Arts based therapeutic intervention on an adolescent living in autism spectrum

Pages: 263-265
G. Parvathi (Counselling Psychologist and Certified Arts Based Therapist Practitioner, Chennai)

This article presents the case of a 17 year old boy diagnosed with autism and analyses how various form of art interventions and techniques played a role in his arduous journey of growth and development. As children, all of them enjoy and create various types of art. Children usually draw pictures or images in shapes, form and pieces of different objects, as they relate those things with various scattered images. Children with autism are no different from this, except the way how they relate with it. They will draw or mould things but it is difficult to form relatedness with the person or object. Here, we are going to explore the value of arts based intervention in a young boy who is diagnosed with autism in his development, growth and ability to relate to self and his surroundings. The importance of Arts Based Therapy (ABT) approaches and techniques as part of the therapeutic interventions and how an art can reach out to help to children will be discussed here. More significantly, how the children diagnosed with autism will be benefited from ABTinterventions also will be explored.