What is mental retardation in children: developmental features and corrective treatment. Mental health disorder: diagnosis or life sentence? Delayed psychophysical development

Mental retardation in a child is a specific condition that implies a slow rate of formation of certain mental functions, namely the processes of memory and attention, mental activity, which are delayed in formation compared to established norms for a certain age stage. This disease is more often diagnosed in children at the preschool stage, during testing and checking them for mental maturity and readiness to learn, and is manifested by limited views, lack of knowledge, inability to engage in mental activity, immaturity of thinking, and the prevalence of playful and childish interests. If signs of underdevelopment of mental functions are found in children at the senior school age stage, then it is recommended to think about whether they have. Today, the slow development of mental functions and methods of corrective influence of this condition are an urgent psychoneurological problem.

Causes of mental retardation in a child

Today, the problems of mental retardation throughout the world are recognized by psychologists as one of the most pressing problematic issues of psychological and pedagogical orientation. Modern psychology identifies three key groups of factors that provoke a slow pace of formation of individual mental processes, namely, the characteristics of the course of pregnancy and the birth process itself, and factors of a socio-pedagogical nature.

Factors associated with pregnancy usually include viral diseases suffered by women, for example, rubella, severe toxicosis, consumption of alcoholic beverages, smoking, exposure to pesticides, intrauterine oxygen deprivation of the fetus, and Rh conflict. The second group of provoking factors includes injuries received by infants during the birth process, asphyxia of the fetus or its entanglement with the umbilical cord, and premature placental abruption. The third group covers factors that depend on the lack of emotional attention and the lack of psychological influence on infants from the adult environment. This also includes pedagogical neglect and limitation of life activity for a long time. This is especially felt by children under 3 years of age. Also, in early childhood, the lack of a standard for inheritance provokes developmental delays in children.

A positive, favorable emotional climate of family relationships in which a child grows and is susceptible to educational influence is the foundation for his normal physical formation and mental development. Constant scandals and excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages lead to inhibition of the baby’s emotional sphere and a slowdown in the rate of his development. At the same time, excessive care can provoke a slow rate of formation of mental functions, in which the volitional component is affected in children. In addition, children who are constantly ill are often susceptible to this disease. Developmental inhibition can often be observed in babies who have previously suffered various injuries that affected the brain. Often the occurrence of this disease in children is directly associated with a delay in their physical development.

Symptoms of mental retardation in a child

It is impossible to diagnose the presence of developmental retardation in newborns in the absence of obvious physical defects. Often, parents themselves attribute fictitious virtues or non-existent successes to their children, which also complicates diagnosis. Parents of children should carefully monitor their development and sound the alarm if they begin to sit or crawl later than their peers, if by the age of three they are not able to independently construct sentences and have too small a vocabulary. Often, primary disorders in the formation of individual mental processes are noticed by educators in a preschool institution or teachers in a school institution, when they discover that one student is more difficult in learning, writing or reading than his peers, and there are difficulties with memorization and speech function. In such situations, it is recommended that parents show the baby to a specialist, even if they are sure that his development is normal. Since early detection of symptoms of mental retardation in children contributes to the timely start of corrective action, which leads to further normal development of children without consequences. The later parents sound the alarm, the more difficult it will be for their children to learn and adapt among their peers.

Symptoms of mental retardation in children are often associated with pedagogical neglect. In such children, the developmental delay is caused primarily by social reasons, for example, the situation in family ties.

Children with mental retardation are often characterized by the presence of different types of infantilism. In such children, the immaturity of the emotional sphere comes to the fore, and defects in the formation of intellectual processes fade into the background and do not appear so noticeably. They are subject to repeated mood changes; in lessons or during gameplay they are characterized by restlessness and the desire to throw out all their imaginations. At the same time, it is quite difficult to captivate them with mental activity and intellectual games. Such kids get tired faster than their peers and are not able to concentrate on completing an assignment; their attention is focused on things that, in their opinion, are more entertaining.

Children with mental retardation, observed primarily in the emotional sphere, often have problems with learning in school, and their emotions, which correspond to the development of young children, often dominate over obedience.

In children with predominant developmental immaturity in the intellectual sphere, everything happens the other way around. They have practically no initiative, are often overly shy and self-conscious, and are susceptible to a number of different problems. The listed features inhibit the development of independence and the formation of personal development of the baby. In such children, play interest also prevails. They often experience their own failures in school life or the educational process quite hard, they do not easily get along in an unfamiliar environment, in a school or preschool institution, they take a long time to get used to the teaching staff, but at the same time they behave approximately there and obey.

Qualified specialists can diagnose mental retardation in children, establish its type and correct child behavior. During a comprehensive examination and examination of the baby, the following factors should be taken into account: the pace of his activity, psycho-emotional state, motor skills and characteristics of errors in the learning process.

Mental retardation in children is diagnosed if the following characteristic features are observed:

- they are not capable of collective activities (educational or play);

- their attention is less developed than that of their peers, it is difficult for them to concentrate to master complex material, and it is also difficult not to be distracted during the teacher’s explanations;

— the emotional sphere of children is very vulnerable; at the slightest failure, such children tend to withdraw into themselves.

It follows that the behavior of children with mental retardation can be identified by their reluctance to take part in group play or educational activities, reluctance to follow the example of an adult, and achieve given goals.

There is a risk of error in diagnosing this disease, due to the fact that one can confuse the child’s immaturity with his reluctance to perform tasks that do not correspond to his age, or to engage in uninteresting activities.

Treatment of mental retardation in a child

Modern practice proves that children with mental retardation can study in a regular general education institution, and not in a specialized correctional institution. Parents and teachers should understand that difficulties in teaching children with immaturity in the development of mental processes at the beginning of school life are not the result of their laziness or dishonesty, but have objective, serious reasons that can only be successfully overcome with joint efforts. Therefore, children with a slower rate of formation of mental processes need comprehensive joint assistance from parents, teachers and psychologists. Such assistance includes: a personal approach to each child, regular classes with specialists (a psychologist and a teacher of the deaf), and in some cases, drug therapy. For drug treatment of mental retardation in children, neurotropic drugs, homeopathic remedies, vitamin therapy, etc. are used. The choice of drug depends on the individual characteristics of the child and on comorbid conditions.

Most parents find it difficult to accept that their child, due to the characteristics of his formation, will grasp everything more slowly than the surrounding peers. Parental care and understanding, coupled with qualified specialized assistance, will help create a positive learning environment and provide targeted parenting.

So, corrective action will be most effective if parents follow the recommendations below. The jointly directed work of teachers, the child’s close circle and psychologists is the foundation for successful learning, development and upbringing. Comprehensive overcoming of the developmental immaturity discovered in the baby, the peculiarities of his behavior and the difficulties provoked by them consists of analysis, planning, forecasting and joint actions.

Correctional work with children with mental retardation throughout its entire duration should be permeated with psychotherapeutic influence. In other words, the baby should have a motivational orientation towards classes, notice his own successes and feel joy. The child needs to develop a pleasant expectation of success and the joy of praise, pleasure from actions performed or work performed. Corrective action involves direct and indirect psychotherapy, individual sessions and group therapy. The goal of correctional education is to form mental processes in the child and increase his practical experience in combination with overcoming underdevelopment of motor skills, speech and sensory functions, etc.

Specialized education of children with developmental delays is aimed at preventing possible secondary anomalies that may arise as a result of a timely unconquered lack of readiness of children for the educational process and life in society.

When working with children suffering from developmental delays, it is necessary to use short-term game tasks to develop positive motivation. In general, completing game tasks should interest kids and attract them. Any tasks should be feasible, but not too simple.

The problems of delayed mental development in children often lie in the fact that such children are unprepared for school learning and interaction in a team, as a result of which their condition worsens. That is why, for successful correction, you need to know all the features of the manifestations of the disease and have a comprehensive effect on children. At the same time, parents are required to have patience, interest in the result, understanding of the characteristics of their own children, love and sincere care for their children.

The information presented in this article is intended for informational purposes only and cannot replace professional advice and qualified medical care. If you have the slightest suspicion that your child has this disease, be sure to consult a doctor!

Hello! For the first 25 years of my life I lived in a communal apartment with gypsies, which undoubtedly harmed my psyche. At the age of 2, they poisoned me, so I spent six months in the hospital, but my mother worked at a factory all her life, sometimes combining this with part-time jobs, and could not fully participate in my upbringing. During the period when I was being treated there, she did not visit me in the hospital due to her busy schedule, so when I was finally discharged, I was a terrifying sight. It is worth mentioning at least the rotting and falling off skin on the body. Since the family was single-parent and my mother was always at work, in childhood there were few people who could positively influence my development. Neighbors in other rooms constantly fought and quarreled among themselves; I never saw love or any kindness or normal relationships in their families. Moreover, around the time I was 12 years old, their leader left somewhere, and in his place they brought in some stinking disabled person. Their gypsy grandmother fought with him until her death. Moreover, she died from the fact that she could not feed herself due to general paralysis - and her partner could not or did not feed her - that is, she died of hunger. And this is behind the wall from me. At the age of 14, my mother got a part-time job as a security guard at a library, and I began to help her, constantly working after school as a security guard and cloakroom attendant. He graduated from a regular school, and in high school he demonstrated a high level of intelligence - he was involved in an intellectual games club and even played for several years in a professional team of experts. Since it was better not to be at home, I spent a lot of time in libraries and read a lot. After school, I changed several places of study - among them was a pedagogical university. Future officials in the field of education, heads of educational institutions, teachers of pedagogy and psychology were trained there. It would seem that they should have helped me there. But that was not the case. Under the roof of the State Pedagogical University there is a commercial institute created with the sole purpose of recruiting the children of wealthy parents and getting the maximum benefit from them. I was accepted there for several reasons, and passing the exams with flying colors was not the main one. When my mother worked at a factory and at the same time was listed as a watchman in the library, the general director of this factory, a very influential person in our city, loved her, and given the fact that I didn’t know my father from birth, so for everyone I was the adopted son of this boss. Again, success in the hobby played a role - what? Where? When? They recruited only guys who had proven themselves in social activities. And considering that this institution had just opened, they accepted everyone in a row, the guys were enrolled on the budget at first with generally bad marks on the exam. Of course, this freedom is explained by the bait or the first set, when you need to gain the full course. The following recruitments, of course, took place among excellent students, medalists and a variety of talents. I have never been a collectivist, neither at school, nor in the club, nor in the institutes. There are still some oddities in memory and attention. But then few people were interested in this. I hoped that my psychological problems would be solved there, and I was wrong. When the first wave of student romance faded away, the true face of those around them was revealed. The administration, under any pretext, extorted bribes, which, however, not everyone paid on our course. Those who couldn't - including me - never shined academically or socially. Sometimes holidays and receptions were held. But I was worried about something else. Neither the students nor the teachers respected me. Now I am 33 years old and I feel like a complete maniac. To be continued.

