Features of educational and cognitive activity of primary schoolchildren with mental retardation and characteristics of typical disorders. Child with mental retardation at school

Delayed children mental development come to school with the same characteristics that are characteristic of older preschoolers. In general, this is expressed in the lack of school readiness: their knowledge and ideas about the surrounding reality are incomplete, fragmentary, the basic mental operations are not sufficiently formed, and the existing ones are unstable, cognitive interests are expressed extremely poorly, there is no educational motivation, the desire they demonstrate to go to school is associated only with external paraphernalia (purchase of a backpack, pencils, notebooks, etc.), speech is not formed to the required level, in particular, even elements of monologue speech are absent, voluntary regulation of behavior is absent.

Due to these characteristics, it is extremely difficult for children with mental retardation to comply with the school regime and obey clear rules of behavior, i.e. Difficulties in school adaptation are revealed. During lessons, they cannot sit still, they spin around, stand up, move objects on the table and in their bag, and crawl under the table. During recess they run aimlessly, shout, and often start meaningless fuss. Hyperactivity, which is characteristic of most of them, also plays a significant role in this behavior.

Their educational activity is characterized by low productivity: they often do not master the tasks given by the teacher, cannot concentrate on completing them for a relatively long time, and are distracted by any extraneous stimuli.

This behavior is especially typical for children with mental retardation who have not undergone preschool training in a special kindergarten. Children who have spent at least a year in a special kindergarten or worked with a special education teacher in a correctional group are usually relatively prepared for school, and the longer the period of correctional work with them, the better. However, even in these cases, lack of attention, hyperactivity, defects in motor coordination, delays in speech development, and difficulties in regulating behavior often appear.

Next, we will characterize the characteristics of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation, with whom correctional work was not carried out in preschool age. They either attended regular kindergartens or were raised at home.

From the above general characteristics of their activities and behavior, let us move on to a more detailed description of the originality mental processes.

Features of attention

U junior schoolchildren with mental retardation, attention is unstable. This instability manifests itself in different ways. Some children experience maximum concentration at the beginning of completing a task, which steadily decreases as the activity continues, and the student begins to make mistakes or completely stops completing the task. For others, the greatest concentration of attention occurs after a certain period of performing given actions, and then gradually decreases. There are children who exhibit periodic fluctuations in attention (G.I. Zharenkova). Typically, sustained performance of any activity is limited to 5-7 minutes in grade I.

Instability of attention is combined with increased distractibility. The noise of a car outside the window, a flying bird - any extraneous stimuli attracts the attention of children, and they stop doing tasks or listening to the teacher.

The influence of various extraneous factors distracting from a given activity was studied comparatively by L. I. Peresleni. In her study, children with normal development and mental retardation were required to respond by pressing a button to tactile-vibration stimuli presented at different intervals on the forearm. At the same time, continuously acting extraneous stimuli were presented to the headphones worn by the children: either white noise, or music (children's songs), or a fairy tale performed by a professional reader. It turned out that noise does not affect the activities of children, music slows down the responses of children with developmental delays, and speech interference (reading a fairy tale) causes an increase in reaction time in both normally developing children (by 7%) and in children with developmental delays (by 7%). 17%). Omissions of responses and erroneous reactions also appear: in normally developing children - on average 2 omissions, in children with mental retardation - six omissions and erroneous reactions of mental development until the end of the initial stage of education. Correction is more successful the faster stable learning motivation is formed. This requires some time, since play motives predominate among children in this category.

At the same time, as was shown by L.V. Kuznetsova, it is possible to use game motivation to develop the sustainability of purposeful activity.

Children who could concentrate on a task for only a few minutes in class were asked to “play school.” One of them played the role of a teacher, the other - a student. The children filled the game with the content of the educational process: they solved examples and wrote letters. The “teachers” gave the “students” tasks that were feasible for themselves. The game also included the “teacher’s” assessment of his “student’s” work. Often the “teachers” took notebooks and completed the same tasks as the “students”. It is significant that such a game could last more than two hours on a positive emotional background and contributed not only to the consolidation of learning skills, but also to the formation of learning motivation.

In younger schoolchildren who have undergone preschool training in a special kindergarten, gross attention deficits are not observed, but manifestations of hyperactivity and attention deficit syndrome are also found in them, especially in conditions of fatigue and increased tension.

Perception

The peculiar features of perception observed in older preschoolers are also characteristic of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation. In the absence of primary defects in vision, hearing and other types of sensitivity, they experience slowness and fragmentation of perception, difficulties in identifying a figure against the background and details in complex images.

At the same time, there are no difficulties in children recognizing familiar objects in realistic images, which further indicates the absence of primary deficiency of sensory functions.

Inaccuracy and slowness of perception are most pronounced in the youngest school age when errors associated with shortcomings in perception are discovered when copying text, reproducing figures from visually presented samples, etc. These shortcomings manifest themselves to the greatest extent when the conditions of perception become more complicated and worse, when, for example, images are shown rotated or when their brightness and clarity decreases . In these cases, as was shown in the study of P. B. Shoshin, the latent period of object recognition increases significantly.

Of course, changes in the conditions of perception also affect normally developed children, but the quantitative differences in these changes are extremely large.

Thus, when an object is rotated by 45°, the time required to identify an image increases by 2.2% in normally developing 8-year-old schoolchildren, and by 31% in their peers with mental retardation; with a decrease in image brightness and clarity - by 12 and 47%, respectively. Consequently, the influence of various complicating factors on the perception of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation is several times more pronounced than that of their normally developing peers. These studies gave rise to the conclusion that many even well-known objects in the environment may not be perceived by a child with mental retardation when they are seen from an unusual angle, poorly lit or significantly removed. Moreover, in a normally developing child, the same conditions do not cause any significant difficulties in perception.

With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, especially the reaction time indicators, which reflect the speed of perception, improve significantly.

According to L.I. Peresleni, the dynamics of the reaction time of choice to tactile signals in children with mental retardation from 8 to 13 years old indicates a gradual approaching of the speed of their perception to that observed in normally developing peers. The reaction time of choice in 8-year-old schoolchildren with mental retardation is 477 ms, which is 64 ms more than in normally developing children, and in 13-14 year olds it is 320 ms, which is only 22 ms more than in normally developing children. Let us note that the choice reaction time of mentally retarded children under the same conditions is significantly longer and exceeds the indicators of normally developing children at 8 years of age by 133 ms, and at 13-14 years of age by 137 ms.

A significant increase in the time of the choice reaction based on stimulus recognition, compared to the time of a simple reaction, which occurs already upon detection of a signal, indicates that the slowness of perception in children with mental retardation is associated with slower processing than in normally developing children. information (i.e. with slower analytical-synthetic activity at the level of secondary and tertiary zones of the cortex). This is directly confirmed by research conducted by L.I. Peresleni and M.N. Fishman. Using the method of recording evoked potentials, they found that the time it takes for excitation to pass from peripheral receptors to projection zone The cortex in children with mental retardation is the same as in normally developing children.

It should be thought that the slowdown in information processing in the process of perception is also influenced by factors such as shortcomings in orienting activity, low speed of perceptual operations and insufficient formation of image-representations - their vagueness and incompleteness. Poverty and insufficient differentiation of visual images in children with mental retardation of primary and secondary school age were established in a study by S. K. Sivolapov.

Researchers also note the dependence of perception on the level of attention. The varying degrees of pronounced influence of several of these factors on the process of perception leads to large variability in indicators of its effectiveness, in particular the spread of reaction times in children with mental retardation. At the same time, a comparison of reaction time with the success of schoolchildren’s learning shows that a greater slowness of perception is characteristic of children with more pronounced developmental delays.

Deficiencies in visual and auditory perception in children, which we attribute to mental retardation, are also noted by foreign authors (V. Cruickshank, 1961; M. Frostig, 1969; S. Blakesley, 1991; S. Curtis and R. Tallal, 1991; etc. .).

The considered shortcomings of perception can be overcome through special correctional activities, which should include the development of orienting activities, the formation of perceptual operations, the active verbalization of the perception process and the comprehension of images.

With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, and this is manifested both in its qualitative characteristics, primarily in the completeness of perception of objects, and in quantitative indicators, which include the speed of perception, the dynamics of which in the range from 8 to 13 years were traced by L. I. Peresleni and P.B. Shoshin (1984). However, these studies do not provide sufficient grounds to consider it possible to fully achieve indicators that would correspond to normal development by the end of schooling.

At the same time, undoubtedly, in the process of learning and development, perceptual operations, purposeful perception (observation) are formed and improved in children of this category, and images and representations develop.

Memory

With the beginning schooling The importance of memory in a child’s activities increases significantly, since the imprinting, preservation and reproduction of information are necessary conditions for mastering a knowledge system.

According to generally accepted ideas and opinions of teachers, schoolchildren with mental retardation remember and reproduce educational material much worse than their normally developing peers. Data from comparative studies reveal a complex picture of these differences.

Let us first consider the features of involuntary memorization, which is usually studied by assessing the results of memorizing objects of some mental activity, for example, images of some objects, or the results of memorizing the content of a listened story.

According to N.G. Poddubnaya (1976), the productivity of reproducing involuntarily imprinted material in first-graders with mental retardation is, on average, 1.6 times lower than that of their normally developing peers, and turns out to be even worse than that of normally developing preschoolers, who are 2 - 3 years younger. At the same time, significant individual differences are noted among children with mental retardation. Those who were more active with the material showed better results.

