Art therapy and autism are strongly interconnected. Art therapy, useful for everyone, young and old, is a type of therapy that is particularly suitable for people with behavioral, cognitive and physical disorders such as autism .
The areas mainly damaged by autistic disorders are the communication area, the relational area and the expressive area . It follows that the child is already struggling immediately to relate in a "typical" way with his companions, already from the first years of kindergarten. Behavioral atypicality can be accommodated and improved thanks to a communicative enrichment.
That is, if classical and verbal communication is a deficit, it is important that other types of communication emerge, such as gestural and non-verbal communication, or even computerized technologies.
This is where art therapy peeps out , with all its variations and communicative nuances that it borrows from the magical world of art in all its expressions.
What can pet therapy for autism do?
Art therapy and autism in the clinic
As he wrote in an article entitled " Spettroautistico " Dr. Daiana Cappellaro, psychologist and professor of AIPREC (Italian Association for the prevention of rehabilitation and treatment), psychodynamic art therapy turns out, in the face of different clinical experiences, a good application in degree to reactivate the psycho-affective development blocked by autistic problems, precisely because changes in object relations are generated, an active organization of conscience and thought, a new modulation in interpersonal relationships ".
But what is the link between art therapy and autism? In short, art therapy promotes communication blocked or deviated from the processes of autism, so it is good, clinical researches prove it. In this article, interesting notes on books and articles to be read in this regard, such as " Music therapy for the autistic boy" by J. Alvin or "Art as a therapy in childhood" by E. Kramer and still "Manual of children's drawing" by R.Quaglia.
Autism and art therapy: notes, colors, theater
Art is life, joy, colors . Each of us perceives a picture, a show, hears a sound in a thousand different ways. So in a more particular way these realities are perceived by people suffering from autistic disorders.
It may happen that for them a sound is too strong, or on the contrary that they look for it systematically; they can love one color and strongly hate another; movements are often perceived as shots, the voice is used to shout or completely ignored.
Music therapy, chromotherapy, psycho-drama, dance, body movement, plastic therapy, theater for children, are all areas and fields of learning and communication to be discovered.
More and more innovative forms of communication are also emerging that fall within the branch of the so-called "New Artiterapie", such as pet therapy with animals, or computerized therapy, which entice and stimulate children and young people to interact and awaken the desire to communicate their perceptions to the world.
