The purpose of this study is to present a plan whereby teachers may effect a more worthwhile meaning of musical form by teaching it in connection with an activity that shall be called 'movement.' The problem of the study is to bring together the knowledge that come from the writer's experience as a teacher, and the data from the limited literature on the subject and organize them in such a way as to formulate this plan.

: Diploma thesis deals with complementary educational field of dance and movement education to the first stage of primary school. The main objective is to find out expierences from the pilot programmes established dance and movement education. In the theoretical part explainig the basic concepts- movement, dance and its contribution to human deveploment and explains the meaning of dance and movement education as an educational provider. Due to specification the first stage is one of the sections devoted to problems of primary school age. In text is also mapped legislative process and promoting the concept introduction of dance and movement education, and its finally grounded in the Framework educational programme for basic education. Deals in detail with the concept of dance and movement education, its educational content, features and goals. Finally, it addresses the problem of teacher competency of the subject. The research part of current knowledge and experience of the five-year cycle teaching of subject in pilot elementary school Prague 5- Slivenec through questinnaires for the first (imput) and the fifth (output) class. It describes the current status of efforts to learn the dance and movement education in elementary schools.

This diploma thesis considers dance and child and how dance can influence the development of child's individuality. Theoretical part deals with characteristics and history of the dance, child within the age range 6 - 11 years, physical, psychical and spiritual aspects of people personality. It brings information about "movement and dance education" - as a new subject in the Curriculum framework for basic education. The research part of the thesis is oriented only on "movement and dance education" and how the people are informed about its implementation to schools. It also analyses the possibilities of influence on selected areas of development of child. It also tries to demonstrate positive effect on some of these areas.

The research presented in this thesis is an explorative study into the basic concepts and the effects of dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) intervention on the attunement behaviours of children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). From a retrospective analysis of positively evaluated single cases of DMP with ASD participants, movement markers of interpersonal relating behaviours have been formulated in terms of Social Engagement and Attunement Movement (SEAM) behaviours. These were organised into an observation scale, and used subsequently to generate nominal observation data on the behaviours of a small sample of children with ASD. Evaluation with the SEAM observation scale yielded a significant increase of SEAM behaviours in the course of the dance therapy. Retrospective analysis of the actions of the therapist throughout four single cases of DMP with ASD participants yielded a specific approach that was described as Shared Movement Approach (SMA). SMA has been specified as an improvisation based method of DMP that takes the child's interpersonal attunement and engagement behaviours as cues for the therapist to accommodate her interventions, so that the child's interpersonal relating behaviours are facilitated and supported. Through her kinaesthetically informed interventions the DMP therapist contributes to an increase of interpersonal engagement and attunement by the ASD participant from within the shared movement actions. The SEAM observation scale was explored on conceptual clarity and consistency in a group of independent movement analysts, and interrater agreement was used as an indication of its contents validity. An interval rating procedure with the SEAM scale yielded the best results on interrater agreement as expressed in Cohen's kappa. The Shared Movement Approach and the SEAM observation scale were then tested for replication of outcome on SEAM behaviours within four repeated single subject cases in a pilot study in a Dutch outpatient clinical setting. The outcome monitoring yielded the replication of increase of interpersonal relating behaviours as measured with the SEAM observation scale. Within subject therapy outcomes, although diverse in their individual profiles, were found to be significant when analysed with non-parametric tests. Group averages showed a significant increase of SEAM behaviours. The effects beyond therapy were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), showing individual differences and a significant problem reduction on average. The outcomes as experienced by the juvenile participants were evaluated with the somatic and social sub-scales of the Youth Self Report (YSR), which on average showed a significant decrease of experienced social and somatic problems. The results obtained are discussed in view of current theories on experiential approaches and concepts for psychotherapy with an ASD population.

This master's thesis is based on the specifics of physiological development in middle childhood and searches for the pupil's natural behaviour at this stage. It begs the question as to why movement is so important for the human being and what role locomotion plays in having good postural habits. It highlights the magnitude of movement for child development and shows that physical activity is an inseparable part of our lives. The third chapter is about dance which is perceived as one of the oldest forms of human art. I look for displays of dance in everyday life and describe the particularities of expression in dance in middle childhood. Finally, I highlight the benefits and its educational dimension, values, and use. The following chapter talks about dance and movement education as a supplementary education field and its implementation in the FEP. The practical part describes an application of five dance lessons. These lessons were taught by a pedagogue who had no previous experience with teaching dance and movement activities. The main reason for this decision was that, in the future, a pedagogue could teach the lessons regardless of their past practice with dance and movement education. The three key observed factors are described below. Firstly, from the pedagogical point of view, I reflect the...