The psychotherapeutic use of dance as an educational tool to improve social skills in children with autism

Abstract

ABSTRACT Educational tools based on the use of dance for professionals working with children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are scarce. The aim of this article is to highlight the benefits of dance therapy by presenting new research in the literature, and to describe the results of an intervention proposal that includes dance therapy in this field of education. The relevance of arts education as a strategy of attention to diversity in schools for the integrated development of academic and social skills is highlighted. The intervention proposal was designed with a programme of activities that included dance therapy and was implemented in children with autism. The aim was to determine whether it contributed to the development of their social skills. A descriptive qualitative methodology was used, with a purposive sampling of subjects affected by autism spectrum disorder attending the same educational centre. The results were collected in a field diary detailing the evolution of each subject in each module. Stufflebeam’s CIPP model was used to evaluate the results in terms of improvements in social skills. The results confirmed that dance therapy is an appropriate tool for the development of social skills in students with ASD.