Empowering through Theatre, Storytelling and Mindset Skills-Alisha Mills
#Nurturingskills-1
Alisha Mills, believes, social justice work is important and it must be rooted to a wise heart. She is passionate about Inclusion, building Mindset skills, empowering neurodivergent kids and their families. Also a spiritual leader, she is ordained and endorsed for Chaplaincy by The United Church of Christ.
1. Why is
storytelling a good way to enable social-communication and interaction with
children on the spectrum?
Narrating life
experiences in images or words has always been a core teaching tool. A
relatable, interesting, and interactive story created from life's experiences
has the benefit of multi-sensory opportunities in teaching children SEL skills. A neurodivergent informed storyteller can bring a story to life using images,
non-verbal and verbal language, noises, dramatizing the story, and using
tactile sensory tools to achieve learning. Standard school curriculums
use one method and maybe one tool built for neurotypical people.
Adding a neurodiversity-empowering coach to your family's team helps to bridge
the gap between the expectations of the neurotypical world and the learning
methods of neurodivergent learners.
2. What aspects of
storytelling do you need to highlight when you try to engage a child on the
spectrum?
For me, any
storytelling aspects I emphasize only are determined only after learning about
a family's goals and values. This includes the adults in charge as well
as the learner themselves. I will tailor my curriculum to these
goals and values. For instance, adults may hire me to help their
learner(s) with impulsive behaviors. Before I begin, I ensure the family
knows that my role is to empower the learner to embrace that they are in charge
of their own experience in life. I use my professional chaplaincy skills
to listen to the learner's experience and hopes. I will then highlight
the examples that meet both goals using the tools mentioned above that work
best for that learner. The outcome usually far exceeds the initial reason
for hire when they see their young person blossom into someone who takes
ownership of their own experience.
3. A lot of
importance is placed on working on life skills, education, and
communication. Building mindset skills, especially resilience, is
overlooked. Why is this important?
The over-valuing of
independence, employability and speaking skills is due to cultural norms that
emphasize money more than humans, intelligence more than wisdom, and pleasures
more than connections. It has become my ministry to help families explore
their personal core values as a unit knowing they may be prey to the systemic
trauma this upside-down culture has created for all life. Mindset skills
are necessary skills we must learn to navigate this trauma-causing culture and
grow toward a more sustainable, well-being, and life-nurturing culture.
4. What are some
ways to work on building resilience in children and teens with autism?
As a Certified
Wisdom Coach®, I enjoy using storytelling and skill building from both
Adventures in Wisdom® and Signe Whitson's How to Be Angry curriculums.
Both teach empowering mindset skills such as embracing assertiveness, growth
mindset, self-confidence, self-esteem, self-advocacy, empowerment, resilience,
coping, mindfulness, goals, and personal values. Executive function coaches are
easily found through great non-behavioural resources like Collaborative and Proactive Solutions to help with lifeskills in the home. A Wisdom
Coach®, like me, is a more niched approach to coaching designed to help develop
the mindset skills needed to embrace life with wisdom.
5. Can you please elaborate further with an
example?
For
example, in a recent How to Be Angry workshop, a young 10-year-old female was
enrolled because of outbursts that disrupt schoolwork. This child is
homeschooled and mom leads other children in a homeschool group. I
quickly experienced the girl's outbursts in the workshop. However,
I determined the pattern was normal ND blurting and challenges with
transitions when a plan had to be adjusted. Anger detective work revealed
the trigger is repetitive correction to her blurts which eventually evolve into
anger. It was important to teach self-compassion and self-advocacy to
help manage all the feelings that arose because people were frustrated and
angry with her frequently. I like normalizing ND tendencies, adjusting
expectations, and giving tips on how to fix mistakes that maintain important
relationships. What is a better sign of resilience in a child than
awareness of normal expectations and self-advocacy for their unique approaches?
Sharing an attachment on
the “How” of the story coaching process which helps explain it better.
6. What are some
ways/tools that can help children identify their emotions?
At Divergent
Spirit, my favorite tool is based on the first unit in Signe Whitson's How to
Be Angry program, What is Anger? In these lessons, we become "anger
detectives." We learn to read the signals in our bodies that
indicate a negative emotion. In children with interception challenges, we
use tools provided by Dr. Neff at Neurodivergent Insights to help bridge the
gap. Learners extend the lesson at home with the help of the parents who
are asked to watch for teachable moments. The take-home I provide can be
found on my Pinterest board.
It has been my
experience that when a person learns to identify their body signals for
emotions, the outcome is empowerment to navigate difficult situations. Adventures in Wisdom® also addresses emotion identification using the term
"grungies" for negative emotions. Wyatt the Wise Wizard® helps to
teach how to identify grungies and how to shift into Wisdom® mindset skills. As
a Certified Wisdom Coach®, I use the proven STORY Coaching Method with
neurodivergent learners to develop these skills for success in life.
A video from the founder of Adventures in Wisdom about the reasons for use of stories.
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