Karaolis, O. (2023). Being with a Puppet: Literacy through Experiencing Puppetry and Drama with Young Children. Education Sciences, 13(2) 291.
In this article, Karaolis discusses the usefulness of using puppets when teaching young children who experience a disability literacy. Among the impacts demonstrated through the project enabled literacy learning especially in relation to encouraging the children to express their ideas, and to invite children to engage in conversations. Most interesting though is the discussion of how using – or ‘being with’ – a puppet reframed educators’ relationship building with the young children experiencing a disability. Educators reported their perceptions of the children had altered as they were encouraged to have a better understanding of the children’s non-verbal communication skills and capacities.