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Autism is a psychiatric problem characterized by the presence of communication disorders as well as short attention span and decreased expression of emotions. Communication problems include both verbal communication and non-verbal communication as, for example, autistic patients cannot use their body language properly. Autistic patients are also unable to treat others as people, i.e. they show impairment in social interaction (Payne, 2003). Among the most important signs and symptoms of autism are repetition of words or phrases, a condition that is also known as echolalia; disliking for any physical contact; inability to understand the feelings of other; difficulty in learning; obsessive thoughts and/or behaviors, and jerky physical movements. Usually, the signs and symptoms of autism start appearing in the second year of the life.
Therapeutic strategies for the patients of autism
The signs and symptoms of the disease could develop slowly or they may also start occurring suddenly in the start of the life of patients. Many parents neglect the condition and think that the child is probably upset or is not feeling well and that is why he or she is not communicating properly that often results in the development of full-fledged symptoms. Early diagnosis of autism could help in slowing down the condition, but it cannot be stopped completely as there is no definite cure of the disease at this time.
In the treatment of autism and its related conditions, education plays an important role. Special schools having special education for autistic children are providing appropriate education to those children in the most suitable way. Education in those schools helps children to deal with the difficulties of life and overcome most of the hurdles they may face in life. Along with education, adequate training of the use of motor skills also helps children in the proper communication with other people in the society. Medications have also been developed to treat the symptoms of autism as, for example, psychoactive drugs or anticonvulsants are often prescribed. Those medications may include stimulants and antidepressants as the most common classes for autism. Sometimes, experts take the help of creative arts or alternative forms of therapy to train children to live with other people in an almost normal way. Alternative or creative art therapy includes many therapeutic strategies such as dance therapy, music therapy, painting and sculpting, drama therapy, pet therapy, and many other related therapies (Brondino et al., 2015).
Dance therapy for children with autism
Dance therapy got increased attention in treating the children with autism, as it is one of the most applicable methods for those children. In this therapeutic strategy, dance and movements are used psychotherapeutically to improve the feelings, communication of emotions, and reducing the behavioral problems. It is also helpful in enhancing nonverbal communication with others. Dance therapy could also provide help in improving the motor ability of patients. Overall, dance helps the children in getting up, moving the body, appreciating the activity, and making new connections and companions (Ali & Anuradha, 2015).
Usually, ballroom dance, line dancing, waltz, ballet, jazz, hip-jump, R&B, and body psychotherapy are included in the dance therapy. However, it is important to consider the condition of the patient to recommend any dance movement for the patient. Dance movement therapy has also shown effectiveness in Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, and people having chronic pain, anxiety, and mood disorders. Dance therapy is also helpful for obese children (Ali & Anuradha, 2015).
Usually, autistic children show issues with their left and right side of the brain, i.e. these two sides are unable to communicate with each other in a normal way. The left side of the brain is investigative in nature, and considers word importance, makes plans, and helps in talking with few motions. The right side of the brain helps in reacting to manner of speaking and feeling, and is less dependable. Research shows that the brain can make new pathways through a process known as cognitive redirection. This ability of the brain to make new connections is the center of the dance movement therapy that helps in joining the two sides of the brain, thereby helping in behavioral, social, language, and speech skills. After going through the dance movement therapy, patients of autism show more ability to finish on-assignment exercises and communicate with others more regularly, and better connection between the two sides of brain is one of the reasons behind this improvement (Lara, Bowers, & Shore, 2015).
Dance movement therapy involves both the sound as well as visual characteristic signs, thereby helping the patient in remapping the connections in the brain. It causes the children to use auditory sensations to develop responses to the music, use visual sensations to develop responses to what they see, and use complicated mental abilities to duplicate the steps of dances (Ali & Anuradha, 2015).
