Effect of Expressive Art Therapy on Socialization and Communication Skills among Students with Intellectual Disability

Description

Page: 940-947

Deepti Gupta¹, Ajay Kumar Singh², Anil Kumar³, and Ravi K.M.⁴ (Special Education Teacher, DOE Delhi¹, Supervisor Inclusive Education (District)/ OSD (IEB), DOE, Delhi², (Clinical Psychology), CRC, Patna, Bihar³, and Special Education, Lady Irwin College, Delhi⁴)

In the contemporary educational and therapeutic landscape, professionals including educators, researchers, and therapy practitioners continuously explore innovative strategies to enhance interpersonal communication and socialization abilities in students diagnosed with Intellectual Disability. These individuals often encounter difficulties in adaptive behavior, influencing their routine functioning. Therefore, this study investigates the impact of Expressive Art Therapy (EAT) on communication and social interaction skills in children with intellectual disabilities, employing specific intervention methodologies. Pre-test and post-test experimental design with a control group was used to study the impact of EAT. Participants were purposefully allocated into equal experimental and control groups, each comprising 15 students within the age bracket of 6 to 18 years. The experimental group received EAT sessions in smaller clusters of five, for 40 minutes daily across 30 days. The Vineland Social Maturity Scale was administered pre- and post-intervention to assess outcomes. Statistical analysis using Pearson Correlation, ANOVA and t-tests (two-tailed) via SPSS software revealed significant improvement in social maturity and social quotient scores in the experimental group, unlike the control group. The findings advocate for integrating targeted intervention strategies to foster communication and social skills in children with intellectual disability.