Papers on mental health education for special children

Papers on mental health education for special children

Mental health education in primary and secondary schools is an educational activity to cultivate students' good psychological quality, promote their all-round and harmonious development and improve their overall quality by using relevant psychological education methods and means according to the characteristics of their physical and mental development. It is an important part of quality education and an important link to implement the cross-century quality education project and cultivate cross-century high-quality talents. Below, I will share a paper on mental health education for special children, hoping to help you!

Mental health is the core embodiment of individual quality. With the increasing attention of society to school mental health education, children's mental health education has been paid more and more attention. Not only universities, but also more and more primary and secondary schools have set up psychological consultation rooms, equipped with mental health education teachers. However, the mental health of special children is still ignored in educational practice, and the mental health education in special education schools is still very weak. Most special children's ability to adapt to school and society and communicate with others will be damaged by their physical defects, which will also lead to abnormal psychological development. Therefore, special attention should be paid to the mental health of special children during their growth.

Special children have broad and narrow definitions. Special children in a broad sense refer to all kinds of children who are significantly different from normal children in all aspects, including children with lower and higher development than normal, as well as children who have committed minor crimes. Special children in a narrow sense refer to JL children with various defects in their physical and mental development, including intellectual disability, hearing disability, visual disability, physical disability, speech disorder, emotional and behavioral disorder and multiple disabilities. This paper defines special children from a broad perspective, because art can play an important role in their life development and behavior correction, whether they are supernormal or mentally retarded children or children with borderline behavior problems. This paper aims to explore the current situation of psychological counseling for special children and the application of art in psychological counseling and mental health education for special children.

First, the status of psychological counseling for special children

(A) the definition of special children

Psychological counseling for special children is a professional service for special children and their families. Based on professional theory, it uses systematic intervention methods and techniques to help children solve psychological problems, overcome the negative effects caused by psychological obstacles, and promote the development of children's psychological function and the improvement of their physical and mental health. In the comprehensive service system of special education, psychological counseling and therapy is an important field of multi-disciplinary common service. It is a very important and irreplaceable intervention method, which is juxtaposed with medical clinical treatment, school education and teaching and physical function rehabilitation training. Psychological counseling and therapy professionals occupy an important position in the multidisciplinary team providing services for special children, and educators engaged in integrated education in special schools and ordinary schools also need to have the basic professional quality and skills of psychotherapy.

(B) the main psychological problems of special children

In addition to special children with physical defects, many special children have abnormalities in speech, behavior and emotion, such as autism, ADHD, selective mutism, dyslexia, learning disabilities and so on. The occurrence of psychological problems is closely related to various obstacles or disabilities. Due to the particularity of special children, they are prone to feel inferior when they gradually realize the differences between themselves and the people around them in the process of continuous development of self-awareness. Physical and mental defects put special children in a very unfavorable position, and the surrounding groups can't give them the attention they deserve. Parents' doting, teachers' neglect and classmates' rejection may breed anxiety, hostility, irritability, sensitivity, paranoia, insomnia nightmares and some somatization symptoms. These emotional and psychological troubles will further aggravate the unfavorable degree of the environment and lead to an unhealthy disgusting cycle of body and mind.

In the past, people generally took a sympathetic or exclusive attitude towards special children. Except for some neglected special children, people's intervention and education methods for special children are mainly corrective training for special obstacle skills, and their psychological needs are rarely considered. With the increasing attention of society to psychological problems, professional services for the mental health and development of special children have been paid more and more attention. This requires teachers of mental health education for special children and psychological counseling and therapy workers to creatively explore and practice intervention methods and working modes that meet the psychological characteristics of special children.

(3) The object and scope of psychotherapy for special children.

Broadly speaking, all children with special needs are suitable targets for special education, including not only physically disabled children in the traditional sense, but also all kinds of children who need special education and related services. In the United States, the number of children receiving special education services accounts for 10%~ 15% of the total population, while in Britain, about 18%~20% of primary and secondary school students have special education needs. As early as 1980s, the United States put forward the concept of "20/20" as the object of special education: 20% children at both ends of the population need special attention.

20% of the low-end people belong to people with obvious obstacles, and 20% of the high-end people belong to the genius type with super long ability. Unified education and teaching arrangements can not meet the needs of high and low-end groups. Therefore, special education and personalized education are particularly important.

