Card file of notes using story therapy in the senior group

DEFINITION

Fairytale therapy is a method of psychological correction that helps develop a harmonious personality and solve individual problems. The instrument of this therapy is a fairy tale, which allows, using the example of heroes, to trace the characteristics of behavior and actions, and to analyze a specific life situation.

Fairytale therapy began to be used in isolation relatively recently, but quickly found a large number of fans among professional psychotherapists and parents. It was identified as a separate branch of psychotherapy thanks to Tatyana Zinkevich-Evstigneeva, and was later successfully used in working with both children and adults.

The essence of the method is this: the experience of conflict occurs with the help of a system of substitutes - fairy-tale characters, in whose place the child (or adult) begins to imagine himself. The plot is also important. Due to its metaphorical nature, a fairy tale becomes a powerful developmental and psychotherapeutic tool. By living certain events with the characters, the baby learns to understand their meaning and significance.

The goal of therapy is to help the child overcome anxiety and fears, correct negative character traits, and reveal abilities and inner world.

The following tasks can be distinguished:

• formation of emotional experience;
• overcoming internal contradictions;
• obtaining a sample of behavior in various situations.

Often a fairy tale becomes a means of developing personality, imagination, memory

BEST AGE

Experts advise starting to use fairy tales from the age of 2, since younger children are not yet able to carry out the simplest analysis and understand cause-and-effect relationships, that is, the work will be ineffective. And from the age of 2, it is quite possible to use simple therapeutic fairy tales to help calm the child, prevent hysteria, and provide an example of positive behavior.

At the age of 3, fairy tale therapy can be used more actively, including in combination with other art therapy methods.

DIRECTIONS

It is customary to distinguish several areas of fairy tale therapy:

• Help in difficult life situations. Using the characters as an example, you can consider alternative behavior options and reflect on what consequences each of them leads to.
• Identifying the problem the child is facing in a simple and accessible form.
• Transfer of experience. The parent does not teach the child, but shares with him his life experience and knowledge through a fairy tale.
• Development of thinking, imagination, memory. The form of work is used with children from 3 years old; parents offer not just to listen to the text, but to answer a series of questions, speculate on something, and explain the actions and characters of the characters.
• Behavior correction. With the help of heroes, the child looks at himself from the outside, sees his own negative qualities, as well as an example of how to correct them.
• Psychoprophylaxis. It is always better to avoid a problem than to fix it, and a fairy tale is a very convenient way to do this.

The advantage of fairy tale therapy is that it helps solve a wide range of problems in both children and adults.

FUNCTIONS

It is customary to distinguish the following functions of fairy tale therapy:

• The ability to quickly establish contact between the therapist and the client, regardless of the latter’s age.
• Many mental problems are hidden deep in the subconscious. A short text from a fairy tale helps to bring them to the surface and analyze them.
• Heroes will help you find a way out of difficult situations and consider alternatives.
• Fairy tales allow you to better understand yourself and get rid of internal contradictions.
• This text allows the therapist to receive all the information, even if the client (usually an adult) is trying to hide something.

Fairy tales are an excellent way to overcome phobias; they will also help to instill the skills necessary for a full life, provide an opportunity to understand what is good and what is evil, to reveal the individuality of one’s own personality, and to overcome life’s difficulties. And, what’s most convenient, parents can use this method even without professional education.

It's time to get acquainted with the types of fairy tales

In fairy tale therapy, it is also very important to make the right choice of fairy tale typology. And what they are, we will now look at:

• Folk tales are the most ancient type of fairy tales, which are based on the centuries-old experience of our ancestors. These include various myths, legends and parables, which contain the nation’s general ideas about good and evil.
• Artistic, unlike folk, are the result of one person - the author. In such stories, the writer pays special attention to details, descriptions and images of characters. Also, this type of fairy tale has its own classification:

1. Household;
2. Magical;
3. About animals;
4. Scary.

• Psychocorrectional tales should be similar to the child’s problem, but point to it indirectly, and its plot should be drawn up according to a certain scheme:

1. At the very beginning there is an introduction to the characters of the work;
2. The main character has some kind of resonant situation, similar to the one to whom the fairy tale is addressed;
3. It shows how the heroes are looking for ways to overcome the problem, and what its essence is;
4. Then the hero successfully overcomes all difficulties;
5. The ending of a correctional fairy tale must certainly be positive, because this gives the child a feeling of psychological safety, and he understands that no matter what negative and difficult circumstances happen in life, everything will certainly be fine;
6. The conclusion that the characters make, after which their lives change for the better.

