Features of teaching children with mental retardation

Mental retardation is one of the most common childhood pathologies. About 50% of all low-achieving schoolchildren are diagnosed with this condition. Moreover, most of them study in regular general education schools, not correctional schools, despite the fact that they are not able to master the knowledge provided for in traditional programs. As a result, a lot of problems arise for teachers (how to teach) and parents (how to develop). In fact, mental retardation in children is not a death sentence at all. Competent and regular classes are a guarantee of successful psychocorrection work.

What it is

Mental retardation is a mental retardation when the basic cognitive functions (thinking, memory, attention, emotional-volitional sphere) in a child are not as well developed as those of peers and differ from the norms established for a given age. Diagnosed only in children of preschool age or primary school. If signs of the disease remain at the time of transition to secondary care, more serious diagnoses are made - for example, constitutional infantilism or mental retardation.

The term was proposed by the Soviet psychiatrist G. E. Sukhareva in 1959. Widely used in psychological, pedagogical and medical practice and literature. However, at the end of the 90s of the 20th century it was considered too generalized and already outdated, so the question of its replacement was raised. In 1997, this diagnosis was withdrawn from use by order of the Ministry of Health. They have been replaced by new concepts corresponding to codes F80–F89 and F90–F98 in ICD-10. These include all kinds of psychological development disorders (but no longer mental disorders):

• expressive and receptive speech disorders;
• hyperkinetic disorders;
• dyslexia;
• dyscalculia;
• dyspraxia;
• dysgraphia;
• behavioral disorders;
• phobias;
• tics;
• enuresis;
• encopresis;
• stuttering.

Since 1997, the term is not applicable as a medical diagnosis and is not opposed to mental disorders. However, this concept continues to be widely used in Russian-language psychological and pedagogical literature and Russian educational institutions.

Causes

All causes of mental retardation are divided into two large groups.

Biological

Pathologies and complications during pregnancy:

• if the mother suffered severe toxicosis, infection, intoxication, or injury during pregnancy;
• multiple births;
• intrauterine fetal hypoxia;
• prematurity;
• asphyxia;
• Rhesus conflict;
• incorrect presentation;
• birth injuries.

Infectious, toxic and traumatic diseases leading to perinatal encephalopathy in the first years of a baby’s life:

• nuclear jaundice;
• operations under anesthesia;
• fetal alcohol syndrome;
• cardiovascular pathologies;
• minimal brain dysfunction, organic brain damage, traumatic brain injury;
• congenital visual and hearing impairments;
• low mobility;
• asthenia;
• malnutrition, neuroinfections, influenza, rickets, hydrocephalus, vegetative-vascular dystonia, epilepsy.

Biological reasons also include genetics. There are cases when deviations of this kind are diagnosed from generation to generation.

Social

These include:

• long-term limitation of life activity;
• social deprivation;
• communication deficit;
• unfavorable upbringing conditions;
• mild mental disabilities in parents;
• psychotrauma.

Among the unfavorable conditions of upbringing that lead to mental retardation, there are three most common ones.

Neglect

A child to whom parents do not pay sufficient attention from early childhood, do not engage with him, do not develop him, grows up to be affectively labile, impulsive and suggestible. Does not learn basic rules of behavior and has no intellectual interests. Successful learning requires a basic understanding of the world around us. Reminds me of Mowgli who found himself in civilization. As a result, abnormal personality development is diagnosed as mental instability. But this is not the same as pedagogical neglect.

Overprotection

A child who, from early childhood, is given too much attention by anxious and suspicious parents and is raised as a little “god” of the family. He does not know how to overcome difficulties on his own, or adequately correlate desires and needs with the necessary efforts. There is no willpower. This leads to emotional lability, lack of initiative, self-centeredness, and dependence on adults. As a result, psychogenic infantilism is diagnosed.

Authoritarianism

A child who is suppressed by authoritarian parents from early childhood experiences their aggression, rudeness, cruelty, and despotism. Physical violence is often used. Against such an unfavorable background, obsessions, indecision, phobias, neuroses, increased levels of anxiety, and autism develop. This is an emotionally immature person who is not aimed at achieving success. As a result, learned helplessness syndrome is diagnosed.

Clinical picture

Parents should be aware of the main symptoms of mental retardation characteristic of a particular age.

1 year

CPR is not diagnosed at 1 year of age. But a number of alarm bells may indicate a tendency towards it:

• Compared to his peers, the baby began to hold his head up, sit up, crawl, turn, stand up, walk, walk late;
• does not hold objects well;
• cannot coordinate movements;
• moves little;
• unemotional.

In this case, it is necessary to take into account the individual developmental characteristics of the baby and, if in doubt, consult a pediatrician or neurologist.

2 years

Deviations are indicated by:

• ignorance of one's own name;
• lack of response to the simplest questions;
• profuse drooling;
• sleep disorders;
• moodiness, tearfulness, irritability, aggression;
• difficulty maintaining attention on a specific subject.

3 years

• Poor vocabulary (no more than 20 words);
• speech defects;
• lack of basic understanding of the surrounding world (cannot name animals, household items, body parts);
• inability to formulate coherent speech;
• difficulty completing basic tasks;
• undeveloped imagination;
• uniformity of actions in the game;
• inability to concentrate;
• fast fatiguability;
• aggressiveness, hysteria.

4 years

At 4 years of age, mental retardation is already clearly diagnosed based on specific symptoms.

Physical:

• weak muscle tone;
• kinetosis;
• urinary disorders;
• headache;
• fatigue, weakness, lethargy, immobility.

Cognitive:

• inability to speak coherently;
• poor vocabulary;
• absent-minded attention;
• poor memory;
• inability to remember information visually or auditorily;
• lack of basic knowledge about the world;
• lack of formation of cognitive motivation.

Social:

• aggressiveness, distrust, wariness towards others;
• isolation, autism, self-absorption;
• reluctance to participate in joint games;
• infantilism;
• mood changes.

It is at the age of 4, with timely recognition of mental retardation, that corrective work must begin. In its absence, all these symptoms only increase and deepen at 5-6 years of age. Secondary signs appear: psychosomatic diseases and internal complexes develop, cognitive abilities deteriorate, and social maladaptation is observed.

At primary school age, mental retardation manifests itself more clearly. Such children differ from their peers in behavior and learning abilities. If parents and kindergarten teachers missed this moment and sent such a child to school, the teacher can no longer help but pay attention to this. He needs to master the minimum standard program, without which he cannot transfer such a student to another class. Therefore, at this stage, a medical-pedagogical commission is organized, a diagnosis is made and psycho-correctional work begins.

Features of educational activity of children with mental retardation and ways of its normalization.

Features of educational activity of children with mental retardation and ways of its normalization.

The activities of children with mental retardation (hereinafter referred to as children with mental retardation) are characterized by general disorganization and lack of focus. Weakness of her speech regulation is also noted. These features create additional difficulties in the process of mastering educational material and necessitate correctional work.

When correcting these deviations, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics of children’s activities that manifest themselves in lessons in any subject of the school course.

While performing a task, children of this category make unnecessary, not always adequate, actions and do not make attempts to find rational methods of work. Children with mental retardation have difficulty adequately verbally denoting the actions being performed and accurately following the proposed verbal instructions. Their verbal responses do not clearly indicate the sequence of actions performed. At the same time, it contains a description of minor, little significant points. In addition, reports on the work done indicate the difficulties of their speech design, vagueness and limited vocabulary, and low variability of the grammatical forms used.

Violation of the regulatory function of speech negatively affects the formation of the ability to carry out the necessary step-by-step control. Children often do not notice the discrepancy between their work and the proposed model, and do not always find the mistakes made.

Children of this category do not show sufficiently persistent interest in the proposed task; They are little active, lack initiative, do not strive to improve their results, comprehend the work as a whole, or understand the causes of mistakes. This leads to students continuing to make the same mistakes. Their interest in the task quickly fades away, especially when difficulties arise in their work that they do not strive to overcome.

Among children with mental retardation (in terms of their attitude to activities), two subgroups can be distinguished. Some children are indecisive, do not believe in their own strengths, and are afraid of even small difficulties. Others, on the contrary, are overly active, impulsive, and overestimate their capabilities. They begin to complete tasks with confidence in success, but their actions turn out to be little productive. Children with mental retardation find it difficult to complete the task according to the model. They do not correlate the existing sample with the instructions and do not analyze it; the sample does not adequately determine the subsequent activities of children. For example, instead of emphasizing a syllable with a specific letter in a word, students emphasize only one letter of this syllable or the entire word; sometimes the indicative requirement is completely ignored.

These children experience particular difficulties when performing exercises that include several private tasks (composing a sentence, changing words, emphasizing a specified syllable, etc.). When starting work in these cases, they often show indecisiveness and ask the teacher and each other questions that relate to what has already been said by the teacher or explained in the textbook. Sometimes students need help understanding the wording of a task.

When performing an exercise with several tasks, children do not comprehend it as a whole, often break the sequence, and find it difficult to switch from one method of work to another. Some tasks (instructions) are not performed by them at all, since neighboring instructions interfere. When performing exercises with several tasks, the number of errors that children with mental retardation make during normal copying of text increases (for example, substitutions and omissions of letters). There are more and more independent corrections as the work progresses.

To characterize the educational activities of children in this category, the following fact is significant. When performing the next task, the same student can act both correctly and incorrectly. For example, a student is given a task consisting of a number of particular tasks: write out certain words from the text, divide them into syllables, underline the syllables with a given letter in these words. When completing the last task, the student acts in different ways: emphasizes the desired syllable in it, emphasizes one letter in it, or does not emphasize anything at all. This “juxtaposition” of correct execution with incorrect execution convinces us that in this and similar cases there is not a misunderstanding of the instructions, but a temporary loss of it due to complicated working conditions.

