Creative Expressive Activities and Asperger's Syndrome: Social and Emotional Skills and Positive Life Goals for Adolescents and Young Adults

by Judith Martinovich

Overview

Individuals with Asperger's Syndrome (AS) benefit from a positive, affirming support of their individuality. This forward-looking book focuses on building individual strengths and resilience, rather than modifying perceived weaknesses, through individualized therapy within a group context. Integrating psychological and educational theory with a variety of creative therapies, Judith Martinovich combines activities such as art making, drama, music, puppetry, yoga and photography with conventional cognitive behavioral interventions to support individuals with AS. The different activities complement and reinforce each other and are designed to address specific traits of the autism spectrum to aid skills development. Although created primarily for use with adolescents and young adults, the practical and versatile activities can be adapted for different age and skill levels, objectives and settings. Informed by contemporary research, they meet the objectives of a framework of principles drawn from Positive Psychology and Social and Emotional Learning. Creative Expressive Activities and Asperger's Syndrome is a comprehensive resource for parents as well as teachers, social workers, psychologists and arts therapists who wish to link therapeutic goals with creative activities for people with or without Asperger's Syndrome.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846422379
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	09/15/2005
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Judith Martinovich has a working background in art and textile design, personal experience with Asperger's Syndrome, and a Masters of Literature in Psychology (Australia) and Master of Arts in Counseling (USA). She has worked with individuals and groups with Asperger's Syndrome in Australia and the United States. Judith has integrated her qualifications and experience with an ongoing desire to build sound bridges between academia and creative therapies. She has two children, Chris and Anna, lives with her husband in Dover, New Jersey, and works in private practice with creative therapies with people of all ages.

Table of Contents

Contents: Preface. Part I: A Multidimensional Approach to Asperger's Syndrome. 1. Introduction. 2. What makes an adaptive, resilient, and happy person? 3. Defining Asperger's Syndrome and its impact. Part II: Creative Activities. 4. Groups. 5. Conceptual and cognitive processing: semantic and pragmatic weaknesses. 6. Self-awareness and self-related skills: emotion, depression, anxiety, emotional self-regulation. 7. Social difficulties and connecting with the world. 8. Nuts and bolts of art techniques. References. Appendix 1: VIA classification of character strengths. Appendix 2: Music list. Index.