SabriMarie -
profile image
City: La Mirada
State: California
Country: USA
Member since: Jan 17, 2008
Last logged in: Jul 19, 2008
SabriMarie's Bio
 

My name is Sabrina Whetsell and I am a undergraduate at Biola University majoring in Art and Psychology.

I first became interested in Autism during high school when I began volunteering for a soccer program called AYSO VIP Buddies. All of the children on the team have some sort of special need. On my first day I was paired up with a little boy named Christian. The first thing I noticed about Christian is that it didn't look like anything was wrong with him! I was so amazed, and I ended up working with him for 3 years in a row. Christian's mom asked me if I could be his aid at the YMCA summer day camp and I accepted the offer. I spent 8 hours a day working with Christian and helping him through the days of field trips and activities.



Favorite Compositions (0)

No favorite composition yet

SabriMarie's Compositions

Art Therapy with Children on the Autistic Spectrum
by SabriMarie on 01.18.08 - public - 134 visits

From the back cover:

"Recent research has shown that art therapy can be particularly effective for children with autism and related communication disorders. The extensive range of symptoms experienced by autistic people makes them extremely individual in presentation, so any treatment used must be tailored to a range of varying needs. Art Therapy with Children on the Autistic Spectrum presents a new model of intervention, which focuses primarily on the communication and imagination difficulties experienced by many children with autism. The authors describe how negative behaviours and subsequent tension may be alleviated when the autistic child is involved in interactive art making with the therapist. They challenge existing methods with art therapy and explore the most appropriate approaches to treating autistic children. They also analyse methodology and assessment interventions, as well as the ongoing development of appropriate assessment instruments.
Drawn from their extensive experience in child and infant psychology, the authors present a range of case studies of art therapy with individual autistic children to demonstrate the use of practical interventions and the outcomes. This book will be of interest to all specialist in communication disorders, and in particular to professionals working with autistic children."

This is what I am hoping to do once I get my Masters in Marriage and Family Counceling with Art Therapy. My question now is: How many parents of children with autism are interested in Art Therapy as a possible intervention? I would love to hear everyone's input.

Comments(3)

janneane7
Posted on Sat, 19 Jan 2008

My son Andy's mentor is an Art therapist. She is not here to do art therapy with him but she does go to his Adult program and Andy does take part in art therapy there once a week. The Adult program itself sucks but Andy LOVES Carrie so he has fun in art therapy. We did do art therapy at home with a specialist for a couple of months but then she took a new position and had to leave. BUT she did a great job with Andy. The purpose of the art therapy was to work on him being more flexible, and it was working!!! I think art therapy is great but I also think you have to know the purpose for why you are doing it. Otherwise just hire an enthusiastic college kid to teach and expose your child to art. This is especially important for kids in self contained classrooms who often never get any art at all.

mommyof3gr8boys
Posted on Fri, 18 Jan 2008

My sons MT was doing this with him. He now has a new MT so I don't know what she will do. It did help my son in learning to be more imaginative. He use to cry when he had to hold a pencil let alone draw a picture. His drawings now are getting much better and he even asks to paint, and draw! So it has helped him in that aspect.

Mrs.H.
Posted on Thu, 17 Jan 2008

I wonder if there is anyone already doing that type of therapy in the public school system in your area. Perhaps contacting the OTs through the public schools, or perhaps any early intervention programs might be a start. Two thoughts come to mind: 1) Parents are already pulled by all sorts of interventions and therapies out there now, would that be just something more they would have to schedule, or pay for out of pocket? However... 2) There is value to art therapy, and who's to say that might not be a great venue for a particular child? Those are my two cents. Good luck...marriage and art therapy, hmmmm - I think I'll have to mention that to Mr. H. - we've been married for 30 years - maybe we'll discover something new to talk about - ha! :)

Our Supporters