ОТРАЖЕНИЕ УСТАНОВОК ОБЩЕСТВА ЧЕРЕЗ ПРИКЛАДНОЕ ИСКУССТВО

Работы художников, посвященные человеку с ограниченными возможностями, – это отражение отношения общества к нему. От отношения общества, его установок к взрослым и детям с ограниченными возможностями зависит успех развития их социальной реабилитации и интеграции

School maturity of pre-school age visually impaired children

The sample or research is 310 pre-school age visually impaired children. The average age of the surveyed is 6.3 years, the sharpness of vision is V 0.3–1. The research employed the methods for assessment of children’s maturity for school worked out by G. Gintilienė, D. Butkienė, S. Girdzijauskienė et al. (2005). During the investigation, essential problems of pre-school age visually impaired children have been estimated: a number of hyperactive children increases; also, a number of children who can hardly focus and retain attention increases; poor visual-motor coordination; narrow vocabulary; they explain notions of active vocabulary with difficulty. Results of school maturity of pre-school age visually impaired children proved significance of pre-school education institutions in visually impaired children’s preparation for school. It has been found that when surveying children of pre-school groups twice, in September and May, as well as preparing and using psychologists’ recommendations for pedagogues and parents, the level of pupils’ school maturity increases

THE IMAGE A VISUALLY IMPAIRED PERSON IN PHILATELY AS A MEANS OF FORMING AN ADEQUATE ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE BLINDNESS AND BLIND

The topic of blindness and the image of a blind person in philately, although rarely analysed, has a great information potential. This research topic is part of our research "The Image of a Blind Man in the Cultural Heritage of Humanity." The purpose of the study is to systematize knowledge on the subject of image and blindness in philately, to consider the social aspects of this phenomenon. To collect information, the bulletin used the analysis of literature and the search for postage stamps depicting blind people in private collections of philatelists. The iconological method of interpretation of culture and art history was also used, which permitted to reveal the meaning of visions, symbols and their contexts. The monograph is based on the methodological assumptions of art historians Aby Walburg (1866 – 1929) and Erwin Panofsky (1892 – 1968), who claimed that historical and social aspects could be revealed through the works of art.  E. Panofsky states that the works of art as human signs as well as other works can be considered documents, encoding the knowledge of the epoch, its culture and attitudes. The work of art is a symbol, indicating “something else” and allowing us to perceive the allegory; it is a document, telling us about certain cultural, religious, social and historic phenomena, depending on the context. The image of a blind person in stamps and commemorative envelopes are divided according to separate themes and analysed as social phenomena. The image of the blind and the topic of blindness in philately allow acquiring more knowledge about the blind, their potential, embossed writing, specificity of their orientation and mobility and at the same time forming positive attitudes towards visually impaired people. These findings activate further research on the image of a blind person in other areas of cultural heritage.

Blinding as a Punishment: A Story about Saul in the Old Testament and the Image of Paul in the Fine Arts

On the ground of theoretical research methods, the article estimates the image of Paul in the Old Testament and the fine arts. Examples of the fine arts are analysed in the paper as social phenomena. Interrelations between art and public events are revealed. Leaving issues of art criticism aside, pieces of art are analysed in the area of art sociology, aiming to notice reflections of historical reality and their impact on man beholding this. On the ground of analysis of replicas of 239 art works depicting a character of the Old Testament, Saul, it is attempted to answer the questions what episodes of this character’s life were most commonly depicted in the fine arts, in which periods of historical development of art (Saul later was Christened as Paul, and afterwards proclaimed saint) the topic of Paul was the most popular, painters of which countries favoured this topic the most, what episodes of this character’s life imposed painters, engravers and sculptors the most, why did this Biblical character receive more attention in the development of art history in comparison to other characters of the Old Testament

THE PHONOMENON OF A MIRACLE CURE IN RELIGION AND THE FINE ARTS

The paper deals with the evolution of votive offering as the expression of praying for health and the gratitude for a miracle cure from ancient times to the present day. The tradition of votive offerings, as the means of asking for health and receiving a miracle cure, goes for thousands of years.The article analyses the question if the votive offering tradition has been continued in Lithuanian churches and if any known facts about a miracle cure have been found in the 21st century. The aim of this research is to detect the continuation of the votive offerings in Lithuanian churches. Interviews and content analysis have been used as research methods. Information collected from interviewing 5 worshipers and 19 priests in Lithuania. Unique examples of a miracle cure have been depicted. Votive offerings have been analysed as a part of rich cultural heritage. The diversity of votive offerings has been detected and depicted in the fine arts. The tradition of votive offering is viewed as the expression of the belief in a miracle cure. The assumption has been made that the placebo effect is present in a miracle cure. The findings suggest that the tradition of votive offerings still exist and being practiced in Lithuanian churches nowadays

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND CONTEXTUAL DISADVANTAGE ON CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR: A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF HIGH RISK-FEMALES