Under the influence of the concept of "inclusive education", many special children, including disabled children or children with certain psychological and behavioral problems, are still studying in ordinary schools. The original intention of inclusive education is that normal living and learning environment can promote the healthy growth of children's body and mind, and advocate treating special children with a normal heart. This in itself is worth promoting. However, many teachers and students in ordinary schools lack the ability to accept and tolerate special children. At present, many primary and secondary schools in China still attach great importance to the enrollment rate and teaching order, and the abnormal behavior of special children is obviously a big challenge to school educators. For example, children with ADHD and autism often lack self-control, causing some confusion and affecting the teaching order. How to deal with these problems properly is the first problem that educators in inclusive schools should think about. Compared with some schools in China that exclude autistic children from school and lead to suicide, the practice of inclusive education in Taiwan Province Province is worth learning.

By the end of 20 10, there were only more than 1000 special education schools in China, which was obviously far from meeting the requirements of nearly 9 million special children. However, at present, China's special education system has not been fully established, and many special children, especially those in poor and remote areas, basically do not enjoy special education and special psychological services. Special education institutions are concentrated in urban areas, and the scale, teachers and places of human studies are very limited. The existing special education institutions also have the problem of uneven distribution of resources. With the support of government departments, some special education institutions have sufficient resources, but there are many restrictions on learning and limited places. Other private special education institutions have fewer admission restrictions, but they pay more, have a heavier burden on parents, and have relatively weak resources and teachers.

(d) Special children's problems in the field of psychotherapy

Psychological counseling for special children has obvious uniqueness. It faces many very complicated problems and challenges, and at the same time it is of great significance and value.

First of all, there are various serious obstacles and defects in special children groups, which will bring arduous challenges to the consultation process. These defects include: low level of consciousness and self-awareness, and defects in self-regulation ability (such as disabled children with brain injury and functional hypoplasia); Lack of language and communication skills; Lack of conceptual thinking ability and common sense of social life; The physical environment and social environment are isolated and closed, and the available environmental resources are limited.

In addition to defects, special children groups often have their own characteristics and available functions, which need special attention and serious exploration by counselors. As a resource of mental health and development, we should make proper use of them to foster strengths and avoid weaknesses. The advantages of special children that can be used include: outstanding visual function, which can effectively make up for their functional defects; Special children with relatively complete motor perception function accomplish the task of sensory motor form, which is far better than the tasks of words, logic and numbers. Rich in imagination, regardless of fantasy and reality; For the dependence on important people and ecological environment, we can make use of the influence of interpersonal relationships to carry out mental health work for special children.

Art therapy has the characteristics of nonverbal communication and can be widely used in many objects, including all kinds of special people. The safe atmosphere in art therapy can make the patients lower their psychological defense, vent their bad feelings and be accepted by the society. The principle of creative expression embodied in art therapy is especially suitable for psychological intervention of special children. In art, the physical and artistic expression of special children's emotions can be fully valued and encouraged. Making full use of special children's fantasy, body movements, art and symbolic games can promote children's exploration of meaning, expression and communication. The symbolic expression of meaning is an inevitable requirement for children to embody their own meaning in life. Children's dreams and fantasies, spontaneous games, naive stories, graffiti-like works of art, etc. They are all essential basic materials for the healthy growth of mental health and should be paid full attention to.

Second, art therapy.

(A) the definition of art therapy

Art thempy refers to psychological diagnosis and treatment through expressive art, including painting, music, dance sculpture, photography, film, calligraphy, drama, poetry and other art forms. The American Association for Art Therapy (AATA) defines art therapy as: "Art therapy combines the fields of human development, visual arts (painting, sculpture and other art forms), psychological consultation and the creative process under the psychotherapy mode", "Believe in self-expression, help people solve contradictions and problems, develop interpersonal skills, adjust behaviors, reduce stress, improve self-esteem and self-awareness and gain insight".

Human art originated from prehistoric cave murals, and Aristotle, an ancient Greek scholar, once discussed the "purification" function of music, that is, the psychotherapy function of music. Art, as a therapy, originated in the 1930s and 1940s and was established in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1930s, American psychiatrist Nanberg clearly put forward the concept of "art therapy". Under its impetus, art therapy gradually developed in the United States and quickly spread to other developed countries. Psychoanalytic movement initiated by psychologists such as Jung and Freud has played an important role in the development of art therapy. Nowadays, art therapy has been widely used to treat various physiological diseases and psychological disorders. The applied research of art therapy in China began in the 1990s. Workers in the fields of education and medical care gradually realized the healing function of art, and art was widely accepted as a therapeutic method in the field of psychological counseling and therapy.

