Developing participants’ capacity for reflection and self-assessment in a dance movement therapy program for people with intellectual disability

Abstract

Historically, people with intellectual disability have been inadequately supported to reflect on their own experiences and engage in self- assessment with respect to services they access. This has limited their ability to share their views authentically and steer relevant service provision. The introduction of individualised funding schemes increases requirements for those with disability to share their perspectives, make choices, measure progress against goals and influence services they access with their funds. This article examines a dance movement therapy program in which facilitators and participants worked together to increase participants’ engagement in, and capacity for, reflection and self-assessment. A range of tools were found to be useful in this task, including recognition and use of different communication styles; and dance, movement, and visual arts exercises. Findings indicate a clear capacity of people with intellectual disability to self-assess against program goals and share impactful information about their experiences with service providers.

Points of interest

• Individualised funding packages have been established in several countries to enable more choice and control for people with disability when using services

• People with intellectual disability, especially those who use non-verbal communication, often do not have enough support to feedback directly on experiences and make meaningful choices about their services.

• We found that people with intellectual disability can be supported to communicate choices and feedback on their experiences, using tools including dance movement, collage, diaries, photos, and diverse communication options.

• Changes that would help people with intellectual disability to communicate about services they access include assessment undertaken in the moment and location of services, time to build relationships and trust, more thoughtful planning and improved staff training.

Keywords:

• Self-assessment
• dance movement therapy
• intellectual disability
• client voice
• reflection
• service delivery

Disclosure statement

Author Hens works as a contracted staff member leading the DMT program in Bayley House. Author Dunphy is the developer of the assessment app MARA utilised in this project.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Community Fellowship grant to author Hens and a Mackenzie Post-Doctoral Fellowship 2016-2019 to author Dunphy, both from the University of Melbourne.