Hello! Help is greatly needed! My son has developed very well physically and mentally since birth. This was the case until about 4-5 years old. Then dad (apparently out of jealousy) joined in his learning and then it began... At first the child almost completely forgot many letters (he knew almost all the letters, because we played with the letters in our own way and he really liked this game, but had not read it yet , because they didn’t set such goals) and began to remember them with difficulty and confuse them - this is the result of dad’s teaching the child to read. Following this, thinking and logic gradually slowed down. This is only what concerns the field of education. It would take a very long time to talk about other psycho-emotional problems.

Now he is 8.5 years old. From one of the best, he has turned, perhaps, into the worst student in the class, he cannot remember and understand elementary things, and if he understands, he can rarely apply his knowledge in independent and practical work. He can make mistakes on the same task an infinite number of times, performing it as if it were new each time. Shows almost no cognitive activity, does not try, and sometimes resists learning something new, practicing some skills. Such a desire can only be a flash, it comes to the point.

I suspect he has a mental retardation, which manifested itself against the backdrop of emotional pressure from his father, who comes out with anger for any mistake the child makes, yells and insults him in every possible way.

I contacted a school psychologist in the hope that he could help us correct the shortcoming that had arisen and would help our dad learn to behave differently, and not as despotic as he does, and would show the father that the problems that had arisen were not the child’s shortcoming, not his laziness and reluctance, but a consequence of incorrect and excessively rough treatment of the child.
Often thoughts arise about taking the children and leaving. But children need a father. Moreover, he is a very good father when he does not experience fits of anger. Children love him, he can reason well and competently, and organizes children’s leisure time well. When I went to see the school psychologist, I made a very good impression on the latter. Maybe that’s why the teacher didn’t see the problems? But there is a problem, and it is getting worse.
I'm desperate and don't know what to do. Yesterday my son said several times that he would hang himself if his dad started screaming like that again.
I see that he is trying very hard to understand and, when doing school exercises, he is sure that he is doing everything correctly and as it should. But it turns out that no: he will forget to indent the required number of lines (this is symthematic) between lessons, although in the second grade this should not happen, or at least not be of a systematic nature. The same goes for such basic things as putting periods at the end of sentences, underlining with a pencil and ruler, completing tasks based on a model, etc. Problems with the account. When copying, he makes a lot of mistakes. At home we write dictations with him with vocabulary words - not a single mistake, or 1 in a fairly large volume of words for his age (10-20 words); at school - a mistake upon a mistake, and in the same words. If earlier the teachers said that he could be an excellent student, only he lacked accuracy, now they don’t know how to improve him to a C grade. This is not for all subjects, but only where clear and quick thinking, logic, and attention are required.

I write a lot about school, not because I care so much about his grades and want to make him an excellent student, but because these are the most obvious examples that simply and best demonstrate the problems and shortcomings that we faced. These are: low level of attention, memorization, possibly concentration and switching. He needs everyone to tell him what to do, he himself rarely takes the initiative, he is very slow. Sometimes there are glimpses, but only as short-term insights. Sometimes my son begins to give the impression of being mentally retarded. The teachers who worked with him in kindergarten (before the preparatory group) do not believe that he can study poorly and poorly master the program. But this is a fact that greatly worries me, because I associate it precisely with mental development, or rather with the factors that influenced it: the despotic, cruel treatment of the father, excessive demands on his part, his desire to quickly make the child an adult, and so on.
My husband doesn't listen to me well. So I was hoping for a school psychologist. Maybe his professional responsibilities do not include this kind of work? Then please tell me where to go? And do I see correctly that the child has mental retardation?

• Hello, my situation is very similar to yours. I read it as if it were about my child. Please write to me, I really want to know what you did and whether any changes occurred.
  Olya90sherban(dog)gmail.com

Good afternoon, is there a similar diagnosis for adults? I am 30 years old. There are practically no friends, there is no girlfriend and never was. After graduating from school, I talked almost exclusively with my mother. I studied at the university for a long time, periodically expelled and re-entered. As a result, I graduated from university only at the age of 27. After that, I got a job and progress in my communication skills began. Nevertheless, I don’t feel like I’m 30 years old, but rather like a teenager, about 20 years old at most. Still very shy in communication. Could this be due to mental retardation? How critical is this and is there any chance that it will go away (shyness).

Good afternoon Help with advice on where to go. We have a 2-year-old grandson who doesn’t speak and started sitting and walking very late. A very inquisitive and sociable boy, but at 2 years old he does not respond to questions, i.e. for almost everything. For example, it may show a dog, or it may not. Does not respond to names, requests to show something, to do something. The alarm began to sound from the age of 6 months, at first the neurologist at the clinic calmed me down and said that everything was normal. And now they say wait, maybe everything will return to normal. But time is running out! We passed all the doctors in Samara, all the healers in the Samara region and not only. We couldn’t get an appointment only with the osteopathic doctor Eremin. Best regards, Vladimir.

• Good afternoon, Vladimir. We recommend seeking help from a neurologist, psychologist, neuropsychologist, speech pathologist.
  You are doing the right thing by not passively waiting for your baby to speak. It is necessary for the child to study and conduct classes at home to stimulate the development and formation of the coordinated work of various brain structures. For example, by developing fine motor skills of the hands, you can achieve speech activity in a child. The exercises are quite simple: let the baby knead plasticine, dough, clay; press the rubber bulb, receiving a stream of air; crumple paper or tear it; sort small items; pour bulk materials; lower small objects into a vessel with a narrow neck; play with the designer (so that the principle of connecting parts is different); collect puzzles, play mosaics, string beads on a cord, unfasten and fasten Velcro, snaps, buttons, hooks, zippers, etc.

Hello! Thank you very much for the article! We want to take a 6-year-old girl from the shelter into care. Psychologists there say that she has delayed emotional development, that is, now she is like she was 4 years old. Is it possible to help her and develop and improve her situation over time, provided she lives in a family?
Sincerely,
Svetlana

• Hello, Svetlana.
  Delayed emotional development is somatogenic infantilism, caused by a number of neurotic layers - fearfulness, uncertainty, tearfulness, lack of independence, etc.
  Health-improving and correctional work with such a child includes the following areas:
  — therapeutic and recreational activities, including drug treatment;
  - strict alternation of rest and study, an extra day of rest from classes; During classes, give the child a rest, changing types of activities;

  Good evening, Nergui. Just because your granddaughter does not speak does not mean that she has autism.
  Typically, speech in an autistic child appears quite early, and then fades away later.
  Try to communicate more emotionally with the girl, read children's books, look at pictures together, play with her, give her the opportunity to sculpt from plasticine, sand, clay, and paint. This will allow her to develop fine motor skills, which is directly related to the development of speech function and she will definitely speak.

Mental retardation in children (the disease is often referred to as mental retardation) is a slow pace of improvement of certain mental functions: thinking, emotional-volitional sphere, attention, memory, which lags behind generally accepted norms for a particular age.

The disease is diagnosed in the preschool or primary school period. It is most often discovered during pre-entry testing before school entry. It is expressed in limited ideas, lack of knowledge, inability for intellectual activity, the predominance of gaming, purely childish interests, and immaturity of thinking. In each individual case, the causes of the disease are different.

In medicine, various causes of mental retardation in children are identified:

1. Biological:

• pregnancy pathologies: severe toxicosis, intoxication, infections, injuries;
• prematurity;
• asphyxia during childbirth;
• infectious, toxic, traumatic diseases at an early age;
• genetic predisposition;
• trauma during childbirth;
• lagging behind peers in physical development;
• somatic diseases (disturbances in the functioning of various organs);
• damage to certain areas of the central nervous system.

2. Social:

• restriction of life activity for a long time;
• mental trauma;
• unfavorable living conditions;
• pedagogical neglect.

Depending on the factors that ultimately led to mental retardation, several types of the disease are distinguished, on the basis of which a number of classifications have been compiled.

Types of mental retardation

In medicine, there are several classifications (domestic and foreign) of mental retardation in children. The most famous are M. S. Pevzner and T. A. Vlasova, K. S. Lebedinskaya, P. P. Kovalev. Most often in modern Russian psychology they use the classification of K. S. Lebedinskaya.

1. Constitutional ZPR determined by heredity.
2. Somatogenic ZPR acquired as a result of a previous disease that affected the child’s brain functions: allergies, chronic infections, dystrophy, dysentery, persistent asthenia, etc.
3. Psychogenic mental retardation determined by socio-psychological factors: such children are brought up in unfavorable conditions: monotonous environment, narrow circle of friends, lack of maternal love, poverty of emotional relationships, deprivation.
4. Cerebral-organic mental retardation observed in the case of serious, pathological abnormalities in brain development and is most often determined by complications during pregnancy (toxicosis, viral diseases, asphyxia, parental alcoholism or drug addiction, infections, birth injuries, etc.).

Each of the types according to this classification differs not only in the causes of the disease, but also in symptoms and course of treatment.

