Mentally retarded children. Deviations in mental development Scientific articles mentally retarded child

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PENZA STATE PEDAGOGICAL UNIVERSITY named after V. G. BELINSKY SOCIAL SCIENCES № 28 2012

PENZENSKOGO GOSUDARSTVENNOGO PEDAGOGICHESKOGO UNIVERSITETA imeni V. G. BELINSKOGO PUBLIC SCIENCES № 28 2012

UDC 159.9:37.015.3

METHODOLOGICAL PROBLEMS OF THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TEACHING PEOPLE WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Volodina I. S., Antipova I. G. - Methodological problems of teaching people with mental retardation // Proceedings of PSPU im. V. G. Belinsky. 2012. No. 28. S. 1167-1173. - The necessity of methodological research in the psychology of teaching people with mental retardation is considered. The possibility of revising the content of teaching people with mental retardation is shown. A person with mental retardation is considered in its originality of meaning, which is revealed in training.

Key words: mental retardation, methodological analysis of teaching the mentally retarded, meaning.

Volodina I. S., Antipova I. G. - Methodological problems in training people with mental retardation // Izv. penz. gos. teacher. univ. im.i V. G. Belinsky. 2012. No. 28. R. 1167-1173. - The need in methodological researches of psychological aspects of teaching of individuals with intellectual disabilities is discussed. The possibility of revising the content of training the mentally retarded is viewed. Individual with intellectual disabilities is considered in a cultural context.

Key words: mental retardation, learning, methodological analysis of the mentally retardation, meaning, sense.

Actual problems of special psychology and pedagogy, traditionally associated with the creation of adequate methods of teaching and teaching people with deviant development, reveal a somewhat one-sided elaboration of methodological problems.

Education of people with mental retardation is based on the principles of humanism and adaptation to the norm. Substantially, these principles suggest that the problems of the norm have already been comprehended, which means that the purpose, content and methods of training, education and psychological correction are clear and obvious.

However, there is reason to believe that the methodological resources for identifying mental retardation as a subject of research in special psychology and pedagogy are not widely considered.

Mental retardation is now increasingly viewed in a social way, in terms of the inclusion of a person with mental retardation in social life. So, for example, in a widely used modern definition, mental retardation is understood as "a set of etiologically different hereditary, congenital or early acquired persistent non-progressive syndromes of general mental retardation, manifested in difficulty in social adaptation mainly due to the prevailing intellectual defect" .

Attention is focused on the area of application of the forces of specialists involved in the system of psychological and pedagogical support and training of people with mental retardation - increasing their potential for "adaptive functioning", that is, the degree of success with which a person copes with the requirements of everyday life, the ability to live independently and adhere to social standards.

The means of social adaptation is traditionally recognized and is training aimed at obtaining labor skills, developing communication skills. This position was based on the results of studies by domestic and foreign psychologists who specifically studied the role of "practical intelligence" in the social adaptation of children and adolescents with mental retardation.

At the same time, a number of researchers note that for many years cognitive activity in conditions of mental underdevelopment has remained a priority area of study. This was reflected in the classic for Soviet defectology definition of mental retardation - “a persistent impairment of cognitive activity due to organic damage to the brain (hereditary or acquired)” (M. S. Pevzner, V. V. Lebe-

Dinsky, A. R. Luria, S. Ya. Rubinstein). Exceptional interest in the specifics of cognitive activity and the development of mental processes involved in it was mediated by the demands of practice - teaching children and adolescents, which was understood mainly as the assimilation / accumulation of knowledge, skills and abilities within the framework of the educational program. Social development, in general, remained outside the subject area of research.

P.I. Troshin spoke about the narrowness and harmfulness of the view, which "sees only a disease in abnormal children, forgetting that in addition to the disease, there is also a normal mental life in them."

interest in the social factor does not yet mean the development of methodological problems and the availability of ready-made programs for the study of people with mental retardation in the social aspect, which would manifest itself, in particular, in recognizing the importance of mental life and social meaning in a person with mental retardation.