• Psychotherapeutic tales can solve almost any problem, even when all other psychological methods are no longer effective. This type of work is aimed at solving more serious problems: losses, finds, life, death, love, and so on. They do not necessarily have a happy ending, but they are very good at stimulating personal growth.

The types of fairy tales can be completely different, and each of them can answer a specific problem, so in fairy tale therapy it is very important to rely on the characteristics of each child.

In fairy tale therapy, not only different types, but also genres of works are used.

When choosing a work for fairy tale therapy, you need to remember the main rule: each child must have an individual approach, and the story must be relevant to his problem. Genres can be completely different:

• The parable is mainly aimed at strengthening spiritual values, and its moral is most often formulated clearly and directly, not in a veiled manner;
• A fable is very similar in form to a parable, the difference is that it is shorter and contains a moral lesson, as a rule, at the beginning and end of the work;
• Epic and legend are most popular among teenagers; their plots, based on real events, often involve battles;
• Myth is an ancient story of our ancestors about the creation of the world, heroes, kings, Gods and natural phenomena, which helps to better understand the mentality of different peoples;
• A fairy tale in its form is the freest of all genres, and unlike epics, legends and myths, it can tell not only about the past, but also about the future. The morality in it is veiled, so the work is more delicate and unobtrusive.

Fairy tales are selected separately for each age group

At any age, a child has his own characteristics that must be taken into account when using fairy tale therapy:

• 2-3 years. At this stage in life, children are separated from their parents for the first time while attending kindergarten, so at this age fairytale therapy helps relieve fears and anxieties, relieve emotional stress and set hyperactive children to sleep. Also promotes the development of imagination, attention and speech;
• 3-5 years. At this age, children begin to feel a personality within themselves, fears, crises, and whims appear. One of the most important skills is communication with building a full dialogue. Parents need to take into account that little people of this age group often associate themselves with animals, so fairy tales with them will be the most interesting, but works with the participation of princesses, wizards and fairies are no less fascinating for them;
• 5-6 years. This period is characterized by the appearance of the first complexes and feelings of self-doubt, so magical stories about transformations and wonderful reincarnations delight children, and serve as an excellent assistant for adults in correcting behavior and thinking;
• 6-10 years. A “new world” opens up for children at this age - school, so it is necessary to help your child adapt as comfortably as possible, teach him how to set and achieve his first goals, and also continue to consolidate the acquired skills. New author's fairy tales that have not been read (listened to) before will arouse genuine interest among the children;
• Adolescence is one of the most unpredictable and difficult periods. A person is fully aware of himself as a unit of society with his own thinking, and is often in search of an “inner self.” The easiest to understand are stories, parables and legends.

Fairy tales have always helped children go on incredible fantastic journeys, and the magic that each story gives gives the child the opportunity to learn to think positively and realize that nothing is impossible in life. It is important for parents to remember that a well-timed fairy tale can help a little person cope with a serious problem, so be more attentive to your children, spend more time together, because everyone needs care and warmth!

Today, the rhythm of life is much faster than that of our ancestors, and time spent with family has become an invaluable resource, and fairy tales help adults and children solve the problem of lack of time together.

It should also be noted that there is now a wider choice of fairy tale broadcasts:

• read;
• tell;
• listen to audio stories.

At all times, fairy tales have always aroused delight and interest among children. Every child looks forward more than anything else to the evening when loved ones will tell a new exciting story or a continuation of the one they told yesterday. For parents, a fairy tale is a great opportunity to convey their knowledge and experience to their child in a playful way; it helps to speak the same language with him and once again show concern.

TYPES OF FAIRY TALES

Let's get acquainted with the classification of fairy tales proposed by Zinkevich-Evstigneeva. The information is presented in table form.