As with normally developing primary schoolchildren, the rates of memorization of visual material were higher than that of verbal material.

Lower indices of involuntary memory productivity in younger schoolchildren with mental retardation compared to normally developing peers were also obtained in a study by T.V. Egorova (1968). In terms of the “absolute” indicator (the amount of material reproduced), the results of children with mental retardation were even slightly lower than those of their mentally retarded peers. However, the differences are not statistically significant. The complex indicator used in this study (the ratio of the “absolute” indicator to the time spent on reproduction) made it possible to establish that with such an assessment the results of children with mental retardation are statistically significantly worse than those of normally developing children and better than those of mentally retarded children, although in the latter case the differences are insignificant.

At school age, voluntary memorization begins to play an increasingly important role. In the process of learning, the child is faced with a variety of mnemonic tasks that differ in the requirements for time, volume and accuracy of memorization.

In response to these demands, normally developing primary schoolchildren intensively develop memorization and mediation techniques. Voluntary memorization in children with mental retardation is formed at a much slower pace. Thus, according to data obtained by G.B. Shaumarovsh, in terms of the volume of memorization at the beginning of the first year of education, 38.4% of children with mental retardation entered the range of indicators of normally developing first-graders, and at the beginning of the second year of education for such schoolchildren with mental retardation turns out to be only 23%.

Detailed studies of short-term memory in schoolchildren with mental retardation in comparison with normally developing and mentally retarded children were carried out by V.L. Podobed. The memory capacity for numbers and words was assessed in 8-year-old and 10-year-old children (Table 1).

The data obtained by V.L. Podobed for each of the groups indicate significant differences between them.

Comparison age dynamics indicators of the volume of short-term verbal memory, according to G.B. Shaumarov and V.L. Podobed, finds that not only a year after the start of training, but also two years later, the same pattern is noted: an increase in the volume of temporary verbal memory in children with delayed mental development is approximately half that of their normally developing peers.

Comparatively better performance is observed with voluntary memorization of visual material.

When memorizing sets of 20 pictures with images of well-known objects, primary schoolchildren with mental retardation reproduced after the first presentation only 4.5% fewer pictures than their normally developing peers.

Table 1

Average group indicators of memorization by schoolchildren after a single presentation

10 objects

However, upon repeated presentation of the pictures, significant differences were noted between the children of these two groups. According to the results of the fifth reproduction, they amounted to 18% (Table 2).

T.V. Egorova explains these differences by the fact that improvement in results in normally developing children from the first to the fifth reproduction depends on the ability to retain all the initially reproduced material throughout all repeated presentations and add to it after each subsequent presentation something not previously imprinted . But children with mental retardation remember less after each presentation and “lose” more.

A clear confirmation of this explanation is the indicator of the percentage of objects named in all five reproductions to the results of the first reproduction: for children with mental retardation it is 31%, and for normally developing children -59%.

It has been noted that children with mental retardation, in contrast to normally developing ones, often name the same object repeatedly during reproduction.

Table 2. Results of assessing voluntary memorization of visual objects, %

The reviewed study by T.V. Egorova indicates that in children with mental retardation, the differences between visual (figurative) and verbal memory (in favor of visual) are significantly greater than among normally developing peers. It also speaks of a weakness of self-control, manifested in repeated reproductions of the same imprinted elements by children with mental retardation.

Characterizing general features short-term memory of children with mental retardation in comparison with the memory of normally developing ones, V.L. Podobed 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, low selectivity (the latter detected when there are requirements for selective reproduction of individual parts of the captured material).

American psychologists believe that the lower efficiency of short-term memory of children with learning difficulties is the result of a slower reception and processing of information. as a result of which a situation arises of insufficient time for this information to enter into short term memory(S. Curtis and R. Tallal, 1991). What is not included in short-term memory cannot be transferred to long-term memory, and this limits the volume of the latter (F. Vellutino, 1987; R. Tallal, S. Miller and R. Fitch, 1993).

The differences between children with mental retardation and normally developing children turn out to be significantly greater in the amount of long-term memory. Taking into account this feature of memory, in schools and classes for children with mental retardation, much more frequent repetition of the material covered in a variety of forms of presentation is organized compared to a regular school.

In the development of memory as a higher mental function, an important place is occupied by the formation of mediation techniques. In the studies of N. G. Poddubnaya and T. V. Egorova, it was shown that normally developing children, not only primary schoolchildren, but also older preschoolers, can quite freely use the technique of mediation (for example, in the form of matching pictures to words that are offered for memorization).

Younger schoolchildren with mental retardation accept the task of using pictures as a support for memorizing words, but their efficiency of indirect memorization is much lower than that of their normally developing schoolchildren. The greatest differences between children with mental retardation and normally developing children are noted precisely in terms of indirect memorization.

Table 3. Results of the study of indirect memorization, %

Table 3 presents the results of a study conducted by T.V. Egorova with normally developing students, with mental retardation and mentally retarded students of the fourth year of study.

As can be seen from the table, the results of children with mental retardation differ significantly from the indicators of normally developing schoolchildren. In terms of the number of correctly reproduced words, as well as the number of unreproduced words, they are closer to the mentally retarded.

Analysis of the results of all experimental studies and observations of children in the process of memorization and reproduction, including in the process educational activities, made it possible to identify a number of qualitative features of memory that distinguish them from normally developing younger schoolchildren.

These features include:

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 chosen to remember, the name of the object depicted in it was reproduced;

Inability to deliberately apply rational methods of memorization (for example, to use a plan when memorizing a coherent text or to correlate and comprehend the memorized material in a certain way);

Low mental activity during the reproduction process.

In the process of learning from class to class, the memory of children with mental retardation improves, however, as studies by V.L. Podobed have shown, up to grades V - VI, their memorization rates are 10-15% lower than those of normally developing peers.

Moreover, the data from a study by G.B. Shaumarov, conducted using Wechsler tests, indicate that the difference between the indicators of second-graders with mental retardation and the results of normally developing peers turns out to be greater (in favor of normally developing) than the difference in the same indicators among first-graders.

This does not mean that second-graders remember the material of the corresponding subtest worse than first-graders. This relative deterioration in indicators is due to the fact that in normally developing schoolchildren, from the very beginning of their education, voluntary memory and various techniques mediation, and in children with mental retardation this occurs at a much slower pace, which leads to an increase in the gap between the indicators of the norm and developmental delay.

Thinking

Thinking as a mental activity, regardless of its type, always represents a solution to some problem. This task can be set by the subject of mental activity. That is, in relation to the solver, the formulation of the problem can be either passive or active.

Normally developing primary schoolchildren are already characterized by the ability to independently pose questions and find their solutions. This formulation of tasks is one of the manifestations of cognitive activity. In younger schoolchildren with mental retardation, cognitive activity is extremely low, which is the most pronounced manifestation of the low level of their mental activity in general and extremely weak cognitive motivation. In its turn low level cognitive motivation leads to the fact that younger schoolchildren in this category, in contrast to normally developing ones, rarely show readiness to solve mental problems.

At the beginning of schooling, they are found to be unformed even in basic mental operations and actions, which normally developing children already master in older preschool age. This lack of formation is manifested both in the complete inability to use some mental operations, and in the instability, depending on the complexity of the task, of those operations and mental actions that they seem to already know how to use.

In a study by G.B. Shaumarov (1980), it was shown that only 20.5% of first-graders with mental retardation perform simple mathematical operations at a level corresponding to the low performance of their normally developing peers.

Due to low cognitive activity in preschool age, the experience of solving various mental problems, and, consequently, the experience of using mental operations and actions in these children is very limited. To a large extent, this is the reason for the inability to use even formed mental operations. Insufficient selectivity is also revealed, i.e. the ability to select from the available “arsenal” the operation necessary in a given particular case.

The use of mental operations, i.e. The actual solution of the problem is preceded by a very important stage - orientation in the conditions of the problem. This stage also turns out to be defective; it is formed in younger schoolchildren of the group under consideration with a significant lag from what happens in normally developing children who have a preliminary orientation in a task already at an older preschool age.

Experimental study of all three types of thinking using different methods, including tasks of varying degrees of complexity, conducted by T.V. Egorova and other researchers (O.P. Monkyevichene, K. Novakova, M.M. Mamedov) in junior, middle and senior school age, gives reason to believe that by the end of primary school age, visual-effective thinking turns out to be closest to the level of formation corresponding to the average norm. Young schoolchildren with mental retardation cope with solving simple problems of the appropriate type just as successfully as their normally developing peers, and more complex problems are solved if they are provided with one or two types of assistance (for example, after additional stimulation and demonstration of a detailed model).

Solving problems of a visual-figurative nature, although significantly improved compared to older preschool age, the level of success differs significantly from what happens with normally developing peers.

As for verbal-logical thinking, in general, its level remains significantly lower than that typical for normally developing schoolchildren.

At the same time, despite the improvement in test performance indicators, some lag of children with mental retardation from normally developing children in terms of average indicators persists until they graduate from basic school. This lag is unevenly expressed when solving mental problems of various types.

According to O.P. Monkevičienė (1988), who traced the dynamics of mental activity in children with mental retardation from the fifth to the ninth year of study (i.e., from the beginning to the end of middle school age), at the beginning of middle school age there is a lag in development mental activity is manifested to the greatest extent when performing verbal-logical tasks, less - when solving visual-figurative ones, and least significantly - when solving visual-effective problems.

