Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Using Improvisational Theater To Evaluate Reciprocal Communication In Neurodivergent Adolescents, Mariesa Christina Larosa

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

This study aimed to determine the impact of improvisational theater on pragmatic language skills of verbal adolescents on the autism spectrum. Six participants from a five-day virtual improv theater program were evaluated for their abilities to engage in appropriate reciprocal communication. Caregivers of participants completed the Social Responsiveness Scale-2 prior to and after attending intervention to assess pragmatic language skills. During the improv games, participants were evaluated for appropriate reciprocal communication skills through video documentation. Participants did not demonstrate significant improvement in pragmatic language, but the study provides a novel scale to evaluate the quality of reciprocal communication in quantitative …