Choice Activity 6: HERCULES ENCOUNTERS PLEASURE

Background

Just as activities 4 and 5 complement one another, so to do activities 6 and 7. In the previous pair of activities, Hercules encountered two distinct sets of objects. Here he encounters two distinct women, each of which is linked with one of the sets of objects. There can be flexibility over the order in which Hercules encounters the women. In the version of the choice in Prodicus, it is the figure on our right who first addresses Hercules. So, let us start here as well.

I did briefly consider introducing the woman before the objects – so that first these women say who and what they are and then they offer the gifts to seek to persuade the hero to choose the path in life that is commensurate with themselves. In keeping with the flexibility I have kept stressing for these activities, the facilitator can organise the activities the other way around if this will be more suitable with their students. However, because one of the particular challenges that autistic people often experience is around communicating with others, not least in new, unexpected scenarios,[1] it seems more appropriate to build up the encounters with actual people.

‘Pleasure,’ the name I have adopted for the woman is one of the names given to her, not least in the eighteenth century, when the artwork on which these activities centre was produced. The facilitator could, instead, opt for one of the other names given to the woman, such as ‘Vice’, especially the facilitator would like to open up a moral dimension that would be suitable for the cohort with which they are working: how to effect this is something that I plan to discuss when I consult with teachers and other professionals.

The Activity

The facilitator should direct the users to a new addition to the right half of the scene. This is a woman – or perhaps a goddess (this might be something to discuss with those students interested in classical deities and personifications and what their relation is to mortal mythological figures). She is sitting down – on the big flat rock which now serves as an ideal seat for her she is also under the canopy. The baskets of fruit are now at her feet.

The facilitator then asks the children to colour the woman in, getting them to pick colours that are suitable to this side of the landscape – so ideally they would pick bright colours, and though the children could be free to choose if the facilitator prefers. As with other colouring in activities, this can be a team activity, or each child could each be given their own copy of the picture of the woman. If the revealed breast of the woman is an issue, then the drawing can be modified – this issue of nudity is something that I intend to address when I seek feedback on this current initial draft).

Next, the facilitator encourages the children to copy the woman’s pose. They should sit like she is sitting and try to copy her gaze. The facilitator next gets the children to copy the stature and the gestures of Hercules.

Then, to help deal with the challenge often experienced by autistic people of relating appropriately to other people, a follow-up task could be to divide the children into pairs of Hercules and Pleasure. The children could be encouraged to pay particular attention to the body language of each figure: How is the woman responding to Hercules? What is she doing with her arms, and with her body, her face, and her eyes? Meanwhile, as for Hercules, what is he doing with his body (away from the woman). Encourage the children to consider where his gaze is directed.

After this, the facilitator asks: how is Hercules feeling? As previously, the children could be asked to name relevant words, or the facilitator could provide a prepared set from which they pick. Or, as previously, emojis can be used, not least for students who are non-verbal.

Then, in order to help deal with the challenge often experienced by autistic people of recognising the potential for different perspectives on a given issue, the students should the same activity but for the woman, by considering how she is feeling about her surroundings and about Hercules.

For those who will be able to engage with it, the facilitator might – now – introduce the relevant stage of the story where Hercules encounters Pleasure. The story could be summarised, or read out from one of the existing versions, ancient or modern. This will introduce the students to what it is that the woman says to Hercules and what gifts she offers him. I am planning a worksheet that will contain this material, along with notes for how to use it.

After this, to encourage flexible thinking, the children could be asked again to talk about how Hercules might be feeling – again with emojis or a prepared set of words as appropriate. Perhaps the feelings that are listed will be different from those given earlier.

This could be followed up with further activities involving Hercules and Pleasure. For example, Pleasure might offer Hercules a flower, or a piece of fruit – even a whole basket. The facilitator should note what, according to the children, Hercules does in response– or what the children do if they are playing with the various objects in the classroom? Does he accept the gift? Does he eat it? Does he refuse it?

Then the students will likely need a break before turning to the next activity, where Hercules encounters another, very different, woman. This encounter will form the subject of the next, penultimate, activity. This will be the subject of my next posting.

