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The effect of intervention program of psychomotor education on social skills in preschool children with and without disabilities (Master thesis)

Παπαβραμίδου, Άννα/ Papavramidou, Anna

Preschool age is considered as a developmental period of paramount importance in every area. Acquiring social skills which are characterized as learned, socially acceptable behaviors, allow children to communicate and interact effectively with their peers. On the other hand, low levels of social skills are associated with problems of poor school adjustment, low self-esteem and deficient mental and physical health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of an interventional program of psychomotor education, lasting 2 months, on the social competence (SC) of children, both with typical development and with special educational needs, aged 4-6 years. The research sample consisted of 32 children attending a public Kindergarten in the Prefecture of Rodopi, 28 of whom belonged to the typically developing population, 3 had been diagnosed with neurodevelopmental disorders and 1 was in the process of investigation. The sample was divided into two groups: a) the experimental group (EG) which participated in the psychomotor education program and b) the control group (CG) which followed the standard school program based on the syllabus. SC was evaluated in both groups, before and after the Psychomotor intervention program with the relevant subscale of the Psychosocial Adjustment Test (Hatzichristou et al., 2008). From the analysis of the data, it is obvious that after the Psychomotor program the children of the EG, improved their social competence values, without showing any statistically significant differences compared to the CG. The findings of the present study are encouraging for the effectiveness of Psychomotor education, however this has not proven in statistical terms yet.