According to modern requirements for the organization of education in our country, more and more attention is paid to inclusive education. Our institution is no exception and children with disabilities receive education on an equal basis with everyone else. At the preschool educational institution there are two compensatory groups for children with speech disorders. In addition, there is a child with a severe defect (CP) who has a PMPK conclusion and is enrolled in the combined group. An adapted educational program has been developed for the child, according to which psychological and pedagogical support is provided. An adapted educational program is a mandatory means of individual support for preschoolers with disabilities in the context of inclusive education, a necessary condition for the provision of “early correctional assistance based on special pedagogical approaches”, since it takes into account the characteristics of psychophysical development, the individual capabilities of children, its implementation ensures maximum correction of developmental disorders and full-fledged social adaptation of children with disabilities. In our preschool educational institution, an integrated approach is implemented; according to the AOP, a speech therapist, group teachers, a physical education instructor, a music director, an art studio director, and, of course, an educational psychologist work with the child. A program of individual support has been developed for each area.
When organizing work within the framework of psychological support, I take into account the individual characteristics of a child with disabilities. I pay great attention to the technologies used, including sand therapy and fairy tale therapy. I will dwell in more detail on sand therapy, which has now become widely known, and its use remains attractive to many specialists.
Playing in the sand is one of the natural activities of a child. Therefore, we, adults, can use the sandbox for developmental, educational, and correctional purposes. By building sand figures using symbols, inventing various stories, we convey to him our knowledge and life experience, events and laws of the surrounding world in the most organic form for the child.
The process of play in sand therapy helps to move from feeling dependent on the current situation to becoming the creator of the situation. In addition, sand absorbs negative energy. The sand therapy method can be used with children starting from 3 years of age. Correction of the emotional sphere using this method makes it possible to solve a number of problems that arise in children with disabilities.
The forms and options of sand therapy are determined by the characteristics of a particular child, specific tasks and its duration. Sand therapy can be used for the following purposes: for diagnostic purposes, for the purpose of providing primary psychological assistance; in the process of short-term psychotherapy; in the process of long-term psychotherapeutic influence.
Sand therapy is based on the idea of a close relationship between fine motor skills and the development of the cerebral hemispheres in children. In childhood development, creativity, using imagination, plays one of the most important roles. Sand therapy (or sandplay as it is also called) is a type of expressive arts therapy that is based on the idea of solving various kinds of problems through creativity.
Sand therapy in the context of art therapy is a non-verbal form of psychocorrection, where the main emphasis is on creative self-expression. It manifests itself in symbolic form in the process of creating a creative product - images, worlds, situations built in a certain way in the sandbox.
The method is based on a combination of non-verbal (the process of constructing pictures, cities, worlds, etc.) and verbal expression (a story about the finished composition, writing a story or fairy tale that reveals the meaning of the composition).
Sand was chosen as the material for manipulation, this is due to its special properties. Sand is a natural material that a child gets used to manipulating from a very early age.
In any interaction with sand, both hands are used, sometimes simultaneously, due to which there is a beneficial effect on the development of the right and left hemispheres, as well as their interaction. With this approach, the emotional state is harmonized.
Children actively develop fine motor skills; small figures encourage children to fully use the entire hand: both palm and fingers. The child learns to control his hands, calms down, trains attention and imagination, and strengthens the nervous system.
Such activities are very useful for children with disabilities, because speech, mental development, and cognitive abilities are often delayed.
Thanks to sand therapy, it is possible to overcome reluctance to practice and negativism, because everything happens in a natural and familiar play environment for the child. You can use any sandbox exercise aid.
When working with a child with disabilities I use kinetic sand. This is an integral element of correctional work, which arouses special interest in the child and ensures an individual approach to his characteristics. My office is equipped with a special psychological sandbox that meets all the requirements. I offer some exercises that I use when working with a child with disabilities.
“Sensitive palms” (T.D. Zinkevich - Evstigneevna)
Place your palms on the sand, close your eyes, feel what it is like.
Open your eyes, tell me how you felt.
Do the same, turning your palms on the other side. Tell us about your feelings.
You can also offer your child:
Slide along the surface of the sand like a snake or like a machine.
Walk with your palms like an elephant, like a little elephant, like a fast bunny.
Leave prints of palms, fists, edges of the palms.
Sift the sand through your fingers or use a pinch to sow a path of sand with a contrasting texture.
Guide the figure along the sand labyrinth paths.
You can “play” on the surface of the sand, like on a piano or computer keyboard.