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[1] Difficulties in all aspects of communication, is one of the “triad of impairments” identified by Lorna Wing (the others being: difficulties in social and emotional understanding, and a lack of flexibility in thinking and behaviour). See, esp., Lorna Wing, “Autistic Spectrum Disorders,” British Medical Journal 312.7027 (1996): 327-8; The Autistic Spectrum: a Guide for Parents and Professionals (London: Robinson 2002, updated edn.). In the most recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5), one of the categories of autism spectrum disorders is, likewise “communication problems.” Another category, to which this activity also responds, is “difficulty relating to people, things and events” (a further one is “repetitive body movements or behaviors”), American Psychiatric Association, Diagnosticand Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5) (2013) (last accessed 31.07.17).

Choice Activity 5: HERCULES FINDS A HELMET AND A SNAKE

Reflections and recap

There have been times since I began this blog when months have gone by between postings. This is because, for the first few years, I was balancing developing my autism and myth work against other duties. Indeed, as I have said previously, I started the blog precisely because it would give me an opportunity to reflect on and share my progress – progress which I did initially expect to be sporadic.  Things changed with the start of the ERC-funded Our Mythical Childhood project of which my work now forms part. And – in the most striking contrast since I began to blog in terms of quantity of output – yesterday I published *four* new postings: Activities 1-4 concerning the Choice of Hercules.

I introduced Hercules (Activity 1), then the landscape (Activity 2), then I put Hercules into the landscape (Activity 3), and then I outlined a set of tasks connected with the abundant fruit and foliage that Hercules finds in one half of the landscape (Activity 4). In these activities, the users are encouraged about how Hercules might be responding to the location and also, potentially, to think about how they themselves are responding to it. This takes me to one of the reasons why classical myth has such potential in work with autistic children – it opens up a fantasy world, but it also offers an opportunity to think in a new way on how, as individuals, we engaged with our surroundings and with social situations.

Since I started posting these activities, I have had some feedback for which I am grateful – including overnight UK time from readers in different time zones. One thing I have been asked concerns the age range I am envisaging these activities being useful for. My answer is that I am striving to design activities that can be used with children of various ages. Then, when I have sought feedback from professionals, if appropriate, I shall reshape the activities for specific age groups. For instance, I can see particular resonance – in light of the choice that Hercules is going to make between two paths in life – for those who are negotiating the particular challenges on their journey to adulthood as teenagers.

Leading in to Activity 5

The activities have not been concerned, yet, with a social situation. This will come with Activity 6, where Hercules encounters the first of two other people.

The current activity follows on from Activity 4 – indeed the two form a pair. There Hercules/the group encounters food and drink and vegetation in abundance. And, hopefully, this abundance has been complemented through the colouring in and other activities which create a scene rich in bright colour. Now, meanwhile, the students are introduced to very different objects – those found in the other half of the scene. I am hoping that the activity will further help stimulate vocalisation and anticipation. Both of these are commensurate with areas that Grove and Park’s activities concerned with Odysseus are also aiming to stimulate. There is a third, too, which has particular resonance with the stage I have reached in the activities, namely ‘elicitation of states of feeling which contrast with one another.’[1]

This activity will, I hope, help the users to respond to one of the challenges that autistic people often face - of transitioning from one scenario to another and of understanding the range of potential ways of responding to a given scenario. These difficulties are articulated as one of the “triad of impairments” identified by Lorna Wing, namely a lack of flexibility in thinking and behaviour (along with these being: difficulties in social and emotional understanding, and difficulties in all aspects of communication: I shall address these in due course).[2] In this current activity, the students turn from the pleasant landscape on the right to the very different terrain on the left. Here Hercules notices that the rocky terrain also includes an object, a helmet, with a snake on top of it.

The Activity

First the facilitator points out the helmet and the snake:

These are on the ground on one of the rocks. The snake is on top of the helmet. As with Activity 4, the facilitator might ask the children to say words suitable to the objects – perhaps from a set provided by the facilitator (e.g. ‘hat,’ ‘helmet,’ ‘soldier,’ ‘snake,’ ‘scaly’). They might also be encouraged to make hissing sounds relevant to the snake or even to imitate the movement of a snake.

To help the students engage with the activity, this activity, like Activity 4 could be accompanied with pictures of helmets or serpents, including as they appear in ancient art. Indeed, ancient Greek helmets sometimes contain serpents – like this one does. I am planning an information/worksheet on ancient helmets including how they figure in mythological scenes. I shall do the same in relation to snakes – indeed, as there is a rich range of myths which include snakes, there is particular potential here for building up the students’ engagement with classical culture. What is more – and this makes the accompanying worksheet a must – snakes form a key part of the myth of Hercules. And – there is also a good fit with snakes and one of the women that Hercules will encounter soon – the one who owns/gives him the helmet (more on this later).

