Date of Award
Spring 5-19-2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
MAE - Master of Arts in Expressive Therapies
Department
Expressive Therapies
Advisor
Rebecca Zarate
Abstract
The literature review investigated the use of mirroring to help develop emotional understanding through social learning with children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The research reviewed was used to further cognize how mirroring could give a child with ASD a better understanding of their own and others’ emotions through social learning. The findings revealed that mirroring could be an affective tool to build social awareness of emotions in children diagnosed with ASD. The mirror neuron system (MNS) is the area of the brain that assesses perception and production of movement creating an overlap. Using the idea of the mirror neuron system, mirroring was a tool created to enhance emotional understanding, which findings revealed to be beneficial for the emotional inconsistencies seen in Autism Spectrum Disorder. Expressive therapies (ET) have implemented affective treatment techniques for children diagnosed with ASD who are in need of social learning skills. They build these social learning skills by mirroring a child’s intention and modeling emotions. Mirroring is a strong focus of dance movement therapists. DMT’s noticed that a child’s movements could connect to their emotions, which are learned throughout development. Future application of this research will benefit the field of Dance Movement Therapy as well as benefit individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Fitzpatrick, Megan, "Mirroring, Social Learning and Dance Movement Therapy with Childhood Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Literature Review" (2018). Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses. 20.
https://digitalcommons.lesley.edu/expressive_theses/20
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