The lack of these features leads to the fact that the difficulties caused by them increase due to the increasing complexity of the educational material. Correction of deviations in educational activity in children with mental retardation should occupy a significant place. With proper organization of work with children of this category, their educational activities are normalized, their mental activity increases and mental operations are improved. All this contributes to the realization of children's capabilities and increases efficiency and learning. Special attention should be paid to cultivating a responsible attitude towards one’s own activities. It is necessary to ensure that children understand the reason for the mistakes made and want to improve their results. These personality traits can only be formed using material that interests students. In the process of activity correction, it is necessary to use an individual approach to children, taking into account their personal characteristics caused by mental retardation.

A large place in correctional work should be given to teaching students to complete tasks that include several links (instructions). Here it is important to observe the gradual transfer of children to a new level of difficulty. We must teach them to read the task carefully, retell it in their own words, and clearly understand the number of links and their sequence. Children should be able to repeatedly return to a read task, step by step checking the correctness of its completion.

It is necessary to carry out special work in terms of organizing the activities of children in this category. In this regard, the teacher should set himself the task of preventing incorrect and inaccurate answers from students. To do this, it is necessary to thoughtfully present the educational material, observing a strict sequence when complicating it, and also clearly formulate the questions asked of students.

Novoseltseva T.E., teacher – speech therapist

MBOU Secondary School No. 7 of Michurinsk

Characteristic

The psychological characteristics of a child with mental retardation are compiled according to those mental functions that are impaired in him.

Cognitive abilities

Thinking in children with mental retardation:

• normal level of development of visual and effective thinking;
• for the development of visual-figurative thinking, repeated repetition of the task is necessary;
• unformed skills to carry out analysis and synthesis operations;
• poorly formed verbal and logical thinking.

Correctional classes with children suffering from mental retardation should be aimed at developing thinking taking into account these features. They are able to classify objects according to one characteristic: color or shape, for example. The main thing is to eliminate distractions that significantly reduce performance, patiently repeat the task several times and rely primarily on visual-effective thinking, which is developed in them almost the same way as in their peers. In this regard, they have much better prospects for mastering the material when compared with those who have been diagnosed with mental retardation.

Memory in children with mental retardation:

• unstable;
• unproductive;
• involuntary prevails over voluntary;
• visual prevails over verbal;
• minimal self-control, lack of cognitive activity and motivation when learning and reproducing material;
• inability to use memorization techniques and organize memorization work;
• short-term memory is most affected;
• in the presence of interference, the memorization process practically stops;
• Material learned with great difficulty is quickly forgotten.

All of the above specific features of memory in children with mental retardation must be taken into account by teachers and psychologists when organizing classes and by parents when doing homework. The work should be structured in such a way that the support is involuntary and visual memory, and not voluntary and verbal.

Attention:

• scattered;
• weakened if information is presented verbally;
• unstable;
• reduction in parameters such as volume, selectivity, concentration and distribution.

Correction of attention is aimed at increasing volume and concentration. In classes, distribution and constant switching between different types of activities is necessary. Creative assignments are welcome.

Perception:

• superficial;
• slow process of formation of interanalyzer connections:
• deficits in auditory-visual-motor coordination;
• slow speed of building a single, integral image in a presentation.

Correction of perception is aimed at improving subject-research activities and mastering sensory standards. Games to improve coordination, spatial orientation and develop fine motor skills are welcome.

Speech:

• poor vocabulary;
• impaired sound pronunciation;
• unformed lexical and grammatical structure;
• problems with coherent speech;
• defects of the articulatory apparatus.

To develop speech, classes with a speech therapist are simply necessary. At home, parents need to read and talk more with their child. It is recommended to ensure that he constructs sentences correctly and that his speech is coherent.

Interpersonal communication

The process of interpersonal communication in children with mental retardation is difficult due to the inferiority of the prerequisites necessary for successful socialization:

• low cognitive motivation;
• insufficient speech activity;
• defective speech and mental activity;
• immaturity of many components of speech activity.

Therefore, interpersonal communication is characterized by the following features:

• episodic in nature (they are rarely included in games);
• working and playing alone;
• uncoordinated actions in pairs;
• role-playing game is not a joint activity, since there is practically no communication within it;
• inability to fully and clearly answer questions posed, formulate a question independently, speak out, listen to others, maintain a conversation;
• lack of attachment to anyone.

Children with mental retardation are much more willing to play with those who are younger in age. Often, against the background of failed interpersonal contacts, social phobia develops and serious problems with social adaptation arise.

Emotional-volitional sphere

In children with mental retardation, immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere is observed. Its manifestations:

• emotional instability;
• lack of independence;
• lability;
• easy suggestibility;
• weakness of willpower;
• self-doubt, low self-esteem;
• causeless worry, increased level of anxiety;
• instant mood changes, contrasting emotions;
• inadequate cheerfulness, gaiety.

Children with mental retardation cannot correctly assess:

• situation: they react too aggressively to any failure and difficulties;
• emotional state of others: during the funeral they can laugh and have fun;
• own emotions.

This is interesting! Children with mental retardation, characterized by emotional immaturity, perfectly recognize emotions from facial expressions and pictures. Compared to their peers, they almost 100% find grimaces of anger, suffering and joy.

Article “Peculiarities of mental development of schoolchildren with mental retardation”

Features of mental development of schoolchildren with mental retardation

The features of the cognitive sphere of children with mental retardation are widely covered in the psychological and pedagogical literature (V. I. Lubovsky, T. P. Artemyeva, S. G. Shevchenko, M. S. Pevzner, etc.). Despite the large number of classifications that have been proposed by various specialists working in this field, they all highlight the general structure of the mental retardation defect, based on the origin of the disorder. With mental retardation, children experience deviations in the intellectual, emotional and personal spheres.

With mental retardation, the main violations of the child’s intellectual level of development are due to insufficient cognitive processes.

Perception. The perception of children with mental retardation is characterized by a slowness in the process of processing information received through the senses. In conditions of short-term perception, many details remain “uncut”, as if invisible. Inaccuracy and slowness of perception are most evident at primary school age, when errors associated with deficiencies in perception are discovered when copying text, reproducing figures from visually presented models, etc. To the greatest extent, these shortcomings manifest themselves when the conditions of perception become more complicated and worse: in poor lighting, the location of an object at an unusual viewing angle, the presence of other similar objects nearby (in visual perception); frequent change of signals, combination or simultaneous appearance of several signals (in auditory perception). Deficiencies in visual and auditory perception in children, which we attribute to mental retardation, are also noted by foreign authors (V. Cruikshank; M. Frostig; S. Blakeslee; S. Curtis and R. Tallal, etc.). Children with mental retardation have deficiencies in spatial perception, for example, the direction or location of individual elements in a complex image. Spatial perception is formed in the process of complex interaction of vision, motor analyzer and touch. This interaction develops late in children with mental retardation and remains ineffective for a long time. Disadvantages of this type of perception make it difficult to learn to read and write, where it is very important to distinguish the arrangement of elements. The considered shortcomings of perception can be overcome through special correctional exercises. With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, and this is manifested both in qualitative characteristics, primarily in the completeness of perception of objects, and in quantitative indicators, which include the speed of perception.

Attention. Children with mental retardation are extremely absent-minded in class, often distracted, and are unable to listen with concentration or work for more than 5-10 minutes. The attention of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation is unstable. The dynamics of attention in children with mental retardation during learning activities in the classroom are not the same. Instability of attention is combined with increased distractibility. Distraction of attention and decreased concentration levels are observed when children are tired. They cease to perceive the educational material, as a result of which significant gaps form in their knowledge, and their work is replete with many errors and corrections. Their own powerlessness, the inability to concentrate on a task, causes irritation in some children, and in others - a categorical refusal to work, especially if they need to learn new educational material. Following this, children develop extreme self-doubt and dissatisfaction with educational activities.

From the point of view of the object of perception, children with mental retardation are characterized by weakened attention to verbal (verbal) information.

Memory. Memory deficiencies affect all types of memorization: involuntary and voluntary, short-term and long-term. Schoolchildren with mental retardation have limited memory capacity and reduced strength of recall of material. This applies to memorizing both visual and, especially, verbal material. Limitations in memorization reflect weakness of mental activity. Children with mental retardation are prone to mechanical, thoughtless learning of material. But this method of mnemonic activity is difficult for them, since the memory mechanisms themselves are weakened: the speed, completeness, strength and accuracy of memorization are reduced. They are characterized by sharp fluctuations in reproduction productivity, and they quickly forget what they have learned. Features of involuntary memorization and reproduction of material were studied by N.G. Poddubnaya. Memorization rates for visual material are higher than for verbal material. Voluntary memorization in children with mental retardation is formed more slowly than in children with normal mental development. Children with mental retardation remember visual and figurative information much better than verbal and logical information. Studies of short-term memory in schoolchildren with mental retardation were conducted by V.L. Podobed. He notes a small volume, a 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, and low selectivity. In children with mental retardation, the organization of mnemonic activity itself noticeably suffers. Children with mental retardation do not know how to use rational memorization techniques (for example, classifying material), and do not know how and do not strive to control their actions and memorization results. Features of memory briefly: 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, as shown in experiments on indirect memorization, when instead of the word for which a certain picture was given 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.

Thinking. . The thinking of children with mental retardation is characterized by the following features.

1. Scarcity of the motivational component.

Children with mental retardation are characterized by low cognitive activity, avoidance of intellectual stress, even to the point of refusing to perform

exercise.

2. Irrationality of the regulatory-target component,

Children with mental retardation do not have the need to set goals or plan

actions, to look for a rational way of solving, they are characterized by a tendency to act using the method of empirical trials.

