Articles from a magazine about mental retardation. Practices of inclusive education for schoolchildren with mental retardation

The group consisted of 11 people, and the control group consisted of 16. The following points were entered: I category (satisfactory-

athletes, which was then reduced to 14 points) - 3 points, candidate master of sports of Russia

catcher due to non-participation in competitions for various (good) - 4 points, Master of Sports of Russia (excellent reasons for two wrestlers. After weighing but) - 5 points.

We determined the amount of weight loss for each person. Before the tournament in the control group, mastery

(from 2 to 3 kg) - on average 2.7 (2.680±0.095) kg and was slightly higher than in the experimental -

built graphs of weight loss with individual 3.57 and 3.36, respectively (the differences are not significant for each participant in the experiment, but no). Performance at competitions revealed the following:

but not more than 0.5 kg/day. Composition experimental results - sportsmanship of the participants

ny group: 7 wrestlers of the 1st category and 4 candidates for champions of the experimental group reliably (R

Master of Sports of Russia, and the control test - 8 candidates< 0.001) повысилось от 3.360±0.095 до 3.910±0.050

comrade to master of sports and 6 wrestlers of the 1st category. and reliably (R< 0.05) стал выше, чем в контроль-

After the official weigh-in before the competition group (3.71±0.07).

innovations to each of the participants in the experiment. In a special experiment it was proven that

a 15-minute recovery session was carried out using working methods of weight loss and recovery

procedure. assessing the performance of wrestlers in preparation for

Based on the results of the competition protocols, the participants in the competition are effective

Do the places occupied by the experimental participants contribute to the formation of the fighters’ readiness?

and control groups. In the control group, there was a decrease in competition within the chosen weight class.

The average weight loss was 2.5 (2.460±0.063) kg. categories.

To determine the skill of athletes, we Received 08/06/2008

Literature

1. Polievsky S.A., Podlivaev B.A., Grigorieva O.V. Regulation of body weight in martial arts and biologically active additives. M., 2002.

2. Yushkov O.P., Shpanov V.I. Sports wrestling. M., 2000.

3. Balsevich V.K. Methodological principles research on the problem of selection and sports orientation // Theory and practice physical culture. 1980. № 1.

4. Bakhrakh I.I., Volkov V.M. The relationship of some morphofunctional indicators with the body proportions of puberty boys // Theory and practice of physical culture. 1974. No. 7.

5. Groshenkov S.S., Lyassotovich S.N. On the prognosis of promising athletes based on morphofunctional indicators // Theory and practice of physical culture. 1973. No. 9.

7. Nyeg V. Mogriododepeibsie ipegsisIipdep an tappisiep iidep<Л1сИеп т Ьгг РиЬегМ // Ното. 1968. № 2.

8. Mantykov A.L. Organization of the educational and training process for qualified wrestlers while reducing body weight before competitions. Abstract of dissertation. for the degree of candidate of pedagogical sciences. 13.00.04. Ulan-Ude, 2003.

9. Nikityuk B.A., Kogan B.I. Adaptation of the skeleton of athletes. Kyiv, 1989.

10. Petrov V.K. Everyone needs strength. M., 1977.

11. Ionov S.F., Shubin V.I. Reducing body weight before competitions // Sports wrestling: Yearbook. 1986.

12. Mugdusiev I.P. Hydrotherapy. M., 1951.

13. Parfenov A.P. Physical remedies. Guide for doctors and students. L., 1948.

UDC 159.923.+159

G.N. Popov

PROBLEMS OF TEACHING CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Tomsk State Pedagogical University

Mentally retarded (feeble-minded) children - the most - includes a very heterogeneous mass of children, and there is also a large category of abnormal children. which are united by the presence of brain damage, having

They make up approximately 1-3% of the total childhood pain, diffuse, i.e. widespread,

populations. The concept of a “mentally retarded child” is, as it were, a “spilled” character. Morphological

the changes, although with unequal intensity, affect many areas of the cerebral cortex, disrupting their structure and functions. Of course, cases cannot be excluded when diffuse damage to the cortex is combined with individual, more pronounced local (limited, local) disturbances, with varying degrees of pronounced deviations in all types of mental activity.

The overwhelming majority of all mentally retarded children - students of auxiliary schools - are oligophrenic (from the Greek “low-minded”). Damage to the brain systems, mainly the most complex and late-forming structures that cause underdevelopment and mental disorders, occurs in the early stages of development - in the prenatal period, at birth or in the first years of life, i.e. until speech is fully developed. In oligophrenia, organic brain failure is residual (residual), non-progressive (non-worsening) in nature, which gives grounds for an optimistic prognosis.

Already in the preschool period of life, the painful processes that took place in the brain of an oligophrenic child cease. The child becomes practically healthy, capable of mental development. However, this development is carried out abnormally, since its biological basis is pathological.

Oligophrenic children are characterized by persistent disturbances in all mental activity, especially clearly manifested in the sphere of cognitive processes. Moreover, there is not only a lag from the norm, but also a deep originality of both personal manifestations and cognition. Thus, the mentally retarded cannot in any way be equated with normally developing children of a younger age; they are different in many of their manifestations.