By the end of middle school age, performance indicators for tasks of all types approach the results of normally developing peers, but an unevenly manifested lag in the formation of all three types of thinking remains.

Visual and effective thinking in children with mental retardation develops most intensively in preschool age, which also occurs when normal development, however, lags somewhat behind, and this is revealed when solving relatively complex problems of a visual-effective type. At primary school age, the development of this type of thinking is normally completed, and within the limits of the test tasks used, normally developing schoolchildren, on average, make 92% of independent decisions. Accordingly, by the beginning of middle school age, children with mental retardation solve only 86% of such problems independently.

The differences are not statistically significant, however, qualitative analysis gives a different picture of problem solving by children with mental retardation than in the norm: they need much more help, in particular, the presentation of a detailed drawing of the sample; they do not use mental analysis of the sample and compare it with the figure they form, often act chaotically.

By the end of middle school age, normally developing schoolchildren solved problems of a visual-effective nature independently in 100% of cases, and schoolchildren with mental retardation gave about 89% of independent solutions. Thus, in terms of the rate of progress in development, they lag behind normally developing children, and, moreover, the gap in indicators even increases, reaching a significant value. At the same time, statistically significant differences from mentally retarded schoolchildren of the same age remain (the average rate of independent solution of such problems is about 78%). Even at this age, mentally retarded people act primarily through “trial and error,” which is no longer observed among schoolchildren with mental retardation.

The level of development of visual-figurative thinking was assessed using Raven's matrices (color version of series A, Av and B) and the “Visual Analogies” technique developed by T.V. Egorova and T.V. Rozanova. O.P. Monkevičienė argues that the most significant progress in the development of visual-figurative thinking in children with mental retardation occurs at primary school age. At the beginning of middle school age, they correctly solve on average 84.4% of the problems of the Raven matrices and 80.6% of the problems of the second method, while the corresponding average indicators of their normally developing peers are 92.9 and 93.9%, respectively. The differences are significant and are associated with shortcomings in visual analysis of images, low mobility of image representations and insufficient ability to operate with them.

By the end of middle school age, children with mental retardation cope with an average of 90.4% of Raven's matrix problems and 85.4% of "visual analogy" problems, while their peers from a regular school solve 99.6 and 98.9% of the problems used, respectively. techniques. Thus, despite the significant progress of schoolchildren with mental retardation, the gap between them and normally developing children remains the same.

The development of verbal-logical thinking was assessed by O. P. Monkevičienė using Theremin-Merrill intelligence tests (subtests “Opposites by analogy”, “Understanding”, “Similarities and differences”, “Find the reason”, “Abstract words”, “Simple analogies” , “Verbal absurdities”), as well as tasks to establish similar relationships proposed by T. V. Egorova (“Simple analogies”, 1973).

It has been established that at the beginning of middle school age, children with mental retardation have a significant amount of knowledge about the world around them, are able to operate with it, using mental operations of analysis, synthesis, generalization, abstraction, and are able to make judgments about the properties of familiar objects and simple life situations. As a result, they differ very little from their typically developing peers in terms of performance on the “Contrasts by Analogy” and “Similarities and Differences” subtests.

Difficulties are caused by establishing the causes of phenomena, isolating the basic, categorical qualities of objects, isolating more abstract (cause-and-effect, functional) connections in the tasks of the “Simple Analogies” technique, abstract judgments (the “Abstract Words” subtest), judgments regarding the logicality of the combination of certain provisions ( subtest “Verbal absurdities”). It must be said that the most complex tasks of the three listed methods also cause some difficulties for normally developing schoolchildren of this age, but their performance is statistically significantly better.

Mentally retarded peers turned out to be practically unable to solve problems requiring the use of more abstract forms of verbal and logical thinking.

By the end of middle school age, significant shifts in the level of development of verbal and logical thinking are noted. This is manifested in an improvement in the performance of tasks on all subtests used and in the convergence of the indicators of adolescents with mental retardation and normally developing ones. However, solving problems of the most complex, abstract nature (tasks of the “Abstract Words”, “Verbal Absurdities” subtests, “Simple Analogies” methods) still causes them significant difficulties.

This led O.P. Monkevičienė to the conclusion that children with mental retardation by the end of middle school age are mainly at the stage of concrete conceptual thinking, while their normally developing peers have already reached the stage of abstract conceptual thinking.

T. V. Egorova (1984) revealed a number of qualitative differences in the characteristics of the mental activity of children in the category under consideration and their normally developing peers. In the most pronounced cases, they manifest themselves in the absence of the orientation stage, lack of understanding of the hierarchical relationship between the whole and its parts (when solving problems of visual-effective and visual-figurative types), difficulty in mentally operating with images, impulsiveness, low level of analytical-synthetic activity, insufficient formation of mental operations, insufficient focus of activities.

The study involved children in the middle of primary school age, but some of the identified characteristics appear later.

Based on a number of indicators, T.V. Egorova identified four levels of solving problems of a visual-effective nature and showed that normally developing children perform tasks at the fourth (31.2%), the highest, and third (68.8%) levels. Among children with mental retardation, only 6% were assigned to the fourth level, 24% to the third level, 46% to the second level and 24% to the lowest, first level.

Among the mentally retarded children participating in the study, there was not a single one whose task performance would correspond to the high levels - the fourth and third levels. 52.2% of them corresponded to the second level in terms of features and results of problem solving, and 47.8% to the first level.

An analysis of the qualitative features of solving mental problems indicates significant differences between children with mental retardation both from normally developing children and from mentally retarded children.

It should be noted that the studies described were conducted on children with mental retardation, who in the vast majority of cases did not attend special preschool educational institutions for children of this category. Recent studies, which require further verification, suggest that children who have undergone such preparation for school may achieve greater improvements in performance in typically developing children.

Studying the mental activity of children with mental retardation makes it possible to see the most important component of their general characteristics - significant potential. Thus, studying the abilities of primary schoolchildren with mental retardation to analyze a visually presented object (a color image of a cherry twig was offered) in comparison with how their normally developing and mentally retarded peers do it, T.V. Egorova showed that the actual capabilities of children with retardation mental development is quite limited and closer to the current level of development of mentally retarded people than of normally developing people. However, after short-term training in another image as to which features can be highlighted, children with mental retardation significantly approach the indicators of normally developing children and move away from the indicators of mentally retarded children.

Table 4 presents the average indicators of each group of examined children.

Table 4. Results of analysis of a visually presented object

It is important to note that the relative magnitude of advancement (i.e., the magnitude of the zone of proximal development as a percentage relative to the indicator of the current level of development) is greatest in children with mental retardation, although the absolute value (6 signs) is greater in normally developing schoolchildren.

Features of speech development

Speech is of extreme importance and versatility in the development of a child’s psyche. First of all, it is a means of communication in all its diversity of forms.

At the same time, it plays a vital role in cognitive activity, acting both as a means (in particular, as an instrument of mental activity), and as a material (words, concepts) of cognition, and as a material basis for consolidating and preserving the information received. Thus, speech serves as a means of introducing the child to the experience accumulated by humanity.

No less important is the regulating function of speech, which is important both in controlling the child’s activities by the people around him (primarily adults), and in the formation of self-regulation of behavior.

Simple observations show that children with mental retardation at the beginning of school age do not experience difficulties at the level of basic everyday communication with adults and peers. They know the everyday vocabulary and grammatical forms necessary for this. However, the expansion of the vocabulary of addressed speech beyond the framework of repeatedly repeated everyday topics leads to a misunderstanding of some questions and instructions asked to the child, containing words whose meaning is unknown or not clear enough to the child, or grammatical forms that he has not mastered. Difficulties in understanding may also be associated with pronunciation deficiencies, which are quite often observed in children with mental retardation. These shortcomings are usually not significant, mainly boiling down to vagueness, “blurredness” of speech, but they lead to defects in the analysis of the perceived speech material, which in turn leads to a lag in the formation of linguistic generalizations. As a result, children often, even knowing the right word, cannot use it or use it incorrectly. This is associated with a significant number of errors and agrammatisms in their speech.

Naturally, speech deficiencies affect not only communication, but also the cognitive activity of children, which, being impaired to some extent initially, is further weakened (secondarily) by speech deficiencies.

Secondary difficulties in cognitive activity associated with speech impairments slow down the intellectual development of children in preschool age, but are especially noticeable at the beginning of schooling: they manifest themselves both directly in a lack of understanding of educational material and in difficulties in mastering reading and writing. There are also difficulties in mastering new forms of speech: narration, reasoning.

Let us characterize separately different aspects of speech development.

Pronunciation and phonemic awareness

Neither teachers working with children with mental retardation nor researchers detect gross violations of pronunciation and phonemic hearing in them. For most children, the pronunciation of individual sounds is correct, but in general it is not clear enough, which creates “blurred” speech, the presence of which has already been noted above. Pronunciation defects can be caused by different reasons: they can reflect insufficient differentiation of connections within the speech motor analyzer, but they can also be a consequence of insufficient feedback, i.e. they can be determined by defects in phonemic hearing.

Data obtained by V.I. Nasonova (1979) indicate that manifestations of some deficiency of phonemic hearing are observed in approximately 63% of children with mental retardation studying in grades 1-3 of a special school. Moreover, in 50% of children they turn out to be very mildly expressed, and only in 13% of those examined there are more significant difficulties in isolating and pronouncing acoustically and articulatory similar sounds.

