Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Michael Spezio

Reader 2

Jose Arreola

Abstract

This study examines the effect of art therapy on the social and emotional skills of children with autism. Using sensitive design and language, participants will take the CARS2 and ADOS-2 and then undergo an eight-week art therapy program. Families will attend weekly training sessions at the autism center their child already attends for eight consecutive weeks, with each session lasting approximately 90 minutes. Parents will implement the assigned art activity at home five times per week between training sessions, with each home session lasting fifteen to twenty minutes. The program uses a naturalized parent-mediated design so topics and projects can fit easily into everyday life outside of the lab. Participants will consist of two groups of 564 5-6 year-olds, one active control group that receives the non-art therapy treatment and the experimental group that receives the altered art therapy intervention. A paired samples t-test and an independent samples t-test will test two hypotheses: participants in the art therapy intervention group’s social and emotional skills as rated by the ADOS-2 and CARS2 will improve post-intervention as compared to their pre intervention scores and participants in the art therapy intervention group’s social and emotional skills as rated by the ADOS-2 and CARS2 will improve more than participants' scores in the control group.

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