textiles issue - The National Society for Education in Art and Design

24Special Needs25Special NeedsArt therapy inprimary schools‘Art therapy … can work inconjunction with and indeedfacilitate the educationalprocess.’Art therapy has often been associated withspecial schools, but Liz Lockett,registered art therapist, explains how arttherapy can work in the primary school,and provides an insight into the power ofart therapy in the lives of young children.I am an art therapist currently working inprimary schools in Herefordshire. I havebeen working with groups as well asindividual children for the past three yearsand have really enjoyed engaging withchildren in a school setting. Prior to this,my work included working with childrenwith autism in a special school setting,alongside a team of other therapists,including music and drama therapists, andpsychotherapists.Referrals quite often come directly fromindividual head teachers, or are passed viasocial services to the school. There aretwo forms that need to be filled in beforework can commence with a child: aparental/guardian consent form, as well asa referral form completed by the headteacher. The second form provides spacefor a ‘reason for referral’ and details of pastinterventions or other agencies involved.The next step is to meet with the child’steacher and to establish what needs she orhe thinks the child has, how their behaviourhas been in the classroom, how that childis relating to their peers, as well as anyother concerns or insights the teacher has.This contact and continual liaison with thechild’s teacher is of primary importance, asit helps to gauge how the child’s behaviourhas changed throughout the therapeuticinput they are receiving.The rooms in which I work all vary – somewith a sink, some without! The mostimportant thing is that it is a space wherethe child can feel able to explore and workthrough some unresolved conflicts anddifficult issues. Using the art materials – Iusually offer them a wide selection,including oil pastels, clay, coloured chalks,acrylic paints, plain and coloured paper,and so on – their feelings are expressed ina safe and unthreatening way, which forsome provides enormous relief. For someof them, the classroom sets up the worstareas of conflict and they end up behavingbadly to attract the attention they crave.The knowledge that at some time in theweek they will have an attentive adult tothemselves, in itself gives them the senseof security they need.The art materials used by the childrenprovide a tangible medium through whichthey can express themselves. Childrenoften have difficulty expressing theirfeelings verbally, and the process of artprovides a less problematic, morespontaneous means of communication.This approach differs from art teaching inthat the learning skills and the aestheticquality of the image are not the primaryconcern of the art therapist. Some childrenuse picture-making specifically, drawingpictures of their experiences, their feelingsor their fears and they can choose to talkabout them if they wish. The importantfeature is that experiences may emergemore readily in visual images than in verbalcommunication, and the artwork mayfacilitate discussion of otherwiseinaccessible topics and provide apermanent record of the processexperienced by the child.TamsynI would like to provide a brief account of agirl who I will call Tamsyn, aged 10, who Isaw for over a year. She produced somevery strong work, but unfortunately I haveno images of the work she did becauseshe moved to another county and took herportfolio of work with her.Tamsyn had been referred for art therapyto offer her an opportunity to express herfeelings and build up her self-esteem. Shehad experienced significant familyproblems, the effects of which manifestedthemselves in poor behaviour, attentionseekingrudeness as well as generaldisengagement with school.During her first session, Tamsyn cameacross as mature, eloquent and capable.She couldn’t think of anything to draw andsaid she would spend some time thinkingabout it. She decided she would draw theriver near her home and the two bridgesthat cross it. She spoke about her uncle,saying that at times she couldn’tconcentrate at school and constantly sawpictures of him in her mind. She went on totell me that her uncle had drowned in theriver when she was only six and that shehad been in the area at the time ithappened. She recalled that he had beendrunk, and that it was dark and she waswalking to her granddad’s house and sawthe lights of the police cars andambulances. Tamsyn went on to finish apainting of the river depicting the twobridges.This was to be the first of many traumas inTamsyn’s life, which she disclosed to me inthe sessions over the year in which I sawher. There were long periods of time whereshe remained very closed, cautious,distrustful and avoidant. Her imagesreflected this in that they were sparse andusually comprised cut outs from clothingcatalogues of things she liked. Longperiods of time were spent cutting andgluing. During this time, I had to remainpatient, and be careful not to try to speedthings up, as she would quickly retreat.Then, after a silence of three to fourmonths, it was almost as if the flood gatesopened and Tamsyn had finally decidedshe could trust me. Every week, from thenon, she hurried into the room, grabbing artmaterials and portraying what was goingon in her life at the time, as well as talking,crying and asking for advice as to what sheshould do in certain circumstances.Her home life continued to be traumatic,with the loss of her much-loved brother toprison, as well as the death of her ‘onlyfriend’, her dog, her mum changingpartners, witnessing fights between herdad and her brother, and finally movingschool again. She did, however, becomemuch more integrated and happy at hercurrent school during the time she wasreceiving art therapy.Our final session was difficult for us both,as we had been on quite a journeytogether. Tamsyn brought some smallcakes, which we shared, and asked if Icould continue to see her in her newschool in Manchester. She knew this wasimpossible, and we both understood thatthis was her way of saying she didn’t wantit to end.Primary school arttherapy groupThis is a brief account of an art therapygroup that ran for eight weeks at a primaryschool in Herefordshire. We had twogroups: the first included children fromYears 1 and 2, and the second, those fromYears 3, 4, 5 and 6. Each group containedaround six to eight boys and girls of mixedability and lasted for 45 minutes.The aim of the group was to provide an arttherapy group experience that would allowfor expression of emotion within astructure that was supportive, containingand gently challenging. Many of thechildren had low self-esteem and lowconfidence. Others had problems relatingto their peer group, as they found it hard totake turns, share or listen withoutinterrupting one another, giving theimpression of a lack of respect andthoughtfulness about the needs of others.The initial part of the session was spentsitting together in a circle. This gave thegroup time to gather, and was usuallyspent doing a warm-up activity, includingintroductions, finding out how everyone inthe group was feeling that day, ormovement and exercises.The second part of the session was usuallyspent around a large table, painting. Thiswas often a directive session led by meand included a variety of themes, includingpainting in pairs, self-portraits, families,round robin drawings, emotions, wishesand metaphorical gifts to one another.This part of the session gave the childrenan opportunity to be self-expressive, toexperience using various art materialsand to work together as a group orindependently. Some needed assistanceor found it difficult to focus for a length oftime, but generally everyone in the groupparticipated and enjoyed the process.The final part of the session involved sittingin a circle again. All the children found ithard to stop work and move to this closingphase. Some found it difficult to listen toothers reflecting on their artwork, or totake turns, and remained unfocused, butfor the most part everyone was able tocontribute and explain what their workmeant to them and to receive myfeedback. I found this one of the mostrewarding parts of the session, as childrenwere often very open about their work andthe good and difficult things that weregoing on in their lives. Some areas thatwere spoken about include two boys’experiences of being bullied, a child’ssense of loss following the death of hermother, one boy’s surprise at beingincluded by others in a group painting,and one boy’s realisation of his intolerancefor others when they didn’t do as he asked.Some children, who were initiallywithdrawn and quiet, became, over time,more confident and willing to talk in thegroup.At the final session, each child was giventheir work in a folder to take home andasked how they had found the eightweeks. Many asked if they could returnand found the idea of the group endingdifficult. This is common with groupendings, but a positive sign that theyfound it a good and helpful experience.START THE MAGAZINE FOR PRIMARY AND PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ART, CRAFT AND DESIGNSTART THE MAGAZINE FOR PRIMARY AND PRE-SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ART, CRAFT AND DESIGN