The Effectiveness of Group Counseling with Art Therapy Methods in Reducing Social Anxiety in Children with Tunagrahita

The existence of social anxiety that is not managed can develop into disorders that hinder daily function. Based on initial observations, some mentally retarded children show symptoms of social anxiety, such as blushing faces, lack of confidence, excessive sweating, stuttering when speaking, difficulty concentrating, closing themselves, and easily panicked. So it is necessary to reduce social anxiety through group counseling services with art therapy methods. This study aims to determine the level of social anxiety in mentally retarded children before and after group counseling with art therapy methods, and to determine the effectiveness of group counseling with art therapy methods to reduce social anxiety in mentally retarded children. The methodology in research is quantitative, type of pre-experimental research with one group pretest-posttest design. This study involved 7 subjects with conditions of age and IQ limitations determined by means of purposive sampling of 30 mentally retarded children in SLB-C Karya Ibu. The results showed the first, the TSR test (high, medium, low) was obtained the level of social anxiety in children with mental retardation increased (high and moderate) represented 95% after applied group counseling with the art therapy method of social anxiety in children with mental retardation decreased to 76%. Second, it is known from the results of the paired samples t test that the asymp.sig (2-tailed) was obtained worth 0.001 value of 0.001 <0.05, so it can be concluded HA is accepted and H0 is rejected. Means having a difference from the results of the pretest and posttest. So it is concluded that group counseling with art therapy methods is effective in reducing social anxiety in mentally retarded children in SLB C Karya Ibu.