Application of Ebru art techniques in the system of psychological and pedagogical rehabilitation of children with disabilities

Relevance. Significant changes in understanding disability and special needs of children experiencing disability and their families have occurred around the world over the past decades. Together with integration processes that have affected the structure of the contingent in educational organizations at various levels, these changes have led to a change in approaches to assistance and support programmes for students with disabilities, including those with mental retardation (intellectual disabilities). In this regard, the search, approbation and introduction into practice of the system of education and social protection as well as of complex psychological, pedagogical and rehabilitation technologies and methods that activate the development of higher mental functions, stimulate cognitive and creative activity, develop emotional and volitional spheres and personal qualities of children of these categories are of particular importance. The development of new methods of work that are aimed at preparing such children for the future, if possible, independent life and activity, are important both for the family and for the state as a whole in terms of reducing the economic and social burden. Objective. The study aims to generalize the experience of using the Ebru-therapy art technology, which reveals the unique possibilities of Ebru art in psychological and pedagogical practice of working with children with disabilities. The focus is placed on the effectiveness of Ebru-therapy in rehabilitation and correction for children of this category. Methods included free and directed observation, questionnaires, interviews with teachers, specialists of the school psychological and pedagogical service, parents and other family members raising children with disabilities, analysis of the productive activity of children, analysis of literary sources, and peer review method. Results. The authors present the experience of practical and experimental work on the study of the impact of Ebru art and the technology of “Ebru-therapy” on the development of mental functions and the activation of the creative abilities of students with mental retardation (intellectual disabilities). In the course of the study, art-therapeutic and art-pedagogical resources of this technology were identified. The potential possibilities of its use when working with various categories of clients were described. The authors introduce the qualitative results of testing the Ebru-therapy technology in the process of psychological and pedagogical rehabilitation of children with mental retardation (intellectual disabilities), focusing on the additional (in relation to other art methods) possibilities of Ebru art, due to the very process of creating artistic images on the water. Conclusions. Studies have confirmed that children with disabilities of various nosologies and levels of manifestation as well as of different psychophysical developmental features can master the techniques of classical Ebru and successfully apply them in educational and creative activities, achieving decent results, which is confirmed by their victories in competitions where they participate on equal with normotypical children. Positive dynamics of cognitive, social, motor development in the process of applying the Ebru-therapy art technology was observed even in children with severe and multiple disorders, which indicates the effectiveness of using this art method to solve a wide range of psychological, pedagogical, rehabilitational, and correctional tasks.