The one-sidedness of methodological approaches means that research and teaching methods are selected according to the external criteria of the norm, without touching the question of what mental retardation is in its essence.

In the case of rethinking the content of mental retardation, it turns out that it is possible to single out aspects that are not updated in the traditional methodological position of special psychology and pedagogy.

The methodological issue is the question of determination - what causes the backwardness that accompanies intellectual underdevelopment - social or natural factors. This methodological issue of determination, as well as the question of what mental retardation is, is also comprehended as a practical issue related to determining the content and method of education.

The question of the essence of the object under study, solved on the basis of an analysis of mental retardation as a human being and in human interaction, means that mental retardation can be understood as a cultural reality, as another human psyche in the world of culture.

In this case, it is not just a question of determination, but a question of whether or not a person with mental retardation can enter the world of the human under learning conditions.

In case of recognition of the impossibility due to natural or social (or both) factors, we can say that the psyche of this child is only perceived culturally, from the point of view of a cultural other, but the child participates in this cultural interaction (being an object of perception) not as cultural participant in this interaction. and then the peculiarities of the psyche of this child cannot be considered cultural.

In this case, trying to consider what kind of object is present, the question of mental

backwardness must be discussed in connection with the question of what culture is. If culture is a set of correct skills, methods of social adaptation, then people with mental retardation, however, like many normal people, turn out to be uncultured.

The theory of A. A. Pelipenko opens up the possibility of seeing the problems of the existence of a person as cultural in culture, this theory reveals those issues that are resolved outside of their awareness as cultural and therefore often naive and limited. According to A. A. Pelipenko, culture acts as a system of “principles of meaning formation and phenomenological products of this meaning formation” .

Binarity is "a universal code for describing the world, adaptation in it, and in general any meaning-making and shaping in culture" [ibid., p. 34]. “The opposition discrete-continuum can be attributed to the number of universal dualizing principles ... because, like the opposition immanent-transcendent, it is fundamentally irremovable. The flow of mental activity is continual, but at the same time quantized into discrete acts. External reality as a whole is also continuous, at least in the sense of the continuity of its reflection in the psychic flow itself. At the same time, this reality consists of discrete elements, at least in the sense that each of them can become an autonomous object of sensation and is singled out as a conditional whole in reflection. The removal of the opposition is discrete-continuous, ... always has a partial and conditional character and serves. establishing a pragmatic semantic connection between what is posited and what is outside in the context” [ibid., p. 46-47]. Duality is a break in the primary connection, a condition for the positing of meaning.

for both the normal and the mentally retarded, the problem of culture is to find meaning. “The transcendent, like a horizon, looms before the cultural consciousness, limiting the circle of its empirical experience. This horizon, moreover, constantly beckons with the possibility of going beyond the limits of not only this very experience, but the entire system of cultural meaning formation in dual oppositions in general. However, each breakthrough only peels off new meanings from the sphere of the transcendent and inscribes them in the system of the same immanent cultural experience” [ibid, p. 41].

A person gains an experience of meaning in his attempts at "absolute transcending" that give the desired results. “The correlates of the transcendent in the history of culture can be such forms as due, norm, law” [ibid.].

“The principle of transcendence pervades culture. It is one of the key intentions that sets in motion the process of cultural meaning formation with the whole richest spectrum of practice.” “The opposition discrete-continuum models the pragmatic. aspect of culture. The procedure for establishing discrete-continuum

relations precedes and conditions all further operations of meaning formation... the discrete-continuum opposition acts as a modus of the immanent-transcendent opposition... the selection of a single object is the transfer of the selection of oneself (as a subject) from the continuum onto. external object... the subject is aware of or. feels itself as discrete/singular and fallen away from the universal vital-psychic and empirical flow” [ibid.], and then this experience of falling away makes it possible to posit the object as a discrete object.

the mentally retarded must therefore be considered in the cultural space as solving the problems posed by culture, because he sees discrete objects, but these discretization actions cannot be considered analogous to the actions of an individual recognized as normal, they cannot be considered just “lagging behind” normal cultural action.

