132 • Introduction to Art Therapy
The following vignette from the 1970s illustrates such an approach. In order to assess
change in a group of blind children with multiple disabilities, I designed a scale that rated
behaviors and attitudes during the artistic process, and in relation to others.
Assessing Change After Seven Weeks of Group Art Therapy
In an exploratory art program with thirteen multiply-disabled youngsters at the Western
Pennsylvania School for Blind Children in 1970, the children were first interviewed individ-
ually in order to be able to group them most effectively. Because of their disability, they were
offered a wide range of sensory stimuli, as well as a choice of art materials (Figure 6.10).
Tw o observers using a 24-item, 9-point rating scale were asked to note where each child
was on each behavioral dimension. Some items were descriptive of overall behavior, such as
passive/active, tense/relaxed, distractible/involved, and depressed/alert. Others referred to
the children’s interaction with the therapist, like dependent/independent, suspicious/trust-
ing, and withdrawn/outgoing.
Some items related to their use of the art materials, such as awkward/coordinated, impulsive/
deliberate, stereotyped/original, or to their attitude toward their work, like critical/pleased.
Yet others were about the nature of their creative process, for example, barren/fluent, rigid/
flexible. An average of the two observers’ ratings on each dimension was used. They agreed
almost 90 percent of the time. In other words, the scale had high inter-rater reliability.
After seven weeks of group art sessions, we repeated the individual interviews with each
child, again using the mean of two observers’ ratings on each dimension (Fig u re 6 .11). The
differences between the pre- and post-program scores were all in the desired direction.
They were statistically significant (beyond chance expectation) on the following five dimen-
sions: relaxation, involvement, independence, originality, and flexibility. These objective
assessments confirmed our subjective sense of individual and group gains. Jimmy, for
example, who had been so shy and lacking in self-confidence that at first he declined art
altogether, had become comfortable with drawing, and more important, proud of his work
(Figure 6.12).
Figure 6.10 Pre-program art interview with blind child.