Symptoms of mental retardation

A diagnosis of mental retardation can be made with confidence only at the threshold of school, when obvious difficulties arise in preparing for the educational process. However, with careful monitoring of the child, symptoms of the disease can be noticed earlier. These may include:

• skills and abilities lagging behind peers: the child cannot perform the simplest actions characteristic of his age (putting on shoes, dressing, personal hygiene skills, eating independently);
• unsociability and excessive isolation: if he avoids other children and does not participate in common games, this should alert adults;
• indecision;
• aggressiveness;
• anxiety;
• During infancy, such children begin to hold their heads later, take their first steps, and speak.

When mental development is delayed in children, manifestations of mental retardation and signs of impairment in the emotional-volitional sphere, which is very important for the child, are equally possible. Often there is a combination of them. There are cases when a child with mental retardation is practically no different from the same age, but most often the retardation is quite noticeable. The final diagnosis is made by a pediatric neurologist during a targeted or preventive examination.

Differences from mental retardation

If by the end of junior (4th grade) school age signs of mental retardation remain, doctors begin to talk about either mental retardation (MR) or constitutional infantilism. These diseases are different:

• with mental and intellectual underdevelopment, mental and intellectual underdevelopment is irreversible; with mental retardation, everything can be corrected with the proper approach;
• children with mental retardation differ from mentally retarded children in their ability to use the help that is provided to them and independently transfer it to new tasks;
• a child with mental retardation tries to understand what he read, whereas with LD there is no such desire.

There is no need to give up when making a diagnosis. Modern psychology and pedagogy can offer comprehensive assistance to such children and their parents.

Treatment of mental retardation in children

Practice shows that children with mental retardation may well become students in a regular general education school, rather than in a special correctional school. Adults (teachers and parents) must understand that the difficulties of teaching such children at the very beginning of their school life are not at all the result of their laziness or negligence: they have objective, quite serious reasons that must be jointly and successfully overcome. Such children should be provided with comprehensive assistance from parents, psychologists, and teachers.

It includes:

• individual approach to each child;
• classes with a psychologist and teacher of the deaf (who deals with children’s learning problems);
• in some cases - drug therapy.

Many parents find it difficult to accept the fact that their child, due to his or her developmental characteristics, will learn slower than other children. But this needs to be done to help the little schoolchild. Parental care, attention, patience, coupled with qualified assistance from specialists (speech pathologist, psychotherapist) will help provide him with targeted upbringing and create favorable conditions for learning.

Mental health disorder: diagnosis or life sentence?

Abbreviation ZPR! Some parents are familiar with it. This stands for mental retardation - mental retardation. Unfortunately, we can sadly state that nowadays children with this diagnosis are becoming more common. In this regard, the problem of ZPR is becoming increasingly relevant, as it has a large number of different prerequisites, as well as causes and consequences. Any deviation in mental development is very individual, which requires especially careful attention and study.

The popularity of the diagnosis of mental retardation has increased so much among doctors that it is often easily made based on a minimum of information about the condition of children. In this case, for the parents and the child, the ZPR sounds like a death sentence.

This disease is intermediate in nature between serious pathological deviations in mental development and the norm. This does not include children with speech and hearing impairments, as well as severe disabilities, such as mental retardation and Down syndrome. We are mainly talking about children with learning problems and social adaptation in a team.

This is explained by inhibition of mental development. Moreover, in each individual child, mental retardation manifests itself differently and differs in degree, time and characteristics of manifestation. However, it is possible to note and highlight a number of common characteristics inherent specifically in children with mental retardation.

Insufficient emotional-volitional maturity is the main symptom of mental retardation, which makes it clear that it is difficult for a child to perform actions that require certain volitional efforts on his part. This occurs due to instability of attention, increased distractibility, which does not allow you to concentrate on one thing. If all these signs are accompanied by excessive motor and speech activity, then this may indicate a disorder that has been talked about a lot lately - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The construction of a holistic image in a child with mental retardation is hampered precisely by problems in perception, even if we are talking about familiar objects, but in a different interpretation. Limited knowledge about the world around us also plays a role here. Accordingly, children’s spatial orientation and speed of perception will have low scores.

Children with mental retardation have a general pattern regarding memory: they perceive and remember visual material much easier than verbal (speech) material. Also, observations show that after the use of special technologies that develop memory and attention, the performance of children with mental retardation even increased compared to the results of children without disabilities.

Also, in children, mental retardation is often accompanied by problems related to speech and its development. This depends on the severity of the disease: in mild cases there is a temporary delay in speech development. In more complex forms, there is a violation of the lexical side of speech, as well as the grammatical structure.

Children with this kind of problem are characterized by a lag in the formation and development of thinking. This becomes especially noticeable when the child reaches the school period, during which his lack of mental activity necessary to perform intellectual operations, including: analysis and synthesis, comparisons and generalization, abstract thinking, is revealed.

Children with mental retardation require special treatment. However, all of the above deviations of the child are not an obstacle to his education, as well as the mastery of school curriculum material. In this case, it is necessary to adjust the school course in accordance with the individual developmental characteristics of the child.

ZPR: who are these children?

There is very contradictory information about the membership of children in the group with such a deviation as mental retardation. Conventionally, they can be divided into two.

The first group includes children whose mental retardation is caused by socio-pedagogical factors.. This includes children from disadvantaged families, with unfavorable living conditions, as well as from families in which parents have a very low intellectual level, which results in a lack of communication and broadening the children’s horizons. Otherwise, such children are called pedagogically neglected (unadapted, having learning difficulties). This concept came to us from Western psychology and has become widespread. Hereditary factors also play a role in mental retardation. Due to the antisocial behavior of parents, children with mental retardation are increasingly appearing. Thus, there is a gradual degeneration of the gene pool, which needs health measures.

The second group consists of children whose mental development delay is associated with organic brain damage, which can occur during pregnancy or childbirth (for example, birth trauma).

The right decision would be to take into account all the factors influencing the child’s mental retardation, which makes it possible to provide comprehensive assistance.

Mental retardation can be provoked by: unfavorable pregnancy, pathologies that arise in the newborn during childbirth, and social factors.

1. Unfavorable pregnancy:

Diseases of the mother at various stages of pregnancy (herpes, rubella, mumps, influenza, etc.)

Chronic diseases of the mother (diabetes mellitus, heart disease, thyroid problems, etc.)

Bad habits of the mother leading to intoxication (use of alcohol, drugs, nicotine, etc. during pregnancy)

Toxicosis, and at different stages of pregnancy

Toxoplasmosis

Use for the treatment of hormonal or side-effect medications

Incompatibility of the Rh factor of the blood of the fetus and mother

2. Pathologies that occur in newborns during childbirth:

Birth trauma of the newborn (for example, pinched nerves of the cervical vertebrae)

Mechanical injuries that occur during obstetrics (application of forceps, dishonest attitude of medical workers towards the process of labor)

Asphyxia of the newborn (may be a consequence of the umbilical cord entwining the neck)

3. Social factors:

Dysfunctional family

Pedagogical neglect

Limited emotional contact at different stages of development

Low intellectual level of family members surrounding the child

Mental retardation (MDD), types

Mental retardation is divided into four types, each of which is characterized by certain causes and characteristics of cognitive impairment.

1. Mental retardation of constitutional origin, presupposes hereditary infantilism (infantilism is a developmental delay). In this case, the emotional-volitional sphere of children resembles the normal development of the emotional state of younger children. Consequently, such children are characterized by a predominance of play activities over educational activities, unstable emotionality, and childish spontaneity. Children with this genesis are often not independent, highly dependent on their parents, and have an extremely difficult time adapting to new conditions (kindergarten, school staff). Outwardly, the child’s behavior is no different from other children, except that the child seems smaller in age than his peers. Even by the time they reach school, such children have not yet reached emotional-volitional maturity. All this together causes difficulties in learning and developing the child’s skills and abilities.

2. ZPR is of somatogenic origin and assumes the presence or consequences of infectious, somatic or chronic diseases of both mother and child. Somatogenic infantilism may also appear, which manifests itself in capriciousness, timidity, and a feeling of one’s own inferiority.

This type includes children who are often ill and have a weakened immune system, since mental development may be delayed as a result of various long-term illnesses. ZPR can cause diseases such as congenital heart disease, chronic infections, allergies of various etiologies, and systematic colds. A weakened body and increased fatigue lead to decreased attention and cognitive activity and, as a result, delayed mental development.

3. Mental retardation of psychogenic origin, which is caused by unfavorable conditions for upbringing. This includes children whose mental development is delayed due to socio-pedagogical reasons. These may be educationally neglected children who are not given due attention from their parents. Also, such children are not systematically controlled, that is, such children are neglected. If the family is socially dangerous, then the child simply does not have the opportunity to fully develop and has a very limited understanding of the world around him. Parents from such families often contribute to delayed mental development, having an extremely low intellectual level. The child’s situation is aggravated by frequent situations that traumatize his psyche (aggression and violence), as a result of which he becomes unbalanced or, on the contrary, indecisive, fearful, overly shy, and dependent. He may also not have a basic understanding of the rules of behavior in society.

In contrast to lack of control over a child, mental retardation can also be caused by overprotection, which is characterized as excessively increased attention of parents to the upbringing of the child. Worried about the safety and health of the baby, parents actually completely deprive him of his independence, making the most convenient decisions for him. All real or imaginary obstacles that arise are eliminated by those around the child, the household, without giving him a choice to make even the simplest decision.

This also leads to a limited perception of the surrounding world with all its manifestations, therefore, the child can become lack of initiative, selfish, and incapable of long-term volitional efforts. All this can cause problems with the child’s adaptation to the team and difficulties in perceiving the material. Overprotection is typical for families in which a sick child grows up, experiencing pity on the part of his parents, who protect him from various negative situations.

4. ZPR of cerebral-organic origin. This type, compared to other types, is more common and has less chance of a favorable outcome.

