Date of Award

Spring 5-17-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Major

Clinical Mental Health Counselling

First Advisor

Wendy Allen, PhD, LPC, BC-DMT

Abstract

In response to the increase in the number of students who receive special education services in the United States, along with a heightening need for accessible mental health services, school-based therapy is a growing area of research. Dance/movement therapy is an expressive arts therapy modality designed to support diverse populations in multiple settings. This literature review aimed to critically examine and synthesize research pertaining to school-based dance/movement therapy for adolescents in special education. This review examined the impact of school-based dance/movement therapy on social-emotional skills and related outcomes for adolescents in special education and found positive trends for improvement in these domains. Additionally, qualities were described for five dance/movement therapy elements (mirroring, rhythm, props, structure, and strengths-based approaches), which were determined based on findings from the literature. Qualities of school-based services were also examined. Barriers to the implementation of school-based dance/movement therapy for this population were identified, including perceived lack of feasibility of services. Based on the findings of this review, the field of dance/movement therapy is in a unique position to effectively address the needs of adolescents in special education within a school-based setting. Future research should include intersectional identities and direct perspectives from students with disabilities, as well as address barriers to the implementation of school-based dance/movement therapy for adolescents in special education.

Creative Commons License

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

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