Oligophrenic children are capable of development, which essentially distinguishes them from feeble-minded children of all progressive forms of mental retardation, and although the development of oligophrenics is slow, atypical, with many, sometimes sharp deviations, nevertheless, it represents a progressive process that introduces qualitative changes in the mental activity of children, in their personal sphere.

The structure of the psyche of a mentally retarded child is extremely complex. The primary defect gives rise to many other secondary and tertiary defects. Disturbances in the cognitive activity and personality of an oligophrenic child are clearly detected in its most varied manifestations. Defects in cognition and behavior involuntarily attract the attention of others.

However, along with shortcomings, these children also have some positive capabilities, the presence of which serves as a support for the development process.

The position on the unity of the patterns of normal and abnormal development, emphasized by L.S. Vygotsky gives reason to believe that the concept of the development of a normal child in general can be used in interpreting the development of mentally retarded children. This allows us to talk about the identity of factors affecting the development of a normal and mentally retarded child.

The development of oligophrenics is determined by biological and social factors. Biological factors include the severity of the defect, the qualitative uniqueness of its structure, and the time of its occurrence. They must be taken into account when organizing special pedagogical interventions.

Social factors are the child’s immediate environment: the family in which he lives, the adults and children with whom he communicates and spends time, and, of course, school. Domestic psychology affirms provisions on the leading role in the development of all children, including the mentally retarded, the child’s cooperation with adults and children around him, and learning in the broad sense of this term. Properly organized training and education, adequate to the child’s capabilities and based on the child’s zone of proximal development, is especially important. It is this that stimulates children's progress in overall development.

Special psychology suggests that upbringing, education and labor training are even more important for mentally retarded children than for normally developing children. This is due to the much lower ability of oligophrenics to independently accept, comprehend, store and process information received from the environment, i.e. less than normal development of various aspects of cognitive activity. The reduced activity of a mentally retarded child, a much narrower range of their interests, as well as other peculiar manifestations of the emotional-volitional sphere are also of certain importance.

For the advancement of an oligophrenic child in general development, for his assimilation of knowledge, skills and abilities, specially organized training and education are essential. Staying in an ordinary public school often does not bring him any benefit, and in some cases leads to serious consequences, to persistent, sharply negative changes in his personality. Special training, on-

aimed at the development of mentally retarded children, it primarily involves the formation of higher mental processes in them, especially thinking. Defective thinking in oligophrenics is revealed especially sharply and, in turn, inhibits and complicates knowledge of the surrounding world. At the same time, it has been proven that the thinking of an oligophrenic undoubtedly develops. The formation of mental activity contributes to the advancement of a mentally retarded child in general development and thereby creates a real basis for the social and labor adaptation of graduates of a auxiliary school.

Speech is an instrument of human thinking, a means of communication and regulation of activity. All mentally retarded children, without exception, have more or less pronounced deviations in speech development, which are detected at various levels of speech activity. Some of them can be corrected relatively quickly, others are smoothed out only to some extent, appearing under complicated conditions. Oligophrenics are characterized by a delay in the development of speech, which is revealed in a later than normal understanding of speech addressed to them and in defects in the independent use of it. Speech underdevelopment can be observed at various levels of speech utterance. It is revealed in the difficulties that occur in mastering pronunciation, which are widely represented in the lower grades. This gives grounds to talk about the later and defective, compared to the norm, development of phonemic hearing in oligophrenic children, which is so important for learning to read and write, and about the difficulties that arise when it is necessary to precisely coordinate the movements of the speech organs.

Deviations from the norm also occur when mastering the vocabulary of the native language. The vocabulary is poor, the meanings of words are not sufficiently differentiated. The sentences used by oligophrenic children are often constructed in a primitive manner and are not always correct. They contain various deviations from the norms of the native language - violations of coordination, control, omissions of sentence members, in some cases - even the main ones. Complex, especially complex sentences, begin to be used late, which indicates difficulties in understanding and reflecting various interactions between objects and phenomena of the surrounding reality, suggesting underdevelopment of children's thinking.

For a person’s social adaptation, it is very important to communicate with other people, the ability to enter into a conversation and support it, i.e. a certain level of dialogue formation is required

chesical speech. The education of mentally retarded children relies more on memory processes, which have many unique features. The amount of material memorized by auxiliary school students is significantly less than that of their typically developing peers. Moreover, the more abstract this material is, the less children remember it. The accuracy and strength of memorization of both verbal and visual material is low. Memorizing texts, even simple ones, suffers from imperfection in schoolchildren, since they do not know enough how to use mnemonic techniques - divide the material into paragraphs, highlight the main idea, identify key words and expressions, establish semantic connections between parts, etc.

Significant deviations from the norm can be seen by studying how mentally retarded children perceive the objects around them. Currently, the most studied is the visual perception of oligophrenics, with the help of which they receive a significant part of information about the environment. It has been established that the visual perception of students in the auxiliary school is inhibited. This means that in order to see and recognize a familiar object, students need more time than their typically developing peers. This is an important feature that has a certain influence on children’s orientation in space and, probably, on the process of learning to read.