3. Long-term unformation of the operational component, i.e. mental operations of analysis, synthesis, abstraction, generalization, comparison.

4. Violation of the dynamic side of Thought processes.

The motivational-goal basis of thinking is at the primary, primitive, undifferentiated level in 70% of children with mental retardation. Types of thinking also develop unevenly in children with mental retardation. The most significant lag is in verbal and logical thinking, which operates with concepts, signs and logical constructions. The lag in visual-figurative thinking, which operates with sensory images of objects, is less pronounced. Closer to the level of normal development is visual-effective thinking, associated with the real, physical transformation of an object.

Speech. The oral speech of children with mental retardation contains mild violations of both pronunciation and grammatical structure. Many of them are characterized by insufficient sound pronunciation of whistling and hissing sounds and the sound “r”. Phonemic hearing and phonemic perception are not sufficiently formed. Children with mental retardation are characterized by insufficient vocabulary, its poverty, inaccuracy, and undifferentiation are noted. It is represented mainly by everyday, everyday vocabulary. The vocabulary of this category of children is dominated by words with specific, well-known meanings. They mainly use nouns and verbs. When composing sentences, schoolchildren mainly use everyday vocabulary. The structure of the sentences corresponds to the usual patterns and reflects the poverty of semantic connections and the primitiveness of the content. Schoolchildren with mental retardation have great difficulty mastering reading techniques; do not sufficiently understand the meaning of what they read; While reading, they make a large number of different errors: mixing letters, rearranging and omitting letters, and sometimes entire syllables. In general, reading by children with mental retardation is characterized by monotony, inexpressiveness, and a slow pace.

Features of emotional development. With mental retardation of constitutional genesis, the emotional sphere of children in many ways resembles the normal structure of the emotional makeup of younger children, although there is a qualitative uniqueness of emotional personality traits, the predominance of emotional reactions in behavior, gaming interests, heightened background mood, spontaneity, superficiality, instability of experiences , suggestibility, lack of independence. These features of the emotional sphere in school conditions make social adaptation difficult. With somatogenic delay, the development of active forms of activity is inhibited and a number of neurotic layers appear: timidity, fearfulness, capriciousness, lack of self-confidence. With psychogenic delay, the inability to inhibit one's desires, impulsiveness, lack of a sense of duty and responsibility, cruelty, or crude authoritarianism determines the neurotic formation of personality, which manifests itself in a lack of independence, timidity, and timidity. With delayed mental development of cerebral-organic origin, poverty, primitivism of emotions, gross suggestibility. Children with mental retardation do not have significant differences from children with normal mental development in understanding the emotional state of another person by facial expression, but children distinguish all emotions of different modalities equally; they recognize suffering better, since they themselves experience it more often.

Communication. The peculiarities of communication among schoolchildren with mental retardation were studied in her works by L.N. Blinova. Schoolchildren with mental retardation have a low need for communication. Contacts of such children are situational and unstable. A child with mental retardation cannot correctly grasp the meaning of the assessment of others, and therefore does not regulate his behavior. The desire to achieve praise is satisfied through boasting and deception; the desire to have some thing - theft, the thirst for pleasure - wandering. Such forms of student behavior cause a negative reaction from others.

Behavior. 3 groups: balanced (behavior is calm and balanced. They are quite active, they do not show pronounced deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere, in behavior. They can be leaders, secret and have a narrow circle of friends), inhibited (usually lethargic, inert, inhibited , unsociable, lacking initiative, lacking self-confidence, non-performing.Among these children there are those who are emotionally deprived, indifferent to the world around them, touchy, painfully experiencing their failures, secluded, withdrawn into themselves) and excitable (characterized by a combination of impulsiveness with increased suggestibility, infectiousness, are distinguished by increased energy, physically tireless, physically active, annoying and talkative. Their behavior is characterized by an increased dependence on their mood, which, as a rule, is unstable. They are uncritical of their actions). Children with mental retardation are especially dependent on unfavorable external factors: an asocial environment, conditions of neglect, weakened educational influence, and impulses that are not controlled or suppressed by anyone are consolidated as a habitual form of behavior.

12. Ethical requirements for the personality and activities of a consultant psychologist

System of general, professional and moral and ethical requirements for psychological counseling

A consulting psychologist is a person who is quite professional, responsible, and at a high level engaged in psychological counseling, has a special higher psychological education and sufficient practical experience in the role of a consulting psychologist, highly appreciated by specialists and confirmed by an appropriate certificate. The peculiarities of counseling in a correctional educational institution are determined by the fact that parents of children with developmental problems and teachers of preschool educational institutions have to be consulted.

The personality of the consultant plays a significant role. A consulting psychologist relies on professional, ethical and legal foundations.

The activities of a psychologist-consultant are aimed at achieving humane goals that involve removing restrictions on the client’s intellectual and personal development.

The consulting psychologist builds his work on the basis of unconditional respect for the dignity and inviolability of the client’s personality, fundamental human rights as defined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The professional activity of a psychologist-consultant is characterized by his special responsibility to the client for the recommendations that he offers to the client.

When working with a client, a psychologist-consultant is guided by the principles of honesty and openness (sincerity). He must be careful in giving advice and recommendations to the client.

The consulting psychologist is obliged to inform colleagues about violations of the client’s rights that he notices, about cases of inhumane treatment of clients.

A consulting psychologist has the right to provide such services for which he has the necessary education, qualifications, knowledge, and skills.

In his work, he can only use proven techniques.

An integral part of the work of a consulting psychologist is the constant maintenance of professional knowledge and skills at a high level.

The consulting psychologist has no right to disclose or transfer to third parties data about the client and the results of counseling.

There is a ban on transferring methods of psychological work with clients to incompetent persons and professionally untrained people.

The consulting psychologist should be careful not to raise unreasonable expectations on the part of the client, not to give him promises, advice and recommendations that cannot be fulfilled.

The counseling psychologist is responsible for maintaining information relating to clients.

The counseling profession often attracts people who “have significant personality and adjustment problems themselves” (Witmer & Young, 1996). Unhealthy motives for choosing a professional activity as a consultant are: emotional disorders

(future consultants themselves suffer from unhealed mental trauma);
replacement of dissatisfaction
(removing feelings of tension or irritation in deviant behavior of clients);
imitation of someone
(the habit of accepting other people's ideas and beliefs, as well as living through the events of someone else's life);
loneliness and isolation
(attempts to find communication contacts in counseling practice, make friends);
need for love
(the belief that personal problems can be solved by showing love and affection to other people);
desire for power
(overcoming feelings of fear and helplessness through awareness of power over others).

A consulting psychologist must have: the ability to empathize; openness, expression of personal concern for the client through gestures, facial expressions, pantomimes; goodwill, non-judgmental attitude towards the client, refusal to moralize, impose advice, trust in the client, faith in him, the ability to maintain optimal psychological distance, the ability to instill in the client confidence and determination to remake himself, the consultant’s readiness and desire to direct his experiences in a constructive direction (Rollo May), curiosity and inquisitiveness (Foster and Guy), the ability to use listening as a stimulating factor, ease in maintaining a conversation, the ability to enjoy communication with a client, the ability to put oneself in the place of another person, the ability to self-sacrifice, tolerance; the ability to accept the authority of others while maintaining a certain degree of independence; a sense of humor, manifested in the ability to perceive ambiguous aspects of life events, to see them as funny and optimizing (Foster, 1996; Guy, 1987). Effective work as a consultant is associated with stability, balance, consistency, and commitment (Patterson & Welfek, 1994)

Personal maturity means independence and responsibility for making life and professional decisions, the ability to determine one’s zone of proximal development and personal growth, and the desire to expand the space of self-development. By professional maturity, we, following Yu. Azarov, understand the consultant’s readiness for creative activity, which is based on professional competence, pedagogical skill and humanistic orientation of the individual, sustainable motivation to improve the skills of advisory activities.

The consultant must learn the specifics of the stages of counseling;

Master information about the content of the work of a consulting psychologist;

Master methods of working with clients;

Familiarize yourself with the features of different types of counseling;

Work under the guidance of an experienced psychologist-supervisor.

A comparative analysis of successfully and unsuccessfully working counseling psychologists is very important for assessing the system of general, professional and moral and ethical requirements for psychological counseling.

a psychologist-consultant

The consultant must comply with certain professional principles: the principle of beneficial influence; the principle of no harm; principle of autonomy; principle of justice; principle of accuracy; the principle of personal and professional integrity; the principle of acting in the interests of the client; the principle of justifying action that is best for the client. Compliance with these rules or ethical standards is mandatory in the practical work of a consulting psychologist (R.S. Nemov).

Psychological characteristics

A child with mental retardation has features of mental development that differ from the symptoms of other similar pathologies. This is necessary to know to differentiate the diagnosis.

Differences from mental retardation:

• partial rather than complete impairment of cognitive activity;
• high potential for further development;
• It is not the mental functions themselves that suffer, but the prerequisites for intellectual activity (phonemic hearing, speech, attention);
• spasmodic dynamics of mental activity;
• ability to cooperate with adults;
• the presence of emotions in gaming activities;
• a vivid manifestation of emotion;
• often have a knack for drawing.

Differences from pedagogical neglect:

• lack of education and attention from adults is only one of the reasons, while in neglected children it is the only one;
• behavior is caused by deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere and cognitive abilities, and not by problems in moral and legal consciousness;
• are rarely distinguished by deviant behavior and rebellious character;
• know how to interact with adults.

The success of treatment and correction will depend on the correct diagnosis.

Classifications

Classification by Pevzner and Vlasova

M. S. Pevzner - defectologist, psychiatrist, psychologist, candidate of medical sciences and doctor of pedagogical sciences. Professor. T. A. Vlasova is a psychologist, defectologist, Doctor of Psychology, professor, academician. Years: 1972-1973.

