Art therapy as a form of social skills development in infants with autism

The article analyzes the results of a theoretical study aimed at determining the feasibility of using art therapy methods in the development of social skills in infants with autism. The practical significance of the publication is determined by the specific effect of art therapy, which manifests itself in the possibility of reducing the anxiety of a child with autism resulting from remedial psychological and pedagogical work. A key feature of autistic children that detracts from the effectiveness of their social adjustment is a reduced ability to understand the other's states (mental theory). Art therapy, with its specific atmosphere and working methods, makes it possible to create a certain social context in which the inner experience and characteristics of the person can be revealed in an imaginative way. However, despite all the positive effects of using art therapy to solve the problems of socialization of children with ASD, there is still no unified concept in the scientific community regarding this direction.