Expressing Yourself thru Art

As we move forward with the opening of school, day programs and more public places, life will look very different. Everyone from the administration/teachers, students, parents, caregivers and staff will have a wide range of emotions leading up to “opening day”.

Excitement, nerves and being a bit overwhelmed are feelings that come along with anything new. With the thought of so many changes these feelings now have a whole new meaning.

Social distancing, wearing masks, moving classrooms and the allowance of only a certain percentage of individuals back to the day programs will lead to many questions and concerns. The students and individuals will find so much unfamiliar in a very familiar environment. They will need a way to express what they are feeling.

Art is an excellent way to allow for this type of expression. When we draw, paint or use a visual journal our minds go to a different place. Art shifts our attention and in doing so we lose the sense of nervousness which helps us to regulate our bodies.

Art allows us to say visually what we can not say verbally. It helps us to express feelings that we may not know how to or may not even realize we need to express.

Art can also help with social skills, the class or group comes together to talk about art and their projects. Which leads to working on enhancing their communication skills. Memory and focus are affected by drawing and doodling as well. A study published in 2018 shows that drawing improves memory by promoting the integration of elaborative, pictorial, and motor codes, facilitating creation of a context-rich representation. This means that those with and without cognitive delays can benefit from drawing as a way to help memory. (The Surprisingly Powerful Influence of Drawing on Memory Myra A. Fernandes, Jeffrey D. Wammes, Melissa E. Meade)

At ARTS AND REC,LLC we help to supply our students with the tools needed to accomplish their goals. Using art, our certified therapeutic recreation specialist helps our students to not only learn artistic techniques but to use these techniques to achieve non artistic goals, leading to a healthy wellbeing.

Give us a call at 508-395-9033 with any questions. You can also go to our website at www.artsandrecma.com for more details on what we do.