The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dance/movement therapy on verbal and non-verbal interactions of autistic intellectually disabled people. The study targeted a total of 7 people residing at the H Welfare Foundation in U City ...
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of dance/movement therapy on verbal and non-verbal interactions of autistic intellectually disabled people. The study targeted a total of 7 people residing at the H Welfare Foundation in U City with autism-prone intellectual disabilities, in which a combination of intellectual and autism spectrum disorders. The research was conducted in a total of 14 times, 50 minutes once a week from October 2019 to March 2020. The dance/movement therapy program was conducted in a total of 4 stages: the stage of forming a sense of trust → the stage of the environment to protect and hug → the stage of the facilitating environment to play → the stage of coordination and relationship for social interaction.
In order to examine the changes in linguistic and non-verbal interactions through social interaction scales (Jung, 1988) the scores of verbal and non-verbal interactions were measured before and after comparison. In order to see the change of non-verbal interaction through motion observation, Samuel and Chaiklin's motion observation scale (Ryn, 2019), was used. Among the elements of LMA, the images of the body, effort, shape, and space were analyzed, and the movement changes of the subjects were observed. The analysis results of this study are summarized as follows.
First, as a result of comparing the average scores of the pre- and post-scale verbal interactions of autistic patients with intellectual disabilities who performed the dance/ movement therapy program, the scores of the verbal interaction scales were improved.
Second, as a result of comparing the average scores of the non-verbal interactions of the autistic patients with intellectual disabilities who performed the dance/movement therapy program, the scores of the non-verbal interaction scales were improved. Third, the degree of non-verbal interaction was improved when the movement was observed and analyzed in the video analysis of the autistic-minded with a disability who conducted the dance/movement therapy program. Summarizing the conclusions, dance/movement therapy influenced verbal and non-verbal interactions of the autistic disabilities intellectual disabled. Through this study, it is expected that the development and research of dance/movement therapy programs for a long period of time, rather than short periods for groups of people with intellectual disabilities.