Art P.c~~hothrrcip?., Vol. 6 pp. 51-56. Pergamon
ART THERAPY AND LEARNING
Professor of Education,
During the past fifteen years I have been in-
volved in the diagnosis and treatment of children
and youth manifesting learning disabilities. Dur-
ing this time I have observed, tested and worked
with many, many children. As a consequence, I
am convinced that there are a multiplicity of
causes but only a limited behavior repertoire
which children can manifest. Hence, one
maladaptive behavior can have as its source or
antecedents any number of reasons. A large
n;lmber of learning disabled children do have vis-
iiallperceptual motor disabilities.
With this disability in mind, a number of in-
vestigators assumed that the lack of skill in re-
producing a certain set of geometric forms
seemed to be related to school achievement. The
conclusion was drawn that training with
templates in the reproduction and perception of
these forms should improve school performance,
especially reading. The research data to substan-
tiate this is equivocal and often based upon
teaching for the test. There is, however, some
concern by many educators over the efficiency of
perceptual-motor training progress in enhancing
reading ability or even perceptual motor ability
per se except in a mechanical manner.
The terms visual perception and perceptual
awareness’seem to be used interchangeably to
indicate the act of recognition and interpretation
of visual stimuli. This interchange of terms could
account for the current interest in perceptual
training devices that emphasize the visual
recognition of shapes. Perceptual ability involves
*Requests for reprints should be sent to John L. Carter, Ph.D.,
Houston, Texas 77058. Please enclose stamped, self-addressed
Copyright r 1979 Pergamon Press Ltd.
Press, 1979. Printed in the U.S.A.
DISABLED CHILDREN*
JOHN L. CARTER, Ph.D.
University of Houston at Clear Lake City
awareness through any or several of the senses.
Di Meo (1%7) used the term perception in the
sense of visual ability; but, while she felt vision is
the dominant perceptual modality, it draws
heavily on impressions gained through the other
senses. Getman and Kephart (1959) placed
strong emphasis on kinesthesis as a basis of per-
ception of visual space. Lowenfeld (1957) used
the term perceptual sensitivity as sensory awarc
ness and rated the development of perceptua,
growth as being of vital importance. Bender
(1938) stated that the perception of form in chil-
dren was the outgrowth of motion. From observ-
ing children scribbling with a pencil she felt that
motion often appears first and the perception fol-
lows as a result of the motion. From a survey of
these sources it seems apparent that effective
perceptual training should involve other modes
of perceiving along with the visual.
Reading is a complex process that involves the
whole child. Just as reading is only one aspect of
the child’s school behavior, recognizing letter
forms is only one aspect of the process of read-
ing. The movements of the eyes from left to right
along the line, the movement down the page, the
making of a visual symbol-sound association, the
comprehension of the meaning, and the maintain-
ing of interest are only a few of the many skills
that contribute to the total reading experience.
Krippner (1964) noted a significant relationship
between high mental health scores and the ca-
pacity to benefit from a remedial reading pro-
gram. To concentrate on one mechanical aspect
University of Houston at Clear Lake City, 2700Bay Area Blvd.,
envelope.
0090~9092/79/OKKM l-06$02.00/0
 JOHN L. CARTER
of the reading process to the exclusion of other
aspects does not seem an effective approach to
the problem.
Getman and Kephart (1959) stated that the vis-
ual perception of form is not innate and simulta-
neous but develops gradually through a long
learning process. Lowenfeld (1957) showed that
this emerging awareness of form in children was
evidenced in their drawings, but pointed out that
the young child draws what.he knows, not what
he sees. In other words, the child is aware of the
world through all his sense modalities, and vision
is not the primary source of what he draws until
much later in his creative development. Recog-
nition of forms and the other skills involved in
the reading process can only be developed by
stimulating development of the whole child. In-
volving the child in creative art activities would
seem an effective way to accomplish this aim.
To increase perceptual awareness through all
the senses is one of the goals in art education as
well as art therapy. If perceptual awareness is a
factor in reading discrimination, then work in
creative art activities should enhance the child’s
ability to cope with reading problems.
One of the major goals in art education is to
aid the child in his personality development by
providing a means of expression and communi-
cation. Creative art activities, thus providing this
means of communication, can help the child ad-