• Uncomplicated psychophysical and mental infantilism

The emotional-volitional sphere corresponds to the development of younger children. Playful activity prevails over cognitive activity. This leads to inattention and learning problems.

• Secondary ZPR

The exhaustion of mental functions is caused by various biological factors that occurred during pregnancy or in the first year of the baby’s life.

Lebedinskaya classification

K. S. Lebedinskaya is a child psychiatrist and defectologist. Year: 1982. The basis is the classification of Pevzner and Vlasova, supplemented and expanded.

• Constitutional ZPR

Corresponds to uncomplicated mental and psychophysical infantilism according to the classification of Pevzner and Vlasova. Such children show bright, but superficial and unstable emotions. They are always in a high mood, they are mediocre and naive. They are distinguished by their gracefulness - an infantile body type. ZPR is caused by hereditary factors and complications during pregnancy.

• Somatogenic ZPR

Firstly, it occurs against the background of diseases suffered by the baby in the first year of life. Secondly, it is complicated by neurotic deviations. Such children are not self-confident, fearful, capricious, and feel their physical inferiority. All this ultimately leads to somatogenic infantilism - delayed emotional development.

• Psychogenic mental retardation

The main reason is unfavorable upbringing conditions, starting from a very early age and lasting for a long time.

• Cerebral-organic mental retardation

The most common type of ZPR. I. F. Markovskaya (Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor) identifies another mini-classification within this group (1983).

1. Mental instability. Manifests itself in the form of hyperactivity, excessive noise, loudness, rudeness and conflict. But these children’s emotions are short-lived, so within a minute they will be playing with those with whom they just quarreled or even fought.

2. Mental retardation. Such children are dependent, indecisive, timid, slow, and too attached to their parents. They do not participate in joint outdoor games with others, they quickly get lost and cry when something is demanded of them.

Kovalev's classification

V.V. Kovalev - psychologist, psychotherapist. Year - 1979.

This is a classification of mental retardation caused by biological factors:

• dysontogenetic - mental infantilism;
• encephalopathic - organic lesions of the nervous system;
• secondary due to sensory defects - visual and hearing impairments;
• social deprivation - hospitalism.

Today, Lebedinskaya’s classification is most actively used in practice. Although she will soon be 40 years old. In connection with new standards of training and the changed realities of modern life, experts have long been talking about the need to create a more relevant typology of ZPR.

Features of correctional work with children with mental retardation

EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF CHILDREN WITH MENTAL DEVELOPMENT RETARDS

Plan

• ZPR – definition, causes, clinical and psychological syndromes
• Classifications of ZPR
• Psychological and pedagogical characteristics of preschool children with mental retardation
• Features of correctional and pedagogical work with children with mental retardation.

1. ZPR – definition, causes, clinical and psychological syndromes

• Children with mental and psychophysical developmental delays of various origins make up 5% of the total number of students studying in primary grades of general education schools.
  Therefore, one of the most important tasks of modern practical psychology is the psychological correction of developmental deviations and non-medical assistance to children with learning difficulties.
• Children who are not mentally retarded, but cannot master the primary school curriculum within the established time frame, make up approximately 10%.

To designate this group of children with the mildest developmental disabilities who remain within the normal range, various terms have been adopted - “intellectual development delay”, “slow development rate”, etc. The International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization (1965) adopted the term “ borderline mental retardation."

This variety of terminological designations indicates the complexity of clinical identification of mental disorders in children with developmental delays.

We use the term “mental retardation” (MDD), which is widespread in the domestic scientific literature.

IMPAIRED MENTAL FUNCTION

(abbr. ZPR) - a violation of the normal pace of mental development, when certain mental functions (memory, attention, thinking,

emotional-volitional sphere) lag in their development from the accepted psychological norms for a given age.

Mental retardation as a psychological and pedagogical diagnosis was made only in preschool and primary school age

If by the end of this period there were signs of underdevelopment of mental functions, then they were already talking about constitutional infantilism or mental retardation.

Regarding the history of this issue, it is worth noting the groups of “pseudo-abnormal” students described by A. Binet and Theodore Simon (1911). This included “pedagogically retarded” and somatically ill children.

J. Philippe and P. Boncourt (1911) identified a group of “Subnormal students” among underachieving schoolchildren, which included children with “mild forms” of mental retardation and mental infantilism, whose low learning ability was temporary. The authors called this group of children temporarily abnormal.

Alfred Binet

Domestic researchers also paid much attention to the issue of clinical differentiation of underachieving schoolchildren.

I. Borisov (1925) identified a group of children “with reduced general development,” different from pedagogical neglect and mental retardation. According to him, the number of such children gradually decreased with age.

E. M. Zakharyan and M. A. Golozko (1928), having compared the psychophysical state of 150 “difficult” and academically unsuccessful children with similar data from a control group of healthy, disciplined and well-achieving peers, revealed in the former phenomena of physical immaturity and poor general development , narrowness of interests, weak memory, inhibition of mental processes, underdevelopment of emotions and reduced mental tone. Some of them showed carelessness, egocentrism, and excessive physical activity.

There are various techniques for identifying children with mental retardation

.

Psychometric methods for assessing the level of intellectual development are widely used in foreign countries.

.
According to D. Wexler
(1965), one should distinguish between
weak intelligence
(
IQ is 90-80 units
).

Causes

Biological:

— pathology of pregnancy (severe toxicosis, infections, intoxication and trauma), intrauterine fetal hypoxia;

- prematurity;

• — pathology of pregnancy (severe toxicosis, infections, intoxication and trauma), intrauterine fetal hypoxia; - prematurity;

- asphyxia and trauma during childbirth;

• - asphyxia and trauma during childbirth;

— diseases of an infectious, toxic and traumatic nature in the early stages of a child’s development;

- genetic conditioning.

• — diseases of an infectious, toxic and traumatic nature in the early stages of a child’s development; - genetic conditioning.

Social:

- long-term restriction of a child’s life activity;

- unfavorable upbringing conditions, frequent traumatic situations in the child’s life.

• - long-term restriction of a child’s life activity; - unfavorable upbringing conditions, frequent traumatic situations in the child’s life.

Four clinical and psychological syndromes can be distinguished

, which determine deficiencies in cognitive activity and cause learning difficulties.

Mental infantilism syndrome

- personal immaturity, mainly in the area of ​​its emotional and volitional properties, preserving the features of younger childhood.

Cerebrasthenic syndrome

- a nonspecific neurological syndrome, which is characterized by decreased performance, impaired attention and memory, increased fatigue, as well as headaches, severe exhaustion of the nervous system and various vegetative manifestations

Hyperdynamic syndrome-

a group of behavioral and emotional disorders usually begins at a very early age and is characterized by a combination of overly active, poorly modulated behavior with severe inattention and lack of persistence in performing assigned tasks.

Psychoorganic syndrome -

– a mental disorder caused by organic brain damage, which is accompanied by a decrease in intellectual abilities, memory impairment and affect disorders.

2. Classifications of ZPR

The most frequently used classifications in Russian psychology are:

1. Classification by
M. S. Pevzner and T. A. Vlasova ( 1972 , 1973 )
In studies conducted in 1972 - 1973. Research Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR in a number of cities and rural areas of the USSR (Moscow, Irkutsk region, Lithuania, Armenia), 5.8% of all primary school students were diagnosed with mental retardation. Based on the materials of these studies, M. S. Pevzner and T. A. Vlasova proposed dividing the general group of mental retardation into two types

.

• Uncomplicated psychophysical and mental

infantilism.

— “Secondary” ZPR

, caused by persistent cerebrovascular disease (increased exhaustion of mental functions) of various origins, which arose in the early stages of ontogenesis, and therefore cognitive activity and performance are primarily impaired.

Infantilism

(from Latin
infantilis
- childish) - immaturity in development, preservation in behavior or physical appearance of traits inherent in previous age stages.

2.

, the classification of K.S.
is more widely used. Lebedinskaya (1980), developed on the basis of an etiopathogenetic approach.

In accordance with this classification, there are four main options for ZPR,

• Delayed mental development of constitutional origin
  (harmonious mental and psychophysical infantilism). With this option, the features of emotional and personal immaturity come to the fore in the structure of the defect.

Emotional-volitional immaturity can be combined with mild impairments of cognitive activity, speech, increased exhaustion and satiation of active attention.
This is due to the slow pace of development of the structures of the left hemisphere, primarily the frontal and parietal regions, as well as intrahemispheric and interhemispheric connections.
As a result, the child’s control and regulation of activities is weakened.

Emotional-volitional immaturity is expressed in lack of independence, increased suggestibility, carelessness, and the predominance of gaming interests.

Such children are characterized by “childish motor skills” -
fussiness, impetuosity, lack of coordination of movements
.
Infantility of the psyche is often combined with an infantile body type, with “childishness” of facial expressions, motor skills, and a predominance of emotional reactions in behavior
.
Such children show creativity in play; this activity is most attractive to them, in contrast to educational activities. They don’t like to work out and don’t want to.
The listed features complicate social, including school adaptation. In the structure of the disorder, emotional and personal immaturity comes to the fore.

2.
Delayed mental development of somatogenic genesis
occurs
in children with chronic somatic diseases - the heart, kidneys, endocrine system, etc.
Children are characterized by
persistent physical and mental asthenia, which leads to a decrease in performance and the formation of personality traits such as timidity and timidity.
Children grow up in conditions of restrictions and prohibitions, their circle of contacts narrows, and their knowledge and understanding of the world around them is insufficiently replenished. Secondary infantilization often occurs, traits of emotional and personal immaturity are formed, which, along with decreased performance and increased fatigue, does not allow the child to achieve the optimal level of age-related development. Developmental delay is associated with regulatory immaturity and a decrease in overall mental tone.