For those students who engaged in the preliminary activity, the facilitator might encourage making links between the snake in the scene and the snakes encountered on their reading about Hercules.

Further to help the students engage with the scene, the activity could be accompanied with models – perhaps those that they make themselves out of play-dough or by using models of serpents and helmets. I would especially suggest her the playmobil Athena which as I have mentioned earlier comes with a detachable helmet and a snake.

To help stress the contrast between this part of the scene and the one explored in Activity 4, this students could bring the helmet/snake in contact with the fruit. This could include moving the snake though the foliage or crawling over the fruit – would the serpent event eat the fruit? Another possibility would be for the facilitator to provide a full-size toy helmet that the children can put on. If the facilitator is making use of the Olympian pillow-fight set, the objects from this could be reintroduced at this stage.

Next – although the order of the activities can be flexible – the students colour in the snake and the helmet – perhaps half of the group colours in the snake while the others colour in the helmet.

The students could then be encouraged to engage with the cut-out of Hercules, and to move it to where the helmet and the snake are. The students could be asked to think about what Hercules feels about these new things that he is encountering. What do they make him feel? Is he, for example, apprehensive, or afraid, or angry, or is he intrigued or excited? As previously, the facilitator could make use of a prepared set of words - or, as previously, the facilitator could provide a set of emojis. Where appropriate, the student could copy the emotion conveyed by the emoji - this might be something for users to do in pairs.

If the students are able to apply a knowledge of Hercules’ other snake encounters then this can be encouraged.

Then return Hercules to the middle of the scene. Take a break before the next activity, because here, Hercules is going to experience something different from objects, or from an animal – namely a person.

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[1] Nicola Grove and Keith Park, Odyssey Now (London: Jessica Kinglsey, 1996): 6.

[2] See, esp., Lorna Wing, “Autistic Spectrum Disorders,” British Medical Journal 312.7027 (1996): 327-8; The Autistic Spectrum: a Guide for Parents and Professionals (London: Robinson 2002, updated edn.).

Choice Activity 4: HERCULES FINDS FOOD AND DRINK

The previous activity concerned Hercules’ arrival at the strange place where curious things will happen to him. In this fourth activity, the students are prepared for these curious things through tasks designed to help them engage deeper with what is going on in the right hand side of the landscape in which the hero finds himself. Here Hercules comes to notice something else about the place where he has paused for rest and reflection.

Part 1

Firstly, the facilitator points out that, on the right side of the scene, in the lush landscape, there are two baskets:

 

On closer inspection, it turns out that these are full of fruit. In fact they are packed full of fruit – filled to the brim. And so full is one of the baskets that some of the pieces of fruit look like they are going to fall out. One of the baskets is so full that the lid won’t fit on it. The other basket is so packed full that it has fallen over.

Where appropriate, the facilitator might ask the children to say the names of the colours – and to say words that are suitable to the fruit, e.g. ‘pretty,’ ‘red,’ ‘green,’ ‘apple.’ Again if appropriate the children can be encouraged to say words that are evoked by the fruit, such as ‘hungry’ and ‘eat.’

To help the students engage with the scene, the activity could be accompanied with pictures of fruit, or models of fruit, which could be piled up in the baskets like they are on the panel. The fruit could be touched; the children could, again, be encouraged to say the best words to describe them – again, perhaps, ‘hungry,’ or ‘pretty’ – and they could reach out and touch the fruit or perhaps pretend to eat it.

Part 2

Secondly, the facilitator points out that there is a jug in the scene:

 

The group members could be encouraged to think about what it might contain. Again the children could be encouraged to say the words that come to mind in associating with it (e.g. ‘cup, ’‘drink,’ ‘thirsty’). As with the fruit, the activity could be accompanied with pictures of drinking vessels, including – potentially – ancient Greek ones. For those users of the materials who are interested in ancient culture, I am considering developing an information sheet /worksheet about food and drink in the classical world. This will include information on some of the drinking vessels and their decoration, including with mythical scenes, and including scenes depicting Hercules.

