Art as a Language for Autism Building Effective Therapeutic

Relationships with Children and Adolescents 1st Edition

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This book is dedicated to the memory of Joanne Lara,
dancer, teacher, author, and the originator of Autism
Movement Therapy, who reminded me that,
“children show us who they are through their art.”
Contents

Foreword By Shaun McNiff ix

Acknowledgments xii

1 Introduction: The Rainbow Day 1

2 Listening to What We May Not Hear 15

3 A Strong Image of the Child With Autism 28

4 Finding a Language for Feeling 36

5 Who Is Diagnosis For? 45

6 A World Between Art and Play 57

7 Playful Art and Artful Play: An Integrative Approach to

Art and Play in Therapy 70

8 Trusting the Process in Autism 93

9 Clay, Play, and Connection 98

10 From Perfectionism to Playfulness 108

11 Empathy: Understanding the Other Through Art and Play 117

12 Potential and Possibility for Adolescents 125

13 The Spectrum and the Continuum 142

viii Contents

14 Experience Becomes a Doorway: A Parent’s Story:

Based on Interviews With Jennifer Damian 163

15 Conclusion 171

References 179
Index 191
Foreword
By Shaun McNiff

For five decades I have exhorted colleagues to approach all forms of artistic
expression as integral to one another while doing the same with therapy and
education, recognizing the need to support the infinitely unique ways that we
learn and engage the world. Jane Ferris Richardson addresses these questions
and advances an integrative vision of art and experience with depth, consum-
mate artistry, and compelling practicality—all presented with clear, direct
language. She fuses the disciplines of education and therapy, cognition and
emotion, together with all forms of artistic expression, in making the case
for imaginative learning environments designed to further community through
the engagement of the various needs and strengths of individual persons. The
creative approaches to engaging others presented in this book can serve as a
model for not only dealing with the specific conditions of autism but more
comprehensive professional practice in therapy and education.
Common sense tells us that children and adolescents will benefit from per-
sonalized approaches to learning designed in response to the different paths
that each of us creates to hopefully attain shared human goals and competen-
cies. Yet the structures of our professions and institutions tend to go contrary
to nature, creating silos and arbitrary divisions between facets of experience
that hinder generative interdependence. I keep asking, is it possible for therapy
and education to realize the fullness and creative reciprocity we hope to further
in life?
Helping young people learn and grow is a humbling process since we can
never assume that what may work today, or in the past, will be effective tomor-
row. With art, and unlike science, we do not exactly replicate procedures nor
precisely predict the end at the beginning. Teaching and therapy, as well as
raising our children, are creative disciplines that require commitment to rela-
tionship building and experimentation. Uncertainty in the creative process is
the norm. The same goes for inevitable setbacks, all demanding the ability to
stay committed, trusting that there is an intelligence at work within the com-
plex of creation that tends to move a few steps ahead of the reasoning mind
which reflects upon, appreciates, and incorporates what emerges beyond its
controls (McNiff, 1998).
x Foreword

Problems, and especially acute difficulties, invariably stimulate us to try

something different and new. Effectiveness in my experience is proportionate
to the ability to respond and embrace what occurs outside the lines of expecta-
tion and do our best to support others in the process of creating their distinctive
lives. Rather than assuming we, or our professions, know the way, we assist
children and adolescents in finding their paths through the complex of experi-
ence that we all face. The methods of practice are in many ways antithetical
to a more general desire for predictability, control, and replicable outcomes
that permeate contemporary life. It might be helpful in deepening our empathy
for people living with autism to reflect on how qualities of the condition such
as the reluctance to change, and strict adherence to repeated behaviors, more
subtly permeate life in general. The young people of this book are our teachers
and guides as we are hopefully theirs.
Jane Ferris Richardson offers a depth and variety of vignettes demonstrating
how her work with children and adolescents living with autism responds to
the one-of-a-kind nature of each situation where disciplines of practice con-
verge their resources in response to the needs of the moment. Rather than the
application of stock methods too often seen today in therapy and education,
each engagement is co-created. Notwithstanding the roles and responsibili-
ties of those who offer professional services, the experience is permeated by
mutual creation where improvisation and ongoing decision-making character-
ize an overall process that tends to involve feeling our way toward goals and
well-being.
For example, since autism tends to seriously limit spoken language, this
book explores the creation of a “multi-sensory” artistic “language to explore
emotions and experiences” which also supports the enhancement of “verbal
communication.” In dealing with autism, where our usual modes of relating
to one another and the world may be unavailable, we must create alternatives.
Invariably, what works in a particular therapeutic context can be extended to
life as a whole. Necessity helps us to do what we might not otherwise consider.
The resulting processes correspond to what K. K. Gallas describes in using all
forms of artistic expression as “languages of learning” with young children in
classroom communities (1991, 1994) and Edith Cobb’s exploration of how the
“ecology of imagination in childhood” is the basis for lifelong creation (1992).
Jane Ferris Richardson makes important contributions to this tradition
with her exploration of creativity and learning occurring within the challeng-
ing context of autism and its therapeutic treatment. Resistance and fears reli-
ably accompany the positive features of creative expression in all of life. I
have found it necessary to develop the capacity to stick with the struggles and
discomfort as modeled in this book, to persist with trust that they are neces-
sary elements within a larger process that requires all facets of experience.
The monsters that universally appear in children’s art and play (McCarthy,
2007, 2008, 2015) can serve as friends and helpers, helping us invent fresh
ways of interacting with adversity. Art heals by creating with the shadows,
 Foreword xi

