While there was still no discussion regarding the meaning or feelings involved - It was rewarding to see the accomplished looks on each of the clients faces as the array of art work was laid before them. There were very brief discussion regarding the progress of the technical development - the progression from very simple to more complex, involving the combination of elements that had been repeated almost obsessively, but always separately in the initial stages. Taking a detailed notice of this progression, in this population especially, shows a mental development or advancement! This is verified by the science of child development, and the meaning of children's art at certain developmental stages. - I will be spending as much personal time studying these phenomenon's as possible as they are imperative to knowing about your client and their developmental stage.
Many of the questions from my last entry are still zig - zaging through my mind, with the addition of new ones:
- If we are able to push the clients to talk about emotions behind or derived from the work - will it be too much for these particular clients to experience consciously - in terms of their emotional and behavioral states?
- Is our role [for these particular populations/clients] as art therapist simply to allow the expression via art - to help cushion the emotional response or to protect the clients in a sense from the emotional overload that may occur through other forms of expression/therapy?
With the new year, our schedule has returned to a normal schedule of programs, uninterrupted by holidays. We had our regularly scheduled second group of the day which is the after school Helping Hands respite program for children with autism.
A new element was introduced to the children in the program, and followed by the more well known activity - the use of the circle as a possible containing force. The new element was the introduction of a human figure, rendered in dashed lines. It was expect that the children would react to the human figure with a more chaotic artist response - allowing their drawings to overcome the outline of the figure - or disregard it completely. It was expected that the circle would serve as a familiar activity - more calming and allowing for a greater level of concentration --> which would allow the children to continue with the geared task of containing their drawings within the circle - as Lauren has been working towards with the kids for at least a month.
The session itself had high energy. A client who was new to me was an extreme handful - on the move - obsessively searching for magazines [with perceived] potential for a violent outburst. The client's energy was apparent in the room and I feel that it intensified the energy of some of the others - That is not to say that some of the other clients do not have naturally intense energies already.
Our session did not run its full course. Often, the clients are able to do two drawings [more or less] - and are then at a stand still - they either do not want to draw anymore or are distracted by other simulations or are disengaged. It is extremely difficult to prompt each clients to continue or give further instructions when the session is in full swing.
It seemed that Lauren's assumption that the circle would be less chaotic was correct - but non of the circles actually contained the markings. The whole session felt chaotic - rather uncontained if I can use our own metaphors.
The session with the autistic children is very taxing when you have the chance to process everything that has been said, shouted, drawn and done. When I put real afterthought into the experience, there is much more than a loud nonsensical high energy... and that is what is so hard to figure out and carry with you.
Art-ing about it :?
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