Art Therapy in the Schools

1. Art Therapy in the Schools By: Jennifer Do, MA, ATR-BC, LPC

2. 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).

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

9. Your Toolbox!

10. 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

11. Touch and Feel Cards- make a game of it- warm fuzzies and cold pricklies, what feels like that?-create what is on the card tactilyfor the child- have a touch and feel box in your classroom

12. 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).

13. Scribbles are used to create spontaneous imagery and to tap into our creative unconscious. Starter pictures- Scribbles

14. Let’s Try It! • Select a crayon. Hold it as a young child would over the paper. • Close your eyes. • Now allow yourself to feel your hand move across 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!

15. 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, the adult will close his/her eyes and keeping eyes closed, scribble on the paper. 4. The child will then tell the adult what the drawing is. 5. Together the adult and child will color in the picture, under the guidance of the child.

16. Some other scribbling ideas: • Scribbling with your eyes closed • Scribbling with your non-dominant hand • Ink and string scribbles • Paint Blots

17. Paint Blots or Mandalas

18. Make Textures in Clay- finger and feetUse seeds to make a faceUse a body tracing and add clothes onto it with fabric

19. Picture Weaving You and a partner scribble all over the page Cut the paper into strips (one person) 2nd person will cut slits in their paper

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

21. Make Textures in Clay- finger and feetUse seeds to make a faceUse a body tracing and add clothes onto it with fabric

22. Found materials collage- start digging!

23. Movement

24. http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/raindrops.htmIf all the raindropsWere 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, ahIf all the raindropsWere lemon drops and gumdropsOh, what a rain that would be!

25. Some other ideas to note…

26. 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

27. Using art to express feelings • Feelings Journal • Images of Safety • Colors and their “feeling” meaning

28. Some Directives.. Feeling Maps • Represent the following feelings: anger, joy, sadness, fear, love of others, and love of self. Use a different color to represent each one. • 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

29. 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.

30. Images of Safety

31. 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!

32. 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:

33. If we were being mean to our friends..

34. And if we were being helpful and a great friend

35. Colors as Feelings Red- Birth, blood, fire, emotion, love, passion Orange- Fire, harvest, warmth Yellow- sun, light, warmth Green- Earth, fertility, vegitation, nature Blue- sky, water, sea, heaven, relaxation Purple- Royalty, spirituality, wealth Black- Darkness, emptiness, mystery Brown- Sorrow, roots, excrement White- Light, purity moon (Taken from Malchiodi, p. 157)

36. HOWEVER… You need to ask a child what that color means to them before you start to panic 

37. How are you feeling today?

38. 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 the picture feel? 5. How do the figures in the drawing feel about one another? 6. If they could speak to one another what would they say to each other? 7. Can I ask the little girl- little boy – dog – cat- house – and so forth something?

39. THANK YOU!!!

40. 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.

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