The cause of such a serious disorder can be problems during pregnancy or childbirth: birth trauma of the child, toxicosis, asphyxia, various types of infections, prematurity. Children of the cerebral-organic type of mental retardation may be excessively active and noisy, unable to control their behavior. They are characterized by unstable behavior with others, which manifests itself in the desire to participate in all activities without observing basic rules of behavior. This leads to inevitable conflicts with children. However, it should be noted that in such children the feelings of resentment and remorse are short-lived.

In other cases, children with this type of mental retardation, on the contrary, are slow, inactive, have difficulty entering into relationships with other children, are indecisive, and not independent. For them, adaptation to a team is a big problem. They avoid participating in common games, miss their parents, any comments, as well as low results in any activity bring them to tears.

One of the reasons for the manifestation of mental retardation is MMD - minimal brain dysfunction, which manifests itself as a whole complex of various developmental disorders of the child. Children with this manifestation have a reduced level of emotionality, are not interested in self-esteem and evaluation by others, and do not have sufficient imagination.

Risk factors for minimal brain activity:

First birth, especially with complications

Late reproductive age of mother

Body weight indicators of the expectant mother that are outside the normal range

Pathologies of previous births

Chronic diseases of the expectant mother (in particular diabetes), blood incompatibility according to the Rh factor, various infectious diseases during pregnancy, premature birth.

Unwanted pregnancy, stress, excessive systematic fatigue of the expectant mother.

Pathologies of childbirth (use of special instruments, caesarean section)

Diagnosis of mental retardation and its prevention

Usually, these ominous three letters appear in the child’s medical record as a diagnosis at about 5-6 years of age, when the time comes to prepare for school and the time comes to acquire special skills and abilities. This is when the first difficulties in learning appear: perceiving and comprehending the material.

Many problems can be avoided if the diagnosis of mental retardation is carried out in a timely manner, which has its own difficulties. It is based on the analysis and comparative characteristics of the age norms of children's peers. In this case, with the help of a specialist and teacher using correctional techniques, this disease can be partially or even completely overcome.

Thus, future young parents can be given the most common recommendations, the universality of which has been tested by experience and time: creating favorable conditions for bearing a child, while avoiding diseases and stress, as well as attentive attention to the development of the child from the first days of birth (especially if there were problems during labor).

In any case, even if there are no prerequisites, the newborn must be shown to a neurologist. This usually occurs at one month of age. Only a specialist will be able to assess the child’s developmental state by checking whether he has the necessary reflexes for his age. This will make it possible to recognize mental retardation in time and adjust the child’s treatment.

If necessary, the neurologist will prescribe neurosonography (ultrasound), which will help identify abnormalities in brain development.

Now in the media, in various parenting magazines, as well as on the Internet, there is a large amount of information about the age characteristics of children, starting from birth. Indicators of weight and height, skills and abilities corresponding to a given period of time will allow parents to assess the psychological and physical state of the child and independently identify some deviations from the norm. If anything raises doubts, it is better to immediately contact a specialist.

If the doctor you have chosen and the treatment methods and medications prescribed by him do not inspire confidence, then you should contact another specialist who will help dispel your doubts. In any case, it is important to obtain as much information as possible in order to have a complete picture of the child’s problem. It is necessary to consult with a specialist about the action of a particular drug, its side effects, effectiveness, duration of use, as well as its analogues. Often, behind “unknown” names are hidden fairly harmless medications that improve brain activity.

For a child to fully develop, he needs more than just a specialist. The baby can receive much more tangible and effective help from his own parents and household members.

At the initial stage, a newborn child learns about the world through tactile sensations, so it is physical and emotional contact that involves the mother’s touch, kisses, and stroking that is important for him. Only the mother's care can enable the child to adequately perceive the unknown world around him, helping him orient himself in space, while feeling calm and protected. It is precisely such easy-to-follow recommendations as full communication with the baby, tactile and emotional contacts that can give the most effective results, having a colossal impact on the child’s development.

Also, the child must have visual contact with the people caring for him. This method of conveying feelings is well known even to newborns who are not yet aware of other means of communication. An affectionate and kind look relieves the baby’s anxiety, having a calming effect on him. The child constantly needs confirmation of his security in this unfamiliar world. Therefore, all the mother’s attention should be directed to communicating with her baby, which will give him confidence. A lack of maternal affection in childhood will certainly affect itself later in the form of psychological manifestations of various kinds.

Children with mental retardation require increased attention, increased care, affectionate treatment, and mother’s warm hands. Children with mental retardation need all this a thousand times more than their healthy peers.

Often parents, hearing the diagnosis of “mental retardation” (MDD) addressed to their child, become very frightened and upset. In principle, there is indeed a reason for disappointment, but, as people say, “the wolf is not as terrible as they paint it.” Mental retardation is by no means mental retardation. With due attention can be identified already in the early stages of a baby’s life, and therefore make the necessary efforts to help him develop in the right direction.

Until quite recently, doctors with unjustified ease diagnosed small children with mental retardation, just by observing some norms of mental development that were not age-appropriate. Often they even persuaded parents to wait, reassuring them that the child would “outgrow it.” In fact, such a child really, really needs the help of his parents: only they, first of all, will be able to turn the situation around and correct And . After all, each deviation in mental development is very conditional and individual, and can have many causes and consequences. Neurologists and psychologists will help parents analyze what caused mental retardation and eliminate it.

So what is mental retardation? This is a mild deviation in mental development, located somewhere in the middle between normality and pathology. As we have already said, there is no reason to equate such deviations with mental retardation - with timely and taking the necessary measures, the ZPR is corrected and eliminated. Delayed mental development is explained by slow maturation and formation of the psyche. It can manifest itself differently in each individual child, differing both in time and in the degree of manifestation.

Modern medicine claims: mental retardation can develop due to either biological or social factors.

Biological include an unfavorable course of pregnancy, for example, constant illnesses of pregnant women; addiction to alcohol or drugs during pregnancy; pathological childbirth (caesarean section, forceps delivery); incompatibility of the blood of mother and baby according to the Rh factor. You can also add to this group the presence of mental or neurological diseases in relatives, or infectious diseases suffered by the baby in early childhood.

Social factors that can provoke mental retardation are overprotection or, conversely, refusal ; lack of physical contact with the mother; aggressive attitude of adults towards the baby and in the family in general; psychological trauma as a result of improper upbringing of a child.

But in order to select the most appropriate correction methods for mental retardation, just identifying the cause that caused the disorders is not enough. A clinical and psychological diagnosis is required, which will subsequently determine the ways and methods of correctional work.

Today, experts divide mental retardation into 4 types. Each of them has its own characteristics of emotional immaturity.

The first type is ZPR of constitutional origin. This is the so-called psychological infantilism, in which the emotional-volitional sphere of the child is, as it were, at an earlier stage of development. Such children are often not independent, they are characterized by helplessness, an increased background of emotions, which can suddenly change to the opposite. It is difficult for such children to make independent decisions; they are indecisive and dependent on their mother. This type of mental retardation is difficult to diagnose; a child with it can behave cheerfully and spontaneously, but when compared with peers, it becomes clear that he behaves younger than his age.

The second type includes children with mental retardation of somatogenic origin. Their mental retardation is caused by regular chronic or infectious diseases. As a result of constant illnesses, against the background of general fatigue, the development of the psyche also suffers and does not develop fully. Also, somatogenic type mental retardation in a child can be caused by parental overprotection. Increased parental attention does not allow the baby to develop independently; excessive care prevents the child from learning about the world around him. And this leads to ignorance, inability, and lack of independence.

The third type of mental retardation is a type of psychogenic (or neurogenic) origin. This type of mental retardation is caused by social factors. If a child is not cared for and no attention is paid to him, there are frequent manifestations of aggression in the family, both towards the baby and other family members, and the child’s psyche immediately reacts to this. The baby becomes indecisive, constrained, and fearful. All these manifestations are phenomena of hypocustody: insufficient attention to the child. As a result, the baby has no idea of ​​morality and morality, does not know how to control his behavior and take responsibility for his actions.

The fourth type - mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin - is more common than others. Unfortunately, the prognosis for its action is the least favorable. This is due to the fact that this type of mental retardation is caused by organic disorders of the nervous system. And they are expressed in brain dysfunction of varying degrees. The causes of this type of cerebral retardation can be prematurity, birth trauma, various pregnancy pathologies, and neuroinfections. Such children are characterized by weak expression of emotions and poor imagination.

The most important and effective way to prevent mental retardation will be prevention and timely diagnosis. The diagnosis, unfortunately, is often made only by the age of 5-6 - when the child already needs to go to school: this is where learning problems emerge. Diagnosing mental retardation in early childhood is indeed problematic, and therefore careful monitoring of the child’s development is necessary. In addition to the fact that the newborn should be shown to a neurologist in order to avoid undesirable consequences, it would be a good idea for parents to personally study all the norms of the baby’s behavior that are inherent at each next stage of development. The main thing is to give the child due attention, engage with him, talk and maintain constant contact. One of the most important types of contact will be bodily-emotional and visual. Skin-to-skin contact involves the caresses the baby needs, stroking the head, rocking in the arms. Eye contact is no less important: it reduces the baby’s anxiety, calms him down and gives him a sense of security.

Psychological support for families raising a child with disabilities: child-parent game “School of Understanding”

An important link in psychological assistance to children with developmental problems is psychological support. Psychological support should be provided in two main directions: support for children with developmental disabilities and support for parents raising children with disabilities.

We consider psychological support for parents as a system of measures aimed at:

reduction of emotional discomfort due to the child’s illness;

strengthening parents' confidence in the child's capabilities;

formation of an adequate attitude towards the child in parents;

establishing adequate parent-child relationships and family education styles.

The process of implementing psychological support for parents is lengthy and requires the mandatory comprehensive participation of all specialists observing the child (speech pathologist, doctor, social worker, etc.), however, the main role in this process belongs to the psychologist, since he develops specific activities aimed at psychological support parents. It is advisable to work with parents raising a child with disabilities in two directions :

1. Informing parents about the psychological characteristics of the child, the psychology of education and the psychology of family relationships.