Commonly used techniques in dance movement therapy
A dance movement therapy session consists of different techniques that are helpful for the patient in overcoming the disabling symptoms. In some of the therapeutic sessions, the therapist leaves the patients alone and allowing him or her to move with the music (stimuli) on his or her own will, whereas in other sessions, the therapist helps the patient and teach him or her to perform specific goal-oriented movements. Some of the techniques that are commonly used in dance movement therapy are:
Simple movements of the patient,
Mirroring techniques in which the patient is asked to copy the movements of the therapist, so that he or she would be able to learn more movement techniques (McCleery, Elliott, Sampanis, & Stefanidou, 2015),
Touch therapy in which the therapist helps the patient in learning movement techniques by simple and soft touch, and directing him or her to learn important and most required daily life activities (Cullen & Barlow, 2002), and/or
Use of props by autistic children that can help therapist to use specific objects such as balls, sticks, and scarfs to help the patients to learn more movements that are helpful.
Since dance movement therapy is a creative technique, therapists can use various techniques and methods to help their patients in learning important aspects of life in new and interesting ways (Payne, 2003).
Efficacy of dance movement therapy in improving the life of autistic patients
Research has shown benefits of dance movement therapy on patients of autism. Usually, patients of autism lose the awareness of the mind as well as body, and dance movement therapy concentrates on the mind and body, thereby helping in re-establishing the connection between mind and body, and normalizing the connection. Efficacy of dance movement therapy can further be enhanced by the addition of music because autistic children have a good knowledge of music as they have staggering memories for the pitch and notes (Ali & Anuradha, 2015).
In 2013, researchers reported that dance movement therapy and music therapy can help patients of autism in improving their symptoms. They worked on eight children with the help of their relatives such as parents or other family members. In the study, researchers divided the participants of the study into two groups, i.e. group of patients and the control group. Each participant of the study was also given specialized therapy for ASD, i.e. pharmacological and behavioral therapy. Researchers found that both groups got improvement in symptoms but the group of patients (active group) showed more improvement (Mateos-Moreno & Atencia-Doña, 2013).
Many studies have supported the positive use of dance therapy for patients of autism. In 2014, researchers worked on the patients of ASD (mostly advanced level of disease and Asperger’s disorder) to find the therapeutic effectiveness of dance movements on the sense of well-being, body awareness, empathy, social skills, and self-other distinction. Researchers divided the participants of the study into two groups: the treatment group consisting of 16 participants and the control group consisting of 15 participants. Researchers utilized the dance movement therapy in hourly sessions per week for seven weeks. During the treatment sessions, participants of the study did not take part in any other treatments. After the completion of the study, members of the treatment group reported improved prosperity, better social aptitudes, enhanced body mindfulness, and improved self-other distinction. Researchers reported that dance movement therapy seemed to work on the most important developmental aspects of autism as compared to the presently available theory-of-mind therapeutic approaches (Koch, Mehl, Sobanski, Sieber, & Fuchs, 2015).
In another study, researchers worked with five participants in the age range of 2 to 10 years. They assessed the social interactions of children before and after dance movement therapy, and found substantial improvement in the social interaction of autistic children after the therapeutic intervention. Dance movement therapy also increased the attention to self and other people, adapting new skills, and the ability to develop connections with the other people (Ali & Anuradha, 2015). Although further studies are required with bigger groups of samples, but still this study is helpful in finding the efficacy of the dance movement therapy in autism.
Advantages of dance movement therapy for autistic children
Dance movement therapy is helpful for autistic children in various ways, and this therapy is helpful for them in improving most of the symptoms of autism. Usually, patients of autism like to perform a limited number of movements and they do not explore more movements. This kind of motor clumsiness can result in missed opportunities leading to decreased level of social connections with peers as well as colleagues. In these conditions, dance movement therapy has many advantages. Many parents and therapists have successfully used music, dance, and rhythm to support autistic children, explore their emotions, and unfold their communication skills (Amos, 2013). Some of the advantages of dance movement and music therapy may include (Srinivasan & Bhat, 2013):
This therapeutic strategy improves the concentration as well as attention of children, thereby helping them in getting further education and training.
Dance is one of the methods of expressing emotion; therefore, patients of autism get an ability to express their feelings or emotions through dance movements. Moreover, addition of music along with dance movement can help in enhancing the emotional understanding relating to four emotions of happiness, anger, sadness, and fear.
It improves the relationship of patients with others.
