Special Issue 8 (2) 2016 “Dalcroze Eurhythmics in music therapy and special music education” – Article (published on 11 December 2016)
Dalcroze Eurhythmics in therapy for children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms
Ewa Bogdanowicz
Abstract
This article discusses the application of Dalcroze Eurhythmics in work with children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms. It comprises selected results of a doctoral study on the use of Eurhythmics with six-year-old children with ADHD symptoms, concerning mainly motor activity control and cognitive processes, for instance attention deficit. Quantitative methods were used to collect and analyse the data. The results show that participation in Dalcroze Eurhythmics increased the children’s ability to control motor activity or concentrate attention and lessened the tendency to distraction. The implication of this study is that music and its elements have values which are not only musical but, above all, educational and that they influence motoric, cognitive and social development of children both with and without disabilities.
Keywords
Dalcroze Eurhythmics, ADHD symptoms, education and therapy of children
Biography
Ewa Bogdanowicz PhD studied Dalcroze Eurhythmics at the Music Academy in Katowice and Music Therapy at the Music Academy in Wroclaw. She has also studied a short course in Sherborne Developmental Movement. Ewa is an assistant professor at the Institute of Music in the Faculty of Fine Arts and Music, University of Silesia in Katowice. Her PhD thesis (2012) was entitled ‘Educational and therapeutic values of Emile Jaques-Dalcroze’s Eurhythmics method for six-year-old children with ADHD symptoms: The efficiency of a special programme’. Besides being a Eurhythmics and dance teacher, Ewa is also a music therapist.
E-mail: ewkabk@interia.pl