Building a bridge : an exploration of the development of a relationship between a child diagnosed with autism and a drama therapist

• Main Author: Ward, Susan Heather
• Format: Others
• Published: 1999
• Online Access: http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/889/1/MQ43693.pdf; Ward, Susan Heather <http://spectrum.library.concordia.ca/view/creators/Ward=3ASusan_Heather=3A=3A.html> (1999) Building a bridge : an exploration of the development of a relationship between a child diagnosed with autism and a drama therapist. Other thesis, Concordia University.

This paper presents an in-depth case study which explores the development of a relationship, through the use of dramatic play therapy as defined by Jennings (1993), between a non-verbal child diagnosed with autism and a drama therapist. The paper gives a brief overview of autism. It also attempts to present both the client and the therapist in terms of the personal culture from which each has evolved and in so doing it explores how this impacts on the work in which they engage. The paper explores the therapist's method of processing the work with the client through her own drawings and reflects on how this action helped in the understanding of the relationship with the client. This paper concludes that dramatic play therapy was beneficial in this instance and has the potential to effect positive change in children with autism. It further concludes that processing client/therapist interactions through an unfamiliar orientation, in this case art, helped to expand the scope of the relationship between the therapist and the client.