Students dealing with grief, depression, and many other forms of emotional trauma can benefit from having art as an outlet for emotional stresses. One

wonderful example I came across in reading was the creation of a scrap book to help children with the loss of a loved one.

This example gives the child to deal with the loss in a way that get their feeling out on paper through the use of words and visual images.

Another way to use art in instruction is to allow all students to draw out the sequence of a story they are going to write. This strategy is especially helpful for students who have trouble forming written text. Students dealing with dysgraphia often can make better senses of their writing by first mapping it out in a pictorial time line, like the one below.

Students who are hearing impaired can use art to connect feelings to abstract ideas like love. These students are delayed in their speech and language, therefore making connections to abstract ideas can be complicated. When students create a picture of their family, for example, they have an easier time understanding that the bond between them is called love.

How? Art and illustration are examples of expression that transcend language. They can be used to bridge the gap between emotion and the points where language fails us.

References: Dunn, M. d. (2013). Using Art Media During Prewriting: Helping Students with Dysgraphia Manage Idea Generation Before Encoding Text. Exceptionality, 21(4), 224-237. doi:10.1080/09362835.2013.802234 Kunkle-Miller, C. (1990). Potentials and problems in establishing an art therapy program in a residential school for children who are deaf. American Journal Of Art Therapy, 2934-41. Williams, K., & Lent, J. j. (2008). Scrapbooking as an Intervention for Grief Recovery With Children. Journal Of Creativity In Mental

Health, 3(4), 455-467. doi:10.1080/15401380802547553

Example

ART/ ILLUSTRATIONIN THE CLASSROOMStudents who benefit: All students can benefit from engaging in this form of expression. Some students, such as emotionally disturbed, those dealing with dysgraphia, and the hearing impaired, can be helped tremendously by having an alternate form of expression.

Art and illustration is exactly what it sounds

like. It is finding ways to incorporate different

forms of art and drawing situations into your

lessons.

Students who have trouble with forming

written language, such as students dealing with

dysgraphia, have been shown to have a better time getting their ideas

out in picture form verses in written form.

Students who are hearing impaired can gain a

better understanding of abstract thinking though

producing art.

[You Have Room for Another One Here!]

ART THERAPY CAN BE USED TO HELP TREAT STUDENTS WHO ARE

DEALING WITH EMOTIONAL ISSUES.