Another possibility would be that the facilitator could provide actual cups or jugs, from which the children could pretend to drink.[1]

Part 3

Thirdly, the facilitator points out that there is a fruit and foliage to the top right of the scene – as well as a large covering, perhaps to provide shade for visitor to the scene:

 

The facilitator provides the same colouring equipment that has been used previously. The children pick colours suitable various items of fruit, the drinking vessel and the flowers and the hanging. Then they colour them in. This could be a group activity, where each participant takes one aspect of the food, drink and foliage and colours them in.[2] A supplementary activity could be create models of the fruit or to do drawings of flowers or foliage. To help the children, the facilitator could supply actual flowers, or pictures of flowers. These might include examples of fruit on ancient artworks – which commonly include such things are wreaths and flowers. I am currently compiling some examples of these – as a possible inspiration for this activity.

 

For those who find regular patterns comforting, some of the repetitive designs on ancient vases or sculpture might be particularly appealing. For now, here again (see also the 'scholarly note' close to the end of the previous activity), is one of the scenes from the reconstructed temple of Athena Nike which includes a patterns of flowers/foliage. I shall supply further examples later on.

 

In the next activity, the focus will shift away from the abundant fruit and foliage on one side of the scene to the objects in the harsher terrain on the other side.

 

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[1] On the role of play in group activities for autistic children, see Rita Jordan and Sarah Libby, "Developing and using play in the curriculum," in in Rita Jordan and Stuart Powell, eds., Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2012; updated edition, originally published 1997), 25-39. On putting meaning on ‘stimuli’ in activities for autistic children, see Ami Klin, "Attributing Social Meaning to Ambiguous Visual Stimuli in Higher-Functioning Autism and Asperger Syndrome: The social Attribution Task," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines 41.7 (2000): 831-846.

[2] On the role of group work to help in the development of communication skills, see Margaret M. Golding, "Beyond Compliance: the Importance of Group Work in the Education of Children and Young People with Autism," in Rita Jordan and Stuart Powell, eds., Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2012; updated edition, originally published 1997), 40-53.

Choice Activity 3: HERCULES REACHES THE STRANGE PLACE

Activity 1 introduced Hercules. Activity 2 introduced the strange place. With this third activity, Hercules arrives at the strange place. With this activity, I aim to respond to one of the challenges that Rita Jordan sets out for those working with autistic people. This is around enabling autistic people to pick up with others are able to do instinctively. Autistic practice should be supporting distinctively autistic ways of thinking and behaving, while finding ways for autistic people to operate in a “non-autistic world.”[1]

I would like the facilitator to encourage the children to place Hercules in the middle of the scene. But I would also like there to be opportunities for Hercules, first, to explore his surroundings. As Hercules is a hero who rarely stays long in any one place, this would be in keeping with the myth of Hercules, including with how this myth is presented in the works that students may have used for the optional initial activity. This would also enable the students to think further about the landscape and the part of the landscape that they would prefer to occupy. Would it be the lush, green part? Would it be the rocky half?

This will be even more something to consider when, at a later point, I develop activities where, in their classroom, the children create the landscape. They might do this with blocks for the rocks in the foreground, and with piled up blocks for the mountain. Meanwhile a mat could be used to denote the flat, more comfortable landscape on the other side. In this later activity, the children will dress up as Hercules. As Hercules they will walk around the locality to explore it. Then they will move the centre of the scene and copy the pose of Hercules leaning on his club, turning his body one way and his head the other.

But, for now, here is the situation I would like the facilitator to create – and I plan to liaise with potential users of these resources over how best to effect this:

Hercules arrives at the scene. The cut-out, coloured in Hercules is placed in the middle of the picture. That way, Hercules can look at both halves of the landscape. 

Hercules pauses at this strange place. He puts his feet on two of the rocks. He puts down his club and leans on it. Thus, he is positioned between the flat, green landscape on the one side and a rocky landscape on the other. His feet are in the rocky landscape while the club he is leaning on is in the flat landscape, but on a larger rock. 

