Sandplay therapy in psycho-pedagogical correction of preschool children fears

Abstract

© 2016 Kostyunina and Valeeva.Parents of preschool children often encounter a problem of children's fears. Sometimes parents don't pay enough attention to things and events which frighten their children. In future fears can develop into phobias: unsettled childhood fears may shadow adults turning into adult fears and suspicions. Anxiety and fear are essential emotional manifestations of our mental life, as well as pleasure, anger, surprise or sorrow. If fears are understood correctly and their causes are clear, most of them disappear completely. But if they are excessive and persist over time, then it should make parents think about children’s health, the relations in a family, their own behavior. The paper considers the phenomenon of children fears, the problem of psycho-pedagogical correction of preschool children fears which are caused by age-related peculiarities of development and are of temporary nature. Fears do not only deprive children of psychological comfort, joy of communication, but trigger the development of children's neuroses. Nevertheless, preschool children fears are not the trait of character; they could be overcome by means of some psycho-pedagogical correction measures. The study resulted in the set of conditions of psychological and pedagogical correction: carrying out diagnostics to indentify children's fears; development and introduction of the complex program “Sand scattering!” The conducted research allowed to draw the following conclusion: the approved program including various methods, such as art therapy and sandplay therapy, is an effective means of correction of children’s fears.