Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorder (EBD)

The United States has a yearly estimate of thirteen to twenty percent of children with a mental disorder (Losinski, Hughey,& Maag, 2016). Youth with emotional and behavioral disorder (EBD) are often defined as, “All children with transient or chronic mental health issues” (Losinski et. al, 2016). Youth exhibiting EMD may experience loneliness, interacting in social situation, controlling outbursts in the classroom, and expressing how they feel. Youth with EBD can benefit from the involvement in art therapy in a safe environment with assistance from art teachers, counselors, and social workers. Art therapy is an outlet for students with EBD to express their emotions in a positive and constructive manner. It is a therapeutic approach that implement

Students with ASD often withdraw from social situations because of stress they experience when interacting with others. As a result, these youth are more likely to feel lonely or be depressed. Art therapy allows for students with ASD to create change in social behavior and have a new focus of attention. It assists students with the development of relationships when working with art teachers, social workers, and it encourages working with peers (Schweize, Knorth, & Spreen, n.d). According to the theory of mind, those with Autism have difficulty connecting on an emotional level which plays a role in their social deficits. The use of art therapy for youth with Autism is appropriate because they tend to be visual thinkers. In other words, they experience what they are seeing on multiple levels. Art therapy allows these youth to be less literal in self expression and provides a positive way of expressing feelings of sadness, loneliness, and aggression (Epp,

These outbursts are difficult for the youth to control and it can be disruptive in the classroom. Art therapy provides students with ADHD an expressive and creative way for exploring their emotions and their view of the problem at hand. When a student draws about an incident or problem they are experiencing it allows them to fix the problem by making it concrete so they can examine it (Henley, 1998). In addition, art allows students with ADHD to be encouraged to solve problems by drawing out cartoons to visual problems that may arise in the future which can be created by the use of a storyboard with a social worker or counselor. Art allows for these students to organize perceptions and feelings. Youth with ADHD often experience difficulty in expressing the emotion they are currently facing. When using art youth are able to draw images that represent how they feel. An example of this is when a student with ADHD draws two figures without faces. The lack of faces represents sadness due to a problem with a friend during the weekend (Henley, 1998). When youth draw images like this it provides social workers and counselors as a starting point when exploring