Work With Children at Risk

Abstract

A pilot study was carried out as a part of a long-term psycho-pedagogical experiment for work with children at risk. This psycho-pedagogical experiment consisted of several stages. The first stage was a research of some psychological characteristics of a small group of children at risk, and of a control group of children at the same age. Second - a psycho-pedagogical experiment with the experimental group; the third step was the final study of the both groups with the same methods. The fourth step was to compare the results of both groups at the beginning and the final of the experiment. The aim of this psycho-pedagogical experiment was to probe an educational program for children at risk, enhancing their social and personal skills in conflict situations. Also this program was prepared to give awareness for their personal responsibilities and to encourage their confident decision-making, their emotion control when they overcome some traumas and losses. Situational anxiety was lower at the final study of the experimental group compared to the beginning. There were also some differences between the experimental and control groups in the use of cooperation like a behavioural style in a conflict situation. This strategy was preferred by the control group. This pilot study do not pretend to be definitive in terms of significance of education because of the small number of the respondents in the sample (14 subjects in the experimental and 20 subjects in the control group), but it has shown the importance and necessity of work with children at risk despite their low motivation to participate in extracurricular activities.

Language: Bulgarian