The genres used in such therapy are diverse; they are not always fairy tales. Here are the main ones:

• epics, myths, legends, sagas - these 4 genres are best suited for working with teenagers;
• fables (the moral is formulated quite clearly; you can use texts not only by Krylov, but also by Aesop and La Fontaine);
• parables (often contain important life lessons, are dedicated to a specific problem and can be used to work through it).

Sometimes it is acceptable to use modern genres, for example detective stories, science fiction - the main thing is that the genre matches the child’s taste.

VARIOUS FAIRY TALE THERAPY METHODS

Working with fairy tales can be combined with other forms and methods of art therapy, which will help not only correct the child’s behavior, but also arouse his keen interest and improve his mood.

So, first of all, sand therapy is harmoniously combined with a fairy tale. Sand can become a kind of environment for recreating a magical world. While playing with sand, the child creates his own reality, in which he feels comfortable and happy; during the game, thanks to the so-called “fairy-tale intuition”, the child manages to find a way out of a difficult situation.

Drawing a fairy tale is one of the methods of fairy tale therapy. Using pencils, paints, even plasticine or clay, the child expresses his own emotions about the text he heard. Another form of work is independent writing (composing) of a fairy tale, in which the child can completely come up with the text, propose an alternative scenario for the development of events in a ready-made fairy tale, and figure out what happened after the conclusion - for example, how the fates of the heroes of “Teremka” turned out or what they began to do the old man and the old woman from “The Tale of the Goldfish”, once again finding themselves “at the bottom.” This will be interesting for preschoolers aged 5-6 years and older children.

The next option is dramatization, staging of fairy tales, their staging, which helps children more deeply get used to the character’s image and enrich their emotional and behavioral experience. At the same time, you should avoid tedious memorization of the role and strict adherence to the text - in such classes, improvisation is much more important. It is this form of work that will help you realize your own shortcomings using the example of the character being portrayed, find out how you can overcome them, and do it.

Staging puppet shows is also useful, allowing you to develop your child’s speech, imagination, communication skills and fine motor skills. In order to “revive” the doll, the child observes certain forms of behavior from the outside, sees what they lead to, and draws his own conclusions. Also, in the process of doll therapy, he gets the opportunity to express those feelings and emotions that are inaccessible to him in real life or are suppressed. Older children (6 or 7 years old) can be encouraged to make dolls themselves, a process that helps them relax.

Another technique is the “master of fairy tales” proposed by Zinkevich-Evstigneeva. According to the author, there are 10 main archetypes (for example, a road, a state, a crossroads), using which you can create 50 fairy-tale plots, which is what the child is asked to do. “Master of Tales” is a deck of 50 cards, each of which has its own meaning. Using them, you can create your own oral works.

These methods are easy to use in homework; in this case, mothers and fathers and other relatives become spectators of “theatrical” productions or puppet theaters.

TIPS FOR PARENTS

With the right approach, using fairy tales you can solve the following problems:

• laziness;
• sloppiness;
• deception;
• aggression;
• reluctance to go to kindergarten.

In case of serious phobias or the appearance of a new family member, it is better to seek the help of a professional.

Let's look at how a mother can use elements of fairy tale therapy at home for her preschooler. Often, it is not enough for a child to simply listen to the text of a fairy tale. It is important that his parents discuss it with him and help him understand the lessons that the plot and characters provide.

By reflecting with your son or daughter on each fairy tale you read, you can form a so-called “bank of life situations” - that is, what you can and cannot do in various cases. The more often such discussions occur, the faster the child will gain the necessary life experience. In this way, the parents will prepare him for an independent future life and help him form a value system.

If a child asks his mother to tell the same fairy tale several times, the request should be fulfilled, since she speaks of the importance of this story for the baby.

WHICH TALES TO CHOOSE?

Let's look at examples of fairy tales and requirements for them. For preschoolers and children 7 years old, the following options are suitable:

• household (“Ryaba Chicken”, “Kolobok”, “Porridge from an Axe”);
• magical (“Morozko”, “Puss in Boots”);
• heroic (“Dobrynya and the Serpent”, “Ilya Muromets”);
• instructive (“The Fox and the Crane”, “Goldfish”).

