Learning Disabilities: Post 1

Silver, EdD, ATR, R., & Lavin, PhD, C. (1977). The Role of Art in Developing and Evaluating Cognitive Skills. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 10(7), 416-424. Retrieved September 14, 2015, from EBSCOhost.

The Role of Art in Developing and Evaluating Cognitive Skills

The article discusses how a group of Art Education students in a Masters program worked to teach a group of students with communication disabilities specific cognitive skillls through art procedures without the use of language. The graduate students  worked through a series of tasks to help them prove their hypothesis that art techniques can be used to assist learning disabled children in expressing concepts nonverbally. 

First, the children completed an activity to demonstrate their ability to form groups in drawing from imagination. The children were presented with a group of drawings on index cards; half of the cards had drawings of people on them, while the other half had drawings of objects. The children were asked to create a story inspired by the drawings,  however, they could not copy any of the cards, but were asked to draw from the cards in their own way to demonstrate their individual styles. Emphasis was placed on content, meaningful pictures, and exploratory learning. The children's drawings from imagination were evaluated on their ability to select, combine, represent, and express.

Next the children completed an activity to demonstrate their ability to perceive and represent spatial relationships. The children drew an arrangement of objects placed in the center of the room, and sketched from different points of view.  

Lastly, the children completed an activity to demonstrate their  ability to order and conserve in manipulating objects, modeling clay, and paintings. The children modeled clay from imagination to design solid forms. The children also mixed paint colors to create tints and shades.  Indirect instruction was used during this activity to encourage exploratory learning.

At the end of the study, the Masters students proved their hypothesis that art techniques can be used to assist learning disabled children in expressing concepts nonverbally through visual-motor channels in spite of impaired functioning.

I found a connection between the article's subject matter and my personal work as a high school art teacher. With fine arts, there are always critics who believe that the visual arts do not aid students in skills needed for other classes, but this article clearly outlines that skills learned in an art class helps with necessary cognitive skills. I also found this article interesting because I've use pieces of all 3 art activites listed in my classroom, and I never took the time to look deep enough to see the skills (outside of building art skills) that these activities help to develop. I definitely agree with the content presented in the article and wish more people knew just how significant of a role art can play in strengthening communication skills, especially in students with learning disabilities. One of the strongest points presented in the article is that art can in fact develop and strengthen cognitive skills, and it's amazing to me that the children examined in the article had both language and hearing impairments.