Art Therapy in the Schools

By: Jennifer Do, MA, ATR-BC, LPC

What is Art Therapy? “Art therapy is a modality that uses

nonverbal language of art for personal growth, insight, and transformation and is a means of connecting what is inside of us- our thoughts, feelings, and perceptions, with our outer realities and life experiences” (Malchiodi, 1998, p. xiii).

What are we doing here today?

• Experiencing the process of art therapy, not the product.

• We are not analyzing art work• Truly concentrating on the experience of

making art.

Why Art?

• Explores feelings/emotional release• Nonverbal and verbal expressions• Communication- SOCIAL SKILLS!• Visual record-the product• Safe for children- seen as their outlet• Motor skills

Children First and Foremost!

• As an art therapist, I often do not know the details of a child’s disability before having the opportunity to work with them. I do believe that it is best to be well-informed about a child’s disability to provide physical safety for the child and to plan appropriately.

• The idea that the child comes first, the disability second

An aside…

Ask questions, don’t assume!

When you are with a child creating art, it is very important that we come across as being non-judgmental.

Psychoanalytic Approach

• Tapping into the creative process/unconscious• Forms of expression that are appropriate• Opportunity for the creative process to take place

We are not doing “art therapy” we are providing an art experience for the children. This approach has been successful in the literature with children who have learning difficulties, MR diagnosis, behavioral problems, and physical disabilities.

Art

• Doesn’t have to be crayons, markers, pencils• Want to look at the experience of art,– Tactile– Fun/games– Mixed media- magazines, tissue paper, cardboard

boxes– Going different places to do it or incorporate

movement

Your Toolbox!

Basic Supplies Needed• White drawing paper• Pencils, erasers• Markers• Oil and Chalk pastels• Scissors, glue sticks, • Tape• Fabric, beads, assorted materials• Paint- watercolor, tempera• Plastic jars and lids• Brushes• Journals

Touch and Feel Cards- make a game of it

- warm fuzzies and cold pricklies, what feels like that?

-create what is on the card tactily for the child

- have a touch and feel box in your classroom

Visual Journals

These can be sketch books, writing tablets, or whatever you can find where kids can draw, create collages, or scribble. Visual journals are seen as “keeping ideas flowing”- where children can create an image and have a response to that image (Malchiodi, p. 101).

Starter pictures- Scribbles

Scribbles are used to create spontaneous imagery and to tap into our creative unconscious.

Let’s Try It!

• Select a crayon. Hold it as a young childwould over the paper.

• Close your eyes.• Now allow yourself to feel your hand moveacross the paper. Feel the stress leave your body• Look at the marks you made.• Do you see a picture?Keep this, do not destroy yet!

Squiggle Drawing Game

1. Pair up with someone.2. One of you is the child, and the other the adult –caregiver or parent.3. While holding a crayon on a sheet of paper, theadult will close his/her eyes and keeping eyesclosed, scribble on the paper.4. The child will then tell the adult what the drawingis.5. Together the adult and child will color in thepicture, under the guidance of the child.

Some other scribbling ideas:

• Scribbling with your eyes closed• Scribbling with your non-dominant hand• Ink and string scribbles• Paint Blots

Paint Blots or Mandalas

Make Textures in Clay- finger and feetUse seeds to make a face

Use a body tracing and add clothes onto it with fabric

Picture Weaving

You and a partner scribble all over the pageCut the paper into strips (one person)2nd person will cut slits in their paper

Using finger-paint not only on hands, but feet too!

Make Textures in Clay- finger and feetUse seeds to make a face

Use a body tracing and add clothes onto it with fabric

Found materials collage- start digging!

Movement

http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/raindrops.htm If all the raindrops

Were lemon drops and gumdropsOh, what a rain that would be!

Standing outside, with my mouth open wideAh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah

If all the raindropsWere lemon drops and gumdrops

Oh, what a rain that would be!

Some other ideas to note…

Using art to teach social skills

The Saturday Club group examples:-Create a topic out of playdoh

- Group projects- railroad connection- Group Rules- 911 kit

- Relaxation station- The need for visual supports

Using art to express feelings

• Feelings Journal• Images of Safety• Colors and their “feeling” meaning

Some Directives..Feeling Maps1. Represent the following feelings:

anger, joy, sadness, fear, love of others, and love of self. Use a different color to represent each one.

2. When you have finished representing these, consider if they are connected to each other. How do they relate to one another? Do they have common lines or shapes?

(taken from Malchiodi, p. 161).*See handouts provided

Show me what happened

Have a child draw a comic strip conversation, created by Carol Gray. This same technique is used in art therapy, where the child draws stick figures and bubbles over the person who is speaking or thinking to another person.

Images of Safety

Did you know…

Bowser is very mean and people don’t want to be friends with him.

Mario is seen as the leader in the group, and people want to be friends with him.

Peach is very sweet!Luigi is a good friend!

So when we are teaching social skills…

We used all these characters to help a childin the classroom. If we were being friendly, we were like:

If we were being mean to our friends..

And if we were being helpful and a great friend

Colors as Feelings

Red- Birth, blood, fire, emotion, love, passionOrange- Fire, harvest, warmthYellow- sun, light, warmthGreen- Earth, fertility, vegitation, natureBlue- sky, water, sea, heaven, relaxation Purple- Royalty, spirituality, wealthBlack- Darkness, emptiness, mysteryBrown- Sorrow, roots, excrementWhite- Light, purity moon(Taken from Malchiodi, p. 157)

HOWEVER…

You need to ask a child what that color means to them before you start to panic

How are you feeling today?

General Questions for Elaboration

1. What title would you give this picture?2. Tell me about your drawing/artwork.3. What is going on in this picture?4. How do the people or animals in thepicture feel?5. How do the figures in the drawing feelabout one another?6. If they could speak to one another whatwould they say to each other?7. Can I ask the little girl- little boy – dog –cat- house – and so forth something?

THANK YOU!!!

References• Anderson, Frances. (1992). Art for all the children: Approaches to art

therapy for children with disabilities. Illinois: Charles C. Thomas Publ.• Liebman, Marian. (2001). Art therapy for groups: A handbook of themes

and exercises. New York: Brunner-Routledge.• Lowenfeld, V. & Brittain, W. L. (1987). Creative and mental growth,

8th edition. New York: MacMillan Publishing Company.• Malchiodi, C. (1998). The art therapy sourcebook. IL: Lowell House.

Websites

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/15/da/c7.pdfhttp://www.kinderart.com/special/http://earlychildhoodmichigan.org/articles/6-05/Zundel6-05.htmhttp://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/raindrops.htm