Autism Spectrum Disorder Analysis

Autism Spectrum Disorder is a severe developmental disorder that affects body and mind, feeling and social relating. There are a small percentage of those who are capable of keeping stable friendships and an even smaller percentage of diagnosed adults who are able to hold full-time paid jobs (Koch et al., 2015). Since the main problems individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder have is social interaction and understanding emotions, Dance Movement Therapy Utilizes a technique in order to help improve the problems. In a study, thirty-one individuals with varied severity of Autism Spectrum Disorder were recruited to participate in seven sessions of intervention that were an hour long, conducted by a certified dance movement therapist. During the

sessions, the dance movement therapist used a technique called mirroring and used other activities to help with comprehending emotions and social interaction. Mirroring is a Dance Movement Therapy technique that allows the users to copy the dance movement therapist’s movements. After the sessions, the results showed that Dance Movement Therapy can be an effective and practical for treating individuals with the disorder, helping with improvements in body awareness, differing self from others, psychosocial well-being, and social skills (Koch et al., 2015). What this means is, Dance Movement Therapy can even help those who have a life-impairing disability. The technique of mirroring is an effective tool for those with severe Autism Spectrum Disorder because it can improve and strengthen the part of the disorder that makes the individuals have a hard time understanding emotions and expression. Mirroring does not necessarily mean they are going to mirror body movements. The mirroring technique could be used by copying facial expressions, in order for the individual to understand what each emotion looks like and how to properly express them for others to understand. That is another problems individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder can face. Since they might not be able to express or voice their emotions in a clear and understanding way, when people see individuals see these individuals acting out, they may have the wrong idea because they may misinterpret their actions as something improper or in a negative and judgmental way.