Deficiencies in children's articulation, making children's speech insufficiently understandable, can have a negative impact on the development of their activity in communication and slow it down. The possibility of such a reverse influence is indicated by A. Hayden et al. (A. Hayden, R. Smith & C. SaarvonHippel, 1978).

It should be noted, however, that in most cases these defects are eliminated during the training process. primary school.

Such dynamics of pronunciation defects and phonemic hearing are indicated both by the just mentioned American authors and by V.I. Nasonova (1979), who received a certain quantitative characteristic of this dynamics. Offering schoolchildren with mental retardation tasks for auditory analysis of sound rhythmic complexes, she found that if among first-graders the number of children experiencing severe difficulties in auditory analysis is 23.5%, then in the second grade there are 20% of them, and in the third - only 13.3% of the number of children examined. This dynamics is the result of all the correctional work in a special school.

Dictionary

The shortcomings of the vocabulary of children with mental retardation, its poverty, are manifested both in the small number of words they use (the active vocabulary is especially narrow), and in the fact that the words used by children have either too limited a meaning, or, on the contrary, an overly broad and undifferentiated meaning. . Sometimes words are used in a completely inadequate meaning.

The stock of words denoting the properties and characteristics of objects is especially limited. A special study conducted by E.S. Slepovich (1978) showed that, despite the general limited number of adjectives in the speech of children with mental retardation, the number of different semantic groups of adjectives is especially small. In children's speech there are mainly adjectives denoting the color, size and shape of objects, and less often - the material from which they are made. Often, instead of adjectives of the latter type, children use nouns with a preposition (“a fence made of boards” instead of “a plank fence”). There are very few evaluative adjectives, and mainly children use, often unreasonably, a small number of adjectives with a broad, undifferentiated meaning (“beautiful”, “good”, etc.).

A study conducted by O.N. Kovalenko (2002) also indicates the poverty of the semantic fields of lexical units in the vocabulary of primary schoolchildren with mental retardation. An essential feature of the active vocabulary of children with mental retardation is the almost complete absence of words that are used relatively rarely, but give originality to the individual vocabulary. Such words, in particular, include most evaluative adjectives.

One of the most common categories of words in children's speech are nouns. Their use by children with mental retardation also has a certain originality. S.G. Shevchenko (1972, 1978) found that their speech lacks a number of nouns denoting specific objects from immediate environment(some food products, educational subjects, animals, etc.). The content of the concepts denoted by the available words also differs significantly from that characteristic of normally developing children. Often it includes unimportant features in the absence of defining ones. This leads to significant difficulties and errors in the classification and grouping of objects. At the same time, it is discovered that in some cases the stock of words denoting generic concepts is especially poor, in others there are no words (or few of them) denoting generic concepts and classes of objects and phenomena. All these features often lead to the erroneous use of nouns and their incorrect correlation with objects in the surrounding world. Undoubtedly, speech understanding may be defective for the same reasons.

Similar shortcomings are observed in the use and understanding of verbs. Some researchers have noted that children may have difficulty understanding frequently used words such as “put,” “jump,” “sit,” “run,” and “peep” that occur in context (A. Hayden et al., 1978). The authors attribute this observation to children defined as having learning difficulties, but it is known that this concept, accepted in the West, primarily includes children with mental retardation.

A study by R.D. Triger (1984) showed that the majority of students with mental retardation do not separate verbs from words denoting objects and their attributes (“cooked fish soup,” “gave it to my sister,” “snow came”). Such syncretism is observed in normally developing children only in preschool age.

Significant difficulties are noted in the use and understanding of prepositions, especially those denoting spatial and temporal relationships - “because of”, “through”, “from under”, “behind”, “between”, “before”, “after”, etc. d. To a large extent, this is due to the shortcomings of cognitive activity and the limited experience of children, the consequence of which is the underdevelopment or extreme limitation of their spatial and temporal concepts and ideas. In children's spontaneous speech, many of these prepositions are completely absent.

The poverty of the vocabulary of children with mental retardation convincingly appears and receives a certain quantitative characteristic when examined using standardized Wechsler children's tests, where one of the subtests is aimed directly at assessing the volume of vocabulary. A study by G. B. Shaumarov (1979) showed that the scores on the “Vocabulary” subtest are the lowest among both the entire group of “verbal” subtests and among all subtests in general. Their relative level on this subtest turns out to be lower than on tests that include mental tasks (“Ingenuity”, “Analogies - similarities”, etc.). The average score on this subtest for both first-graders and second-grade students with mental retardation is in the range of indicators characteristic of mental retardation(83.8% of first-graders and 51.3% of second-graders scored on this subtest in the range of mental retardation).

These data indicate both that limited vocabulary is one of the weakest aspects of the mental development of children in the category under consideration, and that special training for these children has a very noticeable effect: in one year of training, more than 30% of children have vocabulary indicators increased enough to leave the range of mental retardation.

These results also indicate the need to further strengthen work on the development of vocabulary in children of this category. Such work is of utmost importance not only directly for enriching children’s speech, but also for the development of their logical thinking, for which words-concepts serve as material.

Grammatical structure of speech

Let us dwell, first of all, on word formation and inflection, the mastery of which is of utmost importance for the development of grammatical structure, the development of speech in general, as well as for mastering the rules of grammar and spelling.

Methods of word formation in children of this category, as shown by studies by E.S. Slepovich and R.D. Triger, coincide with those observed in normally developing children: the use of suffixes to transform words. This is how they differ from mentally retarded children. Among the independently transformed words, as in normal children, nouns predominate. However, if normally developing children are characterized by approximately twice as frequent formation of nouns with an independent meaning (sea-sailor) than nouns with one or another connotation (bridge - bridge), then in children with mental retardation both of these forms of word formation appear approximately in equally. They form adjectives significantly less than normally developing children, and only in the formation of cognate verbs are they approximately at the same level as normally developing schoolchildren.

When studying word formation in schoolchildren with mental retardation, a fairly significant number of words were revealed that are not found when normally developing children perform such tasks. Particular attention should be paid to the formation of neologisms - words that are not usually used in speech, created by the children themselves. In some cases, such words are formed when a child, transforming a word, identifies a root morpheme (jump - jump, paint - kras), in others, neologisms arise as a result of an unusual combination of morphemes. For example, having correctly formed the diminutive form “bridge” from the word “bridge,” the child then uses this suffix, illegally forming the derivatives “grozik” and “solik” from the words “thunderstorm” and “salt.” The roots of words are easily combined by children with other suffixes that are usually not combined with them, resulting in such neologisms as “grozaki”, “grozilka”, “groznik” (from the word “thunderstorm”), “krasnik” (from the word “to paint” ") and etc.

The period of word creation (including the formation of neologisms) is a normal phenomenon in the process of speech development in preschool childhood (“from two to five”) and usually ends in older preschool age. In children with mental retardation, this phenomenon is observed even in the second year of school.

The insufficient development of the grammatical structure of the speech of children with mental retardation may not be detected in spontaneous speech and therefore is often noticed only when the child begins schooling. It manifests itself in difficulties in mastering new forms of speech - narration and reasoning and appears in situations that require detailed speech statements. As A.R. Luria (1963) notes in relation to speech disorders in adults, it is the inability to move on to a coherent, detailed statement that indicates serious defects in the grammatical structure of the patient’s speech.

A number of features of the acquisition of the grammatical structure of the native language are considered in a special study by L. V. Yassman (1976). It has been shown that errors in the grammatical construction of independent speech are observed in children with mental retardation more often than in normally developing primary schoolchildren. If the latter had errors in a third of the sentences they composed, then in children with mental retardation - in half.

Children had to independently construct sentences from words given in the original form, which required preliminary comprehension of a set of words followed by grammatical formation into a sentence. Naturally, in some cases, shortcomings in sentence construction could be associated with difficulties in comprehending a set of words (see Table 5).

The differences between children with mental retardation and those who are normally developing become even more significant when composing sentences is facilitated by the ability to rely on the story picture offered to the child when comprehending a set of words. Under these conditions, normally developing children constructed 83% of sentences grammatically correctly, in That while children with mental retardation are only 63% (see Table 6).

As can be seen from a comparison of the number of correctly composed sentences by children with normal development and with mental retardation, with and without support from a picture (Tables 5 and 6), assistance in comprehending a set of words leads to an increase in the number of correctly composed sentences by children with mental retardation in to a lesser extent than normally developing ones (by 12% compared to 18.3%). This quite convincingly indicates that it is not so much comprehension, i.e. It is not intellectual difficulties, but rather insufficient knowledge of the grammatical structure of the language and its patterns that is the cause of a large number of errors in statements in children of the described category.

Table 5. Results of the task of composing a sentence from a set of words, %

The lag in speech development, as shown by the studies of G.B. Shaumarov, K.K. Mamedov and others, persists throughout the school education of children with mental retardation.

Table 6. Results of the task of composing sentences from a set of words based on a picture, %

Completing the task	Distribution of answers among children
	normally developing	with mental retardation	mentally retarded
Correct
Incorrect
Refusal to compile

Features of the emotional-volitional sphere and personality

Giving the most general characteristics of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation, one should highlight emotional lability, weakness of volitional efforts, lack of independence and suggestibility, and personal immaturity in general.

Emotional lability is manifested in instability of moods and emotions, their rapid change, easy occurrence of emotional excitement or crying, and sometimes unmotivated manifestations of affect. Children often experience anxiety.