These can be both oral folk and original works. The main thing is that they meet the following requirements:

• The characters were understandable and interesting to children. An excellent option if the actor is a peer. Age specifics should also be taken into account: for 2-3 years old, animal heroes are preferable; at 4 years old, an element of magic should be introduced; at 5 years old, fairy tales already become the main ones.
• Characters should be clearly divided into positive and negative. Due to their age, it is still difficult for children to judge that an honest and kind person in certain circumstances does not always act well. Therefore, everything in the selected material should be accessible and unambiguous.
• The text itself should be chosen that is interesting to the child, close to him in subject matter and hobbies.
• The topic must be relevant. The lesson is conducted for a specific purpose, to solve some problem of the child (aggression, shyness, phobias), the material must be selected in such a way as to highlight these aspects.
• Availability of interchange. The problem must be solved, since this is the only way the child will receive a specific algorithm of action.

If she has imagination, mom can write a fairy tale herself, but you can use ready-made works by psychologists.

LESSON STRUCTURE

When conducting a fairytale therapy class, the following elements must be present:

1. An immersion ritual that helps create the necessary mood. This could be listening to a cheerful tune that your child loves.
2. Getting to know the text. It is advisable for the mother to tell a fairy tale; if this is not possible, expressive reading or listening to an audio recording with professional speakers is acceptable.
3. Discussion. A conversation about what has been heard, allowing you to understand the lesson of the text, evaluate the actions of the characters, and identify the cause-and-effect relationship “action-consequence”.
4. Art therapeutic element. Drawing heroes, creating a fairy-tale world in a sandbox. It is best to use a child's favorite activity.
5. Exit ritual. Close your eyes, count out loud to three and leave the fairy-tale world, find yourself in the real one.
6. Summarizing. A short summary of what was learned in class. At this stage, it is very important to avoid the use of moralizing by an adult, imposing the “correct position”.

The structure is not mandatory; you can modify it if desired. Such classes can be conducted both individually and in group form.

SOLVING SPECIFIC PROBLEMS

Let's consider how a mother can use fairy tale therapy to solve a number of important problems in the upbringing and development of a child.

The second option for working with fairy tales is texts dedicated to a specific child. As a rule, children are very interested in hearing about themselves. In such fairy tales, the baby is endowed with certain character traits that the parent wants to instill in him. For example, if a baby categorically refuses to go to bed in the dark, in the plot of the fairy tale he should appear as a brave hero who is not afraid of the night.

Fairytale therapy is a gentle method of psychotherapy that allows you to solve serious problems in a gentle manner. It is available for use at home. The main difficulty is the correct choice of material. This issue should be approached responsibly; if desired, you can compose a fairy tale yourself. This method is ideal for children, since the work is carried out on material accessible to preschool age, which, however, does not reduce its effectiveness.

Now let's understand how fairy tales work

Fairytale therapy is the best way to discover a child’s hidden and overt experiences, which helps to take a big step forward towards development.

There are several areas in which this method is used, so let's look at this issue. Fairytale therapy is used as a tool for:

1. Development of creative abilities, which in the future allow the child to find optimal solutions in different life situations. They also help you look at events from different angles, thereby broadening your horizons.
2. Transferring life experience from generation to generation. Fairy tales have been told to children at all times, thus ancestors shared their knowledge accumulated earlier. However, if you simply tell a story, then it remains on a subconscious level for the child, but as soon as you discuss the work with your child, the acquired knowledge will be in consciousness, thanks to which he will be able to use it in a certain situation. The method also helps to convey to the recipient life values ​​and norms of correct behavior in society, so adaptation to society is much easier and less painful. Another important skill that a child acquires during fairytale therapy is the ability to value friendship, love, forgive the offender and build relationships with parents.
3. Self-knowledge. Children, regardless of age, can find it very difficult to recognize their own emotions and experiences. A fairy tale allows a child to live the plot together with the main character, thanks to which he can freely express his feelings, which contributes to the sustainable development of his personality.
4. Psychotherapy. It is used by a specialist doctor who helps find a solution to a difficult situation through fairy tale therapy, as well as activate the protective mechanisms of the psyche, get rid of phobias and complexes.
5. Speech therapy. Unfortunately, nowadays there are many preschool children with speech disorders, and as a solution to this problem, speech therapists today often resort to fairy tale therapy, which promotes the introduction of sounds into free speech, develops all components of memory, the syllabic structure of words and the ability to formulate coherent statements. .
6. Eliminate deficit thinking and eradicate limiting beliefs. In the 21st century, there are more and more conscious people who are engaged in self-development, so a fairy tale is the best way to show a child that the world is full of goodness, and nothing is impossible in it, because if you really want something, the result will not take long to come.