3. Delayed mental development of psychogenic origin.

With early onset and prolonged exposure to psychotraumatic factors, persistent changes in the child’s neuropsychic sphere can occur, which leads to
neurotic and neurosis-like disorders and pathological personality development.
In conditions of neglect, personality development in an unstable type can be observed:
the child is dominated by impulsive reactions and the inability to inhibit his emotions.
In conditions of overprotection, egocentric attitudes and inability to exert volition and to work are formed. In psychotraumatic conditions, neurotic personality development occurs. In some children, negativism and aggressiveness, hysterical manifestations are observed, in others - timidity, timidity, fears, mutism

.
, disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere, decreased performance, and lack of formation of voluntary regulation of behavior
also come to the fore Children have a poor stock of knowledge and ideas; they are not capable of long-term intellectual effort. 4. Delay of cerebral-organic genesis.

This variant of mental retardation
combines features of immaturity and varying degrees of damage to a number of mental functions
. Depending on their ratio, two categories of children are distinguished (I.F. Markovskaya, 1993):

• group a
  -
  the structure of the defect is dominated by features of immaturity of the emotional sphere, such as organic infantilism, i.e., the psychological structure of the mental retardation combines immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere (these phenomena predominate) and cognitive activity, mild neurological symptoms are revealed;
• group b - symptoms of damage dominate: partial impairments of cortical functions are detected, intellectual impairments predominate in the structure of the defect.

In both cases, the functions of regulation of mental activity suffer: in the first option, the control link suffers to a greater extent, in the second, both the control link and the programming link, which causes a low level of children’s mastery of all types of activities (object-manipulative, play, productive, educational, speech). Children do not show sustained interest, their activities are not focused enough, and their behavior is impulsive.

ZPR of cerebro-organic origin, characterized by a primary impairment of cognitive activity, is the most persistent and represents a particularly severe form of ZPR. This category of children primarily needs comprehensive medical, psychological and pedagogical correction in special classes and preschool institutions.

3. Classification by V.V. Kovalev (1979

). He identifies four variants of PPD, caused by the influence of biological factors:

— Dysontogenetic

(with mental infantilism);

— Encephalopathic

(for mild organic lesions of the central nervous system);

— ZPR of a secondary nature with sensory defects

(for early visual and hearing impairments),

— mental retardation associated with early social deprivation

(for example, during hospitalization).

3. Psychological and pedagogical characteristics of preschool children with mental retardation

Disturbances in the rate of neuropsychic development can be detected at an early age (up to 3 years). The consequences of early organic brain damage or functional immaturity of the central nervous system cause a number of deviations that complicate the child’s interaction with the environment, as a result of which a full-fledged basis for the subsequent development of higher mental functions does not develop.

• In the first year of life, indicators of disturbances in the rate of neuropsychic development can be:
• reduction in indicative activity and the need for indicative research activities. This manifests itself in weak expression of indicative reactions, delay in visual and auditory concentration;
• the later appearance of a “revival complex”, insufficient activity in terms of emotional communication with adults;
• specifics of the pre-speech period: later appearance of humming, babbling, first words, difficulties in responding to gestures, facial expressions, intonations of adults. As a rule, the stages of humming and babbling are extended over time;
• slow rate of formation of static (related to balance) and locomotor (ability to move) functions; delay in the development of manual motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

• At an early age (from 1 year to 3 years), deviations in the child’s development become more obvious, even if they are not severe.
  First of all, you should pay attention to the development
  of general and fine motor skills, sensory-perceptual activity (how the child reacts to objects, does he recognize them, does he strive to explore them, does he find the same ones, does he use them for their intended purpose
  ).
  An important diagnostic indicator is the child’s communicative activity and his ability to cooperate with an adult. During this age period, rapid development of speech normally occurs. A problem child has speech underdevelopment, and not only is active speech unformed, but its understanding is difficult.

• At preschool age, children with mental retardation show a lag in the development of general and especially fine motor skills.
  
  The technique of movements and motor qualities (speed, dexterity, strength, accuracy, coordination) are mainly Self-service skills and technical skills in visual arts, modeling, appliqué, and design are poorly developed; Many children do not know how to hold a pencil or brush correctly, do not regulate the pressure, have difficulty using scissors, and have difficulty developing graphomotor skills. There are no gross movement disorders in children with mental retardation, but the level of physical and motor development is lower than that of normally developing peers.
• The attention of these children is characterized by instability and its periodic fluctuations. It is difficult to gather attention and concentrate during a particular activity.
• Activities are not focused enough, children often act impulsively, are easily distracted, quickly get tired, and become exhausted.

• Sensory development
  is also qualitatively unique.
  In children with mental retardation, vision and hearing are physiologically intact, but the process of perception is somewhat difficult: its pace is reduced, its volume is narrowed, and the accuracy of perception (visual, auditory, tactile-motor) is insufficient.
  Indicative research activities aimed at studying the properties and qualities of objects are hampered. A greater number of practical tests and fittings are required when solving visual and practical problems. At the same time, children with mental retardation, unlike mentally retarded children, can practically correlate objects by color, shape, and size. Thus, reference views are not generated in a timely manner. The child, naming primary colors, finds it difficult to name intermediate, light shades, uses an undifferentiated designation of size parameters “big - small”, and does not name the characteristics of length, width, height, thickness.
• The memory
  of children with mental retardation is characterized by qualitative originality; the severity of the defect depends on the genesis of the mental retardation.
  First of all, children have limited memory capacity and reduced memorization strength.
  Characterized by inaccurate reproduction and rapid loss of information. Verbal memory suffers the most. With the right approach to learning, children are capable of mastering some mnemonic techniques and mastering logical methods of memorization. Significant originality is noted in the development of mental activity.

• Children with mental retardation show the greatest impairments in mastering indirect memorization. There is a significant discrepancy between the ability to apply a certain intellectual technique and the productivity of its use
  .
  It is very indicative in terms of diagnostics to perform a task to study indirect memorization (AP Leontiev’s method): words are named, and the child is asked to select a picture for each word to facilitate memorization. Looking at the pictures, the child must reproduce the given words. When performing this task, children with mental retardation select the same pictures for memorization as their normally developing peers. However, the subsequent reproduction of words based on the pictures they selected causes significant difficulties; often the words that are reproduced are completely different from those that were named by the experimenter. Consequently, children with mental retardation experience the main difficulties in cases where they need to use intellectual techniques productively.

• By older preschool age, children with mental retardation do not develop an age-appropriate level of verbal and logical thinking:
  children do not identify significant features when generalizing; they generalize either by situational or functional features. For example, answering the question: “What to call in one word; sofa, wardrobe, bed, chair? - the child can answer: “We have this at home.” They find it difficult to compare objects, making comparisons based on random characteristics, and they even find it difficult to identify signs of difference.
• However, unlike mentally retarded children, preschoolers with mental retardation, after receiving help, perform the proposed tasks at a higher level, close to the norm.
• Particular attention should be paid to the consideration of the characteristics of the speech development of children with mental retardation
  .
  Many have defects in sound pronunciation and deficiencies in phonemic development.
  Among the pupils of special groups there are many children with speech disorders such as
  dysarthria
  .
• Speech disorders in mental retardation are most often systemic in nature and are part of the structure of the defect.
• At the level of impressive speech, difficulties are noted in understanding complex, multi-step instructions, logical and grammatical constructions
  such as “Kolya is older than Misha”, “Birch grows at the edge of the field”, children poorly understand the content of a story with a hidden moral, the process of decoding texts is difficult, i.e.
  the process of perceiving and comprehending the content of stories, fairy tales, and texts for retelling is difficult.

• Children in this group have a limited vocabulary
  .
  Adjectives and adverbs are rarely found in their speech, and their verb vocabulary is narrowed.
• The grammatical structure of speech
  also differs in a number of features.
  Children practically do not use
  in speech, but if we compare the number of errors in the use of grammatical forms of words and in the use of grammatical constructions, then errors of the second type clearly predominate.
  It is difficult for a child to translate a thought into a detailed speech message, although he understands the semantic content of the situation depicted in the picture or the story he read, and he answers the teacher’s questions correctly.
• The presence of speech underdevelopment in the structure of the defect in mental retardation determines the need for special speech therapy assistance. Therefore, along with a speech pathologist, a speech therapist should work with each group of children.
• Considering the psychological structure of mental retardation in preschool age, we can highlight the insufficient development of the motivational and goal-oriented basis of activity, the sphere of images and representations, and the underdevelopment of sign-symbolic activity.
  All of these features are most clearly manifested at the level of gaming activity.
  Children with mental retardation have reduced interest in games and toys; it is difficult for them to come up with the idea of ​​a game; the plots of games gravitate toward stereotypes and primarily concern everyday topics.

• Role behavior is characterized by impulsiveness
  , for example, a child is going to play “Hospital”, enthusiastically puts on a white coat, takes a suitcase with “tools” and goes to the store, as he was attracted by the colorful attributes in the play corner and the actions of other children.
  The game is also not developed as a joint activity: children communicate little with each other in the game, play associations are unstable, conflicts often arise, children communicate little with each other, and collective play does not work out.
• However, unlike mentally retarded preschoolers, who do not develop role-playing without special training, children with mental retardation are at a higher level - they move to the stage of role-playing play. But in comparison with the norm, the level of its development is quite low and requires correction.
• The immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere of children with mental retardation determines the uniqueness of the formation of their behavior and personal characteristics.
  The sphere of communication is suffering. In terms of the level of communicative activity, children are at a lower stage of development. Older preschoolers with mental retardation are not ready for non-situational and personal communication with adults; unlike their normally developing peers, they only achieve the level of situational and business communication. These facts must be taken into account when building a system of pedagogical and psychological correction.
• Problems are noted in the formation of the moral and ethical sphere:
  the sphere of social emotions suffers, children are not ready for “emotionally warm” relationships with peers, emotional contacts with close adults may be disrupted, children are poorly oriented in moral and ethical standards of behavior.