It is especially difficult for oligophrenics to actively adapt perception to changing conditions. Because of this, they incorrectly recognize inverted images of well-known objects, mistaking them for other objects in their usual position.

Significant deviations occur not only in cognitive activity, but also in the personal manifestations of mentally retarded children. Human personality is a product of socio-historical development. It is formed in the course of diverse interactions with the environment. Since the interaction of an oligophrenic child with the environment is changed due to intellectual inferiority, his personality is formed in unique conditions, which is revealed in various aspects.

In the totality of diverse mental personality traits, a significant place belongs to the will. Will is a person’s ability to act in the direction of a consciously set goal, overcoming obstacles that arise. Often an act of will includes a struggle between multidirectional tendencies. The decisive role in volitional processes is played by the mental construction of

the current situation, the activity of the internal plan, which determines the result of the struggle of motives and decision-making in favor of a volitional act. In mentally retarded children, who are characterized by severe disturbances in thinking, volitional processes are significantly affected. This feature has attracted the attention of psychologists for a long time and was included as one of the characteristic features for this category of abnormal children in their general characteristics.

Directly related to the problem of will is the problem of emotions. Emotions reflect the meaning of phenomena and situations and manifest themselves in the form of direct experiences - pleasure, joy, anger, fear, etc. Our attitude towards other people, as well as the assessment of our own actions, the degree of activity of thinking, features of motor skills and movements largely depend on emotions. Emotions can in some cases motivate a person to take action, while in others they can hinder the achievement of goals.

The formation of emotions is one of the most important conditions for the formation of a person’s personality. The development of the emotional sphere is facilitated by the family, all life that surrounds the child and constantly influences him, and especially schooling. Emotions are directly related to intelligence. L.S. Vygotsky emphasized the idea that thinking and affect represent different aspects of a single human consciousness, that the course of a child’s development is based on changes occurring in the relationship between his intellect and affect.

Mentally retarded children have significant difficulties understanding the facial expressions and expressive movements of the characters depicted in the pictures. Children often give distorted interpretations; complex and subtle experiences are reduced to more

simple and elementary. This phenomenon is to a certain extent connected with the poverty of the vocabulary of oligophrenics, but is not limited to it. Adult help offered in the form of questions is not effective in all cases.

A study of the emotional sphere of mentally retarded adolescents with behavioral difficulties has shown that the main cause of such conditions is a painful experience of feelings of inferiority, often complicated by infantilism, an unfavorable environment and other circumstances. Children have little control over their emotional manifestations and often do not even try to do so.

The formation of the personality of a mentally retarded child is directly related to the formation of his correct awareness of his social status, self-esteem and level of aspirations. The most important role is played by the child’s relationships with others, his own activities, as well as biological characteristics. The self-esteem and level of aspirations of mentally retarded children are often not entirely adequate. Many children overestimate their capabilities: they are confident that they have a good command of knowledge, skills and abilities, that they are capable of various, sometimes quite complex tasks.

By the senior years of education, significant positive changes occur in children's self-awareness. They more correctly evaluate themselves, their actions, character traits, academic achievements; to confirm the correctness of their judgments, they give specific, often adequate examples, while revealing a certain self-criticism. Children are less independent in assessing their intelligence. They usually equate it with school success.

Received by the editor 05/16/2008

Literature

1. Strebeleva E.A. Special preschool pedagogy. M., 2002.

2. Rubinshtein S.Ya. Psychology of mentally retarded schoolchildren. M., 1986.

3. Zeigarnik B.V. Personality psychology: norm and pathology. M., 1998.

4. Zak A.Z. Development of mental abilities of younger schoolchildren. M., 1994.

5. Gavrilushkina O.P. On the organization of education of children with mental retardation. M., 1998.

7. Petrova V.G., Belyakova I.V. Who are they, children with developmental disabilities? M., 1998.

In Russia, mentally retarded children began to be separated from the mentally ill, trying to educate and educate, study and correct their shortcomings in the middle of the 19th century. The concept of “mentally retarded child,” adopted in Russian correctional pedagogy and special psychology, covers a very diverse group of children, who are united by the presence of organic damage to the cerebral cortex, which is diffuse in nature. Morphological changes, although not with the same intensity, affect many areas of the child’s cerebral cortex, disrupting their structure and functions. Cases cannot be excluded when diffuse damage to the cortex is combined with individual, more pronounced local disorders, sometimes including subcortical structures. All this causes the child to develop various, with varying distinctness, pronounced deviations that are revealed in all types of his mental activity, especially sharply in cognitive activity.

The overwhelming majority of mentally retarded children are oligophrenic children. Damage to the brain systems (mainly the most complex and late-forming ones), which underlies mental underdevelopment, occurs in this category of children in the early stages of development - in the prenatal period, at birth or during the first year and a half of life. In oligophrenia, organic brain failure is residual and not aggravated. The child is capable of mental development, which, however, occurs abnormally, since its biological basis is pathological.

