Arts Based Therapy and Autism

Arts Based therapy was conducted in Paramount Rehabilitation Centre on autistic children. 5 clients aged 4-10 years were added to the study. Individual sessions were conducted to study its effect on Levels of attention i.e. Therapeutic goal 1 (T.G 1): and Narrative Capability Development i.e. Therapeutic goal 2 (T.G 2): In levels of Attention: Distractibility/Restlessness; Initiating tasks and sustained attention were taken into consideration. While in Narrative Capability Development: Acquisition of language; Expression & meaningfulness and silence and Listening were taken into consideration. The target group was between ages 4-10 Group 1: (4-6years consisting of 2 children) Group 2: (7-10 years consisting of 3 children) who had been at the centre for more than 1 year, matched on socio-economic status and were identified with Mild and moderate autistic disorder. Levels of attention was the T.G for Group 1 and Narrative Capability Development was the T.G for Group 2 During Action research project they were exposed to Arts based Therapy. The results of the study showed changes in levels of attention on the factors related to initiating of tasks in both children in Group 1 and in Narrative Capability, slight changes were seen in silence and listening development areas and expression and meaningfulness. There has also been a considerable qualitative differences in pre- post Drawings and videos in Group 1 & 2 which has been documented in videos and shown on comparative study in Picture 1,2,3,4,&5 Though Arts based therapy has shown slight changes in autistic children, it has shown improvements in understanding and following instructions, responding by nodding for yes and “No”, asking for more, showing interest if they like an activity, have started using crayons and expressing freely on paper which was initially not there and also have seen changes in behaviour such as decrease in repetitive behaviour to some extend; 2 Art with Autism and smiling in response and waving bye while going. There also have been changes in expressing through Arts which are seen on Rating scale of children with special needs by WCCL Consistent and regular use of ABT may also show a measurable difference in levels of attention and Narrative Capability Development in autistic children. The scope of ABT can further be extended by combining with other interventions like Speech therapy, Occupational therapy, Remedial education for a period of one year or more.