Inappropriate cheerfulness and cheerfulness appear, rather, as a manifestation of excitability, inability to assess the situation and the mood of others.

Among children with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin, I.F. Markovskaya (1994) identifies groups with manifestations of mental instability and mental inhibition.

Children of the first group are noisy and active: during breaks and walks they climb trees, ride on railings, scream loudly, try to participate in the games of other children, but, not knowing how to follow the rules, they quarrel and interfere with others. With adults they can be affectionate and even annoying, but they easily come into conflict, being rude and loud. Their feelings of remorse and resentment are shallow and short-lived.

With mental retardation, along with personal immaturity, lack of independence, indecision, timidity, and slowness are especially manifested. Symbiotic attachment to parents leads to difficulties adjusting to school. Such children often cry, miss home, avoid active games, get lost at the board and often do not answer, even if they know the correct answer. Low grades and comments can make them cry.

All younger schoolchildren with mental retardation are characterized by frequent manifestations of restlessness and anxiety. At school there is a state of tension, constraint, passivity, and lack of self-confidence (O.V. Frolova, 2001).

Despite significant differences in the manifestations of emotions, no significant difference in understanding emotional states from the facial expressions of another person was found between schoolchildren with mental retardation and normally developing ones. Difficulties in performing this type of task were noted only in children with developmental delays and severe emotional disturbances (emotional scarcity, decreased need for communication). These data were established by E.Z. Sternina (1988), who at the same time showed that younger schoolchildren with mental retardation are worse than their normally developing peers in determining the emotional states of characters in plot films.

While determining more or less successfully the emotions of other people by the external expression, children with mental retardation often find it difficult to characterize their own emotional state in a given situation. This indicates a certain underdevelopment of the emotional sphere, which turns out to be quite persistent.

Examining former graduates of schools for children with mental retardation, G.B. Shaumarov discovered some rigidity of feelings and underdevelopment of their emotional sphere in general (1990). This manifests itself in the relationships of such children with loved ones.

Younger schoolchildren with mental retardation lag behind normally developing students in terms of the formation of voluntary behavior. Much more often than their typically developing peers, they exhibit impulsive behavior.

According to L.V. Kuznetsova (1986), the level of voluntary regulation of behavior in them depends on the complexity of the activity, especially on the complexity of the programming link and the presence of a conflict situation (for example, if it is necessary to act in accordance with a mental plan, contrary to the external conditions of the activity).

The greatest difficulties in the process of developing voluntary activity as we learn special school causes the formation of control over one’s own activities. An important role in this is played by manual labor in primary school, and especially labor in school workshops (E.N. Khokhlina, 2001).

The personality development of children in this category is distinguished by significant originality. They are characterized by low self-esteem and lack of self-confidence (especially among schoolchildren who studied at a general school for some time before special school).

At high school age, schoolchildren with mental retardation exhibit a number of personality traits that are common to those observed in normally developing adolescents. This is weakness, vulnerability of the individual, high extrapunitive reactions with aggression to the environment, leading to conflict;

incorrectness in relationships with others; severity of self-protective reactions; presence of signs of character accentuation. But unlike their normally developing peers, their reactions of self-affirmation and self-determination, characteristic of this age, are weakly expressed. There is no urgent need to unite with peers; adults remain more significant for them.

These features were established in the study of E.G. Dzugkoeva (1999), who also notes that in a favorable situation, in particular in a special school, adolescents with mental retardation are quite obedient, controllable and obey the general rules of behavior. This applies to the greatest extent to adolescents who studied in a special school from the very beginning. This is explained by their satisfaction with their position.

The beneficial effect of teaching children with mental retardation in differentiated conditions (i.e. in a special school) is confirmed by the research of I.A. Koneva (2002), who, comparing the formation of the image I in younger adolescents with mental retardation studying in a special school and classes of correctional and developmental education at a regular school, showed that, despite the delay in the formation of the image I and its infantility, adolescents studying in a special school do not show a tendency to negative self-characteristics, do not develop attitudes towards addictive forms of behavior, thoughts about death, and do not have an orientation towards the use of force, which is found in adolescents studying in classes of correctional and developmental education.

Test questions and assignments

1. Define the concept of “mental retardation” and explain the reasons for this phenomenon.

2. How is the clinical classification of mental retardation constructed?

3. Describe the manifestations of mental retardation at an early age and the problems of early diagnosis.

4. What are the general features of behavior and activity of preschool children with mental retardation?

5. Tell us about the features of preschoolers’ motor skills.

6. How do the perception and attention of preschoolers with mental retardation differ?

7. Describe the memory features of preschool children with developmental delays.

8. What are the features of the development of mental activity of children with mental retardation in preschool age?

9. Tell us about the speech development of preschool children with developmental delays.

10. How it develops play activity children with mental retardation?

11. What are the features of the emotional-volitional sphere of preschoolers with developmental delays?

12. What is the problem of school readiness with mental retardation?

13. What is the specificity of the perception of schoolchildren with developmental delays?

14. Describe the uniqueness of the memory of schoolchildren with developmental delays.

15. What are the dynamics of the development of thinking at school age?

16. Tell us about the speech characteristics of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation.

17. Describe the characteristics of emotions and personality of schoolchildren.

18. Describe the main features of the dynamics of the development of mental activity during mental retardation.

Literature

Main

Children with mental retardation. - M., 1984.

Egorova T.V. Peculiarities of memory and thinking of younger schoolchildren with developmental delays. - M., 1973.

Markovskaya I. F. Mental retardation: clinical and neuropsychiatric diagnosis. -M., 1993.

Teaching children with mental retardation. - M., 1981.

Teaching children with intellectual disabilities: (oligophrenopedagogy): Proc. manual // B. P. Puzanov, N. P. Konyaeva, B. B. Gorsky and others; Ed. B. P. Puzanova. - M., 2000.

Slepovich E. S. Play activity of preschool children with mental retardation. - M., 1990.

Ulienkova U.V. Six-year-old children with mental retardation. - M., 1990.

Additional

Current problems in diagnosing mental retardation.-M., 1982.

Boryakova N. Yu. On some features of the construction of speech utterances of 6-year-old children with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1983.-No. 3.

Dzugkoeva E. T. Communication as a condition for social adaptation of adolescents with mental retardation and without developmental disabilities // Defectology. - 1999. - No. 2.

Domishkevich S. A. Productivity and dynamic features of mental activity of children with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1972. - No. 4.

Zharenkova G. I. Actions of children with mental retardation based on models and verbal instructions // Defectology. - 1972. - No. 4.

Kalmykova 3. I. Features of the genesis of productive thinking in children with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1978. - No. 3.

Nasonova V.I. Features of interanalyzer connections and their role in the acquisition of reading and writing skills by children with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1979. - No. 2.

Teaching children with mental retardation in the preparatory class. - M., 1987.

Poddubnaya N. G. The originality of involuntary memory processes in first-graders with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1980. - No. 4.

Strekalova T. A. Features of logical thinking of preschoolers with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1982. - No. 4.

Slepovich E.S. Speech formation in preschool children with mental retardation. - Minsk, 1983.

Triger R.D. Orientation in children with mental retardation in grammatical material // Defectology. - 1981. - No. 2.

Shevchenko S. G. Features of knowledge and ideas about the immediate environment in first-graders with mental retardation // Defectology. - 1979. - No. 6.

Shaumarov G. B. To assess the importance of intellectual tests in the diagnosis and study of children with intellectual disabilities // Defectology. - 1974. - No. 1.

Six-year-old children: Issues and research. - N. Novgorod, 1998

Depending on the origin (cerebral, constitutional, somatogenic, psychogenic), as well as on the time of exposure of the child’s body to harmful factors, mental retardation results different variants deviations in the emotional-volitional sphere and cognitive activity. As a result of studying the mental processes and learning opportunities of children with mental retardation, a number of specific features were identified in their cognitive, emotional-volitional sphere, behavior and personality in general. The following common features for mental retardation of various etiologies were identified: low performance as a result of increased exhaustion; immaturity of emotions and will; limited stock general information and performances; poor vocabulary; lack of formation of intellectual activity skills; incomplete formation of gaming activity. Perception is characterized by slowness. Difficulties in verbal and logical operations are revealed in thinking. The efficiency and quality of mental activity when solving visually effective problems increases significantly. These children suffer from all types of memory and lack the ability to use aids for memorization. More needed a long period for receiving and processing sensory information. In addition, there is a low level of self-control, which is especially evident in educational activities. By the beginning of school, these children, as a rule, have not developed the basic mental operations - analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization. They do not know how to navigate the task and do not plan their activities.

All of the above distinguishes children with mental retardation from their normally developing peers. In a mass general education school, children with mental retardation naturally fall into the category of persistently underachieving students, which further traumatizes their psyche and causes a negative attitude towards learning. This in some cases leads to conflicts between the school and the child’s family.

Only a competent medical and pedagogical commission, consisting of highly qualified specialists in various fields, can differentiate mental retardation from mental retardation. We will present only the main (sometimes not very clearly expressed at first glance) signs that distinguish mental retardation from mental retardation.

Unlike mentally retarded children, children with mental retardation have a higher learning ability, they better use the help of a teacher or elders and are able to transfer the shown method of action to a similar task or choose an adequate stereotype of behavior in a similar situation.