Mental retardation occurring in a child after the age of 2 years is relatively rare. In this case, it is included in a number of concepts, among which there is such a thing as “dementia”. In contrast to oligophrenia, in dementia, disorders of the cerebral cortex occur after a fairly long period of normal development of the child, for 2-5 years or more. Dementia can result from organic brain disease or injury. As a rule, the intellectual defect in dementia is irreversible. In this case, progression of the disease is usually observed.

Children suffering from progressively ongoing, aggravated diseases caused by hereditary metabolic disorders are also not classified as oligophrenics. These children are weak-minded and gradually deteriorate. If they do not receive the necessary medical care, then their mental retardation becomes more pronounced with age.

Special cases are in which the child’s existing dementia is combined with the presence of current mental illnesses - epilepsy, schizophrenia and others, which significantly complicates his upbringing and education. It should be emphasized that in recent years, mental retardation has increasingly manifested itself in very unique, complicated forms. The number of mentally retarded children with various additional developmental disabilities has increased significantly - with decreased hearing, vision, with residual effects of cerebral palsy, with severe underdevelopment of speech, etc.

Currently, in Russia they use the international classification of mentally retarded people, on the basis of which children are divided into four groups according to the severity of the defect: with mild, moderate, severe and profound mental retardation.

Among the classification of oligophrenia based on clinical and pathogenetic principles, the most common in our country is the classification proposed by M.S. Pevzner, according to which five forms are distinguished.

An uncomplicated form of oligophrenia. Characterized by the balance of nervous processes. Deviations in cognitive activity are not accompanied by gross disturbances of the analyzers. The emotional-volitional sphere has not changed dramatically. A child is capable of purposeful activity in cases where the task is clear and accessible to him. In a familiar situation, his behavior does not have sharp deviations.

Oligophrenia, characterized by imbalance of nervous processes with a predominance of excitation or inhibition. Violations are clearly manifested in changes in behavior and decreased performance.

Oligophrenia with dysfunction of analyzers. Here, diffuse damage to the cortex is combined with deeper damage to one or another brain system. Additionally, there are local defects in speech, hearing, vision, and musculoskeletal system.

Oligophrenia with psychopathic behavior. The child has a sharp disturbance in the emotional-volitional sphere. In the foreground he has underdevelopment of personal components, decreased criticality of himself and the people around him, and disinhibition of drives. The child is prone to unjustified emotions.

Oligophrenia with severe frontal insufficiency. In this form, cognitive impairment is combined in the child with frontal-type personality changes with severe motor impairment. Children are lethargic, lacking initiative and helpless. Their speech is verbose, meaningless, and imitative. Children are not capable of mental stress, focus, activity, and have little regard for the situation.

Thinking plays a big role in the formation and development of a child’s cognitive activity. Mentally retarded children of preschool age have a deficiency at all levels of mental activity. They find it difficult to solve even the simplest, visually effective problems, such as combining an image of a familiar object cut into 2-3 parts, choosing a geometric figure that is identical in shape and size to the corresponding depression on the plane, etc. Children complete such tasks with a large number of errors after a number of attempts. Moreover, the same mistakes are repeated many times, since mentally retarded children, without achieving success, usually do not change their method of action. Carrying out practical actions in itself makes it difficult for children in this group, since their motor and sensory cognition is defective. Their movements are awkward and stereotyped, often impulsive, excessively fast or, on the contrary, too slow.

Tasks that require visual-figurative thinking cause even greater difficulties for preschoolers. They cannot remember the object shown to them and act erroneously.

The most difficult tasks for preschoolers are those whose implementation is based on verbal and logical thinking. Many of them, although essentially not complex, turn out to be inaccessible even to those children who have attended a special kindergarten for two or three years. If some tasks are performed by children, then their activity is not so much a process of thinking, but rather remembering. In other words, children remember certain verbal expressions and definitions, and then reproduce them with greater or less accuracy.

Visually effective forms of thinking are most accessible to mentally retarded schoolchildren. However, children experience difficulties when completing tasks. So, like preschoolers, it is difficult for them to put together a simple cut-out picture or fill out the Seguin board correctly. Mentally retarded students have insufficiently developed practical actions, which is associated with certain difficulties caused by inferior sensory cognition and motor impairments. At primary school age, children's actions with objects are often impulsive, not related to a mental task, and have no cognitive significance.

Particularly difficult are tasks that require children to use verbal and logical thinking. Thus, having in front of them a color picture depicting a certain time of year, schoolchildren are not always able to correctly establish the cause-and-effect relationships reflected on it and, on this basis, determine which season the picture conveys. They often do not understand even simple texts intended for normally developing preschoolers that contain temporal, causal and other relationships. Mentally retarded students reproduce the material in a simplified manner, omit many, sometimes the most significant parts of it, change the sequence of semantic links in the text, and do not establish the necessary relationships between them.