This investigation examined several dimensions of personality functioning in a longitudinal sample of females. These data are part of an existing project evaluating female development across 3 different time points starting in adolescence and transitioning into adulthood. Subjects were categorized into a clinical group (females with a high degree of psychiatric comorbidity) and a normal control group. All participants were initially recruited when they were between 14-18 years of age, and were followed up twice when they were 19-23, and 24-28. In an attempt to explore possible heterogeneity in personality trait development, the research is presented as three separate studies examining the following: (1) fluctuations in mean-level and rank order stability estimates across time; (2) the validity of established personality trends relative to their association with antisocial behavior; and (3) mechanisms that may contribute to personality trait consistency across development such as neighborhood context. This is the first study to investigate personality functioning across time in females who are disturbed in multiple areas of social and psychological functioning. Results highlight the importance of considering distinct subgroups of the general population when exploring developmental trends in personality

THE ANALYSIS OF THE SPECIAL EDUCATION SYSTEM’S LEGISLATION IN LITHUANIA

In this article the laws governing the special education system formed in 1991 – 2012 are analyzed. Although Lithuania is very fast and well prepared in adopting legislations concerning the environmental adaptation of the disabled people, their education and integration into the community,  the implementation of those laws is very slow and problematic: the laws are adopted  but the funding is not provided or the provided amount is too low for their implementation, the attitude of society to disabled students is changing too slowly. In this article the methods of scientific literature, statistics and law analysis were used. Up to now, Lithuanian schools are not properly prepared to accept disabled children because of the lack of highly skilled professionals who would be able to work with children with special needs. There are also problems of not adapted environment for those children, not implemented posts of teacher’s assistant, attendant and reader, the lack of specific teaching means and the society’s directional attitude towards the disabled student and their families can still be felt. While exanimating the legal base it can be concluded that Lithuania theoretically is well prepared for the integration of disabled children into the education system, but the reality is in odds with the theory. Schools (teachers' groups) should recognize the variety of needs of their students and adjust to it by choosing different educational approaches, methods and different learning pace and by providing qualified special educational, psychological and social assistance. KEYWORDS: special educational needs, special education system, legislation,  integration

ART BASED EDUCATION AS THE MEAN OF IMPROVEMENT COMMUNICATION SKILLS OF PERSONS WITH NEUROLOGICAL CONDITIONS

Art education could be applied improving of communication skills in patients with multiple sclerosis. Applied art education activities based on the pilot research data proved that personal motivation for active participant in social life could be promote by optimizing communication skills. Problems of communications skills in MS first of all are liked to somatic and neurological problems, but from the point of view of social paradigm – person’s communication problems deals with effective social participation and social involvement into society. It becomes an essential issue of social participants and integration talking about the concept of long life learning. The aim of research is to prove and reveal changing characteristics of communication skills of MS persons under the influence of art education. KEY WORDS: Communication dimensions, art based education; patients with multiple sclerosis

Reginos Karvelienės daktaro disertacijos „Studentų, patekusių į negalios situaciją, įgalinimas dalyvauti aukštojo mokslo tarptautinėse veiklose“ (socialiniai mokslai, edukologija 07S) recenzija

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Socialinių utopijų tipologizacija

A variety of forms of social utopia, which is a recurrent conception in the history of social theories, requires a typological characteristics. The author of the present paper attempts to base the typology of social utopia on a number of relevant features, viz.: the setting of an utopian conception in terms of time and place, its ethic and political evaluation, the Weltanschauung propagated by the authors of a utopia and the effects of a social utopia on progressive social development.Straipsnyje siekiama apžvelgti pagrindines utopijų rūšis ir pamėginti tipologizuoti socialines utopijas bei aptarti būdingiausius utopijos sampratos aspektus. Šiai sąvokai dažnai suteikiama svajonės, chimeriško kūrinio, kur nesiskaitoma su faktais, nerealaus projekto reikšmė, taip pat socialinės utopijos suvokiamos ir kaip pažiūrų sistemos, pagrįstos esamų socialinių santykių priešpriešinimu kokybiškai kitokiems santykiams, adekvačiau atspindintiems žmonių reikmes. Utopijas galima skirstyti pagal jų santykį su socialinių klasių, grupių bei sluoksnių aspiracijomis (vergvaldžių, valstiečių, buržuazijos, proletariato ir kt. utopijos), pagal pagrindinę jų autorius dominančią problemą (pvz., utopinis socializmas). Dar skiriamos eskapistinės, herojinės, vietos, laiko (retrospektyvinės ir perspektyvinės), metafizinės (racionalistinės), sektos (vienuolyno), politinės utopijos bei antiutopijos. Bendras visų utopistų bruožas – įsitikinimas, kad visuomenei pertvarkyti būtina sukurti ar surasti tokią žmonių grupę, kurios gyvenime dominuoja visai visuomenei būtinas, bet jai dar svetimas, nežinomas idealas