by transforming afflictions into affirmation of life and hope for the future
(McNiff, 2004, 2015). Problems are embraced as fuel for making life anew
and as this book consistently documents, positive outcomes in art and play
build confidence and spread to larger spheres of experience.

References
Cobb, E. (1992). The ecology of imagination in childhood. Spring Publications (origi-
nally published in 1977, NY: Columbia University Press).
Gallas, K. (1991). Art as epistemology: Enabling children to know what they know.
Harvard Educational Review, 61(1), 40–50.
Gallas, K. (1994). The languages of learning: How children talk, write, dance, draw,
and sing their understanding of the world. Teachers College Press.
McCarthy, D. (2007). “If you turned into a monster”: Transformation through play: A
body-centered approach to play therapy. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
McCarthy, D. (Ed.). (2008). Speaking about the unspeakable: Non-verbal methods and
experiences in therapy with children. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
McCarthy, D. (Ed.). (2015). Deep play. Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
McNiff, S. (1998). Trust the process: An artist’s guide to letting go. Shambhala
Publications.
McNiff, S. (2004). Art heals: How creativity cures the soul. Shambhala Publications.
McNiff, S. (2015). Imagination in action: Secrets for unleashing creative expression.
Shambhala Publications.
Acknowledgments

To the children whose artwork and stories are shared here, and to their fami-
lies: you have taught me how to listen to what I may not hear, and I cannot
thank you enough for enabling me to share this understanding with others.
Deep appreciation to Jennifer Damian and to Michael Tolleson Robles for
their wonderful interviews and for generously sharing their time and insights.
Thanks to Krystal Demaine, Andrea Gollub, and Chunhong Wang for our
shared research, cross-cultural collaboration, and the evolution of our work,
from Massachusetts to Manhattan to Beijing. And to Gabryjelka Javierbieda,
for tirelessly volunteering in Beijing.
To Ali Golding, Karen Howard, and Stephen Shore, for sharing travels and
teaching in Delhi and Dhaka, making possible a deep investigation of expres-
sive approaches to supporting autism. Thanks to Manish and Malvika Samnani
and SOCH Gurgaon, and to Dr. Aftab Uddin, Mohammad Rafiquil Islam, and
Faith Bangladesh for inviting us to share our work with professionals, parents,
and children.
To Irina Katz-Mazilu and the Federation Francaise D’Art Therapeute, who
invited me to explore, together with Joanne Lara, the importance of connection
with nature through art and movement in a Paris master class on autism.
To Monica Wong, who encouraged the further investigation of Playful Art
and Artful Play in Hong Kong at the International Art Therapy Conference:
and to Stephanie Brooke and the Tokyo Expressive Therapies Conference
for giving me my first opportunity to understand that the language of art for
autism is indeed global.
To Shelly Goebl-Parker, for investigating along with me how Reggio inspi-
ration informs art therapy practice, from Italy to our own classrooms and
practices. And to Dorothy Garcia and Tom Harding of Art Aids Art, for under-
standing how art therapy practice could both be inspired by Reggio principles
and support early childhood learning; and for inviting my students and me to
Khayelitsha.
To the Expressive Therapies Summit for believing that expressive
approaches are “better together,” and for providing so many opportunities to
 Acknowledgments xiii

