Syracuse University SURFACE Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations School of Education 2011 Old Broken Crayons: Adolescent Artists with Autism in Art Education Corrie Burdick Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Burdick, Corrie, "Old Broken Crayons: Adolescent Artists with Autism in Art Education" (2011). Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations. 234. https://surface.syr.edu/tl_etd/234 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the School of Education at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Teaching and Leadership - Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This research engages a combined qualitative methodology of arts-informed research and critical descriptive ethnography to study thirteen adolescent artists with autism as they engage in art making across multiple art education contexts. This study revealed the perceptions of stakeholders about art and autism that informed the access these adolescent artists had to art education and art materials. These perceptions included varying ideas of competence, ability and struggle associated with an identity as ‗autistic‘. In the examination of these adolescents‘ experiences the engagement with art making and the role of art in the lives of these artists is explored. It is shown that art functions as communication and a way of connecting to the world around them, acting as a form of literacy through the visual text of their artwork. This study offers a paradigm for inclusive art education that operates within the social model of dis/ability and considers strategies for full inclusion with art curriculum and art materials. Recommendations for families, art teachers of students with autism and art teacher preparation are provided. OLD BROKEN CRAYONS: ADOLESCENT ARTISTS WITH AUTISM IN ART EDUCATION By Corrie Burdick B.F.A. Syracuse University, 1991 M.S. Syracuse University, 1995 C.A.S. Syracuse University, 2005 Dissertation Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Teaching and Curriculum in the Graduate School of Syracuse University May 2011 Copyright 2011 Corrie Burdick All Rights Reserved. Table of Contents ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................................... V CHAPTER ONE: THE PROBLEM AND ITS LOCATION ................................................................. 1 BACKGROUND.................................................................................................................................................................... 1 DISSERTATION LAYOUT.................................................................................................................................................. 4 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM..................................................................................................................................... 4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................................................... 8 LOCATING TERMINOLOGY IN THIS RESEARCH ......................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER TWO: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .................................................................. 17 ART ..................................................................................................................................................... 19 DEFINITIONS OF ART ................................................................................................................................................... 19 GENERAL EDUCATION AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO ART EDUCATION IN THE US ......................................... 24 ART AS SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION, VISUAL CULTURE AND MATERIAL CULTURE ...................................... 26 ARTISTIC IDENTITIES ................................................................................................................................................... 32 RE-IMAGINING INCLUSIVE ART EDUCATION.......................................................................................................... 36 ADOLESCENCE .................................................................................................................................. 40 IDENTITY FORMATION IN ADOLESCENCE ............................................................................................................... 41 SOCIAL IDENTITIES, BODILY IDENTITIES, & MULTIPLE IDENTITIES ............................................................... 43 CHANGE AND TRANSITION ......................................................................................................................................... 46 RELATIONSHIPS ............................................................................................................................................................. 47 INDEPENDENCE ............................................................................................................................................................. 51 ADOLESCENCE AS TIME OF GROWTH ....................................................................................................................... 53 ARTISTIC GROWTH IN ADOLESCENCE ..................................................................................................................... 53 AUTISM .............................................................................................................................................. 58 AUTISM AND THE MEDICAL MODEL OF DISABILITY ............................................................................................ 58 THE SOCIAL MODEL OF DIS/ABILITY AND ARTISM ............................................................................................. 59 MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS ................................................................................................................................. 64 RE-IMAGINING DIS/ABILITY ...................................................................................................................................... 69 ACCESS ............................................................................................................................................... 70 INCLUSION....................................................................................................................................................................... 70 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 80 RATIONALE FOR APPROACH ....................................................................................................... 81 ARTS-INFORMED RESEARCH METHODOLOGY....................................................................................................... 82 CRITICAL ETHNOGRAPHY AND DESCRIPTIVE ETHNOGRAPHY .......................................................................... 84 STUDY DESIGN ................................................................................................................................. 85 RESEARCH SCOPE .......................................................................................................................................................... 86 THE NATURE OF THE DATA ....................................................................................................................................... 86 RECRUITMENT, SETTING, POPULATION AND PARTICIPANTS ............................................................................ 88 PROCEDURE.................................................................................................................................... 100 IV DATA COLLECTION .....................................................................................................................................................100 DATA ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................................................................................107 VALIDITY OF DATA .....................................................................................................................................................112 WRITING UP THE ANALYSIS .....................................................................................................................................113 THE ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER .............................................................................................................................115 CHAPTER 4: ENGAGEMENT IN AND ROLE OF ART ............................................................... 117 INTRODUCTION TO THE PRESENTATION OF THE DATA ....................................................................................117 ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PLANNED ART CURRICULUM ...................................................................................118 ENGAGEMENT THROUGH PERSONAL EXPLORATION .........................................................................................132 ARTMAKING AND ARTISTIC IDENTITY ...................................................................................................................136