As the ArtBreak groups progressed, we undertook practitioner-based action research to try to fine-tune operations and inform improvements. We also wanted to understand the contribution of the program toward child well-being. Specifically we sought to understand whether the groups mitigated child stress, and whether the groups seemed to support the developmental goals derived from the expressive therapies continuum framework that we incorporated into our referral procedures.
We learned that children relax in ArtBreak. This is apparent when you observe them in the studio, and it is supported by our ArtBreak studio research involving the biological measure of fingertip temperature, a reliable biomarker of stress levels. As a person relaxes, blood vessels in the extremities dilate (vasodilation), blood flows more freely to the hands, and fingertip temperature rises. For two years we measured changes in fingertip temperature among thirty-nine ArtBreak students as they entered the studio and then about two-thirds of the way through the session (before they began to wash their hands and clean up). We found an average increase of +4.6 degrees F while children were engaged in making art during a group session; nearly all students in the program experienced some level of relaxation. Further statistical analysis (t-tests) showed an overall significant increase in temperature. We discussed, but elected not to pursue, an experimental design with a control group, because of the logistical considerations required as well as ethical concerns about diverting children who had been referred to ArtBreak to another intervention. With this in mind, the research, although suggestive, supports the idea that the program reduces child stress.
Mitigation of child stress is important. Traumatic events as well as cumulative chronic stressors from factors like poverty, racism, difficult family circumstances, and school itself take their toll on a child’s psychological and physical health. Schools have the potential to create opportunities for islands of stress reduction throughout the school day, and researchers have noted three kinds of such “stress-buffers.” ArtBreak has the potential to offer all three. Breathers are positive events in the midst of stress that allow a child to take a break and recover. Sustainers are enjoyable challenges that sustain coping and allow a child to notice that positive feelings like optimism can be experienced in the face of stressors like the challenge of problem solving that can occur while making art. Finally, restorers are recuperative healing experiences that follow a stressful event.
Materials developed and collected at various times throughout the program included the facilitator’s reflective notes and journals, the children’s reflective journals, photographs of student work, the children’s verbal responses to questions and prompts about their experience and learning, written teacher assessments, and data created from referral forms.
In terms of our process and perception data, about half of our participants were referred to help them develop pro-social behaviors and understand their own strengths; about a quarter were referred for an opportunity to relax and express their feelings; and a quarter were referred to work on strengthening their problem-solving abilities. About two-thirds of the participants were boys. When we asked teachers about their perceptions of student progress on their individual reasons for referral, about 70 percent of the students were thought to have made gains and 30 percent were thought to have remained the same. This process informed adjustments like extending the session length from thirty to forty minutes, confirmed that the expressive therapies continuum is useful for structuring individual referral goals, helped gain funding for a summer program, and gave us an understanding of how ArtBreak supports children. For practical purposes, documenting provides reflective time and space for a facilitator to attend to group process as well as to create an archive of photographs and notes to use for ArtBreak “progress reports” for families, teachers, and students. Throughout the book you’ll see examples and case accounts that illustrate the ways children progressed.
This child’s expression reflects the words of a fourth-grade boy: “We make things for the joy of it!” Photo by Josh Birnbaum
What follows here are summaries of what we learned about categories of student gains.
JOY AND FUN
Most often children talked about having fun in ArtBreak. Along these lines they also mentioned joy.
“We have fun!”
“We make things for the joy of it!”
EMOTIONAL REGULATION AND SENSORY EXPRESSION
ArtBreak allows children to express their feelings and enjoy a sensory experience. When asked what they have learned, some children talk about feelings and that ArtBreak helps them enter a state of calmness.
“Finger painting feels good; it is awesome and smooth.”
“I learn I have to work calmly in here.”
“If you’re mad, you calm down.”
“It helps me control my anger, because you sit down with me and paint.”
Teachers noted gains in emotional regulation:
“(He) seems very happy and content, not upset if things aren’t ‘just right.’ He has come mega-miles.”
“(He) is better able to work in small-group settings, making less noise and creating fewer distractions. ArtBreak was perfect for him.”
“(She) still can get easily upset, especially when she is disorganized or feels pressure, but I have seen improvements in her ability to calm herself down and try to be more organized.”
The choice-based, child-directed environment and inviting art materials create a support and comfort that children respond to with a relaxation response of increased blood flow to the limbs, which warms their hands, a reliable indicator of stress reduction that we were able to document.
Attending to the nature of lighting and music in the studio contributes to an environment of calmness and warmth. The children themselves are often drawn to choose work that is calming when they need it, and it usually involves fluid media. One year a fourth grader spent most of his time at the sink rinsing paintbrushes that he gathered from the worktable or swishing his hands in a dishpan he had filled with water. This sensory experience was soothing for him and allowed him to return to his classroom relaxed. The next year he began painting, reveling in finger paint and painting his hands with a brush. Sometimes he made prints with his painted hands. In sixth grade he began sewing. Sewing is a highly cognitive activity when it comes to measuring and cutting, but the rhythm and repetition of hand sewing with a running stitch can be quite relaxing. In this way he began, when he was ready, to integrate problem-solving and cognitive processes into his work. Occasionally I have noticed a child who is struggling in frustration with a technical task—fastening boxes together, stringing beads just so, drawing a certain shape—put that work aside to do a little finger painting instead.
SOCIAL SKILLS AND COMMUNITY
Sometimes the main task of an ArtBreak group is to learn to become a working community. With some groups I have had to remind myself of the stages of group process, and that we will get through the norming and storming period, outlined in chapter 2, and reach the working stage. An ArtBreak community develops through the process of making art together.
When working with a small group of boys referred to an ArtBreak group created just for them at the request of the school intervention team because the once-close group of friends had been constantly arguing and fighting, I despaired for several sessions of anything occurring except the flinging of materials and insults. Then the boys all decided they would make knotted and woven necklaces of twine. This was very bad news to me as, although we