After the diagnostic measures have been completed, the psychologist acquaints parents with the results of the examinations during individual consultations and conversations. Conducting thematic parent meetings and group consultations help expand parents' knowledge about the psychological characteristics of children with developmental disabilities and typical age-related patterns in personality development. Having summarized the results of diagnostic work, as well as based on parents’ requests, the psychologist forms parent groups. The selection of families is carried out taking into account the similarity of problems and requests. Work with parent groups is carried out in the form of parent seminars, which include lectures and group discussions. Group discussions help increase parents' motivation to work together and become more involved in solving the problems being discussed. This form of work allows parents to realize that they are not alone, that other families are experiencing similar difficulties. In the process of discussions, parents increase confidence in their parenting capabilities, they share experiences, get acquainted with psychological and pedagogical techniques, games, and activities suitable for home use. The information is offered in advisory form. Such a democratic style of communication between a psychologist and parents makes it possible to more effectively build business cooperation in the upbringing and development of a child.

2. Training in effective ways to communicate with a child is carried out through child-parent games, trainings, and joint correctional classes with children.

Stimulation of optimal relationships between children and their parents is achieved successfully in family and child-parent groups consisting of several families. The group form of work promotes a constructive rethinking of personal problems, forms both the emotional experience of problems and conflicts at a higher level, as well as new, more adequate emotional reactions, and develops a number of social skills, especially in the field of interpersonal communication.

For these purposes, parent-child games are used, the tasks and content of which are limited to the topic in demand.

The structure of group classes consists of four stages: installation, preparatory, proper correction, consolidation.

First installation stage includes the main goal - the formation of a positive attitude of the child and his parents to the lesson.

The main tasks are:

formation of a positive emotional mood for the lesson;

formation of emotional and trusting contact between the psychologist and group members.

The main psychotechnical techniques at this stage: spontaneous games aimed at developing a positive emotional background, games for non-verbal and verbal communications. The entertaining form of classes helps bring the group closer together and creates a positive emotional attitude towards the lesson.

Main goal preparatory stage is the structuring of the group, the formation of activity and independence of its members.

Tasks of this stage:

reducing emotional stress among group members;

activating parents to engage in independent psychological work with the child;

increasing parents' belief in the possibility of achieving positive results.

This is achieved with the help of special role-playing games, dramatization games aimed at relieving emotional stress, and non-verbal interaction techniques. Such games are unique simulation models of problematic situations of interpersonal communication.

Main goal proper correctional stage is the formation of new techniques and ways of interaction between parents and children, correction of inadequate emotional and behavioral reactions.

Specific tasks:

change in parental attitudes and attitudes;

expanding the scope of social interaction between parents and child;

formation in parents of an adequate attitude towards the child and his problems;

learning to independently find the necessary forms of emotional response.

Role-playing games, discussions, psychodramas, analysis of life situations, actions, actions of children and parents, joint activities, and special exercises to develop communication skills are used. During this stage, parents focus on the child’s strengths, help him believe in himself and his abilities, support the child in case of failures, parents learn to analyze mistakes and find alternative ways to respond to problem situations.

Purpose fixing stage is the formation of an adequate attitude to problems, consolidation of acquired knowledge and skills, reflection.

Stage objectives:

formation of a stable attitude of parents towards the child and his problems.

Psychotechnical techniques of the consolidating stage are role-playing games, sketch-conversations, and joint activities. These games help to overcome inappropriate forms of behavior, repress negative experiences, change the ways of emotional response, and understand the motives for raising children with disabilities.

Child-parent game "School of Understanding"

The game is conducted with the aim of teaching parents effective ways to communicate with a child with developmental disabilities. The child-parent game is the final stage in group work with parents after consultation events, which were informative and educational in nature, on the topic “The role of the family in personality development and the formation of interpersonal relationships in children with mental retardation.”

Description of the group: parents and children of primary school age with mental retardation.

Conditions: Group size from 10 to 12 people. It is necessary to provide all participants with handouts. It is advisable that the lesson be conducted by two trainers. You need free space for outdoor games and exercises, a small ball, and a music center. It is advisable to use a bell to indicate the beginning and end of a task.

Progress of the lesson.

1. Installation stage.

Goal: to develop a positive attitude for parents raising children with mental retardation to work together.

Tasks:

determining the goals of the group’s work and requests for the content of the lesson;

formation of the group as a whole;

creating a positive attitude for parents and children with mental retardation towards the lesson;

formation of emotional and trusting contact between the psychologist and the participants.

1) Exercise "Greetings"

Each group member (in a circle) gets up, says hello, says his name and says some phrase addressed to everyone else: “Good afternoon,” “I wish everyone to learn a lot of new and interesting things,” etc. Instead of a phrase, the participant can use any greeting gesture.

2) Game "Let's say hello"

To the accompaniment of cheerful music, adults and children move chaotically around the room at a pace and direction that is convenient for them. At a certain signal from the leader (for example, the ringing of a bell), everyone stops. The participants who find themselves nearby greet each other, ask questions, say something pleasant, this could be a compliment, a wish, or any phrase said in a friendly tone, for example, “I’m so glad to see you today!” Instead of a phrase, the participant can use any greeting gesture.

2. Preparatory stage.

Goal: structuring the group, developing the activity and independence of parents and children with mental retardation

Tasks:

creating an atmosphere of goodwill and trust;

rallying a group of adults and children, creating interest in joint activities;

reducing emotional and physical stress of group members;

increasing the confidence of parents raising children with mental retardation in the possibility of achieving positive results.

1) Game "Find your petal"

Instructions: “Flowers with seven petals grew in the clearing: red, yellow, orange, blue, indigo, violet, green (the number of flowers should correspond to the number of family teams). A strong wind blew and the petals scattered in different directions. We need to find and collect the petals of the flower -seven-colored."

Each group collects its own flower, so that the flower is made from all seven flowers, one petal at a time. Petals are located on the floor, on tables, under chairs, and in other places in the room. The team that finds the petals the fastest wins.

2) Exercise "Tongue Twisters"

Each team receives a card with a tongue twister and quickly pronounces it in chorus. Tongue twisters should be selected in accordance with the characteristics of the speech development of children with mental retardation. The exercise is useful because parents help children pronounce phrases that are difficult for them. For example:

All beavers are kind to their own beavers

Little Sanya's sled moves on its own

Not everyone is smart who is richly dressed

The woodpecker was hammering the tree and waking up his grandfather

The crane Zhura lived on the roof of Shura

The road to the city is uphill, from the city - down the mountain

3) Game "New Fairy Tale"

All participants play. Each player is given pictures face down, with any plot content. The first participant takes a picture and immediately, without preliminary preparation, composes a story, a fairy tale, a detective story (the genre is specified in advance), where the action unfolds with the participation of the main character - the person, object, animal depicted in the picture. Subsequent players in the circle continue to develop the storyline, weaving information related to the images in their pictures into the narrative.

3. The actual correction stage.

Goal: developing new techniques and ways of interaction between parents and children with mental retardation, correction of inappropriate emotional and behavioral reactions.

Tasks:

updating family experiences, changing parental attitudes and positions;

expanding the scope of social interaction between parents and children with mental retardation;

formation in parents of an adequate attitude towards a child with mental retardation and his problems;

learning to independently find the necessary forms of emotional response, developing verbal forms of expressing emotions, developing a sense of empathy and trust;

formation of positive images of communication in the family, resolution of conflict situations.

1) Fairy tale game "Sparrow Family"

Instructions: “Once upon a time there lived a family of sparrows in the forest: mother, father, son. Mom flew away to catch midges and feed the family. Dad strengthened the house with twigs and insulated it with moss. The son studied at a forest school, and in his free time he helped his father, and always boasted about it He tried to prove to everyone that he was the most dexterous and strong. And with those who did not agree, he quarreled and even fought. One day, mom and dad flew into the nest, and the sparrow son was sitting disheveled, because ... "

Each team receives cards with tasks:

The son got into a fight with a friend;

The child is afraid to answer at the blackboard during lessons;

The son demands to buy him a computer game;

The child does not want to go to school;

The teacher made a remark that he was constantly distracted in class and violated discipline;

My son doesn't want to do his homework.

Participants are invited to discuss the situation, dividing roles among themselves.

2) Exercise "Emotions".

Each team (parents and child) is given small cards with images of blank faces. Life situations are asked (lessons at school, doing homework, going for a walk, communicating with parents). The child needs to draw the state in which he is during these situations. Parents should discuss with their children why they are experiencing these emotions.

3) Game "Chips on the River"

Adults stand in two long rows, one opposite the other. The distance between the rows should be greater than the elongated river. Children are encouraged to become "chips".

Instructions: “These are the banks of the river. Chips will now float down the river. One of those who wish must “swim” along the river. He will decide for himself how he will move: fast or slow. The banks help with their hands, gentle touches, and the movement of Sliver, which chooses its own path: it can swim straight, it can spin, it can stop and turn back. When Sliver swims all the way, it becomes the edge of the shore and stands next to the others. At this time, the next Sliver begins its journey..."

4) Conversation on the topic "Family leisure"

Each team is given the task of making a list of five options for how to spend a day off with your child. This task takes into account the opinions and wishes of all participants. Then each team demonstrates the result of their work. Repeated variants of other commands are added to the general list. From this exercise, everyone can discover different ways to spend family time.

4. Fixing stage.

Goal: formation of an adequate attitude to problems, consolidation of acquired knowledge and skills, reflection.

Tasks:

consolidation of acquired emotional response skills;

formation of a stable attitude of parents towards a child with mental retardation and his problems;

updating positive experience of communication with a child;

assess the effectiveness and relevance of the work being carried out.

1) Game "Flower - seven-colored"

Each family team works with its own flower - seven flowers. The participants in the game conceive seven wishes: three wishes are conceived by the child for the parents, three by the adult for the child, one wish will be joint (the wish of the child and the parent). Then the parent and child exchange petals and discuss wish petals. It is necessary to pay attention to those desires, the fulfillment of which coincides with real possibilities.