Pupils of a correctional kindergarten are characterized by increased nervous excitability, anxiety, aggressiveness, hyperactivity on the one hand and passivity, isolation, closedness, constriction, underdevelopment of the emotional sphere, and behavioral disorders on the other hand. In addition, children with problems in the intellectual sphere experience speech impairment or its complete absence, insufficient development of coordination of movements, fine motor skills of the hands, lack of a sense of rhythm, impaired speech memory, attention, perception, etc.
Therefore, our students need special methods for correcting their psycho-emotional health. Our work experience has convinced us that one of the most productive and effective methods of training, development and organization of correctional work with children with similar problems is - sand play therapy.
The therapeutic effect of playing with sand was first noticed by the Swiss psychologist and philosopher Carl Gustav Jung. It would seem that everything is very simple - a child builds something out of sand, without regret destroys the creations he himself has created, and builds again... But it is this simple action that keeps a unique secret - there is nothing that is irreparably destroyed - the old is always replaced something new is coming. By repeatedly living this secret, the baby reaches a state of balance, anxiety and fear go away. Another important psychotherapeutic property of sand is the ability to change the plot, events, and relationships. Since the game takes place in the context of a fairy tale world, a child with special educational needs is given the opportunity to change an uncomfortable situation for him. He learns to overcome difficulties on his own.
Playing with sand is a natural and accessible form of activity for a child with disabilities. A child often cannot express his feelings and fears in words, and then playing with sand comes to his aid. By acting out the situations that agitated him with the help of toy figures, creating a picture of his own world from sand, the child is freed from tension. And most importantly, he gains invaluable experience in symbolically resolving many life situations, because in a real fairy tale everything ends well.
Observations by psychologists show that it is precisely the first joint games of children in the sandbox that can clearly show parents the characteristics of the behavior and development of their children. Parents see that the child is becoming overly aggressive or timid when communicating with peers - this may be a reason to think about the education system.
A child's play is a symbolic language for self-expression. By manipulating toys, a child can show more adequately than express in words how he relates to himself, to significant adults, to events in his life, to the people around him.
Children's play can be more fully appreciated if it is recognized that it is a means of communication for them. Children express themselves more fully and directly in spontaneous, self-initiated play than in words, because they feel more comfortable in play. For children, "acting out" their experiences and feelings is the most natural, dynamic and healing activity they can engage in.
Playing in the sand provides a means to resolve conflicts and communicate feelings. Toys equip the child with suitable tools, since they are the environment in which the child can express himself. In free play he can express what he wants to do. When he plays freely, and not at the direction of someone else, he performs a whole series of independent actions.
Feelings and attitudes that a child may be afraid to express openly can be safely projected onto a toy chosen at their own discretion. Instead of expressing feelings and thoughts in words, a child may bury this or that toy in the sand, hit it, drown it, etc. A child's feelings often cannot be expressed verbally (in words).
Playing with sand is necessary for children with disabilities, they:
· develop tactile-kinetic sensitivity and fine motor skills of the hands;
· relieve muscle tension;
Help the child feel protected in a comfortable environment;
· develop activity, expand life experience conveyed by the teacher in a form that is close to the child (the principle of information accessibility);
· stabilize emotional states by absorbing negative energy;
· allow the child to relate games to real life, comprehend what is happening, and find ways to solve a problem situation;
· overcome the “bad artist” complex by creating artistic compositions from sand using ready-made figures;
· improve visual-spatial orientation and speech abilities;
· contribute to the expansion of vocabulary;
· allow you to develop phonemic hearing and perception;
· promote the development of coherent speech, lexical and grammatical concepts;
Sand therapy for children with disabilities
Pupils of a correctional kindergarten are characterized by increased nervous excitability, anxiety, aggressiveness, hyperactivity on the one hand and passivity, isolation, closedness, constriction, underdevelopment of the emotional sphere, and behavioral disorders on the other hand. In addition, children with problems in the intellectual sphere experience speech impairment or its complete absence, insufficient development of coordination of movements, fine motor skills of the hands, lack of a sense of rhythm, impaired speech memory, attention, perception, etc.
Therefore, our students need special methods for correcting their psycho-emotional health. Our work experience has convinced us that one of the most productive and effective methods of training, development and organization of correctional work with children with similar problems is -sand play therapy.
The therapeutic effect of playing with sand was first noticed by the Swiss psychologist and philosopher Carl Gustav Jung. It would seem that everything is very simple - a child builds something out of sand, without regret destroys the creations he himself has created, and builds again... But it is this simple action that keeps a unique secret - there is nothing that is irreparably destroyed - the old is always replaced something new is coming. By repeatedly living this secret, the baby reaches a state of balance, anxiety and fear go away. Another important psychotherapeutic property of sand is the ability to change the plot, events, and relationships. Since the game takes place in the context of a fairy tale world, a child with special educational needs is given the opportunity to change an uncomfortable situation for him. He learns to overcome difficulties on his own.
