Art therapy as a means of correcting the notions of family in children with intellectual incapacity coming from social risk families

The paper studies the use of art therapy in the process of assessment and correction of ideas about the family in children with mild mental retardation coming from social risk families. The research considers the view of family among children with mental retardation. The scope of the study is the possibility of using art therapy in the process of correcting the notions of family in children with mild mental retardation coming from social risk families. This study is based on the following methods: document review, discussion with teachers (class teachers), the conversation entitled My Future Family, the technique of Parents through the Eyes of a Child by Rene Gilles, the procedure of identifying children with their parents, the questionnaire by A.I. Zakharov, the drawing techniques on the topics of My Family and My Future Family. The author developed and implemented a series of lessons on the correction of the notions of family in children with mental retardation by means of art therapy. These lessons addressed the following objectives: the assessment of the notions of family through the art therapy techniques during the game of Home Sweet Home, the development of the concepts of a prosperous family and home, the correction of the ideas about family roles, a family as the union of a man and woman who want to have children, building a culture of family communication, the consolidation of knowledge about the need for friendly relations between family members. After lessons based on art therapy techniques, the children demonstrated emotionally neutral and positive attitude to their families rather than emotionally negative one.