ABSTRACT
Art therapists are skilled in communicating with clients who are expressing themselves when creating art. It is also an important skill to communicate effectively with different parties, such as a client's family, colleagues from other professions and policy makers. This means that art therapists have to speak with diverse stakeholders in different “languages.” Talking with the client about experiences during the art therapy process is a different skill to the exchange of professional information with family, with colleagues or with other professions and policy makers. Art therapists are therefore working with varied languages. They have to deal with interdisciplinary discussions and heterogeneous perspectives to provide transference of treatment aspects, outlines and results.
Empirical research supports the development of an objective and more generally understood language. Existing studies about art therapy for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have yielded an empirical-based language for varied aspects of the treatment. This language provides an outline for art therapists on the one hand and supports communication about art therapy with third parties as well. In several studies, an empirical-based treatment programme, was developed. Images of Self is an art therapy programme for children and their autism-related problems. It offers a language that is meant to be understood by varied parties. In this chapter, these existing studies are built upon, with the development and testing of an empirical base and vocabulary for art therapy with children diagnosed with ASD. The chapter sheds light on art therapy for children diagnosed with ASD and also on several issues about conditions for development and evaluation of the programme.
