Service Needs

1. Different Perception on the Quality of Relationship between Parents and Children

Parents consistently overestimated the degrees of closeness , understanding & communication, compared to their children’s responses (Bengtson & Kuypers, 1971; Giarrusso et al., 2004)

2. Communication Difficulties due to Symptoms in Children with ASD

Children's nonverbal communication impairments lead to parental psychological distress & parenting stress, which decreases the quality & frequency of parent-child interaction (Caiozzo et al., 2018; Del Bianco et al., 2018).

Application of Psychological Theories

How Does Connected Expressive Arts Making Enhance Parent-Child Relationship?

1. Transactional Theory of Child Development:

By channelling their maladaptive behaviours into creative flow, art can promote emotional regulation and behavioural changes in children with ASD (Schweizer et al., 2019). These improvements predict later enhanced emotional closeness between the parents and the child (Hickey et al., 2020).

2. Transformative Dynamic Processes in Joint Painting Procedures (JPP):

JPP, an art-based clinical intervention, in which the parent and the child draw on the same paper, has been shown to have salient positive effects on parent-child relationship (Gavron & Mayseless, 2018).

Its transformative dynamic processes are expected to occur as long as the parent and the child engage in art activities together, with or without a therapist’s involvement due to the intrinsic and non-judgemental nature of art-making (Armstrong & Ross, 2021).

Rationales behind Each Session Theme

01:
Understanding Yourself

02:
Understanding the Other

These topics facilitate compassion and non-judgemental acceptance of self and the child, which are the two dimensions of mindful parenting, which is evidenced in contributing to a more positive parent-child relationship (Duncan et al., 2009).

03:
Strengthening Family Bonds

By building family resilience (i.e. the family being able to bounce back from highly stressful events), the family protective processes such as family cohesiveness and communication can facilitate their relationship (Patterson, 2002; Walsh, 2021)

04:
Making Memories

Parent-child reminiscing provides a sense of connection to the other through shared emotional bonding, which will enhance the relationship (Fivush et al., 1996).