Conflict Resolution and Social Skill Development With Children
Keywords:
action methods with childrenAbstract
Conducting psychodrama groups for children in an elementary school setting are extremely challenging because the interpersonal issues that emerge are complex and the institutional guidelines are limiting. The author recounts experiences with 10- to 13-year-old children placed in an elementary school special education program. The author used action techniques and psychodrama methods on a biweekly basis to help students communicate more positively with one another, allowing them to improve their status with peers in the classroom. Students' negative behavior in the classroom decreased, interactions with one another were more positive, and attitudes toward their own potential increased as a result of the psychodrama-based conflict resolution and skill-building training.
References
Beglen, G. G. (1983). The use of psychodramatic and sociometric techniques in the inservice training of residential treatment child care staff. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama & Sociometry, 36, 13-22.
Dayton, T. (1990). Drama games: Techniques for self-development. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications.
Hale, A. E. (1968). Conducting clinical sociometric explorations: A manual for psychodramatists and sociometrists. Roanoke, VA: Royal.
Kellar, H., Treadwell, T. W., Kumar, V.K., & Leach, E. S. (2002). The personal attitude scale-II: A revised measure of spontaneity. Journal of Group Psychotherapy, Psychodrama, and Sociometry, 55, 35 4 6 .
Kole, D. M. (1967). The spectrogram in psychodrama. Group Psychotherapy, 20, 53-61.
Lomonaco, S., Scheidlinger, S., & Aronson, S. (2000). Five decades of children's group treatment: An overview. Journal of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy, 10, 77-96.
Mishna, F., & Muskat, B. (2004). 'Tm not the only one!" Group therapy with older children and adolescents who have learning disabilities. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 54, 455-476.
Moreno, R., & Zachariah, M. (2005, April). Action methods for building community in the classroom. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Society for Group Psychotherapy and Psychodrama, Miami, FL.
Moss, J. (2003). Teaching with fire. San Francisco: Jossy Bass.
Spolin, V. (1999). Improvisation for the theater. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University.
Standford, G., & Roark, A. E. (1974). Role playing and action methods in the classroom. Human Interaction in Education (pp. 171-208). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Sternberg, P., & Garcia, A. (1989). Who's in your shoes? Westport, CT: Praeger.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Psychodrama, Sociometry, and Group Psychotherapy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.