Dances often repeat certain movements, and as the patients of autism like repetitive movements, it is often easy for patients to learn dance movements and with the passage of time; they may start learning new movements.
Learning new movements helps patients in learning most of the actions that are required for daily activities of life.
Most of the time, dance movement therapy is performed in group session and those group sessions enable patients in learning new social skills and improving communications with others.
Memory as well as recapitulation skills of patients improve due to a choreographed dance movements performed in a sequence in a series of therapeutic sessions.
Dance movements may also include touch therapy, thereby helping the patients in having more trust on others. Moreover, it also helps in decreasing sensitivity of patients to the touch and physical contact.
Body image of an autistic patient improves with dance movement therapy. Furthermore, body awareness in the patient develops and his or her general well-being improves.
Verbal communication skills also improve by using proper movements on different planes of motion.
Learning new movements with the advancement of dance movement therapy helps the patients in getting rid of repetitive movements.
With the development of social skills, patients may start understanding the feelings and emotions of others, thereby developing empathy.
Dance movement therapy also enables the patients to better adapt to different situations.
Concluding Remarks and Future Directions
Autism is a neuropsychological problem in which the patient is unable to communicate properly with others. It also involves disturbances in the understanding abilities and the use of language, emotions, and expressions. Dance movement therapy is an important alternative strategy for the treatment of symptoms of autistic patients. Although this therapeutic intervention does not use high level of linguistic skills, but it involves a good level of vocal and verbal exchange.
Most important goal of dance movement therapy is to enhance the expression of emotions, helping the patients to engage with others, breaking the withdrawal symptoms, improving the communication and interpersonal bonding, recognizing others and respond to them, participating in group activities, and developing trust. Due to a large number of benefits of dance movement therapy, it is important to start the therapeutic sessions as early as possible in the life, so that there would be more improvements in the life of the children and there would be a decreased number of impairments caused by the disorder.
Dance movement therapy for autism requires further work on large number of participants as the research work on the therapeutic intervention is scarce and the available studies have mostly been performed on a small number of participants. Moreover, in the future studies, it is important to consider that only dance movement therapy has to be used as an intervention for the disorder and all the other interventions or variables have to be controlled, so that the efficacy of the therapeutic strategy alone can be established.
References
Ali, S., & Anuradha. (2015). Dance Therapy as a Treatment Modality for Autistic Children in Social Interaction. The International Journal of Indian Psychology, 2(3), 188-194.
Amos, P. (2013). Rhythm and timing in autism: learning to dance. Front Integr Neurosci, 7, 27. doi: 10.3389/fnint.2013.00027
Brondino, N., Fusar-Poli, L., Rocchetti, M., Provenzani, U., Barale, F., & Politi, P. (2015). Complementary and Alternative Therapies for Autism Spectrum Disorder. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2015.
Cullen, L., & Barlow, J. (2002). ‘Kiss, cuddle, squeeze’: the experiences and meaning of touch among parents of children with autism attending a touch therapy programme. Journal of Child Health Care, 6(3), 171-181.
Koch, S. C., Mehl, L., Sobanski, E., Sieber, M., & Fuchs, T. (2015). Fixing the mirrors: a feasibility study of the effects of dance movement therapy on young adults with autism spectrum disorder. Autism, 19(3), 338-350. doi: 10.1177/1362361314522353
Lara, J., Bowers, K., & Shore, S. M. (2015). Autism Movement Therapy (R) Method: Waking up the Brain! : Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Mateos-Moreno, D., & Atencia-Doña, L. (2013). Effect of a combined dance/movement and music therapy on young adults diagnosed with severe autism. The arts in psychotherapy, 40(5), 465-472.
McCleery, J. P., Elliott, N. A., Sampanis, D. S., & Stefanidou, C. A. (2015). Motor development and motor resonance difficulties in autism: relevance to early intervention for language and communication skills. Autism: The Movement Perspective, 39.
Payne, H. (2003). Dance Movement Therapy: Theory and Practice: Taylor & Francis.
Srinivasan, S. M., & Bhat, A. N. (2013). A review of “music and movement” therapies for children with autism: embodied interventions for multisystem development,”. Front Integr Neurosci, 7.
