1. By Miriam Galindo

2.  As a privately practicing clinical psychologist, Dr. Miriam
Galindo draws on 25 years of experience counseling
children. With her youngest clients, Dr. Miriam Galindo
frequently uses play and art therapy as a diagnostic and
treatment tool.
As naturally creative individuals, children often express
themselves through art more clearly and vividly than they
do through words. Art allows children to give form to a
broad range of issues, from life-threatening illnesses to
phobias and other emotional issues. As a child creates
works of art that represent these issues and his or her own
feelings about them, a skilled therapist initiates discussion
about the creation and can thus help the child understand
his or her feelings.

3.  Art therapy can also help children to distract
themselves from struggles, such as learning
disabilities and trauma. It can be a stress reliever as
well as a way of giving voice to a particular issue, the
combination of which can aid the child in developing
coping skills.
For example, many children who have survived
physical abuse are able in art therapy to give voice to
their traumas, which may be either taboo or so
painful that the brain is unable to verbalize them in
another way. The art then becomes an alternative
expression that lets the therapist begin to help the
child process and communicate his or her
experiences.