MENTALRETARDATION

Artwork Presentation

By: MARY ALYSSA BOTIN

The person with MR experiences difficulties with the various environments because he/she lacks the mental, emotional and social skills and competencies to function in the environment meant for people without disabilities.

Related limitations in the adaptive skills areas

It means that the person has difficulty in performing the following tasks:

• Communication – ability to understand and communicate information by speaking and writing through symbols, sign-language or non-symbolic behavior (facial expressions, touch, gestures)

• Self-care – ability to take care of one’s needs in hygiene, grooming, dressing, eating, toileting

• Home living – ability to function in the home, housekeeping, clothing care, property maintenance, cooking, shopping, home safety, daily scheduling of work

• Community use – travel in the community, shopping, obtaining services

• Social skills – initiating and terminating interactions, conversations, responding to social cues, recognizing feelings, regulating own behavior, assisting others, fostering friendship

• Self-direction – making choices, following schedule, completing required tasks, seeking assistance and resolving problems

• Health and safety – maintaining own health, identify and preventing illness, first aid, sexuality, physical fitness and basic safety

• Functional academics – learning the basic skills taught in school

• Leisure – recreational activities appropriate to the age of the person

• Work (Employment) appropriate to one’s age

Low Motivation

lack interest in learning their lessonsdevelop learned helplessness where they

expect to continue to fail in doing certain tasks because they were not able to do the task in the past

to avoid failure, the person tends to set very low expectations for oneself

Self-Care and Daily Living Skills they are often taught basic daily living

skills deliberately which normal individuals learn by absorption and imitation

direct instruction, simplified routine, prompts and task analysis are used to teach self-care skills in hygiene and grooming, daily living skills in eating, toileting, communication and the other areas of adaptive behavior

Behavioral Excesses and Challenging Behaviorstudents with MR are more prone to

inappropriate behavior

they have difficulties accepting criticism, limited self-control as well as behavior problem like aggression or self-injury

Students with mental retardation can still enjoy their daily living through different activities that would catch their attention. And one of this activities are crafts and art activities.

However, these students may need some help and/or assistance from the teacher just like any other child.

Be aware that art activities that are too challenging may only frustrate the child so it is advisable to only give students with mental retardation an art activities that are easy for them to manage and as well as would help them to boost their potentials.

Benefits of Art activities Self-discovery. At its most successful,

art therapy triggers an emotional catharsis (a sense of relief and wellbeing through the recognition and acknowledgement of subconscious feelings).

Personal fulfillment. The creation of a tangible reward can build confidence and nurture feelings of self-worth. Personal fulfillment comes from both the creative and the analytical components of the process.

Empowerment. Art therapy can help individuals visually express emotions and fears that they were never able to articulate through conventional means, and give them some sense of control over these feelings.

Relaxation and stress relief. Chronic stress can be harmful to both mind and body. It can weaken and damage the immune system, cause insomnia and depression, and trigger a host of circulatory problems (e.g., high blood pressure, atherosclerosis, and cardiac arrhythmia). When used alone or in combination with other relaxation techniques such as guided imagery, art therapy can be a potent stress reliever.

Symptom relief and physical rehabilitation. Art therapy can also help individuals cope with pain and promote physiological healing by identifying and working through anger and resentment issues and other emotional stresses.

The goal is to help them enjoy creative expression through art.

ARTS! ARTS! ARTS!

CRAYON RUBBINGS Provide tactile

sensation and work on gross and fine motor skills in this art lesson.

Create interesting crayon rubbings using leaves, fabric, sandpaper, or any other textured item in your classroom.

What we need?

Leaves

Crayons

Sheets of white paper

How to make? 1 Find a good 

leaf to draw from. 

Look at the texture and features on the leaf. Are there holes on it? Has it dropped on the ground recently or has it been on the ground for some time?

2 Place the leaf on a hard surface. 

A good suggestion is to use a notebook or a piece of cardboard. Put the leaf "veins" towards you (the bottom of the leaf).

3 Put a white sheet of paper on the leaf. 

To prevent the leaf from moving, you can tape it down on the hard surface.

4 Rub a crayon or pastel on its side and gently color on the layered paper over the leaf. 

Notice that you'll be "drawing" the leaf on the paper.

5 Repeat this craft with other leaves and colors. 

Use soft and hard leaves to compare how drawings come out.

FINISH PRODUCT

TISSUE PAPER TREES CRAFTStrengthen fine motor skills

What we need?Cardboard

Tissue paper or Crepe Paper

Brown construction paper

Glue

How to make it?1 Cut a

simple tree shape out of cardstock or cardboard. The thicker, the better. Cut the tissue paper into squares.

2 Rip the brown construction paper into small pieces. Glue the pieces onto the trunk of the tree.

3 Crumple the tissue paper squares into balls and glue them onto your tree. The green tissue paper represents leaves and the red tissue paper represents apples.

4 Try to fill all of the white space and let the glue dry. You could also change the color of the tissue paper to make a beautiful Fall tree with orange, red, brown, and green.