When mastering reading, writing, and counting, they often show errors of the same type as mentally retarded children, but nevertheless they have qualitative differences. Thus, with poor reading technique, children with mental retardation always try to understand what they read, resorting, if necessary, to repeated reading (without the teacher’s instructions). Children with mental retardation cannot understand what they read, so their retelling may be inconsistent and illogical.

In the letter, attention is drawn to unsatisfactory calligraphy skills, negligence, etc., which, according to experts, may be associated with underdevelopment of motor skills and spatial perception. Phonetic and phonetic-phonemic analysis causes difficulties. In mentally retarded children these deficiencies are more severely expressed.

When studying mathematics, there are difficulties in mastering the composition of numbers, counting by passing through ten, in solving problems with indirect formulations of conditions, etc. But help from the teacher here is more effective than when teaching mentally retarded children. Taking this into account, when differentiating mental retardation from mental retardation, it is necessary to conduct an examination of children in the form of a teaching experiment.

Since preschool workers and teachers primary classes Quite often we have to deal with this category of children; let us dwell in more detail on the characteristics of the mastery of basic general education subjects by children with mental retardation and the characteristics of their study in special schools (classes) for this category of children.

An analysis of the oral speech of children with mental retardation showed that it satisfies the needs of everyday communication. There are no gross violations of pronunciation, vocabulary, or grammatical structure. However, the speech of children in general is, as a rule, blurred and not clear enough, which is associated with low mobility of the articulatory apparatus.

Disadvantages of pronunciation, and sometimes perception, in some children are associated with any one pair of sounds, while all others are well pronounced and distinguished. To correct pronunciation defects, special schools provide speech therapy classes for children with mental retardation.

The main tasks of the preparatory period are to attract children's attention to the word, to make speech as a whole the subject of their consciousness. During this period, particular importance is attached to the formation and development of phonemic perception, sound analysis and synthesis, intelligibility and expressiveness of speech.

Children with mental retardation entering school have specific characteristics of a psychological and pedagogical nature. They do not show readiness for schooling; they do not have the knowledge, skills and abilities necessary to master the program material. Therefore, they are unable to master counting, reading and writing without special help. They experience difficulty in voluntary activities. The difficulties they experience are aggravated by the weakened state of their nervous system. Students with mental retardation quickly get tired, sometimes they simply stop doing the activity they started.

All this suggests that mental retardation manifests itself both in a slow rate of maturation of the emotional-volitional sphere, and in intellectual deficiency. The latter is manifested in the fact that the child’s intellectual abilities do not correspond to his age.

A significant lag and originality is found in mental activity. All children with mental retardation have memory deficiencies, and this applies to all types of memorization: involuntary and voluntary, short-term and long-term. This extends to memorizing both visual and (especially) verbal material, which cannot but affect academic performance. The lag in mental activity and memory characteristics are most clearly manifested in the process of solving problems associated with such components of mental activity as analysis, synthesis, generalization, and abstraction. This circumstance in a number of cases forces primary school teachers to raise the question of a child’s mental retardation.

However, studies conducted at the Research Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR (V.I. Lubovsky, 1981) showed that when independently analyzing and describing an object that has at least 20 signs, children with mental retardation on average identify 6-7, while their normal developing peers highlight at least 12. But these same children (with mental retardation) when providing the necessary assistance (explaining the principle of completing a task, performing a similar task under the guidance of a teacher), when repeated, already highlight 10-11 signs. Mentally retarded children, before and after assistance, identify 4-5 and 5-6 signs, respectively. The fact that children with mental retardation after help are able to complete the proposed task at a level close to normal allows us to speak about their qualitative difference from mentally retarded children.

The speech of this category of children is also peculiar. Many of them have pronunciation defects, which naturally leads to difficulties in the process of mastering reading and writing. They have poor (especially active) lexicon. The concepts children have in their dictionaries are often incomplete - narrowed, inaccurate, and sometimes simply erroneous. Children with mental retardation have difficulty mastering empirical grammatical generalizations, which is why their speech contains many incorrect grammatical constructions. A number of grammatical categories are not used by them at all. Children with mental retardation have difficulty understanding and using complex logical-grammatical structures and some parts of speech.

The speech of children with mental retardation of senior preschool and primary school age is qualitatively different from the speech of their normally developing peers and mentally retarded children. They experience a period of childhood “word creation” later than normal, and the period of using “neologisms” in speech is prolonged. In mentally retarded children this period is absent altogether.

The behavior of these children is significantly different. After entering school, in the initial period of education, they continue to behave like preschoolers. The leading activity continues to be play. Children do not have a positive attitude towards school and learning. Educational motivation is absent or expressed extremely weakly. A number of researchers believe that the state of their emotional-volitional sphere and behavior corresponds, as it were, to the previous age stage of development.

It is important to note that in the context of a mass school, a child with mental retardation for the first time begins to clearly realize his inadequacy, which is expressed primarily in his poor performance. This, on the one hand, leads to the emergence and development of feelings of inferiority, and on the other, to attempts at personal compensation in some other area, sometimes in various forms of behavioral disorders.

It is obvious that in terms of the characteristics of educational activities, the nature of behavior, and the state of the emotional-volitional sphere, children with mental retardation differ significantly from their normally developing peers. Therefore, as in the case of mentally retarded children, correctional focus is specific for the special education and upbringing of this category of children.

Educational and correctional work with children in this category is very extensive and varied. The most general principles and rules of this work are as follows:

it is necessary to carry out an individual approach to each child both in general education lessons and during special classes;

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 and visual aids, etc.);

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 in educational activities;

in the system of correctional measures it is necessary to provide for preparatory classes (for mastering one or another section of the program) (propaedeutic period) and to ensure that children are enriched with knowledge about the world around them;

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

When working with children, 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.

Many parents consider the diagnosis of mental retardation to be a death sentence, but this is the wrong position. At timely diagnosis and corrections, children with mental retardation gradually catch up with their peers and are no different from them.

Features of children with mental retardation

Diagnosis of mental retardation is based on an objective assessment of the state of the emotional-volitional sphere, the degree of intellectual and interpersonal development.

Children with mental retardation do not feel responsible for their actions and do not control them, do not see themselves from the outside, do not obey established rules, in most cases they cannot establish a good relationship with adults and peers. Their main activity is gaming. They show no interest in studying, do not ask questions about the world around them, etc.

The weak point of children with mental retardation is perseverance and attention. They quickly lose interest, are impatient, and find it difficult to sit in one place for more than 20 minutes. In terms of speech development and cognitive activity, they are noticeably behind other children, as they have poor memory, reduced attention, and poorly developed abstract thinking, they confuse concepts, cannot identify the main characteristics of objects, phenomena, and more. Their main goal is to have fun, so as soon as they get bored with something, they immediately switch to another activity or subject.
Children with mental retardation have few friends, both among their peers and among teachers and adults. They are often very lonely, playing alone or with adults because they have difficulty learning rules and need someone to constantly guide them. Their behavior is characterized by fear, aggression, delayed reactions, and inability to conduct a normal dialogue.

A complete diagnosis always includes a conversation with the child, tests of perception, memory, ability to analyze information, and also assesses the level of development of the emotional-volitional sphere and the ability to communicate interpersonally. The diagnosis of mental retardation is always made only by a psychological, medical and pedagogical commission.

Types of ZPR

The correction program is selected depending on the type of mental retardation diagnosed in the child. It is customary to distinguish 4 types of this violation.

ZPR of constitutional origin

Such children are small in weight and height. At school and kindergarten they are very curious and quickly make friends, as their character is usually soft and cheerful. Teachers constantly reprimand them for restlessness, talking in class, and being late. Their thinking and memory are poorly developed, so their academic performance leaves much to be desired.
With this type of mental retardation, the prognosis is generally favorable. When teaching, it is necessary to use more the visual-effective principle. Classes are useful for developing attention, memory, and thinking; they should be conducted under the guidance of a psychologist and speech pathologist.

ZPR of somatogenic origin

This type of mental retardation occurs as a result of severe infections or traumatic brain injuries in early childhood. Intelligence is preserved, but mental infantilism and asthenia are present. Children are attached to their parents, without them they are very bored, cry, and become helpless. In lessons they do not show any initiative, get tired quickly, are extremely disorganized, study is uninteresting to them, and often refuse to answer the teacher’s questions; nevertheless, they have a hard time dealing with failures and low grades.
Children with somatogenic forms of mental retardation need schooling sanatorium type, where they can receive round-the-clock medical and educational assistance. If somatic causes are eliminated, then further correction of mental development will take place quickly and successfully.

3. Mental retardation of psychogenic origin

Children with this type of mental retardation experience a lack of attention and warmth from close relatives, especially their mother. They often grow up in a dysfunctional family, amidst scandals, their social contacts monotonous. Children experience constant anxiety, are downtrodden, and find it difficult to accept independent decisions. The ability to analyze is poorly developed, they live in their own world, often do not distinguish between good and bad, and have a small vocabulary. Children with psychogenic form ZPD respond well to correctional classes and quickly catch up with their peers.

4. ZPR of cerebral-organic origin

The disorder is caused by organic brain damage that occurs during pregnancy, difficult childbirth, or due to previous illnesses. As a result of asthenia, children quickly get tired, do not remember information well, and have difficulty concentrating on one activity. Primitive thinking, inhibited emotional reactions, suggestibility, quick loss interest, inability to build relationships with people, manifestation of aggression and fear, confusion of the concepts of “want” and “need” - these are character traits children with mental retardation of this type. The prognosis for this form of mental retardation is not very favorable; the condition cannot be completely corrected. In the absence of correction, the child begins to regress.

