Abstract:

In modern system of special education, children with visual impairments are mostly characterized by ocular comorbidity, which negatively affects the pace of their mental development, including manifestation of creativity the development of which requires knowledge of creative thinking mechanisms. Modern cognitive sciences assess the impact of sensory pathology on the processes of visual thinking and human creativity in different ways, actualizing both deprivation and compensatory phenomena in the form of creative abilities.

The overall aim of this research is to study the state of creative thinking in children suffering from multiple visual pathologies (various combinations of myopia, strabismus, cataracts, glaucoma and hypermetropia).

Special focus is directed to the study of influence of visual pathology on the process of creative thinking.

The sample included children aged 10 - 12 years (experimental group - children with visual acuity of 0.3; control group - children with visual acuity of 1.0).

The procedure assumed the use of verbalized geometric shapes as an object of drawing up to the subject image in the process of free spatial rotation. Thus, the operation of including geometric structures in different subject contexts became more active.

The results showed statistically significant differences between the indicators of two groups, which implies the negative impact of visual pathology on the development of creative thinking.

The general decrease in the indicators of quantitative productivity of visual thinking in the experimental group is explained by the poor sensory experience of children, which is a consequence of pathology of the peripheral part of the visual analyzer and a decrease in visual acuity.

Qualitative features of creative thinking are associated with deficiency of cerebral mechanisms for processing visual information.

For instance, a geometric figure in the created graphic composition can have a different scale. The circle can transform into an apple or an airplane window. In the latter case, we are talking about a more complex visual structure and a different scale of the original geometric figure used, which indicates a higher level of development of creative thinking, that is most often characteristic of normally developing children. As well as the use of the mechanism of mental rotation, in which rhombus, trapezium and oval can be represented in graphic form as a perspectively reduced square and circle.

Nonetheless, it was not possible to establish a correlation between the indicators of visual acuity and the values of quantitative and qualitative characteristics of creative thinking, which implies the complexity of such relationships mediated by the influence of nosological affiliation. Social factors that prevent the pathogenic influence of visual impairment should also be taken into account. For instance, introducing a child with visual pathology to graphic creativity as a form of correctional work, as well as using the Barraga Visual Efficiency Scale.

The results obtained can be used to develop programs of psychological support and art therapy for children with visual pathology. In the future, it is planned to continue the study of development of creative thinking in children with lower levels of visual acuity, taking into account various nosologies

Keywords:

Special education, creative thinking, visual pathology.