(B) the application of art therapy in psychological counseling for special children

In the field of special children's education and psychological counseling, countries such as Europe and America have applied art to the treatment of disabled children, organic diseases and emotional and behavioral problems. Schools, communities and hospitals all have art therapy rooms. Art therapy has become an effective adjuvant therapy and education method for special children, which can help them to enhance their self-confidence and self-esteem and establish a more harmonious relationship with teachers and normal children. At present, the research and application in this field in China has not yet formed a system, but there are still some areas worthy of attention in art therapy. At present, the most widely used art therapy methods are painting therapy and music therapy.

1. Painting

Painting therapy is a kind of psychotherapy mediated by painting activities. Through painting, patients can have free association to stabilize and adjust their emotions. Painting psychotherapy is an effective and creative way of communication between therapists and painters, which can "release depressed emotional energy and reflect people's inner and subconscious information by letting the treated person express his inner video independently" and treat it to restore the painter's health, thus achieving the purpose of diagnosis and treatment. The practice of painting psychotherapy proves that painting psychological intervention "can not only deal with people's emotional and psychological trauma, but also improve the self-image, self-esteem or self-concept and social skills of patients with psychological disorders, and promote the development of language and the improvement of cognitive function." Research shows that visitors can use painting to deal with emotional conflicts and psychological trauma, regardless of their painting skills.

Because people's defense awareness of painting is weak, they will unconsciously express their deep-seated motives, emotions, anxieties, conflicts, values and wishes through creation, and can release the hidden or suppressed contents in their early memories and begin to rebuild the past.

Moreover, in the process of painting, individuals can further clarify their ideas, materialize intangible things and concretize abstract things. So as to provide real and reliable information for therapists and better analyze and treat patients. Scientific and effective art education can promote deaf-mute children's interpersonal and social communication ability, thinking ability and creativity.

2. Music

Music therapy is a systematic intervention process. In this process, the therapist uses various forms of music experience and the therapeutic relationship developed in the course of treatment as the driving force of treatment to help the helped person achieve the health goal. "Love music therapy is a comprehensive treatment form that combines musicology, psychology and medicine. It requires the therapist to master not only the knowledge and technology of psychotherapy, but also the theory and skills of music.

Since 1950 first recognized music therapy as a special treatment specialty, people have gradually realized the value of music in the intervention and treatment of special children. At present, music therapy has been gradually applied to the education and rehabilitation of special children. Some studies have intervened in social behavior, emotion, motor skills, communication and learning ability of mentally retarded children through music therapy. In the treatment of hearing-impaired children, music therapy has also played a unique advantage. Through rhythmic percussion, rhythmic interaction and musical instrument therapists who are easily felt and touched, such as drums and pianos, the hearing-impaired children can experience sound and silent touch and hearing. _ In the intervention of autistic children, because music is a pleasant experience for them, music therapists use music listening, music games and other methods to treat their self-awareness, concentration and social skills.

Liu used music therapy to intervene the emotional disorder of mentally retarded children. The results show that after the five different types of mentally retarded children are trained in music therapy, their bad emotions and behaviors have been improved to varying degrees, and the experiment has achieved the expected goal. The subjects have improved in emotion, communication, coordination and cognition to varying degrees, among which the improvement of emotional disorder is the most significant. To explore the effect of Orff music therapy on working memory and attention of children with Down syndrome through experiments. Studies have shown that children with Down syndrome have significantly improved their working memory, attention stability, positive emotions and musical sensitivity after treatment.

sand plate

Sandplay therapy is a psychotherapy method based on Jungian psychological principle, which was developed by DoraKalff. Sandplay is a creative form, which treats "a concentrated refinement of physical and mental life energy" with images (positive imagination). It is characterized by the application of sand, water and sand tools to the creation of images in the relationship between doctors and patients and the "space of freedom and protection" of sand table. A series of images displayed in the sand table create a continuous dialogue between consciousness and unconsciousness in the heart of the sand table players, and the healing process and personality development inspired by it. From the scope suitable for consultation, sand table therapy has shown certain curative effect on a wide range of problems such as emotional disorder, language disorder, post-traumatic stress response, autism, natural disaster trauma and so on. From the applicable children's groups, in addition to normal children, sand table therapy is also suitable for psychological counseling of special children. Special children with sound physical and visual functions can also touch the sand with their hands, choose toys freely with their eyes and make sand tables.