collaborate with other therapists and artists. Thanks to Elaine Hall and Kerry
Bowers for being among this group of colleagues.
To Debra Muzikar of The Art of Autism for the wonderful resources and
insight she has so generously shared.
And much appreciation to everyone who read the chapters in progress:
Nancy Jo Cardillo for discussions of empathy, Helen Cassidy Page for her
reflections on sand tray, Connie Gretsch of Art Therapists for Human Rights
for her understanding of how a strong image of the child supports the rights of
children with autism, Shawn McGivern, for her integrative grasp of an inte-
grative approach, Amy O’Donnell and Ron Fortier for sharing their respective
artists’ feedback on the Expressive Therapies Continuum, and Kathy Westgate
Vena for her understanding of Reggio “languages,” both as a fellow parent
and as a therapist. Thanks to Nona Orbach for sharing her Reggio informed
perspective on materials for art therapy.
The editorial support of Isabel Crabtree and Alex Kaptitan helped to move
the book forward; and Amanda Devine, Grace McDonell, and Katya Porter
at Routledge supported this work with great patience. My Lesley colleagues
Lauren Leone and Andre Ruesch provided invaluable advice from their expe-
rience as authors.
Finally, to my own family, many, many thanks for your patience with the
long process of researching and writing this book. Thanks to David Richard-
son for his careful reading of both text and photos; and for lending his trained
eye to help tell children’s stories visually. And thanks to Gabriel Richardson,
both for his generosity in allowing the use of his artwork on the cover, and for
his understanding of my work from his perspective as an artist.
The writing of this book was supported in part by sabbatical funds and
through faculty development grant funding from Lesley University.
Chapter 1

Introduction
The Rainbow Day

“Is this your favorite thing? When kids come to see you here and you get to
make things?” A child asked me this question as he put the finishing touches on
a boat he was constructing from paper, getting ready to float it across the water
filling my sand tray. To understand children’s lives and worlds, therapists must
listen to what they may not hear, learning about what helps a child to feel
safe, and about what is important to them. Autistic children’s and adolescents’
special interests can be an important part of how they introduce themselves
to others, coming in to a therapy session with stuffed animals, action figures,
or a pocket stuffed with rocks, and connecting right away to the objects in the
environment that resonate with these interests.
For a child, this may mean gravitating to the shelves of figures for play in
the sand, often echoing what they have already shared through drawing.
Asking children “what is interesting to you?” and “what do you care
about?” is one way to learn about what motivates and moves them; and the
answer need not be in words. Yet the question is serious. With adults I suggest
that they consider what is interesting to them, and that they draw a picture of
something they care about when I give a workshop on art and play therapy.
The first time I used this approach, I received a drawing of a steer from Temple
Grandin, who was the keynote presenter for the conference, sitting in on my
workshop. This interest motivated her life’s work.
Through art, play, and the therapeutic relationship, children’s intentions, as
well as their imagination, can be supported. Helping children to communicate
their own intentions and interests engages them in the process of therapy. One
child with an extraordinary ability to create moveable, magical creatures, came
into my room for the first time holding a flying beast he had made entirely out
of paper.
This creature explored the room with him, perching on the doll’s house,
and looking down at the shelves full of art materials and the objects used
for play in the sand tray. When the child was ready, he sat and created a
beautifully articulated figure from clay, sharing not only the story of his
creation, but also the story of his challenging day at school. We appreciated
his strengths, and then thought together about what was difficult for him

DOI: 10.4324/9781315173306-1
2 Introduction

Figure 1.1 Special interests as found on the sandtray shelves.

Figure 1.2 Portrait of Darth Vader by an adolescent with a special interest in Star Wars.
 Introduction 3

Figure 1.3 Temple Grandin’s portrait of a steer, drawn in response to the author’s
request to draw, “something you are really interested in, something you really
care about.” Courtesy of Temple Grandin.

Figure 1.4 The fying creature.

