Dance Therapy as Communication for Autistic Children

Introduction: The Growing Prevalence of Autism

Twenty years ago, 14 in every 10,000 children suffered from autism and related disorders. Currently, that number has quadrupled to approximately six in every 1,000 children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, four times as many boys as girls are likely to be diagnosed with autism, which is generally identified by age 3.

Personal Accounts of Autism and Recovery

Although no cure currently exists for autism, with therapy — and, in some instances, medication — some individuals with this disorder achieve independence, attend college, marry, and raise families. Others, however, remain trapped by their symptoms, which can often include self-destructive behaviors such as head-banging or hand-flapping (Lamas).

Donna Rosinski's son Alex was diagnosed with autism when he was 8 years old. Rosinski wrote in 2001: "His differences were brought forcefully to our attention by his nearly being expelled from nursery school."

Alex could speak but seldom did so at school. During playtime, he would meticulously line up his toy cars and signs in one location, then move them and arrange them again somewhere else. His poor social skills alienated him from other children; he would sometimes grab or push them. At 8 years old, however, Alex looked, spoke, and acted similarly to other children his age. What helped Alex, Rosinski explains, was a combination of an older brother who served as a constant peer model — someone who loved him and played with him around the clock — and therapists who genuinely invested in his progress. An occupational therapist taught Alex to dress himself. A physical therapist taught him how to catch a ball and pedal a tricycle. A speech therapist also worked with him regularly.

"Peer modeling," Rosinski stresses, "is very powerful!" As Alex regularly participated in therapeutic group sessions alongside other children, he learned how to serve himself during snack time, developed appropriate manners, and began to engage in conversation. Occupational therapy, sports therapy, and dance therapy — along with the many other interventions Alex experienced — were not miracles, as Rosinski attests. When she speaks of the miracle of his progress, she is careful to also explain the hard work that helped that miracle materialize.

Understanding the Autism Spectrum

Stephen Shore wrote a book about his own experience with autism entitled Beyond the Wall: Personal Experiences with Autism and Asperger Syndrome. Shore was diagnosed with autism at age 2½. He explains that autism, a neurobiological condition, may range from severe to mild, and that some individuals with autism "develop secondary psychological problems because of these biological issues." Shore stresses that although education and therapy frequently help autistic individuals learn to live with and cope with the disorder, interventions do not cure autism, as no known cure currently exists.

A child with severe autism spectrum disorder may display eight behaviors generally associated with the condition: he or she may isolate from others, be non-communicative, easily agitated, and possibly prone to tantrums or self-abusive behavior. Autistic children are generally unable to appropriately engage with their environment; they also have difficulty maintaining awareness of their surroundings or handling any changes to them. Children in the middle of the autism spectrum regularly display these classic behaviors as well. While children in the middle range usually recognize and prefer their caregivers' company over that of strangers, children at the severe end of the spectrum may struggle to recognize even their own family members (Shore).

Asperger Syndrome, which represents the greatest number of individuals with autism, sits at the high-functioning end of the spectrum. Many children with Asperger's function well both intellectually and verbally. By today's standards, Shore states, he himself would have been considered to have Asperger's. By the time Shore turned six years old — after regularly attending private classes and therapy — he had regained most of his language and began attending kindergarten in a public school. As his performance improved, he had surpassed most of his classmates by the sixth grade.

Shore contends that because autistic children routinely encounter a number of sensory distortions, their learning environments frequently confuse and frustrate them. Because manipulating objects can soothe a person when stressed, some autistic youth may benefit from stress-reducing fidget toys — such as squeeze balls — to help regulate the senses during tense periods. In addition, since movement helps some students stay connected with their environment, structured opportunities for movement, such as those utilized in dance, prove beneficial to autistic children (Shore).

Defining Dance Therapy

"Dance therapy: a form of psychotherapy in which clients or patients are encouraged to express their feelings and inner conflicts through dance" (Colman). Hoban refers to dance as "a basic expression of emotion." She stresses that an individual's "exposure to dance and movement begins in infancy," noting that dance may be enjoyed from infancy through toddlerhood, the teenage years, adulthood, and even old age. "The function of dance is communication," Hoban states. "It comes from the depths of man's inner nature, the unconscious, where memory dwells."

Lenore Wadsworth Hervey, PhD, ADTR, NCC, purports that dance/movement therapy serves as "a form of psychotherapy that uses movement or dance as a primary vehicle for communication." It proves particularly positive when working with individuals who experience physical limitations and communication problems. Because a profound lack of communication is central to autism, and because communication is reported to be a primary function of dance, dance therapy makes sense as an appropriate way to address the disorder.