Expressive Arts in Ecotherapeutic Contexts: a social intervention for Autism

作者：Kevin Burrows · 发表于：Anglia Ruskin Research Online (Anglia Ruskin University) · 年份：2017 · 研究领域：Neuroscience, Education and Cognitive Function、Autism Spectrum Disorder Research、Creativity in Education and Neuroscience

Within the current education environment there are those who, due to differences in brain architecture that affect social understanding, are outside of what is regarded the norm, of the neural typical (NT). For these people with an autism spectrum condition (ASC), the world can be a confusing and frightening place (Jordan, 2007). It can be argued that reductionistic/behaviourist models of learning, based on a competitive performance and targets measured against predetermined national standards of achievement, create environments that isolate and constrain, causing anxiety for people with autism.
\nHow the topic was investigated:
\nAs part of their further education art and performing arts curriculum, four 16 to 19-year-old students with ASC engaged in art making of masks while in natural woodland. Expressive Arts Therapy was used as an alternative model to support assessment of their work, by enabling the viewer to re-experience the sensate experience held in their ASC artwork/masks through Schaverien’s (2000) concept of ‘scapegoat transference’. This entails an embodied, attuned, non-verbal, dance/movement response to the ASC-made mask, followed by visual art making, which embeds an aesthetic countertransference into poetry.
\nWhat was found:
\nCoding this intermodal poetry through Galvin and Todres’ (2010) ‘embodied interpretation’ and Faulkner’s (2009, p.27) poetic ‘research tankas’ arrived at a distilled version of the original ASC live art process as a se...