"Lisa Kay ... helps readers consider and explore art therapy and therapeutic practices that can be user in the classroom. She also explores the unique challenges of working with youth in urban settings and provides a PLAYbook of ideas that are ready to use or modify for use in in your own setting."--

Arts Integration and Special Education contributes to research, policy, and practice by providing a theory of action for studying how linguistic, cognitive, and affective student engagement relates to arts integrated learning contexts and how these dimensions of engagement influence content area and literacy learning. Arts Integration and Special Education connects the interdisciplinary framework in human development and linguistics, special education, and urban education with primary action research by special educators trained in arts integration, working in an inclusive urban charter school with middle school age students. Upper elementary to middle-grade level student learning is relatively understudied and this work contributes across fields of special education and urban education, as well as arts education. Moreover, the classrooms in which the action research occurs are comprised of students with a diverse range of abilities and needs. The book’s interdisciplinary model, which draws on developmental and educational psychology, special education, and speech/language pathology research and practice, is the first to posit explanations for how and why AI contexts facilitate learning in students with language and sensory processing disorders, and those at-risk for school failure due to low socioeconomic status conditions.

Explores the various applications of art therapy when working with at-risk students, discussing how art therapy can be used with children of all ages, the introduction and implementation of art therapy in the alternate learning environment, and more.

Art Therapy with Special Education Students is a practical and innovative book that details the best suitable ways to work in the field of art therapy with special education students. This book provides the reader with practical approaches, techniques, models, and methodologies in art therapy that focus on special education students, such as those with ASD, ADHD, learning disabilities, behavioral disorders, and students with visual and hearing impairments. Each chapter addresses a specific population, including an overview of the literature in the field, along with descriptions of practices derived from interviews with experienced art therapists who specialize in each population. The chapters cover the therapeutic goals of each population, the specific challenges, intervention techniques, and the meaning of art. Dedicated working models that have emerged in the field and collaborative interventions involving parents and staff members, along with clinical illustrations, are also available throughout the book. Art therapists and mental health professionals in the school system will appreciate this comprehensive collection of contemporary work in the field of art therapy with special education students.

This book offers a variety of effective, concrete ways to better assimilate arts therapies in the educational system. Featuring leading art therapists and the models they have honed as a result of their arts experience in education, Integrating Arts Therapies into Education discusses systemic issues and challenges related to work in the education system such as confidentiality, multidisciplinary teamwork with educators and contact with parents. Divided into two parts, the first discusses systemic issues related to work in the education system, and the second presents a series of dedicated models that can be implemented in the education system. Each chapter consists of a theoretical background, a description of the working model, a clinical example or case study and a summary. Creative arts and expressive therapy practitioners will find this guide filled with the most effective ways to approach and deliver arts therapies in a school setting.