Book Description

In our distant childhood, mothers and grandmothers told us fairy tales, not suspecting, perhaps, that by doing so they used one of the most effective methods of psychological correction – fairy-tale therapy. A fairy tale is a means of introducing a child to the world of human destinies, to history; this is the «golden key» to changing the environment, its creative, constructive transformation. The child half lives in an imaginary, unreal world, and not just lives, but actively acts in it, rebuilding it and himself. It is from this treasury that he draws information about the reality that he does not yet know, the features of the future, about which he still does not know how to think [12]. Surprisingly simple, but at the same time instructive stories were breathtaking, plunging the world of dragons, woodpeckers, brownies, beautiful princesses and evil witches. Are these simple stories simple, as it seems at first glance? Is it just an entertainment tool or a universal educational program that helps children to settle in this difficult world? The process of fairy tale therapy allows the child to actualize and realize his problems, as well as to see different ways to solve them [12, p. 84]. A fairy tale metaphor, due to its inherent special properties, turns out to be a way of building mutual understanding between children, an attitude towards oneself as an individual. In fairy tales you can find a complete list of human problems and ways to solve them. Fairy stories contain information about the dynamics of life processes. Therefore, a fairy tale can give a symbolic warning about how the situation will develop, which is important in corrective work [118, p. 35]. K.I.Chukovsky believed that the purpose of a fairy tale «is to educate a child in humanity – this marvelous ability to worry about other people's misfortunes, to rejoice in the joys of another, to experience someone else's fate as one's own. After all, a fairy tale improves, enriches and humanizes the child's psyche, since a child listening to a fairy tale feels like an active participant in it and always identifies with those of its characters who fight for justice, goodness, and freedom». A fairy tale is a means of working with the inner world of a child, surprising in terms of the strength of its psychological impact, a powerful tool for development. It is the psychological content of fairy tales, the symbolic reflection of psychological phenomena that make folk tales an indispensable tool for influencing a person [12]. A school psychologist constantly asks himself two questions: «What? » and «How?». In the sense that every day, in the case of providing psychological assistance to a child, a specialist tries to figure out what is actually happening and how to help a small client overcome the difficulties that have arisen. Searching for the answer to the question «what? » are carried out with the help of various methods of psychodiagnostics, observation, conversations with parents and teachers, etc. But when the answer to the first question becomes more or less clear, the question «how? » arises with all its cast-iron simplicity and inaccessibility. At this stage, many school psychologists, unfortunately, give in, because it is necessary to move from diagnostics to full of surprises and risk, the path of psychocorrection and psychotherapy. The enrichment of practical psychology with new means of effective work with children, provided, in particular, by such a direction as fairy tale therapy, is a gratifying fact of the last decade. Now to the notorious question «how? » found one of the beautiful and effective answers. The developing and psychotherapeutic potential of fairy tales, for all its obviousness, was not used enough by the practical psychology of education. But fairy tale therapy is effective in working not only with preschoolers or younger students, but also with teenagers and high school students. Moreover, there are psychotherapeutic fairy tales for teachers. Even a simple reading of fairy tales (especially specially created ones) gives an amazing effect and helps a person overcome various life difficulties. Fairy tales are important to child development, both educationally and psychologically, and have been shown to be therapeutically efficacious. O.Breusenko-Kuznetsov, G.Nyzhnyk, D.Sokolov, L.Terletska, N.Tsybulya and others are developing the method of fairy tale therapy in Ukraine. Studies by L.S. Vygotsky, O.V. Zaporozhets, N.S. Karpinskaya showed that a fairy tale is vital to a child, and it is a means for him to know the world around him and himself. In recent literature, fairy tales are often the object the study attracts the attention of representatives of various schools and branches of science, in particular folklorists, literary critics, psychologists, etc. A fairy tale needs a thorough new look using effective tools. In in this regard, the study of issues related to the analysis of fairy tales as a psycho-corrective method of psychological assistance to preschoolers in terms of psychological and pedagogical aspects is appropriate. The research of the above experts is about the possibility use of the method of fairy tale therapy not only in psychological, but also in pedagogical practice for didactic and developmental purposes. As for application of this method in the professional activities of a psychologist, the research on this subject is just beginning to appear on the pages scientific publications. Yes, the possibility and feasibility of using fairy tale therapy in socio-pedagogical practice indicate S. Savchenko, O. Ivanovska, N. Shkarin and others, who consider the fairy tale as a wonderful social pedagogical means of socialization, development and education of personality. At the present stage of development of education the problem of increasing the number of children with behavioral disorders and, accordingly, the problem of preventing and overcoming school non-adaptation, manifested in low performance, deviations from norms of behavior, difficulties in relationships with others. Central in the correctional education of schoolchildren is the optimization of children's activities. The method of fairy tale therapy allows solving a number of problems that arise in children of different ages. The process of fairy tale therapy allows the child to actualize and realize their problems, as well as see different ways to solve them.