The thinking processes of mentally retarded primary schoolchildren proceed in a very unique way. Thus, the mental analysis they perform of a visually perceived real object or its image is characterized by poverty, inconsistency, and fragmentation. Looking at an object, the student does not name all its constituent parts, even in those cases when he knows their names well, and also does not note many essential properties, although they have long been known to him. Usually he talks about those parts that protrude from the general contour of the figure, without observing any order.

Comparing two, and even more so several, objects presents even greater difficulties for elementary school students. Comparison involves the comparative establishment of similarities and differences between objects or phenomena, in some cases - the identification of their identity. Students in grades I and II usually pay attention only to those features that distinguish one object from another, and do not notice that these objects also have similarities.

Comparison requires a consistent comparison of similar parts or properties of objects. Children often assert differences between objects by referring to incomparable characteristics.

In a number of cases, schoolchildren replace a task that is difficult for them with an easier, more familiar one and, instead of comparing two or more objects, begin to analyze one of them. In Russian special psychology, this phenomenon is designated by the term “slipping.”

Students' progress in mastering the comparison process is detected approximately in fourth grade, i.e. by 11-12 years. It manifests itself in fewer cases of deviation from the task being performed, in the involvement in comparison of a larger number of properties of objects, in attempts to identify not only differences between them, but also similarities. As for the use of the results of practically completed comparisons, it becomes to some extent possible only at the very end of schooling. However, with the help of the teacher’s leading questions, children cope with the relevant tasks much earlier.

An even more difficult task for mentally retarded students is generalizing observations, for example, combining objects or phenomena based on an identified common feature that is essential for this number of objects. When performing a similar task, children of all ages suffering from mental retardation often take into account random signs, i.e. act unreasonably, contrary to logic. Thus, generalizations of such children turn out to be too broad and insufficiently differentiated. It is especially difficult for students to change the principle of generalization once identified, i.e. combining objects on a new basis. Their way of performing a task reveals the pathological inertia of nervous processes characteristic of oligophrenics.

Pupils of even the senior classes of correctional general education schools of the VIII type are not critical enough of the results of their activities, and do not always notice even obvious contradictions. They rarely have doubts or desire to test themselves. They are completely satisfied with the successes they have achieved and do not express a desire to improve them on their own. Probably, the limited knowledge and interests of schoolchildren, as well as intellectual passivity, decreased motivation for activity, and indifference to what is happening, play a certain role in this.

When characterizing the thinking of mentally retarded children, one should once again emphasize the stereotypical nature, rigidity of this process, and its completely insufficient flexibility. That is why applying existing knowledge in new conditions causes difficulties for schoolchildren and often leads to erroneous completion of the task.

Mentally retarded children are characterized by late and defective development of all types of activities. Voluntary activity especially suffers in preschoolers. This is due to the fact that its implementation requires a certain level of development of thinking and speech, sustained attention, as well as the ability to purposefully make volitional efforts. Performing various types of activities that involve practical actions is difficult due to deviations in the development of the motor sphere.

The simplest objective-practical activity, which includes elements of self-care, eating food and does not pose much difficulty for normally developing preschoolers, causes serious difficulties for mentally retarded children and is not always carried out properly. In order to master certain actions, they need to undergo a long period of directed training. They are awkward, inattentive, easily distracted, quickly forget the sequence of actions, and do not sufficiently understand the importance of what they are being taught. All practiced actions must be performed daily under the guidance of an adult and with his active assistance in the form of joint activity, demonstration, accompanied by speech. The regularity of such repetitions and the positive emotional background created by approving and emphasizing the importance and success of the child’s activities are of decisive importance.

Particular difficulties are caused by the formation of correct behavior in preschool children. Their inherent intellectual deficiency and meager life experience make it difficult to understand and adequately assess the situations in which they find themselves. The inertia of nervous processes contributes to stereotypic reactions, which often do not at all correspond to the created situation.

For normally developing children in preschool age, the leading activity is play. Play does not occupy its due place in the spontaneous development of mentally retarded children. This is due to the fact that at preschool age they are still far from mastering the game.

The most complex and at the same time the most significant for the development of a child is role-playing game. Mentally retarded preschoolers cannot master it on their own. Only at the end of preschool childhood can pupils of special kindergartens observe individual elements of role-playing games, which are formed by the teacher in the classroom. Usually, in mentally retarded preschoolers, individual play actions can be observed; they have no semantic content. Thus, a boy repeatedly rolls an empty toy car, making sounds that should indicate the noise of the motor. His movements and sound are stereotypical and do not realize any intention.

The visual activity of mentally retarded children is formed slowly and in a unique way. Their drawings contain characteristic features that are diagnostic in nature. The skills of children deprived of special education in kindergarten or family remain for a long time at the level of simple scribbles, and only towards the end of preschool childhood can one see subject and, to some extent, plot drawings, executed very imperfectly, with gross errors and inaccuracies. These drawings reflect the undifferentiation of visual perception, the low level of thinking and memory and, of course, the imperfection of the motor sphere. Children draw people - cephalopods, birds with four legs, “transparent houses” and do all this with fuzzy, crooked lines. However, they treat the results of their activities very emotionally, value them highly and demonstrate them with pleasure.

