The master's thesis deals with fairy tales as learning aid to promote self-concept of students with a mild intellectual disability. In addition to the reduced intellectual level, these students have problems in other areas, which can leave the consequences for their self-concept, which is often negative and unrealistic. For this reason, they need a lot of encouragement, positive reinforcements, a pleasant atmosphere and the conditions to form a positive and realistic self-concept. Fairy tales can aid in the improvement of these areas.
In the theoretical part of the master's thesis, we covered and clarified the basic concepts with the help of different literature: we presented in detail the characteristics and functioning of students with mild intellectual disability and their education, defined self-concept, the structure of self-concept according to models, the characteristics of students with positive and negative self-concept. In the following, we presented the definitions and the meaning of the fairy tale, the structuring of fairy tales and the characteristics of fairy tales, we linked the fairy tale with self-concept and the students with a mild intellectual disability, and we finished with the treatment of fairy tales in an adapted program with a lower educational standard.
In the empirical part of the master's thesis, in order to stimulate positive and real self-concept, 12-week fairy tale workshops with two students with a mild intellectual disability attending the sixth grade of a program with a lower educational standard were conducted. Research is based on the acquisition of data by qualitative and quantitative techniques. Data were obtained before and after the workshops with the help of Piers-Harris children's self-concept scale and partly structured interviews with students and their class teacher. The majority of the data were obtained through the analysis of fairy tales and the preparation of activities for fairy tale workshops and reflexive diaries of workshops. On the basis of the obtained data and analysis, we have identified the progress and positive changes of students in different fields of self-concept. The performance of 12-week fairy tale workshops is assessed as effective and successful, since many of the activities next to identification with the main character have proved to be useful and suitable for stimulating positive and realistic self-concept of students with mild intellectual disability.
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