. Here I bring along a basic animation set-up and two very very simple Plasticine models. The goal is to try to give the models emotion, so this involves discussing body postures, acting them out and then trying them on the models. We then look at the results and discuss what worked, what didn't and why.

I've done both of these approaches with AS students - the first was with a 22yo individual and the other was for a group of 12 AS children aged 8-15. We had some fab results from both.

I'm trying to think of a way of doing something similar as a YouTube video... or at least getting the same messages across. My two approaches are participant-led though, so I'm not sure how that would translate. Maybe I'll film one...?

Moel, this sounds fascinating. My 8yo DS has HUGE difficulty seeing and recognising body language let alone interpreting it.
I love the idea of building plasticine models and 'emoting' with them.

So, are animators all social interaction geniuses (genii??) then?
cant get the picture of Attenborough style street documentary out of my head!

Ha, from my experience most animators are rather weird. We tend to have OTT body language from too much acting things out. We also spend 10-12 hours a day in total isolation so when we're let out into the real world we're blinking in the bright lights and being slightly off key with everyone else around us. But we're a friendly lot .

I'd say that yes, generally animators are excellent at reading social dynamics and interactions. Though we're observers, we don't always get involved! We're usually a bit shy around suits.

I'm wondering if I found a venue and organised the workshop, I could give out the details and see who books. I have links to Glasgow, Lancaster, Oxford and London so could start there....

I would say 6 spaces max. 3 hours with a 10-15 min break every hour. Would this be interesting?

A lot of our ds's ( mine included ) like animation..as a way of controlling a world I think ... Plus there's the whole sitting in a cupboard for 10 years not talking to anyone thing :-)... i was wondering if it is an avenue our children go into?

This would be so good for my ds (4y - possible HFA) and he would live it and really engage especially with that hands on type sessions. He would also get so much out of an app.
We are Oxfordshire so if you do come our way I will be jumping up and down to try and get ds a spot!
Think you have some really wonderful and insightful ideas and you could do so much good for so many children.

trout that's interesting. I know a 9yo boy with classic autism, pretty much non-verbal/echolalic, lots of stims, little interaction with others, etc. He makes stop-frame animations (if that's what they're called?) which are amazing apparently (though I haven't seen any), and are hugely detailed and sophisticated scenarios usually involving trains (he loved Thomas). He worked out how to do it himself a couple of years ago.

I work with a huge amount of AS people in the film industry. Camera dept, modelmaking, set building and post-production are the main areas... sometimes as animators too but this is rarer, maybe because most paid animation work requires in-depth knowledge of expression and emotion.... There certainly are some animators though so it's not impossible.

Attention to detail is a definite positive in the film industry, as is steadfast determination and an unusual way of looking at life. I'd certainly recommend it as a damn good starting point, career-wise.

I now have the first workshops sorted. Where would you recommend I post the information? I'm guessing I couldn't do it here...?

Posted in MNet Glasgow Local, in the SN activities section.