Creative Therapy Book Review

I enjoy reading books that give me new information. I like to read books that give me practical ideas that I can implement with my child. Creative Therapy covers a lot of areas. Part One of this book covers the majority of information presented. I liked the overview of ASD and the different diagnosis on the spectrum.

The chapter dedicated to Nutrition, was well written. We hear a lot about food allergies and the affect they have on a child with Autism. As parents, we tend to forget that healthy eating is important for all children. Our children tend to be super sensitive to everything in their environment. The following page from the book says it well:

“When children are undernourished, their brains cannot function up to capacity. They are sleepy, inattentive, and irritated, and may be misdiagnosed as having ADD. They may drink little juice or milk but consume great quantities of caffeine-laden soda. All stimulants rob something of our nervous structure and impair the passage of necessary nutrients to the brain.”

The primary focus of the book is creative therapy. It covers the use of the different areas of art for therapy for children on the spectrum. These include “painting with various media, drawing, sculpture, music, poetry, dance, and drama.” I enjoy painting with my son. He doesn’t like to fingerpaint, but he will use a paint brush. We work on areas of concern that include OCD, fine motor skills, and visual processing. The best thing for me about using art as a form of therapy is that it is a low pressure situation and makes learning fun for my son. This quote from the book reiterates my thoughts about art therapy:

“Art helps children communicate and inspires an attempt to control their movements. If they have poor motor skills, a large brush and a large sheet of paper attached to an easel provides an inviting and wide surface on which they can paint just as their peers do on smaller paper with a smaller brush.”

Music and dance are important parts of my family’s life. My son gets very animated when we are listening to music and dancing together. This book covers the importance of both as a therapy. The Second Part of the book covers specific activities that you can do with your child and what areas each activity is designed to help. It gives you a list of materials that you will need and the directions to implement the activity. I really like the activities to help with tactile defensiveness.

I happily recommend this book. It covers a lot of material and is presented in an easy to read manner. The explanations of the different forms of art therapy and the benefits are concise and insightful. The activities and goals of each activity are exactly what a lot of moms need and can actually do at home with their children. This is also a good book to lend out to relatives.