• When mental development is delayed, the child’s social development and personal development are hampered
  : the formation of self-awareness, self-esteem, and the “I” system. In older preschool age, such a child lacks initiative, his emotions are not bright enough, he does not know how to express his emotional state, and finds it difficult to understand the states of other people. The child cannot regulate his behavior on the basis of learned norms and rules and is not ready for volitional regulation of behavior.
• Without special correctional pedagogical assistance, such a child turns out to be psychologically unprepared for school in all respects.
• As a rule, health is weakened and a reduced level of physical development is noted
  (i.e., the child does not reach “school maturity”).
• Motivational readiness is not formed
  . Even if a child wants to go to school, he is more attracted to educational paraphernalia; he comes to school to play, not to study.
• There is a low level of emotional-volitional readiness. The child cannot obey the rules of discipline and is not capable of prolonged intellectual effort.
• All structural components of educational activities have not been formed
  . When performing educational tasks, the child does not show interest in them, strives to quickly finish an activity that is unattractive to him, and does not complete the work. It is noted that the general ability to learn in children with mental retardation is undeveloped, which underlies the decline in learning ability and determines the problems of schooling.

• That. The most important difference between such children is the lack of readiness for the learning process at school, immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere, problems arise with behavior, relationships in the team and with teachers. When organizing free activity, they also experience difficulties due to the underdevelopment of creativity. This condition is aggravated by an unhealthy nervous system: headaches arise from an overabundance of information, the nervous system is overloaded (against the background of which nervous exhaustion and absent-mindedness develop). All this leads to a decrease in overall performance. In such cases, you should treat the child with increased attention and patience. Lack of attention also negatively affects the perceptual function, which is manifested in the surface of knowledge and its fragmentary nature. It has been noticed that such children find it difficult to recognize an object when it is in an unusual position, contour and schematic images, especially when they overlap each other. The pace of information processing slows down because memory processes are not productive enough and memory capacity is limited.

4. Features of correctional and pedagogical work with children with mental retardation.

Through scientific knowledge and practical experiments, a unified policy for the education of children with developmental delays has now been developed in Russia. For this purpose, special correctional educational institutions of the 7th type were created.

Correctional and developmental classes
have been introduced at mass secondary educational schools In correctional orientation, the educational process consists of two stages of general education.

• The first stage
  is primary general education, where the average duration is 4-5 years.
• The second stage is
  basic general education, where the average term is 5 years.

Enrollment of children in special correctional institutions is carried out based on the conclusion of the PMPC with the consent of the parents

.

Class size: twelve people

, which facilitates the work of the teacher himself so that he can devote maximum teaching time to each student.

• Upon completion of the course of primary education, if deviations are corrected, it is possible for the student to be transferred to a mass educational institution
  .
  In general education schools, the staffing of correctional classes is carried out according to the recommendations of the PMPC. In this case, children study using secondary school textbooks, but according to a specially developed program.
• To date, the best developments and results are provided by the primary school program. Psychological and pedagogical correction throughout the entire period of study should implement a comprehensive, systematic and individual approach.
  At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the unevenness and discontinuity of interests and cognitive needs of students, selecting those types of activities that cause maximum motivation, and at the same time overcoming the fear of classes (for example, developing communication skills in oral speech in children who stutter).
  It should be remembered that these students require special attention and individual approach. Therefore, training sessions must be combined with therapeutic and recreational activities that strengthen physical health in general and morale, developing discipline and determination.

• It is necessary for each student to clearly explain a new topic or the meaning of a task,
  
  use cards or visual aids
  more often than in high school (due to the underdevelopment of abstract thinking in children), give the child the opportunity to focus only on the material being studied and free him from work not directly related to with the material being studied.
  It is also necessary to remember that children get tired quickly and, therefore, not to overload them with tasks.
  Often the lessons themselves, especially in primary grades, cannot be longer than 25-30 minutes.
• The system of correctional and developmental education is a form of education in which children with developmental delays and other psychophysical disabilities receive almost the same knowledge as completely healthy children.

CORRECTIONAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL DISTRIBUTION

• Correctional and developmental education for children with mental retardation in a general education school takes place according to the secondary education program, but taking into account the mental and physical capabilities of the children. Compensatory classes
  are usually provided by secondary schools. Referral to them occurs at the conclusion of the PMPC with the consent of the parents.
• There are two types of such classes.

First constants

.
Children with mild pathologies
study there .
Here a special program is being developed aimed at facilitating perceptual processes and memorization
.
The standard duration of lessons (45 minutes) and their number remain the same. The class size is 12-15 people. The training program is characterized by a somewhat slower pace of presentation of new material and increased control aimed at understanding and consolidation.

• During classes, visual aids and cards are used more actively, and more time is devoted to understanding the world around us.
  This includes, for example, natural history classes in nature with a detailed explanation of basic concepts and their visual demonstration,
  compensatory physical education classes taking into account the capabilities of children
  .
  In addition, in addition to the basic ones, a number of invariant subjects are introduced, such as rhythm, dancing, manual labor, and speech development
  . The presence of such courses helps to enrich vocabulary, develop correct word usage and literacy, immerse the child in the speech environment as much as possible, and increase his communication needs and skills. In addition, emotional tone and self-esteem increase, the quality of reaction to ongoing events improves, i.e. the child becomes more adequate and more developed.

• The second
  are
  individual and group classes, where children with similar disabilities, problems in education and general level of development are brought together.
• These can be general developmental activities aimed at improving memory, attention, developing thinking, and consolidating difficult sounds.
  Another option for such courses is their subject focus
  on eliminating problems in the knowledge of certain subjects from the school curriculum
  .
  When teaching, attention is always paid to the individuality of the child himself, the characteristics of his memory, thinking, understanding, attention, speech. The method of solving the task, perseverance, performance, and fatigue threshold are taken into account. In elementary grades, such classes are held according to the curriculum on average 3 times a week before or after main lessons with a duration of no more than 15-20 minutes.
  The selection process is based on the principle that all students have similar problems, and a prerequisite is the presence of no more than three people.
  During individual lessons, correctional work can be carried out to eliminate incorrect speaking, writing, reading skills, training in working with special didactic materials, working with contour maps, diagrams and graphs.

Features of training in correction classes

.

Each lesson is a continuation of the previous one

. If you select the main questions of the topic and repeat them at each lesson, then by the final lesson all the children will have mastered the topic.

Multiple repetition of basic material

-one of the working methods. Reproductive methods are also optimal, because they allow children to see the main thing in the material being studied, systematize it, and repeat it according to a pattern.

It must be remembered that children from the correction class need a period of “getting used to” the material . You can't rush them

. It is necessary to take into account the low speed of reading, counting and writing. It is important to remember that students are not able to retell even the material they understand, so we have to teach them everything: listen, retell, etc.

The teacher is obliged to instill in children the belief that they will definitely understand and remember the material. For better memorization, tasks of the same type are often offered

(one was decided with the teacher, the other was decided together with the class, the third was decided by each individual).

The material must be presented in small doses, each of them reinforced by repetition, stating what has been said, solving a problematic issue

; Connect 2-3 doses of the material being studied with a brief retelling. A teacher working in a correction class must learn to come up with tasks that go from simple to complex, not chase after an abundance of new information, be able to select the main thing from what is being studied, present it clearly, repeat it and consolidate it.

The main component of the job is communication.

If the teacher fails to win over the children, he will not receive learning results.

• A special feature of work in the correction class is the organization of independent activities of students.
  The completion of any educational task is initially planned, and then offered as an independent task.
• Help is activated only when the student is unable to complete the task independently
  . The assistance itself is dosed and provided according to the principle from minimum to maximum. The purpose of such an organization is to help the child complete a task, to find out how sensitive he is to this help, and whether he accepts it. Forms and types of assistance can be very different. In terms of form, one should distinguish between frontal assistance (addressed to the entire class) and individually directed assistance (to each specific student). Among the types of assistance, three main types can be distinguished:
• stimulating;
• guide;
• educational.

• A stimulating type of help
  occurs when a student does not engage in work after receiving a task or when work is completed but done incorrectly. In the first case, the teacher approaches the student and helps him organize himself, encourages him, and instills confidence in his ability to cope with the work.
• In the second
  , it indicates the presence of an error in the work and the need to check the solution. Guiding assistance is provided when the student finds it difficult to take the first step and perform subsequent actions. The teacher either draws the child’s attention to solving a similar problem, or helps to outline a plan of action. Teaching assistance is necessary when it is necessary to show what and how to do in order to solve a learning problem or correct a mistake. Many researchers note that children with mental retardation cannot complete certain tasks due to their inability to organize themselves in the process of activity, although in terms of their level of intellectual capabilities they should be able to easily cope with them. During frontal work in the classroom, the student completely fails to cope with the task, but in conditions of individual work, with the help of the teacher, he completes the same task correctly. This affects the immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere. Overcoming mental retardation depends on the nature of stimulation of the child’s cognitive activity by an adult. It is important to take these features into account when working with children with mental retardation.

Thank you for your attention

Diagnostics

The presence of mental retardation in a child can only be confirmed by special diagnostics. Specialists in the field can understand the nature and depth of existing violations during a comprehensive examination:

• psychotherapist;
• speech pathologist;
• psychologist;
• speech therapist;
• pediatrician.

