Quotes from Cathy A. Malchiodi

Expressive arts therapy--the purposeful application of art, music, dance/movement, dramatic enactment, creative writing, and imaginative play--is a non-verbal way of self-expression of feelings and perceptions. More importantly, they are action-oriented and tap implicit, embodied experiences of trauma that can defy expression through verbal therapy or logic.

Humans have historically used the arts in integrative ways, particularly within the contexts of enactment, ceremony, performance, and ritual.

Neurobiology research has taught helping professionals that we need to "come to our senses" in developing effective components for trauma intervention.

Possibly the most compelling reason for use of the expressive arts in trauma work is the sensory nature of the arts themselves; their qualities involve visual, tactile, olfactory, auditory, vestibular, and proprioceptive experiences.

Taken as a whole, maltreatment and neglect demonstrate a powerful capacity to create enduring dysfunction in multiple domains. The earlier in a child's life maltreatment occurs, the greater the risk of enduring and pervasive problems into adulthood (Perry, 2005, 2008).

bottom-up modalities (primary sensory, somatic, movement, rhythmic) help establish basic homeostatic stability will top-down treatments such as insight, reflection, trauma integration, narrative development, social development, or affect enhancement be effective (Kliem & Jones, 2008; Perry, 2008, 2009).

It is the integrative synergy of the arts, based on cultural traditions and current trauma-informed practice, that is requisite to addressing traumatic stress with most children, adults, families, groups, and communities.

healing-centered engagement moves the pendulum toward a focus on strengthening what supports well-being (hope, imagination, trust, aspirations) inclusive of social justice issues and intersectionality. In brief, it shifts the perspective from "what happened to you" to "what's resilient about you.

Highly anxious children or severely traumatized children don't play.

Children struggling with affective and relational difficulties may not display the normal range of emotion, do not regulate their emotions well, have difficult relationships with others, and feel little pleasure or reward from normal experience. They may also display little age-appropriate empathy, have difficulty delaying gratification, or may have learning or memory difficulties.

Trauma-related manifestations of impaired cortical development or functioning may include communication disorders, understanding causality, motivation, academic problems, conservation of matter, ordering events, classifying, forming hypothesis, problem solving, or moral and ethical thinking.

10 minutes, dozens of "doses" of therapeutic repetition are possible. This reality suggests that progress will be quicker if parents, teachers, and therapists all work together to form a consistent therapeutic web supporting positive change.

Children do not develop healthily when they are in a constant state of threat. Rituals and routines are a time-honored way that adults communicate to children I am here, I hear you, I understand, and I care

Displaying positive social emotions, especially smiling and laughter, are consistently interpreted as trustworthy, familiar, and attractive (Nelson, & Jeste, 2008; Niedenthal,

Negative emotions (frowns or scowls), on the other hand, lead to protective responses in observers, suppressing neurogenesis, possibly an attempt to limit the impact of negative stimuli. Human beings require relational reward and safety to make positive developmental gains, both socially and intellectually.

In the course of psychotherapy with children, innumerable transactions between child and therapist result in an emotionally corrective, relational healing experience. What happens when therapists respond in the expected way?

Watts-English, Fortson, Gibler, Hooper, & DeBellis, 2006). Further compounding this limited verbal and conceptual ability is the observation that children from low verbal families develop language skills even more slowly (Hart & Risley, 2003). This results in protracted immature language usage, fewer words, shorter sentences, and the consideration of fewer details than children from high verbal families (Papalia & Olds, 1979).

While thinking, reasoning, and language abilities are desirable endpoints, children's immature development largely precludes their use as a medium of treatment.

Researchers have just recently become aware of the magnitude of developmental, health, and behavioral problems—including speech and language problems—that plague maltreated children