The purpose of this study is to determine whether Creative Music Therapy Program have therapeutic effects on not only definitional but also cognitive characteristics of children.
For the purpose, this researcher surveyed effects of the program on the...
The purpose of this study is to determine whether Creative Music Therapy Program have therapeutic effects on not only definitional but also cognitive characteristics of children.
For the purpose, this researcher surveyed effects of the program on the self-efficacy and school life adaptation of children with learning disabilities.
Research Question 1. Do creative music therapies have effects on the self-efficacy of children with learning disabilities?
Research Question 2. Do creative music therapies have effects on the school life adaptation of children with learning disabilities?
The subjects of the study were 22 special class students of elementary schools located in Busan who were diagnosed and evaluated as children with learning disabilities. They were divided into the experimental and control groups, each consisting of 11 members through a sort of disability discrimination test by this researcher and a special education expert. Then the former group was asked to go through Creative Music Therapy Program over 12 sessions in total, each 40 minutes.
Measurement devices used here included Self-Efficacy Measure, used by Kim Ah Young and Cha Jung Eun(1996)and later modified and supplemented, and School Life Adaptation Measure, modified and supplemented by Kim Hyun Ja(1999).
The experimental and control groups were pre- and post-tested and then compared with each other through Mann-Whitney U test and Wilcoxon test.
To supplement possible limited reliabilities of these statistical tests, the researcher prepared questionnaires for the experimental group, recorded the subjects' expressed feelings which were in turn analyzed. Effects of the program were also determined through qualitative analyses using standard forms for the observation of musical therapy groups and questionnaires for total evaluation by special education experts.
Results of the study can be summarized as follows ;
The subjects showed significant improvements in sub-factors of self-efficacy such as self-confidence, self-control and task difficulty(Self-confidence was found not improved in the quantitative analysis, but very significantly improved in the qualitative analysis).
Second, the students surveyed here showed significant improvements in sub-factors of school life adaptation such as relations with teachers, relations with peers, school classes and school rules.
Considering these results, the researcher would like to make the following suggestions.
Creative Music Therapy Program including creative, positive musical activities is effective in promoting the self-efficacy and school life adaptation of children with learning disabilities who are little self-efficacious and less adaptive to school life. Thus sessions of the program should be increased to maintain children's effective, qualitative changes. Furthermore, a qualitative evaluation should be conducted on children's behavioral performance, following the application of the program.
Second, special education programs such as creative music therapy sessions are effective in not only definitional but also cognitive characteristics of children with learning disabilities.
The researcher would suggest that results obtained here are used as a basic information necessary for the development of special education programs to be provided to children with certain disabilities and that this study is followed and supported by further studies.
Third, education-related programs in which children could participate in direct and positive ways should be established as part of regular educational curricula, so they role as a foundation helping children develop and maturate within the system of school education.
Fourth, existing individual and group music therapy programs are often applied to children with such disabilities. Now it is needed to increase applications of music therapy in order that such programs could be also used for ordinary and gifted children in comprehensive, various ways.
Fifth, therapists and observing teachers should have a profound understanding and practical experience of special education programs to provide quality education for children with such disabilites who are continuously increasing in number.