THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ART THERAPY INTERVENTIONS FOR INDIVIDUAL WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Abstract

The hypothesis of this thesis is that Art therapy Interventions can be used for Individuals with Down Syndrome to help them process their emotions through stressful period. Considering that the persons with DS most often have intellectual disabilities, developmental disabilities and specific deficits in short-term memory for verbal information, and theirs ability to learn from visual information is their strength, the Art therapy as a psychotherapeutic technique that uses the creative processes of the art work creation in order to improve the mental and emotional state of a person of any age opens up as an ideal medium for working with Individuals with Down Syndrome. It uses the creative process as a means of a communication channel through art – psychotherapy techniques which combine the concepts of psychology and visual arts, can be used as support to less verbal processing abilities and improve the quality of life by processing emotions in stressful life situations. In this research, The Person Picking an Apple from a Tree (PPAT), an art therapy assessment task that is scored using the Formal Elements Art therapy Scale (FEATS), was used to examine the effectiveness of Art therapy Interventions for Individual with Down Syndrome over the period of eight months. This Single – subject design research shows an example of a 32 year old DS Individual who is with a help of Art therapy Interventions able to process intensive negative emotions related to the sale of a family home and moving to a new place, accepting this situation, dealing with aggravating circumstances related to this event and general empowerment at the end of the whole Art therapy process.

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