Shaping experience and sharing meaning art therapy for children with autism

Abstract

The material for this article is drawn from research carried out by the author while affiliated to the University of Hertfordshire. The research investigated art therapy for children with autism. Case studies of autistic children were made in a special school for autism over a three-year period. The author produced a model of art therapy practice which addressed the communicative sensitivity of autistic children with suggestions for its ongoing development. Many themes developed in the course of the research, one of which is the focus of this article, namely, how art making processes may assist the development of communication skills and thereby the therapeutic relationship with children with autism. The theories found to be most useful in the development of the research were those of drawing development and early infant development within the framework of developmental psychology, and it is mainly to these that reference is made in this article. In doing so the authors intention is not to advocate a one-dimensional approach to working with children with autism but one viewpoint amongst many others of equal validity.