just to the total school situation more satisfactor-
ily.
A formal investigation was conducted to de-
termine the effect of a planned series of art ac-
tivities on reading and general school adjustment
for seven- and eight-year-old learning disabled
childen. A second part of the study was to com-
pare the effectiveness of the program in creative
art with a formal program in template training.
The training programs were conducted daily with
groups of eight children for twelve weeks. The
classroom teachers were asked to rate the chil-
dren on The Child Behavior Rating Scale, School
Adjustment Section (Cassel, 1962).
One half of the sixteen (16) children were in-
structed in perceptual motor development ac-
cording to the manual published by the Winter
Haven Lions Research Foundation (Sutphin,
1964). The following creative art format was pre-
sented to the experimental children.
GENERAL GOALS
To encourage the children to express their feel-
ings through their art activities. and to become
sensitive to the feelings of others as expressed in
the visual arts.
TO help the children to discover art materi-
als can be used for the creation, development,
and refinement of ideas.
To encourage the children to use the language of
art as one means through which to formulate and
communicate their evolving concepts of their life
and environment.
To help each child to develop his own creative
potential.
To help the children become aware of and iden-
tify specific aspects of their own experience.
SPECIFIC GOALS
To encourage growth in perceptual awareness
by presenting art activities that involve the var-
ious sense modalities.
To aid in school adjustment through providing
an outlet for expression and communication of
thoughts and feelings.
To encourage positive self-concept by providing
an opportunity to achieve satisfaction through
exploration of materials and problem solving.
This program can only achieve the stated goals
through proper motivation of the art experiences.
Effective motivation requires that the teacher
start with the child’s interests and knowledge and
work to expand his frame of reference. Each
topic must be presented in such a way that the
child can relate to it from his own experience.
These lesson plans should not be adhered to re-
gidly but should be considered as flexible
guidelines. School events and the children’s own
activities should be utilized as motivation for art
expression. The teacher should encourage the
child to think and feel and participate in each
activity if the child is to grow. Who is the tallest
one in your family? Is the tree trunk rough or
smooth? How does the kitchen smell when your
favorite meal is being prepared? How does your
 ART THERAPY AND LEARNING
foot feel when you kick a ball? Questions like
these will encourage the children to explore their
environment and communicate their impressions
to you in a visual way through drawing and paint-
ing. Talking, listening and observing can be
meaningful art experiences if the child grows in
awareness and in his ability to communicate this
awareness.
If the teacher is interested and responsive to
what the child expresses in his work; the -child
will grow in confidence in his ability. The sensi-
tive teacher will be receptive to the contribution
of each child. If the teacher wants to encourage
freedom and confidence in expression for the
child she must not criticize the work by the stand-
ards of adult art. Emphasis in children’s art
should be on expression and communication, not
Theme Assignment
Week 1 -Life-size figure of
self.
-My favorite toys.
-What I will be when I
SELF grow up.
-This is inside of me.
-Forming myself in clay.
Week 2 -This is my house.
-These people live in
FAMILY my house.
-My family’s favorite
meal.
-My family (Puppets).
Week 3 -I like to play with my
friends.
-Some of my friends are
big friends.
FRIENDS -Let’s plan a party for
our friends.
DISABLED CHILDREN 53
the finished product. On the following pages are
area weekly guides to the theme, assignment,
and creative artistic processes used in the inves-
tigation.
The results were most gratifying to proponents
of art therapy. The children receiving creative art
gained significantly over those receiving the
more traditional template training in the follow-
ing areas:
-1. Visual alertness to details
3
_. Fine motor coordination
3. Word recognition
4. Communication or linguistic ability
5. Spatial relations
6. Perceptual age as measured by the Frostig
Test of Visual Perception (1964)
Process
-Oil crayons on wrapping
paper.
-Same materials, large
size to put up with
figures.
-Tempera paint and large
brushes.
-Crayons on newsprint.
-Clay.
-Large drawings in crayon
to be cut out and put
on board.
-Figures made to go in
or by houses. Talk
about size relationship.
-Tempera paint and large
brushes.
-Rod puppets, write and
act out plays.
-Large drawing pencils
on manila paper.
-Tempera on 18” by 24”
manila. Talk about
size of grown-ups.
-Paper sculpture
decorations. Cut
paper invitations.
Have party.
54 JOHN L. CARTER

