Arts therapy is presented in the theoretical part of the master's thesis entitled Methods of Arts Therapies as a Support to Speech Expression of Preschool Children. Arts therapy is defined as the processes of experiencing, expressing and creating with artistic means in the field of expressive media (play, dance - movement, music and art). Arts therapy is an instrument of assistance that helps to establish and form relationships, atmosphere and relative mutual differences. Dramatic and visual creative processes are further presented. Moreover child's speech development is defined and theories of speech development and the socio-cultural background of speech as well.
The purpose of the master's thesis was to determine whether arts therapy promotes the spoken expression of preschool children and/or art therapy enhance the communication of children during the preschool years.
The empirical part consists of monitoring the speech expression of children through semi-structured observation with active participation. In order to provide arts therapy in the field of art and drama, I conducted five workshops and analyzed art work, dramatic and verbal expression of children. After workshops were conducted, I again checked the speech expression of preschool children. It was found that art and drama activities stimulate speech expression of preschool children, which is reflected in the enrichment of vocabulary and emphasising of verbal communication as source of pleasant feelings in way of problems solving.
Arts therapy workshops are recommended for children in pre-school age, as they help to build relationships, stimulate creativity, improve speech expression, self-initiative, self-confidence and verbal and social competences.
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