BULELANI ART THERAPY
10 YEARS
ASSESMENT OF BULELANI;

I use art as a method of therapy to work with children in a non threatening way. That way we can actually play while I work with the child. At first I found Bulelani very inhibited and withdrawn. He was unfamiliar with the different art mediums and would only use a pen or pencil.

I asked him to draw a picture of himself, which he has done. The picture showed me his development. Taking in account his back ground, he was not exposed to much stimuli and it showed in his drawing. For his age, his picture was very immature and his concepts were that of a much younger child. This is to be expected as he only started school at the age of 10 years.

Second time I worked with him he accepted me and a trust relationship started. we spoke about his family and he told me they don’t speak much to each other and his older brother doesn’t speak to him. I then started to teach him the skills he lacks. The first skill I started with was proper communication as he only uses 3 word sentences to communicate.

Bulelani is a pleasant little boy who needs a lot of encouragement because of his disability. Art is a method to develop confidence out of his normal sphere and encourage creative thinking. Bulelani needs to learn more vocabulary to speak about himself and how he feels. In working with him I impart skills to him on his level. This individual attentions is very important to him, for his physical and mental development.

JANUARY 2010
MEETING WITH EMILIA

We met for the first time. I did a trial run with Bulelani. She was satisfied with the work we did. I focus on him and his family because of his age that is the most important structure in his life. He drew the pictures of his family which revealed much. The family did not appear happy in the pictures. There seems to be a sense of helplessness in the family. Both Bulelani and his sister don’t have arms and the rest don’t have hands.
I found him not very open today because of the time that has passed. We again started to develop a trust relationship. I kept trying to work from his right side but he did not like it and closed up because he did not want to acknowledge this side of his body where he is physically challenged. He closes up and covers his picture showing lack of confidence.


MAIN G O A LS:
To open up his space and not to be closed.
To encourage him to acknowledge the right side of his body.
To get him to a place of self-confidence to allow his physical body to be worked on in therapy. (He has not yet seen himself as a whole person but disregards the right side of his body)
To use art as a method.
Give him skills to work with and vocabulary to speak his mind and express his feelings.

FEBRUARY 2010

FIRST SESSION
Bulelani was excited about the art therapy and was very present. He did everything with enthusiasm and tried very hard. Bulelani has an inner drive to work with me.

GOAL
To work with him in his own environment to develop his self confidence.

METHOD
I used my charts to teach him emotional vocabulary so that he can tell me how he feels. From there we worked with colours and discovered he doesn’t know his basic colours. I asked him what he would like to draw. He started to make sums, he seems to love maths. His concentration span is very short. I had to keep on changing our activities to keep his interest.

SECOND SESSION
Bulelani was glad to see me and wanted to work. He is a very positive little boy. The community is getting used to me coming to work with Bulelani and go and call him for his therapy. This makes him important and he enjoys the attention

GOAL
Work to improve his self image by drawing and talking about himself, his interests and his friend and keep on acknowledging his right side by referring to his left and right side of his body.

METHOD
We used different mediums of art but his preference is to draw with pencils. Self portraits and drawings.

THIRD SESSION
Bulelani loves the therapy and enjoy all the activities.

GOAL
His self image and his space orientation and to acknowledge that he has a left and right side to his body. To have a visual of how big he is in space.

METHOD
We made a life size image of him from cardboard and did some hand printing of him. It’s the first time that he opened up his hand and it stayed open as we did the print. It became easier for him to keep his hand open

FOURTH SESSION
Bulelani is still very happy to do therapy.

GOAL
To acknowledge his right side and use it for minor tasks.

METHOD;
We worked with clay and did some hand print out of the clay. He really enjoyed the experience which was totally new to him. He has never worked with clay before. All these new experiences are developing a sense of self-confidence.

ACHIEVEMENT
We have work toward the goal and have achieved a measure of confidence and acknowledgement of the right side. The greatest victory was when he could open his hand and repeated it again with less effort.

MARCH - MAY 2010
PLANNING
To work toward the goal for him to fully acknowledgment his rights side of his body and to develop a healthy self image and confidence, using art as a method of therapy.

ART PROGRAM
After the initial time I spent with Bulelani, I began a program with him to expose him to more materials and mediums. We used paint, clay, scissors, and hands. Because of his lack of self confidence, I started him off with very small projects and art work, to much bigger. The photos reflect this journey. He as growing in confidence from using a pen only, to painting with a brush on bigger paper. The lines were bold and bigger pictures and becoming clearer.

Bulelani knows numbers and can count. Maths appears to be his strength, and he frequently brings it into his artwork in the form of a sum.

Bulelani needs much encouragement. His environment doesn’t give him much stimulation. His peers appear to accept him and admire him for the individual attention he received for art therapy, and would also have liked to join in.
Bulelani, he still has many challenges ahead of him and will require specialized help where possible.

The pictures is from small to big from little detail to more detail. He worked with a A4 paper to A3. His confidence grew the bigger the pictures.got.

TERSIA SMIT
(M.A.COUNSELLING)

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