A completely different picture is observed in cases where preschoolers are specially taught drawing. Most of them find success. Evidence of both the presence of potential capabilities and the importance of corrective influence on a mentally retarded child.

Among the mentally retarded there are children who have two or more developmental deviations. These are children with complex developmental disabilities: oligophrenics with damage to the analyzers (hearing, vision), with specific speech deviations, disorders of the musculoskeletal system, and autism. Currently, these children are not well studied. Children with such a complex defect require specialized programs and methods of correctional education to a greater extent than ordinary mentally retarded children. For them, acquaintance with the surrounding social world, objects and phenomena around them is greatly complicated, understanding life situations and solving them is extremely difficult. Such children are taught in a group of 4-5 people at special children's institutions, where they are taught according to simplified, often individual programs. The main time is devoted to developing in them the necessary, vital practical and hygienic skills. In general, the prognosis for the development of mentally retarded children with a complex defect is less favorable than the prognosis for the development of children with only intellectual disability.

There may be individual problems in human development that lead to deviations in overall development. Disadvantages appear from birth or during human development.

Depending on the degree of the defect and the time of its onset, some problems can be completely overcome, others can be partially corrected, others can be compensated, and others cannot be affected at all. In any case, when a deviation is detected, one must remember that the earlier the intervention occurs, the more significant its impact will be in order to neutralize the existing developmental defect.

The concept of “development” includes two complex definitions:

• ontogenesis - individual development of a person;
• phylogeny is the general development of the human species as a whole.

Naturally, ontogeny must proceed in accordance with phylogeny. Minor deviations in the rate of development are considered within normal limits. If the differences between ontogenesis and phylogeny are significant, then we are talking about developmental defects.

There are two types of defects:

• private defect - damage or underdevelopment of individual analyzers;
• a common defect is a violation of regulatory and subcortical systems.

The earlier the defeat occurred, the greater the likelihood of deviations in mental development. Primary disorders arise from the physiological nature of the defect (hearing problems, vision problems, brain damage). Secondary disorders appear already in the process of disrupted development.

As a rule, secondary disorders are deviations in the child’s mental development that follow primary disorders. As an example, we can point out cases of profound deviations in mental development in children with congenital hearing impairments.

Problems with the analyzer do not have a direct impact on the psyche, but they make speech development impossible. Lack of speech, including misunderstanding of words, leads to poor development of intelligence and deviations in mental development.

Thus, even minor primary disturbances can cause profound secondary disturbances.

Variants of deviations in mental development

Deviations in mental development can have different options:

1. Dysontogenesis is a type of persistent underdevelopment, when pronounced immaturity of brain forms is observed. An example of such an option is oligophrenia.
2. Delayed mental development is characterized by a slow pace of development that deviates from the norm. Often, a child’s development is fixed at certain stages, regardless of calendar age.
3. Damaged development is stated in cases where genetically a person does not have developmental abnormalities, but as a result of damage a developmental disorder occurs. Factors that have a negative impact on the development of a child are:

• intrauterine and birth injuries;
• infectious diseases with negative complications;
• intoxication;
• damage to the central nervous system at earlier stages of development.

An example of impaired development is dementia.

1. Deficient development is associated with disturbances in the activity of individual analyzers (hearing, vision), which leads to profound secondary disturbances in the form of deviations in mental development.
2. Distorted development is a complex combination of certain developmental disorders and accelerated development of individual functions. An example of this option is early childhood autism.
3. Disharmonious development is observed when there is a violation of proportionality in the development of individual mental functions, as well as mental functions. An example of disharmonious development could be psychopathy.

Groups of people with developmental disabilities

People with mental development disorders are conventionally divided into several groups. The basis for classification is a primary disorder, which, in turn, causes a secondary defect in mental development.

Group 1 - people with hearing impairment. People with hearing impairments are divided into two groups:

• deaf (impaired) - persons who are completely deaf or have residual hearing that cannot be used to accumulate a speech reserve. This category is divided into those who are deaf without speech (early deafened) and deaf who have retained a certain part of speech (late deafened). The level of mental development of this category depends on the time of hearing loss. The earlier hearing is lost, the less chance there is for the development of speech, and, consequently, intelligence.
• hearing-impaired children - with partial hearing impairment, complicating speech and, accordingly, intellectual development.

Group 2 - people with visual impairments. This category is also divided into the blind (with complete absence of vision or little light perception) and the visually impaired. It should be noted that the lack of vision does not have a direct impact on the development of intelligence. However, we must understand that the accumulation of speech in children occurs through unconscious copying of the actions of the articulatory apparatus of adults. Therefore, very often, despite normal hearing, blind children have delayed speech and mental development.

Group 3 - persons with disorders of the musculoskeletal system. A narrow non-combined disorder does not cause mental development disorders.

Group 4 - persons with a violation of the emotional-volitional sphere. This category includes children with early childhood autism in varying degrees of severity.

Chetverikova T.Yu.

