And surprisingly, it comes to us from the autistic children themselves. We are listening like never before, as it seems the autistic community are teaching themselves through art. There have been many inspirational testimonials from autistic children ages 12 and up that are truly stunning. Through their creative art the autistic child is able to express their feelings, though non verbal and any expressions which they find difficult to express verbally. It seems this very safe way to express their feelings and it is actually working.

There is much literature available resounding this new finding and some of it is even written by autistic children themselves. So by teaching autistic children through art it demonstrates its effectiveness, thereby indicating that it may be a clinically-sound safe treatment option. There is much that can benefit an autistic child through this art therapy such as an increase of self awareness, developing problem solving strategies, giving them their own creative thinking knowing they are in a safe environment. There may be many changes of behaviors and development of social skills. So the benefits are many and they may not come all at once or maybe they come slowly but it’s certainly worth a “look see”.

Teaching autistic children through art can be taught by art therapists, and in large centers, group sessions are offered. But it seems the goals that parents want for their autistic children are the same as any therapist:

• Opportunity for creative expression with different art techniques whether abstract or imagination. Therapists can design individual art techniques for certain needs.
• Art therapy provides safe and enjoyable sensory integration through exploration of the art. It’s a nurturing relationship giving the art a way to create product and meaning with self accomplishment.
• Communication awareness for those autistic children who have difficulty expressing themselves, giving them a safe forum for emotion and self –expression.
• Art is a visual activity and with integration can be so much fun which helps in social skills and expressions, giving a strong form to peer support.
• Leisure, Recreation go along with social skills and can be developed through observing and learning from others whether a therapist or group or family. It’s a strong form of support.

With the building of trust you can provide directives to encourage communication to the child which will reap great rewards. Teaching Autistic Children through Art whether it is a pencil, clay, collage, paint, or any crafts that may glue, the main key is safety. There may be a favorite crayon or pencil that will keep their art coming but always be there with them seeing it’s going in and on the right place! Depending on the child’s age and what their interests are you will know what goals they may reach.

I must say, my autistic 11 year old grandson and I had quite a good time laughing when we were drawing together. He loves cars and trucks, so he drew lots of roads and forests and bridges and a house he wanted to live in along with road. It wasn’t great drawings but I made up a story as he went along, he loved it. There was a lot of interaction with everything he drew and his eyes were shining. We had a wonderful afternoon.

You will have dedicated personal physician and therapists to help you who work outside the school system.  Through testing of your autistic child you will find out which interventions and programs are best suited for your child with possible special health care needs.  So there is help, and I repeat, there is help along the way.

There will be a lifestyle commitment of Parents, Teachers and Caregivers who will accept this understanding on both parts.  Pointing out characters in pictures and story books, i.e. ball, car, wagon is a good way to get reaction from a very unresponsive autistic child. In this way he can be involved and not withdraw into himself, but he may be interested in a certain toy in the picture. By pointing out things in books and pictures he is also developing personal interaction skills which are so important.

Having a tantrum or “melt down” is telling you he may not understand what is expected of him.  We all have our own way of doing things, things that work for us and only us, and so it is for the autistic child.  All the steps have to be given to him to learn, i.e. ask him to go to the table, see the book, pick up the book, and bring the book to you.

Noise and commotion along with many people may over stimulate and be overwhelming to the autistic child, so Parents, Teachers and Caregivers need to be made aware of this. The repetition of words or one word in a loud voice is their very own set of rituals.  By making learning fun he will respond best with visual material in his learning of human and social behavior.   Computer learning can be helpful when they see what they should be doing.

• playing
• bathing
• toilet training
• eating at the table with a fork
• bedtime

Non stimulating sports and simple musical instrument for them to hum along also are good learning tools.