Theme Assignment Process

Week 4 -My pet. -Clay.

-A very little and a -Tempera paint on large
very big animal. sheets of paper.
ANIMALS -Make-believe zoo. -Cut paper, large imaginative
animals, mount on
board and put paper
strips over to make
cages.

Week 5 -All the rooms of our -Oil crayon and big

school. sheet of wrapping
paper.
-These people work at -Crayon drawings of all
our school. school personnel to
SCHOOL mount on school drawing
-Things I like to do in proper room.
best and things I -Crayon on newsprint,
like to do least at divided down the middle
my school. to show both things on
one page.

Week 6 -Planning and building -Collect all sizes of

a city. boxes. Cover without
paper. Talk about size
CITY relationship of tall
buildings, short buildings,
houses, stores, etc.

Week 7-Things we see out the -Crayons and manila

window. (Tall, short)
-Finding interesting
things for our room
HEAR & when we go for a walk.
SEE -Sounds we hear if we
sit very still.
-Painting what we hear.
paper.
-Take a walk together.
Make a bulletin board
or table display.
-Paint a scene of what
they heard. (Siren, car)
-Tempera, to sounds
recorded on tape-recorder.

Week 8 -Noticing textures in -Touch and talk about

our room. smooth, rough, soft,
fuzzy, bumpy.
-Crayon rubbings of the -Crayon and newsprint.
textures around the
TOUCH school and in the room.
-Collage of nice feeling -Collect papers and
things. textures to mount.
-Design in clay. -Roll out clay and press
in different materials.
Cast in plaster of paris.
ART THERAPY AND LEARNING DISABLED CHILDREN 55

Theme Assignment Process

Week 9 -Smell boxes, draw what -Scraps of oranges,

you smell. chocolate, onion, etc.
put in small boxes so can
TASTE & not be seen. Crayon.
SMELL -Bake and decorate -Taste and smell all the
cookies. ingredients. Let boys mix
and roll out and cut.
Take home to bake
and decorate at school.

Week 10 -Discuss universe and -Cardboard box sculpture.

space. Build space Large figures assembled
inhabitants out of from many small boxes
boxes and scraps. glued together, painted
SPACE and trimmed with scraps.
-Paint moon landscape. -Display box sculpture
against landscape.

WEEK 11 -Talk about shapes and -Set up shadow puppet

shadows. Make hinged stage with sheet and
puppets on rods to light. Let children
illustrate a story. plan and give puppet
show.
IMAGES -Talk about mirror image -Draw with crayons on
as reflection of self. white paper, self-
portrait while looking
in mirror.
-Talk about recordings -Let each child record
as reflections of voice. and listen to himself.

Week 12 -Make pictures without -Have all types of shapes

geometric shapes. in all sizes already cut
Discuss, name, put together
in pictures and paste.
-Make long mural of all -Crayon and shelf-paper.
the things that run on
SHAPES wheels. (circles)
-Form balls of clay and -Clay.
talk about what things
are round.

-Find alI the things in -After children have

the room geometrical. found, rectangles,
squares, triangles in
the room.
Take hands and form
shapes.
 JOHN L. CARTER

In addition, the experimental children were REFERENCES

perceived by their teachers on the Child Behav- BENDER, L. A. (1938) A Visual Motor Gesrdr Tesr t~td 1t.r
CIinicul Use. Research Monograph No. 3, New York:
ior Rating Scale as becoming more cooperative,
American Orthopsychiatric Association.
less distractable and “messy,” and more prone CASSEL, R. N. (1%2! The Child Behuvior Rutine Scule. Bev-
to finish tasks assigned. One teacher expressed erly Hills, Calif.: Western Psychological Services.
that she was “thunderstruck over the improve- DI MEO, K. (l%T) Visual-Moior S/d/s: Response Chor-
ment in behavior.” This apparently resulted in uclerisrics und Pre-rending Behavior. Winter Haven,
Florida: Winter Haven Lions Research Foundation. Inc.
ability to concentrate better, finish work, and, FKOSTIG, M., MASLOW, P., LEFEVER. D. W.. WHITTLESEY.
hence, learn more effectively. More detailed data J. R. B. (1964) The Marianne Frostig Developmental Test
are available upon request. of Visual Perception. Stclndarrlizuriorl. Perceprrrtrl oud
Group art therapy was demonstrated to be ef- Motor S!,ills. 19: 463499.
GETMAN, G. N., KEPHART, N. C. (1959) Developmental care
fective in many aspects. Due to the large
and guidance. Oprometric Exrension Program. Child
number, approximately 20 percent, of learning Vision Cure. Duncan, Oklahoma, Series 3. 12: 67-71.
disabled children in school, it appears that there KRIPPNER, S. (1964) Relationship between reading improve-
is need for an educational art therapist in ment and ten selected variables. Percrprutrl und Moror
schools. This should be considered seriously as Skills. 19: 15-20.
LOWENFELD, V. (1957) Crer;ti\*e Grovvth rrnd Dei,elopmenr.
an alternative to more formalized template train- New York: Macmillan.
ing. SUTPHIN. F. E. (1964) Percepfud Tesfing und Training
Handbook. Winter Haven, Florida: Winter Haven Lions
Research Foundation Inc.