2) Sketch-conversation “The most fun day (happy, memorable, etc.) with my child.”

All participants stand in a circle (parents and children together), and each parent talks about the most fun, happiest day with their child.

3) End the game.

Participants pass the ball around in a circle and answer the questions:

why this meeting was useful for you (adults), what you liked (adults and children);

what you could apply to your child (adults);

Your wishes.

We recommend that feedback be provided through a survey, in which parents reflect their opinion on how useful the game was for them and how well it met their expectations, as well as their wishes. At the end of the game, the psychologist distributes recommendations prepared in advance regarding the forms and methods of communication with children (“Golden rules of upbringing”, “Advice to parents interested in developing adequate self-esteem for children”, “Tips for developing a sense of confidence in children”, etc.), a list of exercises and games that can be used at home, on a walk, among peers.

The specific effects of working in a parent group are increasing their sensitivity to the child, developing a more adequate understanding of the capabilities and needs of children with mental retardation, eliminating psychological and pedagogical illiteracy, and productive reorganization of the arsenal of means of communication with the child. Non-specific effects: parents receive information about the child’s perception of the family and school situation, the dynamics of his behavior in the group.

As a result of the work carried out with parents, positive dynamics were achieved in the formation of interpersonal relationships between parents and children with mental retardation. The fact that the game had an impact on child-parent relationships is indicated by an increase in the number of visits to a psychologist for consultations by one third of the total number of parents. During consultations between a psychologist and family members, communication became more confidential. The attitude of parents towards the problems of their children has also changed; they show greater readiness to solve the difficulties of their children, more often turn to school specialists, they began to support the interests of their children more, respect their aspirations, and accept them for who they are. The position of parents in relation to pressing problems has changed from passive to active; if more often teachers called on parents to pay attention to difficulties, asked them to provide additional help to their son or daughter, now parents themselves take the initiative in solving collective and individual problems. There have also been changes in the attitudes of schoolchildren towards the learning environment, children feel more comfortable at school, the percentage of anxiety has decreased by 17%, the level of emotional and psychological climate has increased by 12%.

Conclusion: psychological support is an important link in the system of psychological assistance to parents of children with disabilities. The main goal of psychological support is to increase the sensitivity of parents to children’s problems, reduce emotional discomfort in parents due to deviations in the child’s development, develop in parents adequate ideas about the potential capabilities of children with disabilities, and optimize their pedagogical potential. The creation of various forms of group interaction between parents and children plays a huge role in the effectiveness of psychological support for parents.

References:

Lyutova K.K., Monina G.B. Training for effective interaction with children. – St. Petersburg: Rech, 2005. – 190 p.

Mamaichuk I.I. Psychological assistance to children with developmental problems. – St. Petersburg: Rech, 2001. – 220 p.

Ovcharova R.V. Practical psychology in elementary school. – M.: Sphere shopping center, 2001. – 240 p.

Panfilova M.A. Game therapy of communication: Tests and correctional games. a practical guide for psychologists, teachers and parents. – M.: “Publishing house GNOM and D”, 2001. – 160 p.

Guide for a practical psychologist: Psychological health of children and adolescents in the context of psychological services / Ed. I.V. Dubrovina. – 2nd ed. – M.: Publishing Center “Academy”, 1997. – 176 p.

Semago M.M., Semago N.Ya. Organization and content of the activities of a special education psychologist: Methodological manual. – M.: ARKTI, 2005. – 336 p.

Panova Irina Gennadievna, educational psychologist ()

Mental retardation of constitutional origin Currently, special attention is paid to the study of the psychology of children with developmental disabilities, since the study of the psychological characteristics of children with mental retardation is closely related to the problem of school failure. The amount of knowledge provided for in the school curriculum is constantly increasing under the influence of scientific and technological progress, while statistics show that the number of children with developmental disorders is quite large, and, unfortunately, there is a tendency to some increase. At the same time, difficulties in teaching children lead to disturbances in their behavior, which complicates the normal functioning of the family, school and society as a whole, therefore knowledge of this problem is important both for teachers of general education and preschool institutions, and for school psychologists, and pedagogical education without This knowledge cannot be considered complete. Research on the problem was carried out by both foreign and domestic psychologists. In domestic psychological practice, the first attempts at special pedagogical work with children suffering from mental retardation were made in the late 50s and early 60s within small experimental groups at the Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR. Later, clinical studies of children with mental retardation were conducted by M.S. Pevzner, 1973; G.E. Sukhareva, 1974; T.A.Vlasova, K.S.Lebedinskaya, 1975; M.G.Reidiboym, Causes of mental retardation 1977. are considered in the works of M.S. Pevzner, T.A. Vlasova, K.S. Lebedinskaya, V.V. Lebedinsky, Z.I. Kalmykova, and V.I. .Lubovsky identifies children with mental retardation

as lagging behind in development, but having significant potential for intellectual development. Mental retardation. Concept. Reasons. Classification Mental retardation is a concept that emerged in Russian psychology in the 60s. XX century based on the study of children experiencing persistent difficulties in learning in a regular (mainstream) school, and those who, having been diagnosed as mentally retarded, after a short period of study in a special (auxiliary) school, began to move forward very successfully and discovered great potential opportunities, with providing them with appropriate pedagogical support and organizational assistance, such children continued their education in a public school. The term “mental retardation” was proposed by defectologists, isolated and designated as another option, different from persistent underdevelopment. When mental development is delayed, we are talking only about a slowdown in its pace, which is more often detected upon entering school and is expressed in the insufficiency of the general stock of knowledge, limited ideas, immaturity of thinking, low intellectual focus, the predominance of gaming interests, and rapid satiation in intellectual activity. Unlike children suffering from mental retardation, these children are quite smart within the limits of their existing knowledge and are much more productive in using help. Moreover, in some cases, a delay in the development of the emotional sphere (various types of infantilism) will come to the fore, and violations in the intellectual sphere will not be clearly expressed. In other cases, on the contrary, a slowdown in the development of the intellectual sphere prevails. A. Strauss and L. Lehtinen in their work “Psychopathology and education of a child with brain damage” (1947) described the characteristics of children with mental retardation and identified 2

They are the presence of residual effects of mild organic brain damage in the early stages of development, which, as one might assume, are the causes of their difficulties. They characterized them as children with minimal brain damage. In addition to learning difficulties, they have some inappropriate behavior (emotional breakdowns, hyperactivity) and at the same time relatively high (within normal limits) performance on intellectual tests. Psychologist S. Kirk proposed the definition of “specific” in order to emphasize the difference between such children from the mentally retarded, from children with hearing, vision, and motor system impairments, and from cases of primary speech development disorders. The causes of delayed mental development may be severe infectious diseases of the mother during pregnancy, toxicosis of pregnancy, chronic fetal hypoxia due to placental insufficiency, trauma during pregnancy and childbirth, genetic factors, asphyxia, neuroinfections, nutritional deficiencies and chronic somatic diseases, as well as brain injuries in the early period of a child’s life, an initial low level of functional capabilities as an individual feature of the child’s development (“cerebrasthenic infantilism” - according to V.V. Kovalev), severe emotional disorders of a neurotic nature associated with extremely unfavorable conditions of early development. K.S. Lebedinskaya classified children with mental retardation into 4 groups: constitutional, somatogenic, psychogenic and cerebral-organic origin 4. 3

Features of mental retardation of constitutional origin Let's consider the first group - mental retardation of constitutional origin. This is harmonic, mental and psychophysical infantilism. Such children are already different in appearance. According to the definition of Lauren and Lasegue, infantile appearance often corresponds to an infantile body type with childish plasticity of facial expressions and motor skills. They are more delicate, often their height is less than average and their faces retain the features of an earlier age, even when they are already schoolchildren. These children have a particularly pronounced lag in the development of the emotional sphere. They seem to be at an earlier stage of development compared to their chronological age. They have a greater expressiveness of emotional manifestations, the brightness of emotions and at the same time their instability and lability; they are very characterized by easy transitions from laughter to tears and vice versa, as well as easy suggestibility. Children in this group have very pronounced gaming interests, which prevail even at school age. In play, they show a lot of creativity and invention; they love to fantasize, replacing and displacing life situations that are unpleasant for them. At the same time, they quickly become fed up with intellectual activity. Therefore, in the first grade of school they have difficulties associated with both a lack of focus on long-term intellectual activity (they prefer to play in class) and an inability to obey the rules of discipline. During classes they “switch off” and do not complete assignments, cry over trifles, quickly 4

calm down when switching to the game, lack of independence and non-criticism towards their behavior. They are characterized by a common lag in mental development in all areas of mental activity by the beginning of school age. This is expressed in a slower rate of reception and processing of sensory information compared to the norm, insufficient formation of mental operations and actions, low cognitive activity and weakness of cognitive interests, limited, fragmentary knowledge and ideas about the environment4. Children are lagging behind in speech development (pronunciation deficiencies, agrammatism, limited vocabulary). Deficiencies in the development of the emotional-volitional sphere are manifested in emotional instability and excitability, lack of formation of voluntary regulation of behavior, weakness of educational motivation and the predominance of play. Characterized by deficiencies in motor skills, especially fine motor skills, difficulties in coordinating movements, and manifestations of hyperactivity. Significant features of children with mental retardation are the uneven, mosaic manifestations of developmental deficiency4. Subtypes of mental retardation of constitutional origin:  Harmonic psychophysical infantilism. The basis is hereditary factors or a disease in early childhood. In terms of their physical development, they are 2–3 years behind. Characterized by good speech development; bright expressive emotions; friendliness; friendliness; attraction to older people. There are no gross cognitive impairments noted. When they come to school, they become underachievers. There is no personal readiness for school, gaming interests predominate, turns the learning situation into a game situation, and in conversations openly talks about the reluctance to learn. It is advisable to return them to kindergarten until they mature. Possible 5

favorable dynamics, features of hysterical accentuation may also increase (the need to be in the center of attention, etc.).  Disharmonic psychophysical infantilism. Non-severe brain damage at an early stage of development. Retarded physical development. There is a violation of cognitive activity (immaturity of mental operations, narrowed volume of high memory; difficulties in analyzing spatial relationships). Attention is fatigued, unstable, or its pathological inertia, stuck. Disharmony in reduced mental performance. emotional-volitional sphere, in communication. Hot temper, affective instability, pugnaciousness, etc. Indifference to comments. The dynamics are less favorable for leveling.  Psychophysical infantilism with endocrine insufficiency. Violation of metabolic processes. Lag in physical development, dysplasticity of physique and impaired coordination of movements creates difficulties in communication, complexes, anxiety, etc. There is a slowness in the flow of all mental processes. There is no brightness of imagination, no initiative (low academic performance), mood swings are pronounced with a predominance of the depressive component, and the appearance of neurotic symptoms is noted. These features can be smoothed out, and positive dynamics are noted. It should be noted that, in general, constitutional mental retardation is characterized by a favorable prognosis, subject to targeted pedagogical influence in an entertaining and playful form accessible to the child. Identification of such children in preschool age, early start of correctional work, education not from 7, but from 8 years old can completely remove the problems described above. The child may also be sent, by decision of the school psychological and pedagogical council, to a compensatory education class. If there are 6 of these

