Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2025

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Expressive Therapies

First Advisor

Robyn Flaum Cruz

Second Advisor

Kelvin Ramirez

Third Advisor

Christina Devereaux

Abstract

This study explored the impact of kinesthetic attunement as experienced through dance movement therapy (DMT) with parent-child dyads on parental stress, children’s adaptive skills and joint attention. A qualitative reflective account of parents was also studied to understand the depth of parents’ experience of dance movement therapy with their children with autism. The research emphasized the importance of collective parent-child dance therapy sessions, that especially focused on attunement and connection that built its way up from sensory-motor, social-communicative, and relational play and engagement.

A total of six parent-child dyads participated in the study that lasted over eight DMT sessions. Parents and children were assessed on pre- and post-measures of parental stress (Parental Stress Scale) and children’s adaptive skills (Vineland Adaptive Behavioral Scale), and continuous tracking of joint attention was done for every child before and throughout the treatment phase. Parents were also individually interviewed three times through the treatment phase, to understand their experience of DMT and how their reflections evolved with time on the concepts of play, creative movement, stress, relationship and overall wellbeing. Quantitative results demonstrated that all children had higher post-test scores on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale, indicating new communicative and adaptive skills. Every child also demonstrated increases in joint attention as the sessions progressed. All participating parents reported a reduction in the Parental Stress Scale scores, suggesting that all parents experienced a reduction in parental stress post treatment. Key themes and subthemes identified parents’ emotional and stress-related changes over the course of the intervention, observations of their children, and their understanding of play, attunement and connection.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Download

Share

COinS