Psychological Correction of Parents' Attitude to Their Children with Special Educational Needs by Means of Art Therapy

Abstract

The paper presents the results of empirical study of parents' attitudes towards their children with special educational needs. The following methods have been used: PARI method (E. Schaefer, R. Bell; adaptation by T. Nescheret), test-questionnaire of parental attitude of A. Varga and V. Stolin; questionnaire 'Analysis of family myth' by A. Nesterova. To clarify and deepen the analysis of research data, two samples of selected participants have been created: a) parents of children with special educational needs and b) parents of children without special educational needs. Two Google forms have been made with appropriate introductory questionnaires and research instructions. The analysis of the results obtained by the methods has revealed the following tendencies in the attitude of parents of children with special educational needs, in comparison with parents of other children: lower level of acceptance; greater concentration on the child and his/her control; a kind of inconsistency in the attitude to their children (simultaneous optimal emotional contact and excessive emotional distance); a sense of self-sacrifice and belief in its necessity. It has been proved, that the usage of different types and forms of art therapy (music, dance-movement, bibliotherapy, fairy tale therapy, phototherapy, film therapy, fine art therapy) helps to correct parents' attitude to their children with special educational needs. In addition, a number of recommendations for the use of art therapy to work with parents of children with special educational needs has been proposed.