There is no class at school, perhaps a duplication of the first class. Repeating a second year does not traumatize children with constitutional mental retardation. They easily join the new team and quickly and painlessly get used to the new teacher. The psychophysical status that has changed during the first year of study and individual psychological and pedagogical support allow such a child to master the program of a mass comprehensive school on an equal basis with other students, and no serious problems are observed in their further education 1. 7

Features of children with mental retardation in preschool age Sensory-perceptual functions There are no primary sensory deficiencies in children of this category. At the same time, the presence of perception deficiencies is quite obvious. A. Strauss and L. Lehtinen, in their work on children with minimal brain damage, wrote that these children “listen, but do not hear, look, but do not see,” which indicates an insufficient focus of perception, its fragmentation and insufficient differentiation. In the course of age-related development, the lack of perception is overcome, and the more quickly the more conscious they become. The lag in the development of visual and auditory perception is overcome more quickly. This happens especially intensively during the period of learning to read and write. Tactile perception develops more slowly. Features of motor skills There is motor clumsiness and lack of coordination, manifested even in such automated movements as walking and running. In many children, along with poor coordination of movements, hyperkinesis is observed - excessive motor activity in the form of inadequate, excessive strength or range of movements. Some children experience choreiform movements (muscle jerking). In some cases, but much less frequently, motor activity is significantly reduced relative to normal. To the greatest extent, the lag in the development of the motor sphere is manifested in the area of ​​psychomotority - voluntary conscious movements aimed at achieving a specific goal, expressed in slowness, inaccuracy and awkwardness of movements, difficulties in reproducing postures of the hand and fingers. Particular difficulties are found when performing alternating movements, 8

for example, alternately bending and straightening the fingers into a fist, or bending the thumb while simultaneously straightening the remaining fingers of the same hand. When performing voluntary movements that make it difficult for children, excessive muscle tension and sometimes choreiform twitching often occur. Attention Children have difficulty concentrating on one object, their attention is unstable. Instability manifests itself in every other activity that children engage in. Greater concentration is observed in individual lessons, where the child’s activity is regulated and stimulated by an adult and various distracting influences are minimized. The attention deficits of children with mental retardation are largely associated with low performance and increased exhaustion, which are especially characteristic of children with organic insufficiency of the central nervous system. Memory There is a predominance of visual memory compared to verbal memory. Peculiarities of thinking Preschoolers in the group under consideration experience a lag in the development of all types of thinking (visual, visual and verbal), but this lag manifests itself unevenly. It manifests itself to the least extent in visual thinking, especially if we take into account the zone of proximal development. There is a very large lag in the development of visual thinking. The development of verbal thinking in them also lags significantly behind what is observed in normal 9

developing peers. unevenness in the formation of different manifestations of this type of thinking. In this case, a pronounced General manifestation of developmental delay is revealed: insufficient formation of mental operations and actions: analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, discrimination, comparison (a child, using one or another operation under certain conditions when solving a simple problem, cannot apply it to solving another task, somewhat more complex or performed under different conditions). Generalization of specific concepts (and real objects) and classification of real objects, directly related to the acquisition of language vocabulary, are accessible to children, although at a lower level than those of normally developing children. A significant lag is found in the manifestations of the ability to make judgments and inferences. Features of the thinking of children of this type also include insufficient orientation in the conditions of the task and impulsiveness of actions. Peculiarities of speech development There is a delayed appearance of the first words and first phrases, a slow expansion of the vocabulary and mastery of grammatical structure. There are often deficiencies in pronunciation and discrimination of individual sounds, insufficient clarity, “blurred” speech, which is associated with low mobility of the articulatory apparatus due to insufficient speech practice. Specific features and difficulties in word formation are revealed. In forming from a familiar noun adjectives that are not in their vocabulary, they can use a productive, but not suitable in this case, suffix, as a result of which neologisms arise (“window”, “school”). 10

The sentences are constructed in an extremely primitive way and make many mistakes: they violate the order of words, do not coordinate the definitions with the word being defined, and replace the story based on the picture with a simple listing of the objects depicted on it. Children experience great difficulties in understanding the relationships conveyed by forms of the instrumental case (“Show the ruler with a pencil”), attributive constructions of the genitive case (“father’s brother”, “daughter’s mother”), structures with an unusual word order (“Kolya hit Vanya. Who’s a fighter? "), comparative constructions ("Kolya is taller than Vanya, but lower than Seryozha"). They have significant difficulty understanding certain forms of expressing spatial relationships (“Draw a circle under the square”). For them, the speech flow appears as something whole; they do not know how to divide it into words, much less they are not able to isolate individual sounds in a word. There is no cognitive attitude towards speech. Play activity The play of children with mental retardation in general is characterized by monotony, lack of creativity, poverty of imagination, insufficient emotionality, and low activity of children compared to that observed normally. A story game is characterized by the absence of a detailed plot, unclear insufficient coordination of the actions of the participants, division of roles and equally unclear adherence to game rules. Children of the described category generally do not start story games on their own. They sometimes take toys, look at them, perform object-based play actions, simply walk, run around the room, or do some other activity. The meaning of the game for them is to perform actions with toys; at best, the game is procedural in nature with plot elements. 11

The lack of emotionality of preschoolers with mental retardation is also manifested in their attitude towards toys; they do not have favorites. Features of the emotional sphere There is a lag in the development of emotions: emotional instability, lability, ease of mood changes and contrasting manifestations of emotions. They easily and, from the observer's point of view, often unmotivatedly move from laughing to crying and vice versa. An insignificant reason can cause emotional arousal and even a sharp affective reaction that is inadequate to the situation. Such a child either shows kindness towards others, then suddenly becomes angry and aggressive. In this case, aggression is directed not at the actions of the individual, but at the individual himself. Preschoolers with mental retardation often experience a state of restlessness and anxiety. They actually do not need interaction with peers, they prefer to play alone, there are no expressed attachments to anyone, no emotional preferences for any of their peers, i.e. friends do not stand out, interpersonal relationships are unstable. Interaction is situational in nature. Children prefer to communicate with adults or with older children, but even in these cases they do not show significant activity. The difficulties that children encounter when completing tasks and their expectations often cause sharp emotional reactions and affective outbursts. Fear of failure significantly reduces children's productivity in solving intellectual problems and leads to the formation of low self-esteem in them. Only specific emotions are successfully identified. One's own simple emotional states are recognized worse than the emotions of those depicted in 12

pictures of characters. It should be noted that children with mental retardation quite successfully identify in pictures the reasons for the emotional states of characters3. 13

Features of children with mental retardation at school age It is extremely difficult for children with mental retardation to comply with the school regime, obey clear rules of behavior, and difficulties in school adaptation are found. During lessons, they cannot sit still, they spin around, stand up, move objects on the table and in their bag, and crawl under the table. During recess they run aimlessly, shout, and often start meaningless fuss. Hyperactivity, which is characteristic of most of them, plays a significant role in this behavior. Their educational activity is characterized by low productivity: they often do not master the tasks given by the teacher, cannot concentrate on completing them for a relatively long time, and are distracted by any extraneous stimuli. Features of attention Attention is unstable, combined with increased distractibility. Instability manifests itself in different ways: for some children, at the beginning of completing a task, their maximum concentration is observed, which steadily decreases as the activity continues, and the student begins to make mistakes or completely stops performing the task; for others, the greatest concentration of attention occurs after a certain period of performing the given actions, and then gradually decreases. There are children who experience periodic fluctuations in attention (G.I. Zharenkova). Typically, sustainable performance of any activity is limited to 57 minutes3 in grade I. Perception In the absence of primary defects in vision, hearing and other types of slowness and sensitivity, they show inaccuracy, 14

fragmentation of perception, difficulties in identifying a figure from the background and details in complex images, poverty and insufficient differentiation of visual images. At the same time, there are no difficulties in children recognizing familiar objects in realistic images, which further indicates the absence of primary deficiency of sensory functions. With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, and reaction time indicators, reflecting the speed of perception, improve. With age, in the process of learning and development, perceptual operations and targeted perception of representations are formed and improved in children of this category. (observation), images develop Memory According to generally accepted ideas and opinions of teachers, schoolchildren with mental retardation remember and reproduce educational material much worse than their normally developing peers. Features of involuntary memorization:  The productivity of reproducing involuntarily imprinted material in first-graders with mental retardation is 1.6 times lower on average than their normally developing peers, and turns out to be even worse than in normally developing preschoolers who are 2-3 years younger. Those who were more active with the material showed better results.  Memorization of visual material is higher than verbal. Voluntary memorization in children with mental retardation is formed at a much slower pace; the best performance is observed with voluntary memorization of visual material. Children with mental retardation remember less after each presentation, and 15

