How Art Benefits Children with Special Needs
Introduction
Education has always been among the subjects that continued to inspire the public’s interest. Research has been conducted over the ages to assess the proper methods through which to enhance the system. Different plans have been suggested and implemented for the purpose of bringing about systematic change in educational practices. For children with special needs, the development of specific programs and alternatives is crucial for overcoming learning obstacles. In this context, art has been noted to have a positive impact on special needs children and has the potential of enhancing their physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
This interest in the effects of art on special needs children is related to my previous teaching of a class that contained two children with autism. I therefore conducted a conversation with another teacher working with special needs children to examine the issue in practice. The teacher told me that the special needs children in her class, especially those who are autistic, can be at times reluctant to touch wet or cold materials and initially do not seem enthusiastic about tasks such as painting. However, when the teacher persisted and used scented supplies, the students with autism were able to expand their comfort zone and use the new materials. This is an example of how art helped these students overcome a boundary even before they began practicing it. The teacher observed also that art making generally promotes communication in her classroom and helps bring the autistic students closer to their peers.
Purpose of the research
The research aims at shedding light on the physical, emotional and mental benefits of art therapy. To do this, the process through which children have used art as a means of coping will be explored artistic activities, such as music related activities, have been noted to neutralize negative feelings and increase stress tolerance levels in students. This helps students harmonize their sense of inner peace. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how artistic activities can help improve the quality of life for students with special needs by aiding them in decreasing stress levels.
Research Questions
1. How does art affect conditions like fatigue, depression, anxiety, pain, and stress in special needs students?
2. How does art education impact a student with special needs?
3. How can teachers integrate art into the curriculum?
4. How can teachers support special needs students’ within art education?
Study Context
Relationship of research to existing theory and research
This research is linked to existing theories about the potential of art to improve the learning and cognitive skills of students with disabilities. However, instead of focusing on these points, this research will look into how art can improve special needs students’ physical condition by reducing stress.
Identify need for the research
While there are a number of studies about the benefits of art for special needs students, little has been explored on how art as a means of coping can help special needs students’ physical condition. It is for this reason that this research is necessary. The goal is to use the observations collected and the interviewed teacher in order to shed light on the issue in a practical setting.
Relationship of study to personal experience and knowledge
I have often observed when teaching the class with autistic students that special needs students seem to be happier when doing an art project, whether this is related to music or drawing. Also, I hold a Bachelor degree in Art Education and I am therefore interested in exploring how art can be utilized as more than just a subject with special needs students. Thus, my work as well as my education has sparked my interest in whether art does have an indirect effect on these children’s progress through its function in reducing stress and increasing the sense of enjoyment while learning.
Research Methods
Description of research setting
This proposed study will be conducted in a middle-class, predominately blue-collar urban setting. The school is located in Saudi Arabia. The class selected includes 32 students, five of which have been diagnosed with mild disabilities. The age of the students ranges between 8 and 10. The evaluation process will not only be conducted inside the classroom but will also take place in the musical hall where the students have their weekly music class session. Thereby, as the teacher plans on instructing the children to draw in nature during two trips, the research setting will be also outdoors.
Description of participants
The participants in the study include children in a classroom of an urban school district. These classrooms are inclusive, multi-age classrooms. In the classroom of 32 students, roughly 20 are typical learners, 5 are at risk, and 5 have mild disabilities (e.g., learning disabilities, speech and language impairments, and behavior problems). The grade level of the children is fourth grade. Because my type of research does not require working with populations large enough to make random sampling useful or meaningful, and because the study does not aim at making generalizations, the relatively small number of participants is deemed sufficient.
Data collection techniques
The main method of data collection was through interviews and in-classroom observations of the children, guided by an interview schedule with various members of the faculty, specifically the special need and general education teacher. Before the observations were made, I conducted a personal interview with the teacher. The interview was conducted using Skype. It was an informal interview where no predetermined questions were asked in order to keep the dialogue open and as adaptable to the interviewee’s perspective and personality as possible. The interview was conducted once a week for the duration of three weeks. The data gathered relied on convenience sampling, which means that the cases selected were chosen based on convenience (Glesne 2011). The chosen students are namely observed because they are within the classroom selected for the study prior to conducting the interview.
Data analysis techniques
The data will be analyzed and evidence will be sought that will answer the research questions. The data will be read and re-read and common topics or ideas will be identified. In doing this, a chart will be devised and analyzed. Also, the researcher will take additional notes while reading and re-reading. The notes will be organized with the aid of a graphic organizer. The identified topics or areas will become codes from which themes and patterns will emerge that will help answer the research questions (Glesne 2011).
Consideration of ethical issues
In this paper, I use pseudonyms to describe my participants to protect their anonymity and privacy. However, this research, its findings and the interpretation offered aim all at shedding light on the issue rather than offering a determinate answer about the subject.