4 Introduction

and what he would like to change. These strengths become more visible and
these challenges can become more manageable when they are shared and
seen in perspective.
What children or adolescents themselves consider significant and respond
to through art or in play is deeply connected to their interests, their approach
to the world, and their areas of comfort or discomfort. Helping them to find,
and communicate through, their own “language” is a task which demands flex-
ibility from the therapist, especially with children and adolescents who can be,
by virtue of their neurological makeup, inflexible. The support we give for the
many ways of communicating can strengthen relationships, enhance expres-
sion, and allow for the discovery of strengths. During a game of catch, a child
and I each named something we liked when we caught the ball. I was coached
by the excited child to respond with “Playing with me!” He then added that he
too liked to come and play, and to make art together.
Children show us who they are through their art, as Joanne Lara, the founder
of Autism Movement Therapy has often observed (personal communication,
April 1, 2019). Sharing their art enables others to know a child more fully. As
one child explained, when you have an idea, “you can think of it . . . you can
even draw it . . . and THEN you can talk about it.” For him, drawing was both
a comfortable way to share, in his words, “something that is new,” and a way
to build a relationship.
Autism impacts the mind, brain, and senses. Core challenges for children
and adolescents with autism include difficulties with social communication,
emotional regulation, and sensory challenges (Greenspan & Shanker, 2004;
Greenspan & Wieder, 2009; Prizant et al., 2000). A holistic, individualized
approach to therapy with children and adolescents with autism is based on
awareness of individual needs, strengths, and challenges. The mind, brain, and
senses are all engaged through making art and moving through the dynamic
process of play. An integrative approach to the expressive and creative pro-
cesses of art and play is flexible enough to meet the needs of children and
adolescents who may have difficulty being flexible themselves; and that is the
approach explored here. My training both as an art therapist and as a play ther-
apist has been essential to developing this way of being with autistic children
and adolescents, as has an understanding of individualized, developmentally
based approaches to supporting different sensory needs and communication
styles, and supporting emotional regulation.1 These are resources for connect-
ing and communicating with children and adolescents with autism in ther-
apy and within the broader contexts of family, community, and educational
settings.
Finding a language to explore emotions and experiences is essential. “Talk
therapy, in particular, may not work well for autistic people, because they
can struggle with social communication and with identifying their feelings”
 Introduction 5

Figure 1.5 The world as a happy place.

(Weinstock, 2019). The fundamental principles of art and play based approaches
rely on working with the nonverbal but richly expressive languages of art, and
the process of play. Play and art, as the Reggio educators understand, “are
experiences and explorations of life, of the senses, and of meanings” (Gandini
et al., 2005, p. 9). Supporting children to trust in the process of play and art
making allows for this exploration. In the words of one young girl I saw in
therapy, therapists help children to experience and represent the world as “a
friendly place, most of the time.”
When I see children and adolescents with autism in individual therapy, the
goals for our work together may include navigating difficult transitions at
school or in the family, or helping to manage anxiety or feelings of depression.
Autistic children and adolescents have a higher rate of anxiety and depres-
sion. Communication, calming, and coping are important therapeutic goals
to address these challenges. At the same time, it is important to explore what
is possible for children and adolescents, both through holding a strong image
6 Introduction

of them and helping them to develop a sense of their own self-efficacy. The
approach presented here is integrative, drawing from art and play therapy, and
encompassing careful consideration of when to let a child lead, and when to
offer more structure and support. The overarching goal is to better connect
and communicate with children and adolescents with autism, and to support
their self-expression and communication with others. In telling children’s sto-
ries, I am describing “not just autistic experience, but human experience,” as
Raymond Foye (in Silberman & Foye, 2020) has observed of the stories of
autistic people; but these experiences have autism as an integral and individual
component.
As Prizant (2015) explains, “autism is called a spectrum disorder because
the abilities and challenges of people with autism fall along a continuum,
and no two people manifest autism in the same way” (p. 223). For diagnos-
tic categories to be of meaningful use, both strengths and challenges must
be understood in the context of an individual’s life. The goal of diagnosis is
to better understand each individual and to better meet their needs. The goal
of therapy is not to “cure” the child or adolescent’s autism. Autistic children
and adolescents want to be free of their worries and anxiety. They want to
be free to play, to engage with others, and to communicate. They want to be
free to explore what interests and matters to them. I have found that children
and adolescents often express an articulate awareness about their autism, and
that, in some important ways, they do not want to be different. The language
used here reflects this preference, using “autistic children,” (or adolescents)
and “children (or adolescents) with autism,” interchangeably, to suggest how
autism is both part of who the child is, and also that autism is not the entirety
of who the child is.

Figure 1.6 A scary dream of robbers.