How to help a child with mental retardation?

Children with mental retardation need comprehensive help from a psychologist, neurologist, and speech therapist-speech pathologist. The correction process is long, complex, and interrupting it is highly undesirable.

An obligatory part of the correction of mental retardation is health care: taking medications according to a specific regimen, physiotherapy, massage, physical therapy, hydrotherapy. This is done by a pediatric neurologist.

The development of the emotional-volitional sphere is beneficially influenced by art therapy, fairy tale therapy, and play therapy, which is carried out by a psychologist. A speech therapist-defectologist deals with the development of intellectual abilities - memory, attention, thinking, as well as speech.

Experts recommend sending children with severe forms of mental retardation not to regular kindergartens and schools, but to specialized ones - type VII. A good option– training in a correctional class in a regular school, where training takes place according to certain principles:

• new material is explained to the child in small portions and repeated many times so that he can assimilate it well;
• a large amount of visual material is used;
• frequent change of different activities so that the child can concentrate as much as possible and does not lose interest.

Why will a child be better off in a correctional class? The fact is that in a regular class, a child with mental retardation will lag far behind the rest of the students and suffer from ridicule and the status of a loser.

Be prepared for the fact that the correction will take a lot of time, but most children with mental retardation have a favorable prognosis, so there is no need to despair.

Junior schoolchildren With delay mental development: peculiarities training And education

1. What is mental retardation……. 3

2. Classification of ZPR………………………………. 4

3. General psychological and pedagogical characteristics of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation……………………………………………………………… 8

4. Differential diagnosis………………… 10

5. Helping a child with mental retardation……………………………... 11

7. Developmental exercises………………………. 14

8. Literature………………………………………………………... 28

Given Toolkit will help primary school teachers and educators of after-school groups identify schoolchildren with learning difficulties caused by delayed mental development, find the right approach to such children, and provide them with the necessary qualified assistance in a timely manner.

Compiled by: , – speech therapists from ShTsDiK

What is mental retardation

IMPAIRED MENTAL FUNCTION ( ZPR) in children is a complex disorder in which various components of their mental, psychological and physical activity are affected.

CPR refers to a “borderline” form of child development disorder. With mental retardation, there is uneven formation of various mental functions; a typical combination is both damage and underdevelopment of individual mental functions with intact ones. In this case, the depth of damage and/or degree of immaturity may also vary.

Partial (partial) violation of higher mental functions may be accompanied by infantile personality traits and behavior of the child.

REASONS FOR DPR.

1. Biological:

pregnancy pathology (severe toxicosis, infections, intoxication and trauma), intrauterine fetal hypoxia; prematurity; asphyxia and trauma during childbirth; diseases of an infectious, toxic and traumatic nature in the early stages of child development; genetic conditioning.

2. Social:

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

Classification of ZPR

The specialized literature presents several classifications of mental retardation.

Recently, 4 main types of ZPR have been distinguished (classification has been proposed):

Delayed mental development of constitutional origin(hereditarily determined mental and psychophysical infantilism).

Characterized by the predominance of emotional motivation for behavior, heightened background mood, spontaneity and brightness of emotions with their superficiality and instability, easy suggestibility. Difficulties in learning, often observed in these children in the lower grades, are associated with the immaturity of the motivational sphere and the personality as a whole, and the predominance of gaming interests. Harmonic infantilism is, as it were, a nuclear form of mental infantilism, in which the features of emotional-volitional immaturity appear at their most pure form and are often combined with an infantile body type. Such a harmonious psychophysical appearance, the presence of family cases, non-pathological mental characteristics suggest a predominantly congenital constitutional etiology of this type of infantilism. However, often the origin of harmonious infantilism can be associated with mild metabolic and trophic disorders, intrauterine or in the first years of life.

Delayed mental development of somatogenic genesis(due to infectious, somatic diseases of the child or chronic diseases mother).

This type of developmental anomaly is caused by long-term somatic insufficiency of various origins: chronic infections and allergic conditions, congenital and acquired malformations of the somatic sphere, primarily the heart. In slowing down the rate of mental development of children, a significant role is played by persistent asthenia, which reduces not only general but also mental tone. There is often a delay emotional development- somatogenic infantilism, caused by a number of neurotic layers - uncertainty, fearfulness associated with a feeling of physical inferiority, and sometimes caused by the regime of prohibitions and restrictions in which a somatically weakened or sick child is located.

3. Delayed mental development of psychogenic origin(due to unfavorable upbringing conditions, frequent traumatic situations in the child’s life).

Associated with unfavorable upbringing conditions that prevent the correct formation of the child’s personality. As is known, unfavorable environmental conditions that arise early, have a long-term effect and have a traumatic effect on the child’s psyche can lead to persistent changes in his neuropsychic sphere, disruption first of autonomic functions, and then of mental, primarily emotional development. In such cases we are talking about pathological (abnormal) personality development.

This type of mental retardation should be distinguished from the phenomena of pedagogical neglect, which does not represent a pathological phenomenon, and a deficit of knowledge and skills due to a lack of intellectual information.

ZPR psychogenic origin is observed primarily in the abnormal development of personality according to the type of mental instability (1959), most often caused by the phenomenon of hypoguardianship - conditions of neglect in which the child is not brought up with a sense of duty and responsibility, forms of behavior associated with active inhibition of affect. Not stimulated development of cognitive activity, intellectual interests and attitudes. Therefore, the features of pathological immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere in the form of affective lability, impulsiveness, increased suggestibility in these children are often combined with an insufficient level of knowledge and ideas necessary for mastering school subjects.

Option abnormal development personality of the “family idol” type is, on the contrary, due to overprotection - pampering upbringing, in which the child is not instilled with the traits of independence, initiative, and responsibility. This psychogenic infantilism, along with a low capacity for volitional effort, is characterized by features of egocentrism and selfishness, dislike of work, and an attitude of constant help and guardianship.

Option pathological development Personality of the neurotic type is more often observed in children whose parents show rudeness, cruelty, despotism, and aggression towards the child and other family members. In such an environment, a timid, fearful personality is often formed, whose emotional immaturity is manifested in insufficient independence, indecisiveness, little activity and initiative.

4. Delayed mental development of cerebral-organic origin(with this type, signs of immaturity of the child’s nervous system and signs of partial impairment of a number of mental functions are combined).

It occurs more often than other described types and often has great persistence and severity of disturbances both in the emotional-volitional sphere and in cognitive activity and occupies the main place in this developmental anomaly. A study of the anamnesis of children with this type of mental retardation in most cases shows the presence of mild organic insufficiency of the nervous system, often of a residual nature due to the pathology of pregnancy (severe toxicosis, infections, intoxication and trauma, incompatibility of the blood of mother and fetus according to the Rh factor), prematurity, asphyxia and trauma during childbirth, postnatal neuroinfections, toxic-dystrophic diseases of the first years of life.

Anamnestic data often indicate a slowdown in the change of age-related phases of development: a delay in the formation of static functions, walking, speech, neatness skills, and stages of play activity.

In a somatic state along with common symptoms delays in physical development (underdevelopment of muscles, insufficiency of muscle and vascular tone, growth retardation) general malnutrition is often observed, which does not allow us to exclude the pathogenetic role of disorders of autonomic regulation; may be observed and different kinds body dysplasticity.

Task No. 1.

"Name as many words as possible that begin with the sound A"(T, O, R, K, etc.).

Task No. 2.

"Name as many words as possible that endto the sound P"(I, O, S, L, etc.).

Task No. 3.

“Name as many words as possible that have an L sound in the middle.”(N, E, G, B, F, etc.).

Exercise No. 2. "Word game"

“Name as many words for fruit as possible.”(vegetables, trees, flowers, wild and domestic animals and birds, toys, tools, furniture, professions, etc.).

Exercise No. 3. “Explain the word”

Exercise:"I want to find out how many words you know.Tell me, what is a bicycle?"

knife hat ball letter

umbrella pillow nail donkey

fur diamond connect shovel

sword trouble brave hero

poem gambling

The purpose of this exercise is to teach the child not only to recognize new words through explanation, but also to clearly express thoughts, indicating the main type of use of the object, describing its characteristics.

You can do all these exercises several times, completing the rows of words yourself.

Exercise No. 4. “Finish the sentence” Task:"Try to guess the end of the phrase."

The children ate... There is paper and paper on the table... Gree grow in the forest... . There are two... growing in the garden. We have a rooster and... . In winter it can be hot... .

Exercise No. 5. “Add words” (spreading sentences)

Exercise:"Now I will say a sentence. For example, "Momsews a dress." What do you think can be said about the dress, what kind of dress is it (silk, summer, light, orange)? If we add these words, how will the phrase change?"

The girl feeds the dog. Thunder rumbles in the sky. The boy drinks juice.

Exercise No. 6. “Make a phrase” (forming sentences from words)

Task No. 1.

"Make up sentences using the following words:

funny puppy full basket
ripe berry funny song

thorny bush forest lake".

Exercise№ 2.

“The words in the sentence are mixed up. Try to put them in their place. What will happen?”

1. Smoke coming out of the pipes.

2, Loves, teddy bear, honey.

Literature

1. Anufriev’s diagnosis. - M., 1993.

2. Bodenko, some causes of difficulties in learning // "Scientific and practical problems of school psychological services. - M., 1987.

