The Desire to Paint: Using Painting with Profoundly Disabled Adults
The Desire to Paint: Using Painting with Profoundly Disabled Adults
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Issue Date
1992
Authors
Young, Sally
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Abstract
A pilot study to determine if the visual arts hold any potential benefits for adults who are profoundly developmentally disabled. The 30 people in the study group were offered the opportunity to paint or draw in a non-directive and nurturing environment. Lack of initiative, lack of motivation, and attention deficits are common traits among profoundly disabled adults. Given an environment that fostered self-determined behavior and that offered a particularly compelling activity, I found that some of the people in the group showed a significant improvement in their capacity for sustained self-engaged participation. Many people also displayed uncharacteristic initiative and motivation while participating in the program. Both the anecdotal and quantitative data suggest that the painting program was beneficial to half of the people in the study group. For another seven people, it may have been beneficial, and there were eight for whom I could not discern any benefit at all.