Abstract
Purpose. This study examines the effects of improving students self-esteem and sociability by conducting a Group Art Therapy Program for students with learning disabilities. This study focused on three students with learning disabilities, attending B middle school special education class located in K county. The study was conducted for two hours once a week (Friday) at B middle school during special education class from May 2, 2014 to July 18, 2014. Methods. For the tools of studying, Self-esteem and social strip forms/rubrics were filled, by students', before and after and data processing was inspected, paired t-Test using the SPSS / WIN (Ver.18.0) for quantitative analysis. Also, on the basis of content, analyzed data of the individuals' self-esteem social changes are shown in graph format. In addition, this qualitative study shows before and after of dynamic house, tree, person (K-H, T, P), dynamic family (KFD), dynamic school life of search phase (4-6 sessions) significant improvement of self-esteem and sociability in adolescents' with learning disabilities influenced by conducting a Group Art Therapy Program. Results. The result of this study can be summarized as follows. First, Group Art Therapy Program shows a statistically significant difference (p<.05) showing that self esteem average is 2.04 before Group Art Therapy Intervention but self esteem average is 2.92 after Group Art Therapy Intervention. Second, as a result of social strip pre-post, there wasn't statistically significant difference compared to self esteem pre-post result, although, post examination's average level was enhanced after Group Art Therapy Program in difference examination.(p>.05). Third, as a result of analysis the indicated pre-post change of Students' pre-post dynamic house, tree, person (HTP), dynamic family (KFD), a dynamic school daily life (KSD), students' family and interpersonal relationships, self-concept shows statistical significant changes. Conclusion. As the result of this study, Group Art Therapy Program shows effective improvement in students' self-esteem and social skills learning disabilities. However, a future study on larger and more diverse group of students' with learning disabilities are advised to be conducted in order to better understand the significance of the Group Art Therapy Program.