Together we draw up a lesson plan for fairy tale therapy

In order for fairy tale therapy to give good results in working with children’s problems, we recommend using the following lesson structure:

1. First, you need to create a positive attitude and a suitable atmosphere so that children want to work with a fairy tale. Here, joint exercises with a team are best suited, where the guys can feel each other, get to know each other better and loosen up a little;
2. Next, you should remember your previous fairytale therapy session to consolidate the positive results and progress. The adult asks the kids questions: What did they remember? What conclusions did you draw? Did you manage to apply the experience gained in life?
3. Afterwards a new fairy tale is told with the children involved in it. To do this, the narrator of the story asks to help some hero in solving his problem;
4. The next stage is conducting an interactive game in which children will be able to apply the experience gained in the current lesson;
5. Then the leader of fairytale therapy asks the children how they can apply the knowledge they have acquired today in life;
6. The lesson is summarized with conclusions. An additional incentive to participate in fairy tale therapy will be some kind of encouragement for the most active and involved children in the process. Each child can keep a diary and receive stickers according to the results of the activity.
7. As the final stage of fairy tale therapy, it would be good to again use collective exercises, for example dance - round dance, or any others aimed at contact between the participants of the lesson.

A few rules for working with fairy tales

As was said earlier, all fairy tales are suitable for fairy tale therapy, but there are still basic principles when constructing them that must be taken into account:

Contact must be established between the storyteller and the child, so the face, gestures, facial expressions and emotions must be visible and understandable to the addressee; for this it is best to tell a fairy tale rather than read it;

The plot of the fairy tale should be clear to those for whom it is intended, and there should be no long pauses;

If a child has questions during fairytale therapy, then they should not be ignored, it is better to stop and help sort them out together;

At the time of the story, parents should also ask questions to their child in order to understand how he thinks;

It is important to clearly divide heroes into positive and negative.

How is fairytale therapy carried out?

When a fairytale therapy session is conducted by a child psychologist, he chooses which method is suitable for a given child, and also determines the direction of the internal problem. Currently, there are five most common methods of conducting fairy tale therapy; all of these methods have a common goal - to identify and eradicate fears and negative attitudes, but still each of them has its own characteristics:

1. The classic option is telling a fairy tale , which, when discussed, helps to correct children’s behavior in a safe manner;
2. The method of composing a fairy tale includes the child in the creative process and allows you to see the course of his thoughts, as a result of which it becomes clear which part of the inner world needs help;
3. Drawing a fairy tale is very similar in its focus to the previous method, only in this case the specialist looks at what colors were used in the drawing, how the child sees the characters in the work, as well as the general mood of the picture;
4. When staging a fairy tale , children are asked to show as best as possible the character they want to transform into, demonstrate his character, demeanor, gait, etc. After all, when he is in the image, his hidden desires and emotions appear, and also the qualities of character that need to be strengthened are played out. Thanks to the gestures and intonation used by the child in the process, the psychologist determines the direction of the work.
5. A very interesting and non-standard option for fairytale therapy is making dolls . This method has a positive effect on the child and copes with many different tasks:

• Improves mutual understanding within the family;
• Develops speech;
• Reveals creative abilities;
• Builds emotional stability;
• Develops motor skills;
• Promotes the development of communication skills;
• Relieves tension.

1. The sand therapy method helps create a relaxed environment for children in which they feel very comfortable, because playing with sand is one of children’s favorite activities. Sand in the hands has a calming effect and normalizes the emotional background, and drawing a fairy tale from sand or playing with fairy-tale characters with it is a doubly interesting pastime. In order to conduct a fairy tale therapy session using this method, you will need a box of clean, fine sand and figurines of fairy tale characters.