All of them are included in a special medical and pedagogical commission, at which the diagnosis is confirmed or refuted, a final decision is made, and recommendations are given on the further development of the child. In addition to psychological characteristics, they carefully study dynamics (data are provided for the last 2-3 years):

• school performance;
• the nature of errors in mathematics and the Russian language;
• handwriting features;
• state of motor skills;
• pace of activity and many other aspects.

The commission is also provided with the results of a full medical examination and medical history.

Based on the data obtained, a conclusion is made whether the child has mental development delay. But, as mentioned earlier, a medical diagnosis of mental retardation has not been made since 1997. In conclusion, terminology from the following part of ICD-10 is used:

Education

Where and how can a child with mental retardation study:

• integrated education in secondary schools;
• correctional and developmental education based on a person-centered approach in general educational institutions;
• training in educational institutions of the VII type, where all the features of the educational activities of children with mental retardation are taken into account as much as possible.

In 2020, an important document was approved regulating the education of children with mental retardation in secondary schools. This is the “Adapted basic general education program for primary general education for students with mental retardation.” It is included in the “Special basic general education programs of primary general education of the Federal State Educational Standard”. This system has been implemented in regular educational institutions (not correctional) throughout the Russian Federation since September 1, 2020 in accordance with the Letter of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation dated June 7, 2013 “On correctional and inclusive education of children.”

From this moment on, children with mental retardation have every right to study not in a correctional school, but in a regular general education school, together with their normally developing peers. In this case, teachers and parents should take into account the following teaching features:

• they require more attention and individual approach;
• they study according to a separate, simplified program;
• Problems in mastering the material are not due to laziness and negligence, but to inability.

Educational psychologists insist that it is much more productive to send a child with mental retardation to a specialized correctional school or transfer him to home schooling.

Features of teaching younger schoolchildren with mental retardation

Bibliographic description:

Dolgoborodova, D. A. Features of teaching primary schoolchildren with mental retardation / D. A. Dolgoborodova, V. A. Varentsov. — Text: immediate // Current issues of modern psychology: materials of the IV International. scientific conf. (Krasnodar, February 2020). — Krasnodar: Novation, 2020. — pp. 52-54. — URL: https://moluch.ru/conf/psy/archive/237/11717/ (access date: 10.10.2020).


In this article we will talk about the features of teaching children of primary school age with mental retardation. Students with mental retardation lag behind their peers, which means that the methods and methods of teaching that will be used will differ.

When working with underachieving children in a public school, teachers usually take an individual approach. They try to identify problems in the child’s development in every possible way and correct them in various ways: they repeat the explanation of the material and give additional exercises, relatively more often they use visual teaching aids and a variety of cards, in different ways organize the attention of such children and attract them to the collective work of the class, etc. Such measures at certain stages of education certainly give positive results. However, if a child does not succeed due to mental retardation, then the success achieved in this way in most cases turns out to be only temporary; In the future, children accumulate more and more gaps in knowledge.

This makes it necessary, when teaching children with mental retardation, to use special correctional and pedagogical influences, combined with therapeutic and recreational measures. In this case, it is necessary to find individual methods for each child. Educational material should be given in small doses, and its complexity should be gradual. It is necessary to teach and accustom children to use previously acquired knowledge.

It is known that children with mental retardation get tired quickly. In this regard, they need to switch from one type of activity to another. In addition, it is necessary to diversify the types of activities. It is very important that the activity is interesting to the child and stimulates emotional upliftment. This is facilitated by the use of colorful additional and didactic materials. It is very important to speak to your child in a soft, friendly tone and encourage him for the slightest success. This should be the approach to children with delayed psychological development.

However, such a general pedagogical approach alone is not enough. Special correctional work is also necessary, expressed in the systematic filling of gaps in children’s basic knowledge and practical experience, as well as in developing their readiness to master the fundamentals of scientific knowledge in the process of studying specific subjects. The corresponding work is included in the content of the initial training in specific subjects in the form of preparatory sections for various topics.

While mastering the content of these preparatory sections, children with mental retardation master the knowledge and skills that their normally developing peers develop in the process of acquiring life experience. Preparatory work cannot be limited to a short period of time at the beginning of a child’s school life; it will be necessary throughout many years of education, since the study of each new section of the curriculum must be based on practical knowledge and experience, which, as research has shown, children with mental retardation usually lack.

But even such preparatory work in individual academic subjects is not enough. In addition, special correctional work is needed to enrich children with a variety of knowledge about the world around them, to develop their analytical observation, to form mental operations of abstraction, generalization, comparison, and to accumulate experience in practical generalizations. All of these are necessary prerequisites for creating the ability to independently “obtain” knowledge and use it.

Corrective work carried out with the aim of forming knowledge and ideas about the environment serves as one of the means of activating the cognitive activity of students and increasing the level of their overall development.

In addition, it is important for the speech development of students with mental retardation. Such work helps to clarify the content of speech in connection with the improvement and expansion of ideas and concepts. During oral statements about understandable, easily perceived life phenomena, children master various forms of speech (pronunciation, grammatical structure).

It must be taken into account that the speech of children with mental retardation is very poor. They do not understand many words and expressions (or understand them very specifically), which naturally slows down the assimilation of educational material. It is clear that students’ answers in class must be correct not only in essence, but also in form. This means that students must use words in their exact meanings, construct sentences grammatically correctly, clearly pronounce sounds, words and phrases, and express themselves logically and expressively.

An integral part of correctional classes for children with mental retardation is the normalization of their activities in the process of special correctional work. It is carried out in all lessons and outside of school hours. Sometimes there is a need for special classes. Thus, during educational and correctional work with children with mental retardation, the following rules must be adhered to:

1) It is necessary to carry out an individual approach to each of the children in general education lessons and during correctional classes;

2) It is necessary to prevent the onset of fatigue, using a variety of means (alternating mental and practical activities, presenting material in small doses, using interesting and colorful didactic material, etc.);

3) In the learning process, you should use those methods with which you can maximize the cognitive activity of children, develop their speech and form the necessary skills;

4) The system of correctional measures must provide for preparatory classes (for mastering sections of the program) and ensure that children are enriched with knowledge about the world around them;

5) During lessons and outside of school hours, it is necessary to pay attention to the correction of children’s activities;

6) When working with children of this category, the teacher must show special pedagogical tact. It is very important to constantly notice and encourage the slightest successes of children, to help each child in a timely and tactful manner, to develop in him faith in his own strengths and capabilities.

Thus, drawing a conclusion, we can say that approaches to teaching children with mental retardation differ from approaches to teaching normal children: it is necessary to devote more time and more effort to such a student, come up with individual methods of work, involve other specialists, and it is also necessary to involve parents in the process training so that the child works not only during class time, but also at home with the help of parents. It is necessary to use all methods to motivate the child to the learning process.

The textbook by S. O. Portnyagina, L. V. Solovyova, N. S. Shevtsova provides recommendations for teachers to follow:

– it is necessary to constantly maintain self-confidence, to provide the student with a subjective experience of success with certain efforts. The difficulty of tasks should increase gradually, in proportion to the child’s capabilities;

– do not require a child with mental retardation to change an unsuccessful answer; it is better to ask him to answer after some time;

– at the time of completing a task, it is unacceptable to distract the student with any additions, clarifications, instructions, since their switching process is very reduced;

– try to facilitate learning activities by using visual supports in lessons (pictures, diagrams, tables), but do not get carried away too much, since the volume of perception is reduced;

– activate the work of all analyzers (motor, visual, auditory, kinesthetic). Children must listen, watch, speak, etc.

– it is necessary to develop self-control, give the opportunity to independently find mistakes in yourself and your comrades, but do this tactfully, using game techniques;

– Careful preparation is required before each lesson. What is important is not the speed and quantity of work done, but the thoroughness and correctness of performing the simplest tasks;

– the teacher should not forget about the developmental characteristics of such children, give a short-term opportunity for rest in order to prevent overwork, and evenly include dynamic pauses in the lesson (every 10 minutes);

– there is no need to teach more than two new concepts in a lesson. In work, try to activate not so much mechanical as semantic memory;

– to concentrate distracted attention, it is necessary to pause before a task, use intonation and surprise techniques (knocks, claps, musical instruments, bells, etc.)

– it is necessary to resort to additional stimulation (praise, competitions, tokens, chips, stickers, etc.);

– create the most calm atmosphere possible during a lesson or lesson, maintain an atmosphere of goodwill;

– the pace of presentation of educational material should be calm, even, slow, with repeated repetition of the main points;

– all techniques and methods must correspond to the capabilities of children with mental retardation and their characteristics. Children should feel a sense of satisfaction and confidence in their abilities.

Literature:

1. Skoromets A. P., Kryukova I. A., Fomina T. V. Mental development delays in children and principles of their correction (review) [Electronic resource] - Access mode: https://www.lvrach.ru/2011/05 /15435193/
2. Special psychology: Proc. aid for students higher ped. textbook institutions / Ed. V. I. Lubovsky. - M.: Vlados, 2006.-703 p.
3. Shevchenko S. G. Correctional and developmental training: Organizational and pedagogical aspects. - M.: Humanitarian Publishing Center Vlados. - 1999. - P.136

Key terms
(automatically generated)
: mental development, child, delay, knowledge, learning process, special correctional work, lesson, educational material, out-of-class time, individual approach.

Treatment and correction

Depending on the type of mental retardation and the individual characteristics of the child, specialized specialists develop a correctional and developmental program for the child to study. It includes various blocks that provide an integrated approach to solving existing problems.

Drug therapy

Drug treatment for children with mental retardation is selected individually by a psychotherapist or neurologist. Nootropics are most often prescribed to:

• stimulate the central nervous system;
• improve memory and mental activity;
• increase the brain’s resistance to hypoxia and toxic effects;
• activate cerebral blood flow.