Playing with sand is a natural and accessible form of activity for a child with disabilities. A child often cannot express his feelings and fears in words, and then playing with sand comes to his aid. By acting out the situations that agitated him with the help of toy figures, creating a picture of his own world from sand, the child is freed from tension. And most importantly, he gains invaluable experience in symbolically resolving many life situations, because in a real fairy tale everything ends well.
Observations by psychologists show that it is precisely the first joint games of children in the sandbox that can clearly show parents the characteristics of the behavior and development of their children. Parents see that the child is becoming overly aggressive or timid when communicating with peers - this may be a reason to think about the education system.
A child's play is a symbolic language for self-expression. By manipulating toys, a child can show more adequately than express in words how he relates to himself, to significant adults, to events in his life, to the people around him.
Children's play can be more fully appreciated if it is recognized that it is a means of communication for them. Children express themselves more fully and directly in spontaneous, self-initiated play than in words, because they feel more comfortable in play. For children, "acting out" their experiences and feelings is the most natural, dynamic and healing activity they can engage in.
Playing in the sand provides a means to resolve conflicts and communicate feelings. Toys equip the child with suitable tools, since they are the environment in which the child can express himself. In free play he can express what he wants to do. When he plays freely, and not at the direction of someone else, he performs a whole series of independent actions.
Feelings and attitudes that a child may be afraid to express openly can be safely projected onto a toy chosen at their own discretion. Instead of expressing feelings and thoughts in words, a child may bury this or that toy in the sand, hit it, drown it, etc. A child's feelings often cannot be expressed verbally (in words).
Playing with sand is necessary for children with disabilities, they:
develop tactile-kinetic sensitivity and fine motor skills of the hands;
relieve muscle tension;
help the child feel protected in a comfortable environment;
develop activity, expand life experience conveyed by the teacher in a form that is close to the child (the principle of information accessibility);
stabilize emotional states by absorbing negative energy;
allow the child to relate games to real life, comprehend what is happening, and find ways to solve a problem situation;
overcome the “bad artist” complex by creating artistic compositions from sand using ready-made figures;
improve visual-spatial orientation and speech abilities;
contribute to the expansion of vocabulary;
allow you to develop phonemic hearing and perception;
promote the development of coherent speech, lexical and grammatical concepts;
Sand play equipment
1. A waterproof wooden box or plastic basin, the bottom and sides of which should be blue/blue (the bottom symbolizes water, and the sides symbolize the sky). The height of the sides is at least 10 cm. The dimensions of a large sandbox for subgroup activities are 90x70 cm, the sand in it can be divided into two parts: dry and wet. For individual lessons, you can use several plastic rectangular basins. It is advisable that sandboxes have removable lids.
2. The sand must be yellow or light brown, certified, and the sand grains must be medium in size. Sand fills 1/3 of the box. It should not be too large or too small. Before use, the sand must be sifted, washed and disinfected - it must be calcined in the oven or silicified. It is necessary to quartz sand at least once a week, with the obligatory indication of the last date of quartzing on the tag (on the outer wall of the sandbox). At the end of the lesson, wet sand must be dried, the surface of the dry sand must be leveled and sprinkled with water.
3. Set of gaming equipment(stored in plastic containers with holes):
spatulas, wide brushes, sieves, funnels;
various plastic molds of different sizes - geometric; depicting animals, vehicles, people; dough molds;
miniature toys (5–10 cm high) depicting people of different genders and ages; various animals and plants; transport, etc. (do not use Kinder Surprise toys for classes in younger groups);
a set of toy dishes and toy beds (for the games “Sand Kindergarten” and “Family”);
various buildings and structures;
waste equipment: pebbles, shells, twigs, sticks, large buttons, disposable cocktail straws.
Rules for playing with sand for kids
1. Take care of grains of sand - do not throw them out of the sandbox. If sand accidentally spills out, show it to an adult and he will help them get back into the sandbox. You can't throw sand out of sandboxes.
2. Sand grains really don’t like being put in the mouth or thrown at other children. You cannot put sand in your mouth and throw it at other people.
3. Children should always have clean hands and noses. Play with the sand - wash your hands and show your clean palms to the mirror.
4. Our toys love to be put in their place. After the game, you need to put all the toys back in their places.
Working conditions with children
1. Consent and desire of the child.
2. Special training of the teacher, his creative approach to conducting classes. 3. Children should not be allergic to dust from dry sand, skin diseases or cuts on their hands.