ORCID: 0000-0003-2794-0011, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Omsk State Pedagogical University

PRACTICES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR SCHOOLCHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

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The article introduces modern practices of inclusive education for schoolchildren with mental retardation. The unfoundedness of these practices is noted. This is due to the fact that with mental retardation, a child cannot achieve a level of general and speech development close to the age norm. The content of education implemented in public schools is not focused on meeting the special educational needs of these students. As a result, children with mental retardation cannot successfully master the required minimum of academic knowledge and social competencies. It is advisable for a child with mental retardation to receive a non-licensed education in a special school or a special class operating in a public school.The presence of special classes in the structure of a public school makes it possible to ensure that children with mental retardation receive a quality education, as well as enrich the child’s life experience through his regular interaction with healthy peers.

Keywords: inclusive education, mental retardation, special educational needs.

ChetverikovaT.Yu.

ORCID: 0000-0003-2794-0011, PhD in Pedagogy, Omsk State Pedagogical University

PRACTICES OF INCLUSIVE EDUCATION FOR SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Abstract

Article acquaints with modern practitioners of inclusive education of mentally retarded school students. Groundlessness of these the practitioner is noted. It is caused by that atmental retardationthe child can’t reach the level of the general and speech development close to age norm. The content of education to be implemented in mainstream schools is not focused on meeting the special educational needs of these students. As a result, children with mental retardation cannot successfully master the necessary minimum of academic knowledge and social competencies. It is expedient that the mentally retarded child received not qualification education at special school or the special class functioning at mass school. The presence of special classes in ordinary school structure ensures that children receive a quality education for mental retardation, as well as enrich the life experience of the child through his regular interaction with healthy peers.

Keywords: inclusive education, mental retardation, special educational needs.

Over the past few years, the practice of inclusive education for children with disabilities has become increasingly widespread. Scientists continue to search for optimal models of joint teaching of peers with normal and developmental disabilities, as well as to determine ways to prepare teachers to work in conditions of inclusion. Thus, research by S.N. Vikzhanovich testify to the possibilities of educational integration of children with delayed speech development and speech disorders. The same author noted the advisability of certain inclusive practices in cases where the child has a history of autism spectrum disorder.

S.V. Shcherbakov strongly substantiates the expediency of using interactive teaching methods in the educational process of a university, ensuring that students master the competencies necessary to implement inclusive practices. A.V. Bakhina offers approaches to designing an interactive model of reality for students to master the sociocultural foundations of inclusive education.

O.S. Kuzmina paid much attention to the issues of organizing the training of teachers to work in conditions of inclusive practice; she proposed the content of advanced training courses for teachers, which allows them to master the specifics of providing correctional assistance to a child with disabilities integrated into the environment of healthy peers.

Despite the high interest in the problem of inclusive education, little attention is still paid to issues related to the negative experiences of joint education of children with normal and developmental disabilities. This provokes the emergence of unjustified practices of inclusive education.

Taking into account the above, let us outline the purpose of the article: to analyze the unreasonable practices of inclusive education of schoolchildren with mental retardation. This will help prevent cases of pseudo-integration, in which a child with the above-mentioned disorder is deprived of the right to receive a quality education, since in the conditions of a mass class of a comprehensive school he is faced with the need, but cannot master the program material in the same time frame and in the same volume as his healthy peers.

The study was conducted on the basis of the regional resource center for inclusive education, operating within the structure of Omsk State Pedagogical University. During the study, we analyzed 58 cases of inclusive education of students from 7 to 11 years old from 37 public schools. The children have a medical certificate of “mild mental retardation.”

The following methods were used as part of the study:

– study of school documentation in the form of diaries of psychological and pedagogical observations, student development maps, protocols of school psychological, medical and pedagogical consultations;

– conducting a survey of parents raising children with mental retardation and teachers involved in inclusive education;

– observation of the educational activities of students with mental retardation integrated into general schools.

As noted above, the study was conducted on the basis of the regional resource center for inclusive education. 276 people (teachers and parents) turned to the center for advice. Of all the examined cases of inclusive education of children with disabilities, schoolchildren with mental retardation accounted for 58, which amounted to 21%. The quantitative indicator is higher only for children with speech pathologies (24.7%). This allows us to note that the practices of inclusive education of students with mental retardation are widespread.

Before entering school, 5 children with mental retardation attended compensatory kindergartens. The remaining children were in family education (29 people) or were integrated into general preschool educational organizations (24 people). Only 2 children out of 58 received correctional assistance at an early age. With the remaining children (56 people), correctional work began only from the moment they were enrolled in kindergarten or was not carried out at all (42 people). Some parents (18 people) indicated that they were not able to send their child to kindergarten due to lack of places; others (11 people) did not do this purposefully, explaining that their child, before entering school, needed regular care and supervision, which cannot be provided in large groups of preschoolers.

Overall, 96.5% of children with mental retardation did not receive early correctional assistance. At the same time, the early start of correctional work is one of the significant conditions for overcoming and preventing secondary developmental disorders, as well as the subsequent successful inclusive education of children with disabilities.