Most often, children with mental retardation are prescribed the following nootropic drugs:

They cannot be given without a doctor's permission!

Microcurrent reflexology

This is a hardware effect of electrical impulses on bioactive points of the brain, the so-called neuroreflex zones. Targetedly restores the functioning of the nervous system exactly where there are disturbances. Microcurrents selectively process the brain centers responsible for intellectual abilities, speech activity, diction, and vocabulary.

Organized in a hospital setting. True, not all parents give consent to the procedure.

Psychological and pedagogical correctional classes

A child with mental retardation should regularly attend psychologist classes. The goal is to adjust mental development in such a way that it improves his quality of life. Among the main tasks:

• increase the level of intellectual, emotional and social development;
• develop gross and fine motor skills;
• expand your vocabulary and conceptual apparatus.

Parents have the right to know what the program of the psychologist who works with their child includes. Points that raise doubts or mistrust must be agreed upon in advance.

Psychological work with children suffering from mental retardation involves the use of a variety of techniques.

Psychotherapeutic areas:

• isotherapy;
• sand therapy;
• music therapy;
• puppet therapy;
• fairytale therapy;
• logorhythmics;
• methods of object-sensory therapy.

During classes, the psychologist organizes didactic games with multi-colored stripes, cubes, sticks, geometric shapes (including three-dimensional ones) and special cards. Examples of several such games are presented below.

"Guess the Emotion"

It is carried out either in a group of 5-6 similar children with mental retardation, or in pairs with a psychologist. Cards with schematic representations of various emotions are placed on the table. It is proposed to take one of them at random, name what is in the picture, and try to depict this feeling using facial expressions, voice, and gestures. You can make the task more difficult and ask them to name the situation in which this emotion most often manifests itself.

"Find the number"

Pictures and three-dimensional figures of different numbers are laid out on the table. They all differ in size and color. The psychologist names a number - you need to select all the matches from the proposed material (for example, all twos or eights).

"Mood Lotto"

There are cards on the table with animals with different faces on them. The psychologist names an emotion (shows a picture of it or depicts it himself) - the child must choose the right card for it.

"Magic bag"

Small voluminous things that are easily recognizable by touch are put into a beautiful bag: a mirror, an alarm clock, a pencil, a notepad, a ruler, etc. You need to put your hand in there with your eyes closed, take out any object and guess what it is.

"Mood Palette"

There are cards with different shades of mood on the table. The psychologist asks the question: “How do you feel now?” — the child must answer using a drawing. After this, the question is transformed several times: “How is your mother feeling today?”, “What do you think is your cat’s mood?” etc.

Alternative techniques

Additionally, specialized specialists can prescribe modern, non-traditional correction methods:

• hippotherapy;
• canistherapy;
• dolphin therapy;
• feline therapy.

Timely and competently carried out psychocorrectional work gives positive results.

Features of teaching children with mental retardation

Marina Belyanskaya

Features of teaching children with mental retardation

Features of teaching children with mental retardation.

For children with mental retardation, a number of characteristic features , these include: emotional-volitional and cognitive activity, behavior and personality of the child as a whole. Multiple studies have identified the following main characteristics of children with mental retardation - this is high exhaustion, and as a result of which, low ability to work ; lack of preparedness of feelings, freedom of action; a small reserve of common knowledge and views; small lexical baggage. Also, children with this pathology are characterized by a low ability for mental play work. Understanding is characterized by slowness. In mental activity, difficulties in verbal and logical operations are observed. A child with mental retardation experiences changes in all types of memory; they do not have the ability to use additional resources for the purpose of memorization. They need the longest period for the purpose of the method and processing of the received data.

In persistent forms of mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin, in addition to cognitive impairments predetermined by the pathology of work ability , there is often a low development of single cortical or subcortical functions: auditory, visual perception, spatial synthesis. In children with mental retardation , the motor and sensory aspects of speech, long-term and short-term memory also suffer.

Research has shown that when teaching children with this pathology , it is necessary to take into account the above-mentioned developmental features inherent in these children along with their general features. Therefore, along with common characteristics , children with mental retardation of various clinical etiologies have characteristics that must be taken into account in psychological research , during study and correctional work. When organizing the process of teaching children with mental retardation , it is necessary to know that such children solve problems of a practical and intellectual nature at the level of their age. They are shown to be able to use the support shown, can understand the content of an illustration, a narrative, and navigate solving a common problem and other tasks. However, these students are characterized by insufficient cognitive initiative, which, in combination with rapid fatigue and exhaustion, can significantly slow down their preparation and formation.

Rapid overwork leads to loss of ability to work , which is why children with mental retardation develop difficulties in mastering the curriculum. They cannot retain in their memory the requirements of the task assigned to them, they cannot remember a dictated sentence, they forget phrases; make awkward mistakes in written work; often, instead of solving a problem, they simply automatically manipulate numbers; become unable to evaluate the results of their own actions; their views of the world around them are narrow and monotonous.

Such students are not able to concentrate on the lesson and are not ready to subordinate their actions to rules that include a number of conditions. Many of them are dominated by gaming arguments.

Noteworthy is the fact that in some cases they are actively involved in the work of the whole class and solve assigned problems in the same way with all students, but they immediately get tired, distracted, and stop learning the lesson, as a result of which significant disadvantages arise in their knowledge.

Thus, the above characteristic features of children with mental retardation cannot go unnoticed by teachers. Which, in turn, try to provide special assistance to such students. Teachers identify gaps in their knowledge, and it is the responsibility of each teacher to fill these gaps with the help of specific pedagogical methods and techniques used in pedagogical work with such children. These methods provide additional classes for children with mental retardation , they include: explanation of the material covered, performing additional exercises; using various visual teaching aids and a variety of cards that help the child focus on the main material of study. At the same time, they free him from activities that are not related to the given topic, thereby attracting the child’s attention to the material being studied. The listed measures give their results at different stages of learning , allowing the student to achieve certain temporary successes. As a result, the teacher considers the student’s abilities as lagging behind in development and taking a long time to master the material.

At the stage of stable performance, children with mental retardation also exhibit strengths that usually appear when children perform tasks that are accessible and interesting to them, provided that these tasks do not require prolonged intellectual effort and take place in a quiet and supportive atmosphere.

With such an individual approach on the part of teachers and in such a state, students with mental retardation demonstrate the ability to independently master educational material. Or with a little support from the teacher, these children also demonstrate the ability to solve mental problems, almost to the same extent as other, normally developing peers .

A similar picture is observed in classroom activities. The children have every chance to master the educational material relatively quickly, write the exercise correctly and, following the goal of the task, correct errors in the work. By the third – fourth grade, some students with mental retardation develop an interest in reading under the influence of teachers’ activities.

Children, being in a state of relatively good working ability , are able to retell the text available to them in a consistent and detailed form. They answer questions about the text quite correctly and are able to identify the main idea from the text, but, however, not without the help of the teacher. If a child liked the story, then it can evoke a strong and deep emotional reaction in him.

Having reached the age of seven or eight years, such children find it difficult to adapt to the working mode of the lesson, because they perceive the lesson as a game: they run around the class, ask random questions, talk with their friends.

When the excitement subsides and the children get tired, they begin to behave differently, some become passive and lethargic, lie down on their desks and lose interest in the lesson, other children, on the contrary, become even more excitable, disinhibited and restless.

At such moments, the teacher needs to use special methods and great tact to bring children out of such a state .

Some students who, realizing their learning , make attempts to assert themselves in their own way:

they try to subjugate comrades who are physically weaker than them, command them, force them to do the work of cleaning the classroom, which they do not like.

They pretend to be "heroes"

, in ridiculous and risky
ways , they can jump from a height, climb dangerous stairs in order to attract attention, they also boast about actions that they have never committed, thereby, as if compensating for their lagging behind in their studies.
However, these students, as a rule, are susceptible to unfair reproaches; they react sharply to them and cannot calm down for a long time.

Children with mental retardation who are weaker in their physical development tend to obey stronger peers and declare them their “authority”

, unconditionally obey him and support him even when their
“leader”
is wrong.

Abnormal behavior, which is found in younger students in fairly harmless actions, may over time develop into stable character traits if teachers, educators and the adults around them do not take appropriate educational measures in a timely manner.

To successfully work with children with mental retardation must thoroughly study the developmental features of children with mental retardation , which is extremely important for understanding the general approach to working with them.

What should parents do?

Psychologists and teachers who work directly with children who have mental retardation give useful recommendations to parents to speed up their development.

To begin with, parents will have to not only understand, but also accept the fact that the child will learn more slowly than his peers and lag behind them in his studies. In order not to demand too much from him, to be patient with his characteristics, they need to be studied and taken into account when communicating and studying.

Homework alone cannot solve the problem of mental retardation. Therefore, the second step for parents who want to help their child is to seek qualified help from specialized specialists - a special education teacher, a psychologist or a psychotherapist. Taking into account individual characteristics, they will give recommendations on what exactly needs to be done.

General tips:

1. Exercise daily for 30-40 minutes.
2. Pay more attention to the child, organize time together, communicate, involve other relatives.
3. Provide a comfortable atmosphere in the family.
4. Normalize the daily routine, introduce a healthy lifestyle, provide a balanced diet, increase physical activity and stay in the fresh air.
5. Communicate with other parents of the same children (for example, through communities on social networks).
6. Organize communication with peers.
7. Don't tell your child that he is special. Do not regret that he is not like everyone else.
8. Assign household chores, animal care, teach self-care.
9. Don't raise your voice, be patient no matter what happens.
10. Keep a diary to note all your successes - these entries will help you adjust your future work.