Triveni Goswami Vernal
(Registered Special Educator CRR A64010)

The previous blog provided a brief overview of Dance / Movement Therapy (DMT) and its benefits. This blog will look at how DMT can be used with the neurodiverse population.
DMT has been found to improve motor skills (balance and coordination), strengthen body awareness, foster social and communication skills, and may build upon skills like empathy and create an understanding for the other.

WHAT DOES RESEARCH SAY ABOUT DMT AND NEURODIVERSITY?
Sharing the findings and summaries of a few studies I came across on the subject, online…
1. “A Study On Dance/Movement Therapy To Improve Core Symptoms In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder” (Accessed from the website https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019745562500053XThe Arts in Psychotherapy, Volume 94, July 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2025.102300 )
The summary of the study stated the following–
“A total of 28 children with autism from an intelligence rehabilitation center in Shanghai, China, were selected for the study. They were divided into a dance movement therapy experimental group (17 children) and a control group (11 children). The dance movement therapy experimental group received intervention training for 11 months. Relevant scales were used to assess restricted repetitive behaviors and social skills in children with autism and the changes in these children before and after the intervention training were evaluated.
Results
After the dance movement therapy intervention, the experimental group showed significant improvements in the scores on the ABC Symptom Scale, the RBS-R Scale, the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and the Social Communication Questionnaire (SCQ). In contrast, the control group did not exhibit significant changes.
Conclusion
Dance movement therapy has a positive effect on reducing restricted repetitive behaviors and enhancing social skills in children with autism”.

2. “Effects of Dance Movement Therapy on Adult Patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Controlled Trial”
(Behav. Sci. 2018, 8(7), 61;  doi: 10.3390/bs8070061)
The summary of the study stated the following,
“This study examines the effects of dance movement therapy (DMT) on empathy for adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). DMT based on the embodiment approach offers body-centered interventions, such as mirroring techniques, to address the needs of ASD patients. Accordingly, findings of a feasibility study suggest that DMT may be an effective approach for clients on the ASD spectrum. The present study is a randomized controlled trial that was conducted as a multicenter study within the framework of the EU-funded research project TESIS (Toward an Embodied Science of Intersubjectivity), and employed a two-factorial between-subject design. The treatment group (n = 35) participated in a 10-week manualized DMT intervention, whereas the control group (n = 22) received treatment only after a waiting period. Empathy, measured with the Cognitive and Emotional Empathy Questionnaire (CEEQ), was the main variable of interest, analyzed by a repeated measures analysis of variance. In order to also include incomplete data cases, we used the expectation-maximization algorithm for missing data estimation. Results suggest no significant changes in overall empathy between groups”.
3. Dance/movement interventions and students with disabilities: A critical review
(Accessed from the website  https://routledgeopenresearch.org/articles/3-30 )
“This critical narrative review presents findings of physical activity interventions involving dance/movement for students with disabilities. This review describes the status of dance/movement intervention research supporting students’ intersectional identities, including disability. Dance/movement research from 2013 to 2023 was reviewed to identify the extent to which research addresses dimensions of students’ identities. First, dance/movement research is situated within physical activity intervention research. Next, findings from 82 dance/movement research studies within education and disability categories, including autism, physical, and social emotional dimensions is summarized. Of those studies, five studies address participants’ intersectional identities including disability. Positive outcomes of dance/movement interventions for students with disabilities include relationship building, well-being, individualized education, and cultural identity. Specific intervention techniques of mirroring, rhythm matching, and social collaboration with teachers and peers are identified as efficacious for improving students’ social-emotional, cognitive, and motor skills. Dance/movement interventions are also related to teachers’ awareness and affirmation of dimensions of students’ backgrounds and interests through student-centered dance/movement techniques. While the social-emotional, cognitive, and motor benefits are widely documented in the research, only a handful of studies address aspects of participants’ identities other than disability category and age. The findings of this review have implications for teachers’ increased self-awareness and knowledge of dance/movement intervention techniques in support of students’ developmental skill outcomes and intersecting identities, as well as for dance/movement intervention research that addresses multiple dimensions of students’ identities”.

The above studies reflect the varying benefits that DMT may have for the neurodiverse population and it also brings to the fore that the educator’s self-awareness and knowledge of the techniques of DMT can also play a role in the efficacy of the intervention.

DANCE/MOVEMENT THERAPY IN INDIA
In India, there are two main organizations that provide the guiding principles and professional standards for the practice of DMT, in the country. They are—
INDIAN ASSOCIATION OF DANCE MOVEMENT THERAPY (IADMT) https://www.iadmt.org/
CREATIVE MOVEMENT THERAPY ASSOCIATION OF INDIA (https://www.cmtai.org/)
The CMTAI conducts a Certificate Course in Dance/Movement Therapy
https://www.cmtai.org/page/certcourse2025
It also runs a short-term program on Therapeutic Dance-in-Education (TDIE)
They have also conducted a 40-hour Remedial DMT program for Special Educators and Therapists called SAMHATI and a two-day Arts Festival curated exclusively for children with special needs, parents and special educators, called SAMILANA (Accessed from the website https://www.cmtai.org/page/cap-build-prog).

Other than these two organizations, DMT courses are provided by the following: 
Diploma And Post Graduate Diploma in D/MT By TISS Mumbai (https://admissions.tiss.ac.in/view/10/admissions/stp-admissions/diploma-post-graduate-diploma-in-dance-movement-th/)
Dance Movement Therapy Online Certificate Course (6months)
https://symbiosisdanceandmusic.com/dance-movement-therapy-co

PG Certification in Drama and Movement Therapy
https://www.artstherapists.in/pg-certification-in-drama-and-movement-therapy
Master of Arts in Expressive Movement Therapy (Sancheti Healthcare Academy, Pune)
https://sha.edu.in/masters-in-expressive-movement-therapy/
PLEASE NOTE: The above information has been gathered online for the purpose of this blog. Please do your due diligence before you choose to enrol in any of the courses, mentioned.
REFERENCES:
https://www.cmtai.org/
https://www.iadmt.org/
https://sha.edu.in/

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Author Triveni Goswami Vernal

Triveni Goswami Vernal is an Autism advocate, registered Special Educator (CRR A64010) and an Independent Researcher. Her areas of interest include Autism, Disability Rights, Gender, Art and Northeast studies. She is a mum to an 12 year old on the Autism Spectrum.

“Christmas on a Beach”
Acrylic Painting on Watercolour paper
Kabir Vernal