Results
Diversity materials
The interview revealed that the teacher utilizes different methods to include art in her classroom. For example, Sarah mentioned that “students can be encouraged to draw a certain word or concept or comment on a drawing in writing.” Since it is a fourth grade, activities like singing and finger painting are especially popular among the children, including the special needs students. Sarah confirms this when she says that she had come to find “that the special needs students respond particularly well to the finger painting and music related activities such as singing and dancing.” The teacher encourages the students to also work with clay and make artistic objects such as decorations for their personal room at home and even jewellery. The designs are kept simple and easy to follow by the fourth grade students.
Individualized instruction
The teacher indicated that she also integrated art in the classroom in accordance with her own observations of what students responded to most favorably and what they were on the other hand lukewarm about. In other words, as a teacher she tried to individualize her teaching of art to the students’ needs or capacities. This is especially important for special needs students who might have some fears or limitations that prevents them at times from participating. Sarah states for instance that she “noticed how one of the students who has been diagnosed with problems related to sensory integration disliked the sense of paint on his fingers. He seemed however to like sponge painting and liked pressing images in pieces of paper.” The teacher expressed that she also discussed children’s ideas before beginning an art project as a way of planning the artistic process. These were all ways she supported special needs’ students’ use of art in the classroom.
Benefits of art
What concerns the effects of art on students’ level of fatigue and stress and overall performance, the teacher responded that she believed art was an invaluable tool for those in her classroom with speech, language, and motor skills struggles that make them unable to verbalize what they felt or needed. The teacher observed that art was beneficial as an outlet for these students’ emotions, which contributed towards their cognitive and physical development as well as problem-solving and critical-thinking styles. Most importantly, with the autistic students, the art projects nurtured their social skills. This is clear from her following words: “I think that the autistic students in my classroom seem to be definitely less focused on isolating themselves during the finger painting and singing activities. I think this might be because they are more at ease and so feel connected to others.”
Discussion
The researcher notes that all the special needs students in the teacher’s classroom have problems with self-expression and lack both social skills as well as self-confidence. In particular, three of the students who are autistic have also problems with the capacity to verbally express themselves. Because of these problems and their learning disabilities, the special needs students in the classroom are often tense and look at times stressed and uncomfortable. However, this is different during art activities, which suggests that art helps minimize fatigue and stress. Also, the teacher believes that the special needs students appear happier during art activities. This can be related to the fact that the involvement of the students in the art projects from the initial phases of planning until execution increases their self-confidence and eliminates fears about failure. As the researcher, this appears logical as artistic activities like painting, playing with clay, or singing, among others, can be very relaxing. At the same time, they can be also one way through which to bond with others. The researcher recognizes therefore that art can be a means to improve the students’ physical condition and health by helping them be more relaxed.
The data gathered reveals that to achieve significant progress with special needs students through the use of art, teachers need to not only be creative in the activities they introduce in the classroom, but they should also individualize those activities to suit the students’ taste. Music seems especially effective in reducing stress levels among special needs students, which suggests that artistic activities combining music might be the most useful to include in the classroom. Music seems especially useful for children with autism as an aid in social and language development. This is logical as the autistic students can surpass their monotonic speech through songs. Also, because artistic activities like singing can help students invent emotions, and because music already plays an important role in students’ lives, it can help enhance their capacity to deal with stress.
Implications
The implications of the teacher’s answers are numerous. First, the responses by the teacher and her focus on the importance of the stage of planning the art project to its successful execution among the special needs students suggest that more research should be devoted to shedding light on how educators can involve students more in art projects in order to inspire them and push them to take control of their situation. Also, if the teachers conclusions are right, art can become a means through which students with special needs not only overcome their academic problems, but also grow emotionally and become stronger physically. Also, the implication of this research suggests that educators should collaborate with parents to promote art education at home. Give the benefits, projects should be planned both at home and at school. Moreover, the answers of the teacher imply that teachers need to go beyond basic materials like paint and crayons and incorporate tactile materials like clay and beads to help special needs students improve their motor skills and sense of coordination.
Conclusions
The teacher seemed to be a strong supporter of using art among special needs students in particular. The conclusion that can be drawn from her observations and remarks in response to the questions is that artistic activities on a daily basis exercise and improve the cognitive and physical sills of the students. These include the most problematic skills that special needs students are often challenged with, such as visual, sensory, oral, and tactile skills. Consequentially, this academic and personal improvement might reduce stress and anxiety otherwise experienced by the special needs students.
The interviewed teacher for this paper noted thereby that the five autistic students in her class often act less isolated and more interactive with others when painting or working with clay materials. This indicates lowered levels of anxiety and suggests that creative arts therapy can help these students improve their social and educational skills by putting them at better ease physically.
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