“lose” more, often naming the same object repeatedly during reproduction. General features of short-term memory: small volume, slow increase in productivity with repeated presentations, increased inhibition of traces as a result of interference from side effects, disturbances in the order of reproduction, low selectivity. General features of memory: predominance of visual over verbal; underdevelopment of self-control, which manifests itself most clearly in additions during reproduction and in changes in words proposed for memorization; weak selectivity of memory, indirect memorization (instead of the word for which a certain picture was chosen to remember, the name of the object depicted in it was reproduced); inability to deliberately apply rational methods of memorization (for example, to use a plan when memorizing a coherent text or to correlate and comprehend the memorized material in a certain way); low mental activity during the reproduction process3. Thinking Cognitive activity is extremely low, which is the most pronounced manifestation of the low level of their mental activity in general and extremely weak cognitive motivation; the basic mental operations and actions are unformed. Insufficient selectivity is revealed, i.e. the ability from the available “arsenal” to select the operation necessary in a given particular case, limited experience in using mental operations and actions, orientation in the conditions of the task turns out to be defective. 16

By the end of primary school age, visually effective thinking turns out to be closest to the level of formation corresponding to the average norm. Young schoolchildren with mental retardation cope with solving simple problems of the corresponding type just as successfully as their normally developing peers, and solve more complex problems provided they are provided with one or two types of assistance (for example, after additional stimulation and demonstration of a detailed model). The level of verbal thinking is much lower. Peculiarities of speech development Children with mental retardation at the beginning of school age do not experience difficulties at the level of basic everyday communication with adults and peers. They know the everyday vocabulary and grammatical forms necessary for this. However, the expansion of the vocabulary of addressed speech beyond the framework of repeatedly repeated everyday topics leads to a misunderstanding of some questions and instructions asked to the child, containing words whose meaning is unknown or not clear enough to the child, or grammatical forms that he has not mastered. Difficulties in understanding may also be associated with pronunciation deficiencies, which are quite often observed in children with mental retardation. These shortcomings are usually not significant, mainly boiling down to vagueness, “blurredness” of speech, but they lead to defects in the analysis of the perceived speech material, which in turn leads to a lag in the formation of linguistic generalizations. As a result, children often, even knowing the right word, cannot use it or use it incorrectly. This is associated with a significant number of errors and agrammatisms in their speech. Vocabulary 17

Poverty is manifested both in the small number of words used (the active vocabulary is especially narrow) and in the fact that the words used by children have either too limited a meaning or, on the contrary, an overly broad and undifferentiated meaning. Sometimes words are used in completely inappropriate meaning. The stock of words denoting the properties and characteristics of objects is especially limited. In children's speech there are mainly adjectives denoting the color, size and shape of objects, and less often the material from which they are made. Often, instead of adjectives of the latter type, children use nouns with a preposition (“a fence made of boards” instead of “a plank fence”). There are very few evaluative adjectives. One of the most common categories of words in children's speech are nouns. The content of the concepts denoted by the available words also differs significantly from that characteristic of normally developing children. Often it includes unimportant features in the absence of defining ones. This leads to significant difficulties and errors in the classification and grouping of objects. Most students with mental retardation do not separate verbs from words denoting objects and their characteristics (“cooked fish soup”, “gave it to my sister”, “snow came”). Significant difficulties are noted in the use and understanding of prepositions, especially those denoting spatial and temporal relationships - “from behind”, “through”, “from under”, “behind”, “between”, “before”, “after”, etc. In children's spontaneous speech, many of these prepositions are completely absent. Grammatical structure of speech 18

Methods of word formation coincide with those observed in normally developing children: the use of suffixes to transform words. Among the independently transformed words, as in normal children, nouns predominate. However, if normally developing children are characterized by approximately twice as often the formation of nouns with an independent meaning (sea sailor) than nouns with one or another connotation (bridge bridge), then in children with mental retardation both of these forms of word formation appear approximately equally . They form significantly fewer adjectives; in terms of the formation of cognate verbs, they are approximately at the same level as normally developing schoolchildren. The roots of words are easily combined by children with other suffixes that are usually not combined with them, resulting in such neologisms as “grozaki”, “grozilka”, “groznik” (from the word “thunderstorm”), “krasnik” (from the word “kra” sit"), etc. The period of word creation (including the formation of neologisms) is a normal phenomenon in the process of speech development in preschool childhood (“from two to five”) and usually ends in older preschool age. In children with mental retardation, this phenomenon is observed even in the second year of school. The insufficient development of the grammatical structure of the speech of children with mental retardation may not be detected in spontaneous speech, and therefore is often noticed only when the child begins schooling. It manifests itself in difficulties in mastering new forms of speech (narration and reasoning) and appears in situations requiring detailed speech statements. 19

The lag in speech development, as shown by the studies of G. B. Shaumarov, K. K. Mamedov and others, persists throughout the school education of children with mental retardation. Features of the emotional-volitional sphere and personality: emotional lability, weakness of volitional efforts, lack of independence and suggestibility, personal immaturity in general. Emotional lability is manifested in instability of moods and emotions, their rapid change, easy occurrence of emotional agitation or crying, sometimes unmotivated manifestations of affect, manifestations of restlessness and anxiety. At school, there is a state of tension, stiffness, passivity, and self-doubt. Inadequate cheerfulness and cheerfulness appear, rather, as a manifestation of excitability, inability to assess the situation and the mood of others. Children of the first group are noisy and active: during breaks and walks they climb trees, ride on railings, scream loudly, try to participate in the games of other children, but, not knowing how to follow the rules, they quarrel and interfere with others. With adults they can be affectionate and even annoying, but they easily come into conflict, being rude and loud. Their feelings of remorse and resentment are shallow and short-lived. With mental retardation, along with personal immaturity, lack of independence, indecision, timidity, and slowness are manifested. Symbiotic attachment to parents leads to difficulties adjusting to school. Such children often cry, miss home, avoid active games, get lost at the board and often do not answer, even if they know the correct answer. Low grades and comments can make them cry. They cannot characterize their own emotional state in a given situation. This indicates a certain underdevelopment of the emotional sphere, which turns out to be quite persistent. 20

Younger schoolchildren with mental retardation lag behind in the development of voluntary behavior; more often they exhibit impulsive behavior 3. The greatest difficulties in the process of developing voluntary activity are caused by the formation of control over one’s own activity. The personality development of children in this category is distinguished by significant originality. They are characterized by low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence. At high school age, schoolchildren with mental retardation exhibit a number of personality traits that are common to those observed in normally developing adolescents. This is weakness, vulnerability of the individual, high extrapunitive reactions with aggression to the environment, leading to conflict; incorrectness in relationships with others; severity of self-protective reactions; presence of signs of character accentuation. But unlike their normally developing peers, their reactions of self-affirmation and self-determination, characteristic of this age, are weakly expressed. There is no urgent need to unite with peers; adults remain more significant for them 3. References 1. Blinova, L.N. Diagnosis and correction in the education of children with mental retardation / L.N. Blinova //textbook. - M. "NC ENAS". – 2001.– p.136 2. Lebedinsky, V.V. Mental development disorders in childhood / V.V. Lebedinsky// studies. aid for students psychol. fak. higher textbook Establishments. – M.: Publishing center “Academy”. – 2003. 3. Lubovsky, V.I. Special psychology / V.I. Lubovsky // textbook for students of defectology faculties of higher pedagogical educational institutions. – M “ASADEMA”. – 2005. – p. 482 21

4. Nazarova, N.M. Special pedagogy / N.M. Nazarova, // textbook for university students. - M "ASADEMA". – 2000. – p.517 22

In 1980, K. S. Lebedinskaya proposed a classification of ZPR. This classification is based on etiopathogenetic systematics. There are 4 main types of ZPR:

♦ constitutional nature;

♦ somatogenic nature;

♦ psychogenic in nature;

♦ cerebral-organic nature.

All 4 types have their own characteristics. A distinctive feature of these types is their emotional immaturity and impaired cognitive activity. In addition, complications in the somatic and neurological spheres can often arise, but the main difference is in the features and nature of the relationships between two important components of this developmental anomaly: the structure of infantilism and the characteristics of the development of all mental functions.

ZPR of constitutional origin

With this type of mental development delay, the emotional-volitional sphere of the child is at an earlier stage of physical and mental development. There is a predominance of gaming motivation of behavior, superficiality of ideas, and easy suggestibility. Such children, even when studying at a comprehensive school, retain the priority of gaming interests. With this form of mental retardation, harmonious infantilism can be considered the main form of mental infantilism, in which underdevelopment in the emotional-volitional sphere is most pronounced. Scientists note that harmonious infantilism can often be found in twins, this may indicate a connection between this pathology and the development of multiple births. Education of children with this type of mental retardation should take place in a special correctional school.

ZPR of somatogenic origin

The causes of this type of mental development delay are various chronic diseases, infections, childhood neuroses, congenital and acquired malformations of the somatic system. With this form of mental retardation, children may have a persistent asthenic manifestation, which reduces not only the physical status, but also the psychological balance of the child. Children are characterized by fearfulness, shyness, and lack of self-confidence. Children in this category of mental retardation have little contact with their peers due to the guardianship of parents who try to protect their children from what they think is unnecessary communication, so they have a low threshold for interpersonal connections.

With this type of mental retardation, children need treatment in special sanatoriums. The further development and education of these children depends on their health status.

Mental health problems of a psychogenic nature

The central core of this form of mental retardation is family dysfunction (prosperous or single-parent family, various types of mental trauma). If, from an early age, the child’s psyche has been traumatically influenced by unfavorable social conditions, this can lead to a serious disturbance in the child’s neuropsychic activity and, as a consequence, to shifts in autonomic functions, and subsequently mental ones. In this case, we can talk about an anomaly in personality development. This form of mental retardation must be correctly differentiated from pedagogical neglect, which is not characterized by a pathological condition, but arises against the background of a lack of knowledge, skills and intellectual underdevelopment.