3. Vakhrushev SV. Psychodiagnostics of difficulties in teaching by primary school teachers / Abstract. diss. for the job application uch. step. Ph.D. psychol. Sci. - M., 1995.

4. Gilbukh - pedagogical foundations of an individual approach to low-performing students: A manual for teachers of leveling classes. - Kyiv, 1985.

5. Children's readiness for school. Diagnosis of mental development and correction of its unfavorable variants: methodological developments for a school psychologist / Comp. , new, . - M., 1989.

6. Diagnosis of school maladjustment / Ed. , etc. - M., 1993.

7. Zabrodin developments of practical psychology //Psychol. magazine, 1980, vol. 1, no. 2.

8. On the development of the ability to act in the “mind” of schoolchildren in grades 1-10 // Issue. Psychology, 1983, No. 1.

9. , Sushkova for school education. Educational activities of schoolchildren. - M., 1988.

10. Lokalova to help a low-performing student. - M., 1995.

11. Methods for studying and diagnosing the mental development of a child / Ed. . - M., 1975.

12. Murachkovsky of underachieving schoolchildren / Abstract.
diss. for the job application uch. step. Ph.D. psychol. Sci. - M., 1967.

13. Scientific and methodological basis for the use of specific psychodiagnostic techniques in school psychological services / Ed. . - M., 1988.

14. Workshop on general psychology/ Ed. . - M., 1990.

15. Workshop on psychodiagnostics. Specific psychodiagnostic techniques. - M., 1989.

16. Practical material for psychological work At school /
Comp. . - M., 1991.

17. Program for studying the psychological characteristics of children 6-10 years old and the organization of an individual approach to the child / Comp. . - Syktyvkar, 1991.

18. Workbook of a school psychologist / Ed. . -M., 1987.

19. Slavin's approach to underachieving and undisciplined students. - M., 1961.

20. Samoukina at school and at home: psychotechnical exercises and correctional programs. - M., 1993.

21. Magazines “Education and training of children with developmental disorders”, “Defectology” // 2000-2007.

Zimfira Valeeva
Psychological features of mental retardation in younger schoolchildren

Primary school teacher Zimfira Yadgarovna Valeeva

In recent years there has been a wide differentiation educational system, a whole range of different developing technologies. Each developing the system is only effective if it takes into account individual characteristics of each child, therefore it becomes actual problem study and correction delayed mental development in children. Any transition period poses specific problems that require special attention from teachers. These include changing learning conditions that require more high requirements to intellectual personal development and to the degree of formation of the cognitive sphere as a whole. The lack of formation of these processes is main reason difficulties that children encounter during the transition from primary schools to secondary.

Impaired mental function– time lag syndrome mental development in general or certain of its functions (motor, sensory, speech, intellectual, emotional-volitional, slow pace of implementation of the body’s properties encoded in the genotype. The reason for the lag is weakly expressed (minimum) organic brain damage, congenital or arising in utero or in early period life of the child, and in some cases, genetically determined insufficiency of the central nervous system and its main part - the brain.

More often impaired mental function is revealed with the beginning of the child’s education in preparatory group kindergarten or elementary school, especially at the age of 7-10 years, since this one age period provides great diagnostic capabilities.

Subject " Psychological features of mental retardation in younger schoolchildren", due to the fact that, according to many psychologists we teach this contingent of children and the gap in development is one of the causes of learning difficulties experienced by children with disabilities and leads not only to disruption of the visual reflection of the outside world, but also destroys the basis for the formation of all mental processes, which are built on the basis of a visually effective reflection of reality. It has been established that children with mental retardation experience significant difficulties in expressing themselves, have an increased level of anxiety, more often experience apprehensions and fears, emotional distress, react more sharply to messages about failure, work worse in stressful situation, tend to perceive a threat to their self-esteem and functioning in a wide range of situations and react very intensely.

Children with mental retardation are not ready for school training in all respects. Their stock of knowledge about the natural and social environment around them is extremely poor; they cannot talk about the properties and qualities of objects, even those that were often encountered in their experience; mental operations are not sufficiently formed, in particular, they do not know how to generalize and abstract the characteristics of objects; speech activity is very low, the vocabulary is poor, statements are monosyllabic, and their grammatical design is incomplete; interest in learning activities is not expressed, cognitive orientation is either not detected, or is very weak and unstable, gaming motivation predominates; Badly developed arbitrary regulation of behavior, as a result of which it is difficult for children to obey the teacher’s requirements and fulfill school mode, which interferes with the normal implementation of educational activities. Learning difficulties associated with children's unpreparedness are aggravated by weakened functional state their central nervous system, leading to low performance, fatigue and easy distractibility.

It has been established that mental manifestations characteristics characteristic of this age turn out to be defective in children. For example, their gaming activity is not fully developed. Children prefer the simplest games, but older ones prefer preschool age role-playing game, requiring the fulfillment of certain rules, is carried out by them to a limited extent form: They slip into stereotypical actions, often simple manipulations of toys. Children do not actually accept the role assigned to them and, therefore, do not perform the functions assigned to them by the rules of the game. Such children prefer active games typical younger age . Children do not keep their distance from adults, they can behave intrusively, unceremoniously, and during the process of getting to know each other they often examine an adult as if they were an inanimate object. They rarely develop long-term and deep relationships with their peers.

Peculiarities attention are manifested in instability, increased distractibility, unstable concentration on an object. Extraneous stimuli cause a significant slowdown in the activities performed by children and increase the number of errors. These children have a narrowed attention span, failure to perceive the required amount of information in a certain period of time, in connection with which their activity is carried out at a slower pace than normal developing children, the pace and productivity of completing tasks is significantly lower.

Memory is characterized features, which are to a certain extent dependent on disturbances in their attention and perception, increased fatigue and decreased cognitive activity. They have poor memory performance, small memory capacity, inaccuracy and difficulty in recall. IN development The cognitive activity of these children reveals a pronounced lag and originality. They have a lag in development of all forms of thinking; back to the beginning school Their learning skills are not formed; as a rule, the basic mental operations are analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization; cognitive activity is reduced.

Junior school age is a large period of a child’s life. Living conditions at this time are rapidly expanding, the boundaries of the family are expanding to the limits of the street, city, and country. The child discovers the world of human relationships, different types activities and social functions of people. He feels a strong desire to be involved in this adult life, to actively participate in it, which, of course, is not yet available to him.

During periods of normal performance in children with mental retardation a whole series of positive aspects their activities, characterizing the preservation of many personal and intellectual qualities. These "strong" sides are most often manifested when children perform accessible and interesting tasks that do not require prolonged mental stress and take place in a calm, friendly environment. In this state, when working with them individually, children find themselves capable on your own or with little help almost normal developing peers.

While playing with peers junior schoolchildren They learn to subordinate their behavior to certain rules that conflict with their fleeting desires. As L. S. Vygotsky noted, in play a child learns to act in a cognizable, i.e., mental, and not visible, situation, relying on internal tendencies and motives, and not on motives and impulses that come from the thing.

Almost all children with an uncomplicated form of temporary developmental delays can become successful students of the mass schools. The main thing is that you need to notice them in a timely manner in the classroom and find the most effective way individual work with such a child. A correct assessment of the nature of the child’s deviations gives the teacher the opportunity to find the most successful ways of pedagogical influence. At the same time, it is very important that teachers and parents know that difficulties at the initial stage of a child’s education are almost never the result of negligence or laziness, but are objective reasons that can be successfully overcome.

We know that not all children upon admission to school not ready for educational activities that require voluntary attention, memory and work thought processes, then children with are not capable of mental retardation at all to assimilate educational material presented in a dry scientific form, which is often practiced in lessons in school. This happens because, as noted above, children with mental retardation are lagging behind in many mental parameters development 2-4 years from their peers. Based on this, it should be concluded that the leading activity for these children is play. Therefore, all educational activities should be permeated with play. Play should be part of the life activity of such children, since play is a type of activity that the child has already mastered well since childhood. infancy and promotes development independent achievement of truths.

Play activities must be present in educational work children, but the form of its implementation will certainly change. The game takes on a didactic orientation. All games that the teacher carefully selects, psychologist or adult, V junior school age should carry some scientific knowledge, expand their horizons, develop speech, help in learning and consolidating new material. In other words, gaming activities should not be aimed at entertainment, and on development cognitive sphere of each child.

Especially in classes, where the teacher works with children with mental retardation, the main requirement will be an individual approach to the child not only in educational activities, but also in the selection of games.

Suitable for classrooms where children with disabilities are taught. mental retardation, take on many logical problems to solve, act out skits (stimulate speech development, teach proper communication, develop memory, independence, creativity, memorize and dramatize many poems, fables; solve crosswords, charades; play dominoes.

It should be noted that gaming activity should be present not only in extracurricular, extracurricular work, but is a mandatory element of each academic subject, and the more difficult the subject is for a child, the more gaming moments there should be.

IN junior school At age, the basis of all cognitive activity is sensory cognition - perception and visual thinking. In their training, it is necessary to use special methods and correctly combine verbal and visual teaching methods. At the first stages of learning, isolated verbal instruction cannot be used, because children do not understand the meaning of many words, especially those, which denote the qualities, properties and relationships of objects. Often they do not understand the construction of the phrase or simply forget the instructions, "lose" her in the process of completing tasks. Therefore, verbal teaching methods must be correctly and thoughtfully combined with visual and practical methods.