Contribution of movement and dance to social and motor skills of children with developmental disabilities

Djeca s teškoćama u razvoju su djeca koja odstupaju od prosječnog razvoja i koja pripadaju skupini djece s posebnim odgojno-obrazovnim potrebama. Zbog različitih nedostataka ili poremećaja tjelesnih i/ili psihičkih procesa, takvoj je djeci nužno osigurati posebne i prilagođene programe, bilo da je riječ o odgojno-obrazovnim programima u školskoj sredini ili u nekim drugim ustanovama gdje dijete aktivno provodi slobodno vrijeme. Kako bi se djeca s teškoćama što bolje integrirala u društvenu zajednicu i postala ravnopravnim i aktivnim članovima te zajednice, potrebno je poticati njihov socijalni i motorički razvoj. Stjecanje i usavršavanje socijalnih i motoričkih vještina može se ostvariti kroz vješto osmišljene i organizirane kreativne aktivnosti slobodnog vremena. Pri tome se sve više govori o upotrebi pokreta i plesa u radu s djecom s teškoćama. Upotrebom umjetnosti, kao što je ples, doprinosi se boljem i skladnijem psihomotoričkom razvoju osobe te se utječe na poboljšanje kvalitete života. Rad prikazuje primjenu Individualizirano odgojno-obrazovnog programa (IOOP) u plesnoj radionici u radu s djevojčicom s teškoćama u razvoju te njegovu provedbu s istom djevojčicom u skupini djece predškolske dobi. Plesne radionice su se odvijale jedanput tjedno tijekom četiri mjeseca (veljača, ožujak, travanj i svibanj). Pri tome je provedeno ukupno 17 plesnih radionica. IOOP je sadržavao različite pokretne i plesne igre prilagođene mogućnostima i interesima djevojčice. Rezultati kvantitativne i kvalitativne analize pokazali su da djevojčica uglavnom izvodi većinu predviđenih aktivnost, a uz višemjesečno sudjelovanje razvija socijalne i motoričke vještine. Isto tako, vidljivo je da je individualni i skupni rad u plesnoj radionici s djevojčicom s teškoćama u razvoju doprinio povećanju njezine prihvaćenosti i uključenosti od strane druge djece, ali i većoj suradnji i prijateljstvu djevojčice s drugom djecom.Children with developmental difficulties are children who deviate from the average development and belong to a group of children with special educational needs. Due to various defects or disabilities of physical and / or psychological processes, special and customized programs need to be provided for such children, not only educational programs in the school environment, but also in some other institutions where the child is actively spending leisure time. In order for children with disabilities to be better integrated into the social community and become equal and active members of such community, their social and motor development needs to be encouraged. Acquiring and upgrading social and motor skills can be achieved through creative leisure activities that are to be skilfully designed and organized. Also, there is more and more talk about the use of movement and dance in working with children with disabilities. Using art such as dance contributes to a better and more concordant psychomotor development of an individual and it also affects the quality of life. The paper presents the application of the Individualized Educational Program (IEP) in a dance workshop working with a girl with disabilities and its implementation with the same girl in a group of pre-school children. Dance workshops took place once a week for four months (February, March, April and May). A total of 17 dance workshops were conducted. IEP included various moving and dance games tailored to the abilities and interests of the said girl. The results of quantitative and qualitative analysis show that the girl mainly performed most of the planned activities, and after the participation in duration of several months she improved her motor skills. It is also apparent that individual and collective work in a dance workshop with a girl with disabilities contributed to increasing her acceptance and involvement by her peers, but also to the greater co-operation and friendship with other children