Intentions and practices: engaging children and youth with special educational needs through drama

This paper examines the pedagogies of four drama teaching artists working with children and youth with special educational needs (SEN) through the (i) intentions of the programmes, (ii) practices and strategies of the teaching artists; and (iii) process of evaluating the efficacy and impacts of these programmes. Data collected through classroom observations and interviews with the teaching artists, classroom teachers, parents, and students reveal that the teaching artists scaffold the activities finely and exercise flexibility in their pedagogical approaches to engage the students. The paper concludes with a discussion on methods to evaluate the efficacy and impacts of the drama programmes.