Looking For Me Analysis

In the documentary Looking for Me, viewers follow the work of Janet Adler and how she used dance/movement therapy (DMT) with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Children with ASD may struggle with language development, and some may be completely nonverbal (Folstein & Rosen-Sheidley, 2001 as cited in Scharoun et al., 2014). Other characteristics of ASD are lack of eye contact, difficulty with picking up social cues, and engagement in repetitive behaviors (Scharoun et al., 2014). As for movement, children with ASD have difficulty "planning, organizing, and coordinating movements" (Glazebook, Elliott, & Szatarmi, 2008 as cited in Scharoun et al., 2014, p. 212). That is why children with ASD benefit from DMT. It allows children on different

The kids in this session often needed to separate themselves from the group when they felt as though they were overstimulated. Overall, they did not have the same attention span as the children in the other group. They were not ready to build relationships with one other as seen in difficulty moving together inside of a cloth band, and they often engaged in soothing, self-stimulating behavior. One child was clearly in the oral stage of development which was seen by putting objects in her mouth (Morningstar, 2017). This is an example of how her movement development did not reflect typical movement patterns of someone her age. Common issues that arose in the group with children with ASD was difficulty attending to the individual needs of the child. Often, each child needed individual attention from an adult throughout the group, and there was not that support offered in the session. The therapist struggled to establish the balance between the group's need while catering to the individual needs of the children. Another obstacle that occurred in the in this group session was communication. Many of the children in this session were nonverbal, and due to the largeness of the group, it was difficult to

Adler was strategic in how she approached the sessions with the two girls. She used mirroring/empathic reflection to establish the therapeutic relationship. Mirroring is a technique commonly used in DMT to build rapport and trust with clients (Scharoun et al., 2014). It is a way to connect with clients through using their movements. In the start of the session, the children engaged in repetitive and self-stimulating behaviors. Both children kept a distance from the therapist and were nonverbal. Adler used imitation of movement to meet the children where they were at and began to enter their world through reflecting the movement they engaged in. She wanted them to know that she accepted them for where they were, and they were safe to be themselves. Through this process, they started to form the therapeutic relationship and the children started to trust her. However, this was not an instantaneous process. There were moments where the children rejected Adler if they felt as though she crossed a boundary with them through coming too close in