The Effectiveness of Mother-Based Art Therapy on Stereotypic Behaviors, Verbal Skills and Social Interactions of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mother-based art therapy on reducing and improving the basic problems of children with autism spectrum disorders in the areas of verbal skills, social interactions and their stereotypic behaviors. A quasi-experimental method with pre-test/post-test design, with the control group and a two-month follow-up was applied. Both groups were selected from those mothers and children who referred to the Education and Research Clinic for Children with Special Disabilities of Shahid Beheshti University and were randomly divided into two groups of ten. Both groups responded to the Gilliam Autism Rating Scale in three stages: before and after the intervention and two months after the intervention. Descriptive indices and student t-test and mixed analysis of variance were used to analyze the data. The results showed that the mother-based art therapy program significantly improved the basic problems of children with autism spectrum disorders in the experimental group (ie. increased verbal skills (F= 4.13; sig=0.046) and social interactions (F= 7.12; sig=0.011) and stereotypic behaviors has decreased (F= 43.83; sig<0.001). Therefore, our results suggest that mother-based art therapy program sounds like an effective program in treatment and rehabilitation centers for autistic children.