Additional conditions for organizing games and activities with wet sand
1. Children should not have cuts on their hands or skin diseases. 2. Children must have oilcloth aprons for work. 3. The water used to moisten the sand must be warm. With each lesson, the water temperature can be gradually reduced (this way, additional hardening of the children occurs). 4. There should be a source of clean water and napkins near the sandbox.
EXERCISE GAMES
All of the exercise games described below can be used both for individual correctional work and for developmental work with a subgroup of children. While performing the required exercises, you can do five minutes of free play/rest in the sand.
Games on the surface of dry sand
Hello sand!
Target: reduction of psychophysical stress.The teacher asks to “say hello to the sand” in different ways, that is, to touch the sand in different ways. Child: touches the sand alternately with the fingers of one, then the other hand, then with all fingers at the same time; easily/with tension squeezes his fists with sand, then slowly pours it into the sandbox; touches the sand with the entire palm - the inside, then the back; rubs sand between fingers and palms.
In the latter case, you can hide a small flat toy in the sand: “One of the inhabitants of the sand wanted to say hello to you - ...” Older children describe and compare their sensations: “warm - cold”, “pleasant - unpleasant”, “prickly, rough” etc.
Sand Rain Purpose: regulation of muscle tension, relaxation. Equipment: Sandbox. Progress of the game: Teacher: in a fairyland, an unusual sandy rain may fall and a sandy wind may blow. It is very nice. You can make such rain and wind yourself. Watch it happen. The child slowly and then quickly pours sand from his fist into the sandbox, onto the palm of an adult, into his palm. The child closes his eyes and places his palm with his fingers spread out on the sand, the adult sprinkles sand on a finger, and the child names this finger. Then they change roles.
sand wind
Target: teach children to control inhalation and exhalation. Equipment : Sandbox, cocktail straws. Progress of the game: Kids learn to breathe through a straw without sucking sand into it. Older children can be asked to first say a pleasant wish to their friends, give a wish to the sandy country by “blowing it into the sand”, you can also blow out depressions and holes on the surface of the sand. For these games, you can use disposable cocktail straws.
Unusual traces Target : development of tactile sensitivity and imagination. Equipment: Sandbox. Progress of the game: “The little bears are coming” - the child presses forcefully onto the sand with his fists and palms. “Hares are jumping” - the child hits the surface of the sand with his fingertips, moving in different directions. “Snakes are crawling” - the child, with relaxed/tense fingers, makes the surface of the sand wavy (in different directions).
Conference: Modern educational processes in preschool educational institutions
Organization: MADOU “Kindergarten No. 12 “Ladushki”
Locality: Novgorod region, Staraya Russa
Sand is an accessible material that can be found in sandboxes, on the beach, along the banks of rivers and lakes. What then is sand therapy? And what is it for? Sand therapy is an opportunity to express what is difficult to find words for, to come into contact with what is difficult to address directly, to see in oneself what usually eludes conscious perception. K. D. Ushinsky wrote: “The best toy for children is a pile of sand!” Children's first contacts with each other take place in the sandbox: a house is built on the sand, a tree is planted, a family is created. Playing in the sand is a natural and accessible activity for every child, one of the forms of interaction and transformation of the world. What happens to a child when he plays in the sand? A child with special developmental needs often cannot express his experiences, fears, emotions in words, and here games with sand come to his aid. By playing out the situations that worried him, creating a picture of his own world from sand, the child is freed from tension. And most importantly, he gains invaluable experience in symbolically resolving many life situations, because in a real fairy tale everything ends well! Preschoolers enjoy playing in the sand, because such games are full of different emotions: delight, surprise, excitement, joy. This makes it possible to use sand games for the development and enrichment of the child’s emotional experience, for the prevention and correction of his mental states. Sand has the property of allowing water to pass through. In this regard, experts claim that it absorbs negative mental energy, interaction with it cleanses a person’s energy and stabilizes the emotional state. Sand often acts like a magnet on children. Their hands themselves, unconsciously, begin to pour and sift sand, dig holes, build tunnels, mountains, roads, cities. And if you add various toys to this, then the child has his own world, where he invents and fantasizes, and, at the same time, learns to work and achieve goals. Creating sand buildings does not require any special skills. It's impossible to do something wrong! This means there is no room for disappointments, mistakes and self-doubt. During classes, children are relaxed, cheerful and inspired: they create their own world, and doing this is endlessly pleasant. Also, when working with sand, children develop creativity and imagination. They enjoy this process, which contributes to the emergence of positive emotions and the development of communication skills. In the sandbox, tactile sensitivity, fine motor skills, and speech develop powerfully. “Sand Literacy” is entertaining, that is, games aimed at developing phonemic awareness, correcting sound pronunciation, and teaching reading and writing. Sand will be a help if a child is learning to read and write, mastering literacy, or needs help learning to pronounce sounds correctly. All this happens in the form of a fairy tale, easily and unobtrusively, in a game, so the results are much more noticeable than when adults try to tediously preach something. The most modern and exciting is sand drawing on special tables or sand animation. The tablet has a color backlight, which is controlled by a small remote control. With it you can choose one of 16 colors. You can also increase or decrease the brightness. Use 5 different functions, flashing mode 7 colors, 3 colors, smooth change 7 or 3 colors and static colors. Drawing on glass occurs with the help of fingers and palms. What is the positive side of these activities?