Sandplay has a significant effect on treating children with emotional disorders. Wang Ping and Huang Gang used the case study method to find that, compared with before treatment, after treatment, the subjects' social communication behavior times increased obviously, their communication scope gradually expanded, their communication quality improved, their social anxiety symptoms eased, their toi was lower than that of children of the same age, and their quality of life also improved obviously.

In terms of language barriers, sandplay therapy is also effective. Zhou Huijun, Wang Wanqing, Jeff and Zhang Risheng have respectively conducted sand table case studies on selective mutism, and the results show that the selective mutism in this case has been improved. Some researchers use sand tables to treat children with post-traumatic stress disorder. The results show that sand table therapy can effectively improve the implicit and explicit problem behaviors of visitors. In addition, the researchers also discussed the intervention effect of sand table therapy on early childhood trauma. Chen Jing's case study of five children with early unsafe attachment shows that children's sand table works gradually change from the theme of trauma to the theme of healing, and gradually realize the integration of personality and personality tendency.

4. Others

Psychodrama was written by Jacob? Levi? A method of exploring psychological and social problems, founded and developed by Jacob LevyMoreno, explores "real" science through drama, and deals with interpersonal relationships and secret worlds. "The fundamental goal of psychological drama is to stimulate people's spontaneity and creativity" and "it is a unique holistic treatment method, which can combine all artistic forms-drama, music, art and dance". Psychodrama develops in the form of groups. The leader of the group is called the director, and the director chooses a group member who is willing to present his inner life events as the protagonist through various preheating methods. Through telepathy, the protagonist chooses the members who play an important role in his own life from other group members as supporting roles. Emphasize the spontaneity, originality and interaction of "action" to experience life instead of talking about problems and contents. The scope of treatment involves children, adolescents and the elderly with psychological problems, and can also be used for mentally retarded people, mental patients and criminals.

Dance is the earliest art of expressing inner world activities by human body movements. The American Dance Therapy Association (ADTA) defines it as "a psychotherapy that promotes emotional, intellectual, physical, personal and social integration in the dance process". The psychological basis of dance therapy comes from Jung's concepts of analytical psychology, gestalt psychology and self-psychology. Dance therapists believe that there is a natural flow of energy inside the living body, and psychological conflict will affect and cause chaos, and its external performance is to adapt to unhealthy movements, postures and breathing. Dance can not only correct people's uncomfortable posture and breathing, but also safely release hidden emotions such as anxiety, sadness, anger and depression, making people feel their ability to control their personal existence. The scope of dance psychotherapy involves various forms of personality disorders and emotional and psychological diseases, mentally retarded people, veterans, victims and so on. At present, dance therapy is also widely used in campus mental health education, teenagers' potential development and so on. Dance therapy is the most effective for bulimia nervosa.

Third, how does art therapy work?

Appreciation and creation of artistic works can not only help people who are troubled by emotions to express their inner experience, vent their repressed emotions and relax their whole body muscles, but also help psychologists to discover individual subconscious desires and personality traits, and help evaluators to understand the psychological state and ability level of the assessed more comprehensively and deeply. Thematic apperception test (TAT), Wu Shuren and Rorschach ink test are the most widely used psychological evaluation tools with art as the medium.

There are various forms of art therapy, and the above is only an in-depth introduction to several commonly used ways of art therapy for children at present. In addition, there are dances, psychological dramas, stickers, clay sculptures, paper-cuts, movies and other forms, and even recitations and speeches. Any activity expressed in an artistic way can be art therapy in a broad sense. As long as the participants in artistic activities can express, express and create through artistic forms, the healing effect of the soul will naturally appear.

refer to

[1] Zhao Jun. Research on the present situation and countermeasures of mental health and psychological service for special children in Chongqing [D]. Chongqing Normal University, 2009.

[2] Park Yong-shin. Dictionary of special education [M]. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2006:25-26.

[3] Yang Optics. Psychotherapy for special children [M]. Beijing: Peking University Publishing House, 20 1 1.05.

[4] Li Xuefei. Reflections on mental health education for special children [J]. Journal of Xianyang Teachers College, 20 10/0,04:127-128.

[5] Li. The role of music education in the development of special children [J]. Times education (education and teaching), 20 1 1, 0 1: 257-258.

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