| Abstract |
Thesis: Effectiveness Of Psychodrama In Developing Social Communication Skills For Pupils With Learning Disabilities
Introduction
Social communication skills Achieve Awareness of one’s self and those around him/her; as the individual gets into the social life which in turn helps him affect the society and be affected by it. The individual exchanges ideas, feelings, and attitudes with the members of society that leads to a deep mutual empathy, that is reflected in one’s personality and mental health.
So, communication Embodies what the Individual Enjoys of positiveness towards oneself and others and one’s normality as awhole(Hamdan Feddah,1999).
When the ordinary individual lacks most of these skills ,then, it becomes hard to lead a life psychologically and socially normal.Accordingly, it turns difficult for the individual to communicate with the members of his/her society, which means abnormality on the psychological level.
If this is the situation for the normal individual, it will be much worse if this individual is a child and suffers from learning disabilities.
Learning disabled pupils suffer from a clear deficit in expressing their ideas(verbally and signally). They lack the skills of taking permission, apologizing ,and taking the initiation, and greeting others. They feel discarded, rejected, and neglected; hence, they lack the skills of communication and social interaction.
No doubt that the obstruction or deficit in the social communication skills of the individual, is a dangerous alarm for his psychological, social and educational development. When the learning disabled pupil lacks one or more of the communication skills, then, on the receptive level, the pupil will not be able to understand the received messages, nor will he be able to express his messages to others.
So, it was psychodrama with its contribution in letting the individual be aware of oneself and behaviours, and others and their behaviours, and presenting communicative experiences reaching a deeper comprehension of the social reactions. Psychodrama presents several types of communicative experiences, the verbal and nonverbal including action and dialogue. Hence, the present study takes psychodrama as its tool to develop the social communication skills among learning disabled pupils. Peoples’ progress is estimated by the degree of appreciating.
Study Problem:
The language and Communication handicaps are the most pervasive types of handicaps among children as a whole specially those with learning disabilities. The deficit in the social communication skills causes many problems to the pupils with learning disabilities; as this deficit hinders them from performing the daily life tasks and setting social interaction reactions with others which make them avoid others, feel rejected and lonely As psychodrama provides the individual to oneself and the real world around, and helps him/her build vital relations with the people around; so, the problem of the present study can be stated in answering the following question:
What’s the Effectiveness of Using Psychodrama in developing social Communication Skills among the Children with Learning Disabilities at the primary stage?
Study objectives:
The present study aims at developing social communication skills among the pupils with learning disabilities at the primary stage through using psychodrama.
Significance Of The Study:
The importance of the present study is represented in designing a program, based on psychodrama, to develop the social communication skills among pupils with learning disabilities; whereas the practical importance lies in the operational verification of the effectiveness of this program.
The Study Terminology:
(1) Psychodrama:
Psychodrama is a type of extemporary performance of a role or several roles, portrayed by the therapist, and performed by the client under the supervision of the therapist aiming at revealing some social relations, and deepening the client’s awareness with them.
(2)The Social Communication Skills:
A group of verbal and nonverbal behaviors that achieve an amount of positive interaction with the social environment, whether in the family, at school, with peers, or in society.
(3)Pupils with Learning Disabilities:
A group of pupils with moderate or over mental ability, their achievement is under the expected level. They have a disability in some learning processes as reading,arithmatics,or comprehension. Exempted from them are the handicapped, the mentally retarded, and those with severe mental disorders.
Study Sample:
The sample of the present study consisted of a group of the primary stage pupils with learning disabilities and deficit of social communication skills, at the age of “9-12” with average 10 years and 8 months, in the fifth grade. They were divided into two groups: an experimental group and a control group from New Monshat Badawy Library and Primary school in Benha.These groups are homogenous on the variables of age,intelligence,and also the social,cultural,and economic level:
1-The Experimental Group: Consists of 10 pupils (7 males and 3 females).
2-The Control Group: Consists of 10 pupils (7 males and 3 females).
The Study Tools:
(1)The Pictorial Intelligence Test (prepared by/Ahmed Zaki Saleh,1987).
(2)Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (prepared by/Mohamad Ismael and Lewis Meleka,1993).
(3)Bender Gestalt Test (prepared by/Loria Bender).
(4)A Diagnostic Test of Learning Disabilities in Arabic Language and Arithmetic Courses of the fourth year pupils at the primary stage (prepared by/Nareman Refaei and Mahmoud Awadalla,1993).
(5)Scale of Social Level “cultural and economic” (prepared by/Hamdan Feddah,1999).
(6)Social Communication Skills Scale (prepared by the present Researcher).
(7)The Psychodrama program (prepared by the present Researcher).
Findings Of The Study:
1-There is a statistically significant difference (at.01 level) between the mean scores of the experimental group and the control group on the social communication scale, after administering the program, in favour of the experimental group.
2-There is a statistically significant difference (at.01 level) between the mean scores of the pre- and post administration of the experimental group on the social communication scale, in favour of the post administration.
3-There is no significant difference between the mean scores of the post- and follow-up administration of the experimental group on the social communication scale. |