The child develops the interest of a researcher. After all, the activity is usually surrounded by mystery. And they don’t give you paint at all, but sand, which pours out and at first is completely impossible to “tame.” And the sand may not be ordinary, but tinted. Or the backlight changes color and you can choose any color that suits your current mood. 3. The child fantasizes with sand more boldly than on paper with pencils or paints. Here you can draw, correct and draw again, without the fear of making any mistakes, without the disappointment of “oh, it didn’t work out again!” Drawing with sand helps develop fine motor skills. Experts note that this technique is even more effective than finger gymnastics. Why? Because tasks with sand put more strain on both the brain and muscles. For comparison, you should just try pouring sand in an even stream or drawing two identical suns with both hands to the left and right of the imaginary center line. In my practice I use different forms of working with sand, all kinds of equipment and a variety of sand. To go on an exciting fairy-tale journey through the Land of Sand Games with your children, you need: - a mini sandbox. This is a waterproof wooden box of certain dimensions. Its inner surface, bottom and sides are painted blue. The bottom symbolizes water and sea, and the sides are air and sky and clean sifted sand, as well as a collection of miniature figures for playing out tasks in the sandbox. In such a sandbox, children build cities, draw pictures, conduct experiments, look for hidden treasures and guess whose traces they are. The sandbox can be used as a basis for a tabletop puppet theater. This is a very convenient way to stage a fairy tale, since sand allows you to convey different landscapes. The most exciting are travel games, where children use various paraphernalia, pebbles, shells of different colors and sizes, figures of animals, people, vehicles, plants. I conduct classes to correct anxiety and uncertainty, expand emotional experience, the ability to work in a team, and develop empathy. In the sandbox we got acquainted with different types of sand, quarry, river and kinetic. Kinetic sand “comes to life” in your hands. It amazingly combines the properties of dry and wet sand. It easily takes on a shape, holds it and is just as easy to cut, crumble, and flow between your fingers. When interacting with kinetic sand, children experience a lot of tactile sensations. The children build different collages from colored kinetic sand, for example, “Sea World”, “Spring”, “Confectionery”, “Flowers”, etc. The next stage of work is sand application. The child applies PVA glue to the outline image, then pours sand of the same color on top. The procedure is repeated several times. For each section of the image, a different color of sand is used, which ultimately allows you to create a multi-colored and colorful design. Children's drawings on the theme "Space", created using this technology, took first place in all-Russian and international competitions.
Sand painting- a new and at the same time simple type of visual activity for preschoolers, accessible to almost everyone and not requiring special training. And for me this is another way to understand the feelings of a child. Sand is the same paint, but it works on the principle of “light and shadow” and perfectly conveys human feelings, thoughts and aspirations. This is one of the ways to depict the world around us. As the child masters the sand painting technique, the child’s inner world is enriched and developed. This type of creativity as a means of mental correction allows the little artist to overcome the feeling of fear, moving away from objective representation and depiction with traditional materials, to express feelings and emotions in the drawing, gives freedom, and instills confidence in their abilities. Having mastered the technique of drawing with sand, the child gets the opportunity to choose, which, in turn, ensures the creative nature of children's productive activities.
Our work complemented and embellished the children’s activities on various topics. If we talked about autumn, we drew a “Tale of a Tree”, about winter - snowflakes, we remembered summer - we made a “Rainbow in a Bottle” and sculpted flowers from colored sand, we talked about space - we made applications “Space Travel” and many more interesting things and educational.
The timid and shy guys became more active and confident, while the active and energetic ones spent a long time in the sandbox, built, destroyed, built again, adding new details, characters, and attributes to the work. They returned to their buildings again and again, creating and playing out new stories.
Play in the sand with your children! It's simple, interesting, exciting and useful!