CEREBRAL PALSY AND MUSIC ACHIEVEMENT

Abstract

Pupils with cerebral palsy attend elementary education accordind to a regular and special teaching plan and program. Regular school curriculum was reformed in 1992, while special plan and program has not been changed and adapted according to pupil’s needs and capacities.  Music is one of the best means of expressing oneself and plays a very important role in the development of every child, the child with cerebral palsy in particular.
In order to test the possibility of pupils with cerebral palsy, with and without mental retardation, to apprehend the actual program content, we have conducted research on musical achievement of children with cerebral palsy. During 2007 a research was carried out, on the sample of 27 pupils with cerebral palsy and mild mental retardation who attended classes in the school “Miodrag Matikj”, and a sample of16 students with cerebral palsy without mental retardation who attended the school “Dr. Dragan Hercog” in Belgrade.
Results of the research, as well as analysis of music curriculum content, indicated that the capacities of students with cerebral palsy to carry out the curriculum tasks require special approach and methodology. Therefore, we introduced some proposals to overcome the difficulties in fulfilling music curriculum demands of those pupils. We made special emphasis on the use of computer based Assistive technology which facilitates the whole process to a large extent.