Art Therapy
How does art therapy help autism?
Just some of the ways in which art therapy is useful to children on the autism spectrum include Enhanced communication through creative expression. Improved imagination and greater abstract thinking. The ability to build stronger relationships while encouraging children with autism to see other people's perspectives.
Art represents an Alternative to Verbal Communication
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Art therapy is a natural fit for autism for several reasons. One of the hallmarks of autism is impaired communication. Verbal self-expression and language are often especially difficult. One person with autism writes “I just couldn’t get my words out. It was like a big stutter… Screaming was the only way I could communicate.” Art offers a way for people who have trouble “speaking their mind” with words to express themselves directly, without words. People with autism are often highly visual thinkers, and many report that they “think in pictures”. Expressing feelings and ideas through images is very natural for such people and can be a welcome relief from the daily struggle to use words effectively.
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Art therapy can help with social skills
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Autistic people also tend to struggle with social issues, such as interpreting tone of voice and facial expression and may feel uncomfortable relating to others. One-on-one interactions, such as conversations, are often extremely intimidating and stressful. For such people, working alongside a therapist can be much more comfortable. As the two share focus on the client’s art-making, a powerful bond can be forged without the initial need for direct, face-to-face interaction.
Art can also be a wonderful facilitator in forming connections with peers. Cooperation, turn-taking, respecting differences, and other social skills can all be practiced in an enjoyable, natural setting. People with autism may also struggle to comprehend other people’s perspectives; looking at a peer’s artwork offers a concrete way to “see” another person’s point of view. Working together on group projects fosters cooperation, teamwork, and a sense of acceptance.
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Art therapy can address Sensory Proceeding Disorder (SPD)
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Art therapy is ideally suited for addressing sensory processing disorder (SPD), a pervasive problem in autism that contributes to a lot of difficult emotions and behaviors, yet is too often overlooked. Seemingly innocuous sensations, such as the texture of the carpet, fluorescent lighting, crunchy foods, and the hum of a refrigerator, may be irritating, or even excruciating, to people with autism (“like nails on a chalkboard,” as a client once put it). When thus overstimulated, people with autism may become agitated, avoidant, or simply “shut down” and become impassive in order to escape the unpleasant stimulus.
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One of the most common goals in art therapy is to increase tolerance for unpleasant stimuli, while channeling self-stimulating behavior into more creative activity. Because art is naturally enjoyable for almost all children, autistic or not, they are more likely to tolerate textures and smells they might otherwise avoid when they are part of a fun art process. A child might find that he or she can actually cope with handling slimy, paste-covered strips of newspaper, for instance, when it’s part of a fun paper mache craft project. Repeatedly confronting the stimuli they prefer to avoid helps to desensitize kids to them, making it more bearable when they encounter these sensations in daily life. A child who learned to deal with paper mache, for instance, might then find that handling slimy hand soap was no longer so unpleasant.
Sensory fixations are another common feature of autism. Some people may stare in rapt attention at their fingers as they flick them back and forth or endlessly twist tiny strips of paper. Repetitively engaging in such self-stimulating behaviors (or “stimming”) can make people with autism stand out, prevent them from interacting with others, and can distract them from other activities, such as school work or play. On the other hand, these sensations may provide some calming, soothing feelings when the person is agitated. In art therapy, the goal is to channel non-functional or inappropriate stimming into socially acceptable, creative outlets.
https://the-art-of-autism.com/research-hub/
https://www.atcb.org/what-is-art-therapy/
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