The purpose of this study is to understand how Mandala art therapy would influence the attention span and the attention behaviour of intellectually-disabled children. Followings are the research subjects that the study has worked on.
First, the st...
The purpose of this study is to understand how Mandala art therapy would influence the attention span and the attention behaviour of intellectually-disabled children. Followings are the research subjects that the study has worked on.
First, the study will look into how the attention span of the intellectually- disabled children would change with the help of Mandala art therapy.
Second, the study will examine how Mandala art therapy would effect the attention behaviour of the intellectually-disabled children.
The study was carried out to three intellectually-disabled children registered at P treatment center in J-si. They received 1-2 sessions a week from June to October of 2010, which were 14 Mandala art therapy sessions in total.
The study analysed precedent studies on Mandala art activities beforehand and applied a Mandala art therapy program which was expected to arouse interest of the intellectually-disabled children.
The pre- and the post-test of FAIR Attention Span were conducted and changes in the attention span and purposive behaviors were indicated. This way, changes in the attention behaviors were measured.
Outcomes of the study are as follows.
First, Mandala art therapy was proved to be effective in improving the attention span of the intellectually-disabled children.
According to the results from the pre- and the post-examinations on the participants who joined the 14 Mandala art therapy sessions, P (selective attention), Q (quality control) and C (persistency) were increased by 24.3% (STN 1), 24.3% (STN 1) and 32% (STN 1), relatively.
Second, Mandala art therapy achieved a better attention behaviour of the intellectually-disabled children.
The attention behaviour has been defined as ① staying still where they are, ② keeping eyes on the film and ③ avoiding unnecessary comments or strange sounds while watching and stop talking to the self. Every ten seconds, the study measured the number of the behaviour occurrence for 10 minutes. The results gained through the period of baseline, mediation and maintenance proved that Mandala art therapy has a positive effect on the development of the attention behaviour. In a general situation, the attention behaviour appeared to be developed, receiving 20.3 points during the baseline period, 29.5 points after Mandala art therapy and 31 points when 2 weeks passed since the last therapy.
In conclusion, Mandala art therapy is proved to be effective in improving the attention span and the attention behaviour of the intellectually-disabled children. As a result, the study believes that Mandala art therapy would be not only a significant treatment to increase the attention span of the intellectually-disabled children but also a useful educational reference for teachers who have a hard time with teaching the intellectually-disabled children in the field.