The program began without a hitch. The children came into the art room with their staff and quietly sat down. Lauren, the art therapist I am working under, had based the days activity around what the kids would be doing that day - the main focus being on their going to the library for story telling. For that reason we created books in which the children could create stories though drawing.
Together we bound the books, encouraging the children t participate in the process, we guided them to punch down on the hole puncher, and to pull the ribbon through the holes to bind the book. In the two sessions we had I worked with two different boys closely. The first (Client A) had very impaired motor activity, he was also uninterested in our activity and spent most of the session looking around and slowly standing up - reaching for something else. Client A only helped in the book making process when his staff or myself actually took his hand and attempted to push down the puncher or pull the string. He drew very few drawings in the book, each were rather sparse [in terms of area covered, line weight and color variation]
The second boy I worked with (Client B) also needed to be physically guided to help with the book making process - but had more control over his motor functions than Client A had - our guidance was more of a reminder to him of what our activity was - a way of keeping his attention on the book making activity. After guiding the string through the first set of holes and having Client B pull the ribbon through, he attempted to lace the second string with my instruction regarding which side to start on, and which hole to go into. The client was able to put the string through the hole of the front cover, and attempted to lace it through the back cover, but twice disregarded the blank pages between them. In the end I laced the strings and the consumer pulled the laces.
Client B was able to create several drawings in his book, however there was a time lapse between each drawing - or even the completion of one, in which the consumer sat, and looked at the drawing, or the crayons, or what was going on around him, I prompted him to continue drawings, and after considering for some time he chose a crayon and began again. It seemed as if he applied great thought as to what color to choose.
As I looked around I watched the faces of the children and saw Concentration, and happiness. The activity brought them joy, the process was enjoyable and satisfying. The children would look to their staff or Lauren and myself, and point to their drawings with pride!
This was a very powerful and important realization for me. I have been wondering - because I have only been volunteering for 4 days and will be here no longer than a month - that I do not/will not see what progress has been made or will be made with all the clients. It has worried me and the question of whether I am doing anything to help the clients has crossed my mind. The question of whether Art Therapy is doing anything to help the clients - who will most likely never develop to the "normal" stages despite all their therapies has crossed my mind. The last question was one I could answer immediately, and the question it again. The answer came first as 'Yes of course it helps' - and the questions following were - Are you sure? How can you tell? Is it enough?
I don't have an answer - or at least a complete answer to all the questions - but seeing the pride in the faces of these children, knowing that they felt accomplished in their own way was a reinforcement of my belief that "art-ing" is self healing. It may not be enough... but it is something - and it is something strong!
And so the question mark has shrunk some, and my eyes opened more to see and learn the power of art therapy.
Art-ing about it ;)
Images 1 - 3: Series - Towards Answers
Posts
