Art Therapy
Jane Jolly Chappell, MS Art Therapy, Consultant, Region VII TASC, Raytown, Missouri
I am usually swarmed by children seeking individual attention while observing them on the playground to assess specific behaviors. I regret that there is too little time for me to see each and every one of them.
But, one day two four-year-old Head Start girls stood at my desk drawing with colored markers. The tallest girl was making a drawing of what she thought her upcoming appointment with the judicial system would be like. She had drawn an imaginary judge with paternal features, and a desk with a telephone, and a gavel to command the attention of all the participants.
The second little girl was in my office because daily she convinced me that she would rather be involved in art therapy than in play.
As the two girls were absorbed in drawing, a very concerned teacher appeared at the door with a hysterical, sobbing boy in hand. She explained that he was inconsolable during class and that he couldn't stop crying. The child was sobbing so badly that he could hardly catch his breath. I put my arms around him and held him for a minute, then said,"Can you tell me about those tears?" It seemed that his very best friend didn't want to be his friend anymore and didn't even like him. Trying to involve the girls i asked,"Sounds like you're really upset! Have either one of you girls ever had a problem like this?" The second little girl said indignantly, "Yes, sometimes my very best friend gets mad at me but I don't CRY about it!" With that, she turned and continued to color.
The taller girl, however, said, "Don't cry. I'll be your very best friend." the boy, still sobbing, slowly approached the desk. The second little girl adjusted herself to allow him to squeeze between them. I offered him paper and colored markers and he immediately began to mark on both girls' papers. I intervened saying, ""Let's see if it's all right with everyone to make symbols on each others pictures. What do you think it would be like to tell a story on paper?" The children looked at me in wonderment. "WEll, let's pick a place, the we can decide our favorite things to include and tell a story about it." The children chose the zoo. Each one drew their own favorite zoo animal on the paper. We taped the pictures together. I said, "What should we title our mural?" The tallest girl quickly said, "Best friends at the zoo!" With that they proceeded to draw themselves, and added trees, a sun, and colored flowers.
The boy's intense reaction to the other child in his classroom appeared to be due to an accumulation of intense feelings of rejection and abandonment. I later discovered that two supportive parental figures were no longer available for him. The rejection of his classmate brought strong loss and abandonment feelings to the surface.
When I returned the children to class, I noticed that the child had a smile on his face. the interaction and sharing of feelings through the medium of art created a safe environment which include positive interaction, support, and in conclusion among the three children. I continued to work with the little boy on an individual basis, and he would often say, "I saw my very best friends today!"
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