The relationship between creative, cognitive, and emotional competences in Intellectual Disability. A case report.

People with intellectual disabilities (ID) show cognitive deficits that are subject to an earlier deterioration and they experience difficulties in the social-emotional sphere. Various stimulation techniques exist to strengthen these skills that, however, are not usually proposed to individuals with ID because 1) the users are not necessarily in senile age, nor do they have an acquired impairment that requires rehabilitation. Consequently, it is erroneously assumed that their condition cannot be improved. 2) The standard pathways include socio-educational objectives, but not specifically neuro-cognitive ones. We believe that divergent thinking and creativity could be particularly suitable and proficient areas of intervention to promote a flexible, original, and autonomous thinking that can be extended in many different domains. To do so, we designed a research-intervention project named SoCraTEs (Social-emotional, Creative, and Thinking Enhancement), which is aimed at empowering these areas of interest, proposing creativity as an elective tool. In this paper we illustrate the results of a preliminary phase where we first explored the relationship between the aforementioned abilities to identify the most significant components that had the greatest potential. We found that creative abilities are strongly related to attentional, mnestic, and emotional skills, together with personal autonomy in everyday life. Implications for future research are discussed.

Automated summary

People with intellectual disabilities often face cognitive and social-emotional challenges. However, current intervention techniques are not suitable for them as their condition is often considered unimprovable. This paper explores the potential of creativity as a means to enhance cognitive and emotional skills in individuals with ID, and presents the results of a preliminary phase of a research project aimed at empowering these areas of interest.