Next, the facilitator encourages the students to think about how Hercules is feeling. Is he, for instance, happy? or nervous? or relaxed? or worried? or lonely? or more than one of these? The students could be offered a list of words to choose from. Or they could be asked to pick a relevant emoji, for example:

😃 happy
😐 neutral
😕 confused
😟 worried

Or these more complex ones where suitable:

😓 cold sweat 

😅 smiling and sweating

Next – for those with more advanced levels of communication can be encouraged to ask the following questions: What can he see? What might he be able to hear? Is he happy to be in the place? What does he think about the landscape? What does he think about the flat, colourful landscape on one side? What does he think about the rocky terrain on the other side?

Having reflected on what Hercules is feeling at this stage, the students move to Activity 4 - which will follow soon.

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[1] Rita Jordan, “Preface,” in eadem and Stuart Powell, eds., Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2012; updated edition, originally published 1997): viii-x.

Choice activity 2: THE STRANGE PLACE

My previous posting introduced the figure of Hercules, whose choice is the subject of these activities. When I first devised the structure of the first set of activities, I had originally intended that the first activity would also deal with the arrival of Hercules at the strange, lonely place where his encounter with the women is going to take place. But as I drafted it, I became concerned that I was risking doing too much. As Jordan and Powell emphasise, it is vital to set high expectations for each learner.[1] But it is vital not to overload the users either, and so I envisage each activity as relatively straightforward, with plenty of scope for responding to the needs and responses of each individual user. Thus, as I want to keep each activity quite focused in scope, I have reserved the introduction of the strange spot for a separate posting: this current one.

The children will already have a figure of Hercules coloured in from Activity 1 – and they will have spent some time thinking about the hero, including what he looks like and what he is wearing. They will perhaps have had an opportunity, too, to think about their responses to the hero.

Now the users will be introduced to the (initially) lonely spot where Hercules is going to find himself. Whereas I was able to offer a working picture of Hercules, I am less able to do this for this landscape as yet. So far I have cut out each of the figure from the line-drawing-like version of the panel I created using the word processing package on my computer. So I started with this image:

 

Then I cut out the hero along with the two women and their gifts. I was left with this:

 

I need to fill in the rest of the landscape, perhaps with the help of someone with the requisite artistic and technical skills.

I would like the facilitator to give copies of the landscape picture to the users to look at, and subsequently to colour in – either each user could have one copy each – or there could be a single, larger version for a group of users to work with as a team.

At this stage, the facilitator could point out how curious the terrain is. They could draw the children’s attention to how the scene has two distinct halves. On one side, to our right, the ground is smooth and flat. There is grass, and there is abundant vegetation. In contrast, on the other side, the ground is rocky and these rocks lead to a winding path up a craggy hillside the top of which is too hazy to be seen.

The facilitator now provides colouring-in pencils, or felt-tips, or paints, and the children pick the most suitable colours for each half of the scene. If appropriate, the facilitator could divide the colours up into brighter ones and duller ones – the former for use on the right hand side, the latter for the left hand side.

The children then colour in the scene. I would suggest that they use bright greens and other bright suitable colours for the side on our right – and perhaps blue for the sky. Meanwhile, the other side could be coloured in in more subdued colours – or using lead pencils.

How this task is carried out can vary depending on the number of children doing the activity. For example, if there are two children, one could colour in the craggy landscape while the other could colour in the lush landscape.

When this has been done, the facilitator can encourage the children to describe each side of the scene. For those with basic levels of communication, this could include such words as ‘pretty,’ ‘bright,’ and ‘rocks.’

To end with, here is a scholarly note, but one that could potentially be integrated into the activities, for those students with more advanced abilities at communication. The panel is made of white marble – so it is typical of classical artworks, which are typically white. Think for example the Elgin Marbles or ruins such as the Acropolis or indeed neoclassical buildings such as Grove House, in which the chimneypiece is situated. But for all that this looks quintessentially classical, this is not in fact how temples, statues and so forth would have looked in antiquity. They were originally brightly coloured, as – for instance – this attempted reconstruction of what the temple of Athena Nike would once have looked like seeks to convey. 

 

Thus, a colouring in activity gets us closer to classical art would have been experienced that white or off-white can convey. This information about classical art could serve as background for the facilitator – or it could be shared with the users is appropriate. 

The children have been introduced to Hercules and to the strange place. Next, Hercules will reach the strange place. This will be the subject of my next posting.

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[1] Rita Jordan, “Preface,” in eadem and Stuart Powell, eds., Autism and Learning: A Guide to Good Practice (London and New York: Routledge, 2012; updated edition, originally published 1997): viii-x.