Dance/movement psychotherapy in early childhood treatment Book Section
| Author: | Tortora, Suzi |
| Editors: | Chaiklin, S.; Wengrower, H. |
| Article/Chapter Title: | Dance/movement psychotherapy in early childhood treatment |
| Abstract: | (from the chapter) The Ways of Seeing dance movement psychotherapy approach has been developed through the integration of many fields of study specifically focusing on research and theories that support the primacy of movement and nonverbal communication in early childhood development. Built upon the notion that our bodies tell stories that speak of our experiences (Tortora, 2004), these experiences start to accumulate from the beginning of life, as each infant enters the world with a developing sense of body. This principle emphasizes that bodily sensations, reactions, expressions, and experiences of all children come from their keen physical receptivity to sensations-these are their earliest experiences of self-these body experiences define and continually inform them about who they are. From this understanding, intervention focuses on: (1) how a child's sense of body impacts his or her experience; (2) how the child's nonverbal style influences the "whole child," looking at the development of all aspects of self, emotionally, socially, intellectually, physically, and communicatively; (3) how to transform and elaborate on a child's existing sense of body as reflected in his or her nonverbal style, to support the development of more complex and functionally adaptive styles of behaving and relating that will incorporate all aspects of self; and (4) how an understanding of the role of multisensory experience can be used to support a young child through pain due to medical illness. Nonverbal observation, music, dance, movement, body awareness, and play are the key intervention tools of this dance therapy method that trained psychotherapists can use to best support growth and change in young children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved). |
| Keywords: | music; nonverbal communication; dance/movement psychotherapy; early childhood treatment; body awareness |
| Book Title: | The Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy: Life Is Dance. 1st ed |
| ISBN: | 978-0-415-99656-3 |
| Publisher: | Taylor & Francis Group |
| Publication Place: | New York, NY |
| Date Published: | 2009-01-01 |
| Start Page: | 159 |
| End Page: | 180 |
| Language: | English |
| ACCESSION: | Book: 2009-12112-009 |
| PROVIDER: | Ovid Technologies |
| PROVIDER: | psycinfo |
| DOI/URL: | |
| Notes: | Book Chapter: 9 -- Chaiklin, Sharon [Ed ; Wengrower, Hilda [Ed -- xxiii, 356 -- Source: PsycINFO |
MSK Authors
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33Tortora
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