Art and design and autism spectrum disorder at P level 8

The concept of stopping when a work is finished and has become an end product can be complex. Critical judgement and imagination are needed to anticipate what the product could look like.

Although the P levels focus on creativity as a product-driven process, it’s also important that pupils experience the pleasure of the activity itself.

The child’s awareness of the meaning of paintings, sculptures and drawings may be at a superficial level, based on functionality of the painting, sculpture or drawing rather than why the artist created it, and the ‘message’ told through their art. For example, a sculpture of a figure bowed-over, with a face that looks tired, might make us think of someone carrying a heavy burden. An autistic child make not see that connection but it would not be difficult to make a link from the sculpture to what we feel like when we are carrying heavy things. At a more poignant level we might think of being weighed down by emotional burdens, or even guilt, but this is likely to be too complex an emotion for a pupil working at this P level.

You can:

Split the creative processes into small steps. Get the child to ask: "Have I done everything I need to do?" Encourage them to have a clear objective in mind, for example creating a collage of a flower. The end product will be the completed flower. It is harder to see an end product when working on a free subject such as a pattern, or an imaginary animal and the pupil will need help to look ahead to an end result.

Now you might like to look at:

• Art and design for autism spectrum disorder P level 7
• Art and design for autism spectrum disorder key stage 1