When justifying the choice of a public school as a place of education for their child with mental retardation, parents gave various arguments. Among the most popular are the territorial proximity of a public school to home (27 families), rejection of an educational organization for children with intellectual disabilities (9 families), and the desire to educate a child using programs and textbooks intended for normal children (22 families). Recognizing that their son or daughter had difficulties in learning activities, representatives of 32 families demonstrated the conviction that such difficulties were temporary and would disappear as the child grew older. This point of view is erroneous: disorders caused by mental retardation require long-term psychological and pedagogical correction, while mental retardation cannot be eliminated.

Commenting on the data obtained, we point out: parents are not sufficiently aware of the nature of mental retardation. There is a misunderstanding of the role of correctional work in meeting the special educational needs of a child with an intellectual disability. Of course, parents raising children with disabilities, including mental retardation, should receive advice from qualified specialists regarding determining the educational route for the child, taking into account his individual characteristics and capabilities. During consultations, it is important to help parents choose an organization in which the educational content provided will be focused on the needs of the child and will ensure that he or she masters the necessary minimum academic knowledge and life competencies.

During the survey of parents, it was noted that 19 of them were convinced that the education of their children according to programs and textbooks for a public school was beyond their means. 11 students do not have good relationships with peers and/or teachers. In this regard, parents do not object to their child’s education being special, but preferably in the same school, for example, in a specialized class. This point of view deserves attention. We believe that at present it is necessary to create a new type of school - combined. But such experience is only just being formed in Russia. We believe that the presence of special classes in the structure of a public school (with adequate staffing of such classes and the implementation of the educational process in them by defectologists) makes it possible to ensure that children with disabilities receive a quality education, provide timely correctional assistance, and enrich the life experience of the child through his regular interaction with healthy people. peers.

Let us give examples to illustrate the unreasonable practices of inclusive education for schoolchildren with mental retardation.

2nd grade student(9 years old) with mild mental retardation.

The child is educated together with healthy peers from the 1st grade. Already in the first year of school, the boy could not successfully master the program material. In 2nd grade, he was classified as one of the persistently underperforming students. Parents believe that their child’s learning difficulties are temporary.

The boy is conflicted. Relationships with peers do not work out. When conflict situations arise, he often resorts to physical force. During lessons, he prefers to remain silent or gives random answers, including those indicating the presence of impoverished and even distorted ideas about the world around him. For example: “A bear is a pet. He has a lot of hair on his back. He lives in the circus"; "9 plus 1 equals 91". The boy finds it difficult to formulate statements, demonstrating gross underdevelopment of speech and thinking activity.

4th grade student(11 years old) with mild mental retardation.

The girl has been studying in a public school since the 1st grade. The girl’s mother is considering transferring her daughter to an adaptive school (for students with mental retardation) due to severe learning difficulties, the child’s lack of friendly relations with peers, and the girl’s reluctance to attend school.

The girl is calm and keeps to herself in class. He refuses to go to the board. Can't cope with program material. The teacher offers the child simple individual tasks on cards. The child’s statements indicate a distorted understanding of the surrounding reality. For example: “Mineral resources are carrots, onions, cabbage, because they are taken out of the ground.”.

Each of the examples presented is typical for the situation of inclusive education of a child with mental retardation. Accordingly, it is appropriate to point out the validity of the point of view, widespread in defectology science, that educational integration can be effective only for a part of children with disabilities. First of all, these are children whose level of psychophysical and speech development corresponds to the age norm or is close to it. Of course, a child with mental retardation, due to objective reasons, cannot reach this level.

To summarize, let's conclude. Due to a gross impairment of cognitive activity, children with mental retardation do not reach a level of psychophysical and speech development close to the age norm, and, accordingly, cannot master the general educational standard within the time limits prescribed for normally developing children. Faced with the need to master a qualified education, children with mental retardation are deprived of the opportunity to master the academic knowledge available to them, as well as life competencies, since they find themselves in conditions that are not focused on meeting their special educational needs. As a result, the process of teaching a child with mental retardation becomes formal. It is advisable for students with mental retardation to master the non-qualifying level of education in an adaptive school or correctional class operating in a public school.

Literature

1. Bakhina A.V. Designing an interactive model of reality for students to master the sociocultural foundations of special and inclusive education // Defectology. – 2015. – No. 3. – P. 58 – 64.
2. Vikzhanovich S.N. On the issue of differential diagnosis of general speech underdevelopment and delayed speech development in children // In the world of scientific discoveries. – 2013. – No. 11.8 (47). – P. 72 – 76.
3. Vikzhanovich S.N. Characteristics of systemic speech underdevelopment in autism spectrum disorders // Modern studies of social problems. – 2015. – No. 8 (52). – P. 294 – 305.
4. Kuzmina O.S. On the issue of preparing teachers to work in conditions of inclusive education // In the world of scientific discoveries. – 2014. – No. 5.1 (53). – P. 365 – 371.
5. Shcherbakov S.V. Implementation of a competency-based approach in teaching students in the direction of “Special (defectological) education” // Bulletin of the Omsk State Pedagogical University. Humanities studies. – 2015. – No. 3 (7). – P. 129 – 131.

References

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