mentally retarded and the problems of his education are considered not only in connection with the criteria applied to normal students, but also in connection with a specific system of relations with others. This gives certain results, but the narrow understanding of the problem of "culturing" opens up when the fundamental problems of learning are comprehended. mental retardation must be considered not only and not so much in a specific system with others, no matter how beneficial it may seem in practice, but in connection with acts of archaic consciousness. “The archaic consciousness spontaneously gave the objects of the surrounding world the features of anthropic ontology. this anthropomorphization of the discretizing objective environment, as well as the elements of physical space, is. an attempt to restore the lost (or just lost?) universal ontic connection of everything with everything in a specific cultural, anthropic, modality ... anthropic connection ... prepares the living environment for a specifically cultural form and meaning formation. Examples of anthropization are diverse: it is the anthropoization of the visual space in the primitive visual complex” [ibid., p. 42].

“The world of dual oppositions in which culture unfolds is torn apart. Staying in it is traumatic, dooms a person to the search and choice of an object, as well as the principle and method of participation - a situational state of existential unity with another, in which the gap is closed [ibid, p. 29]. In the theory of A. A. Pelipenko, one can see that culture is not a system of patterns of adaptation or moral and aesthetic patterns, therefore, a mentally retarded person who does not appropriate patterns cannot rely on existing outside of culture. It is the choice of the object of participation and attempts at meaning formation that is a problem that is understandable both to the mentally retarded and to those who are involved in activities in a culture called normal. The trauma described by A. A. Pelipenko is the common path of a person, even a mentally retarded one.

However, meaning-setting cannot be considered psychologically or as a goal-oriented action of a person. even a normal person with a preserved intellect does not set the goal of gaining meaning, although he tries to overgrow the primary gap as the expansion of binary oppositions. Not according to psychological, but cultural criteria, it is possible to distinguish between the actions carried out in the space of culture and outside of culture, the actions of the normal and the mentally retarded.

The binarity of culture is carried out in the principle of symmetry. “Symmetry is a universal principle that ensures the positing of empirically disparate phenomena and entities in a single ontological plane, in which, in turn, the positing and grouping of any oppositions is carried out. Symmetry as a principle of thinking sets the vision of space (or plane), where a certain connection of semantic elements that lie in a single ontological modality is initially postulated. Symmetry originates not from empirically observed symmetry relations between individual elements, but from the principle of positing the topological zones of the semantic space themselves. the principle of symmetry forms an ontological niche for binary meaning. The primary impulse for the establishment of such a symmetrical-binary sense-formation is the discreteness of the elements of the pair... the more specific (discrete!) one of the elements of the opposition, the more definite its symmetrical correlation with the element-bearer of opposite qualities. And these opposite qualities, with the symmetry unity of the ontology, serve as a channel for isolating the opposite object, its semantization and definition in its symmetry-discrete autonomy. The symmetrical breakdown of the semantic space into levels and the symmetrical zoning of each of these levels is the primary condition for the proper cultural meaning-setting, overcoming the chaotic heterogeneity of the environment. Any dual opposition, regardless of its semantic content. symmetrical, because, on the one hand, its elements are given in a single ontological modality and, on the other hand, they are, as it were, initially equidistant from the consciousness that posits them. But dualization is always axiological. This means that equidistance exists only in an ideal model. In reality, however, the separation of sign and evaluation can never be completely eliminated. Even modern scientific-rational consciousness cannot fully get rid of it" [ibid., p. 43]. Moreover, a mentally retarded person cannot get rid of this.

The positing of meaning in the dualized space of culture is called participation. A. A. Pelipenko considers participation as a cultural act. “Usually, this word [participation] means the establishment of subject-object relations according to the part-whole principle. When the human subject experiences the unity of himself as a part with some unconditionally positively marked whole, this is called

they are participatory (“and I am a particle of this force”). We understand participation in a somewhat broader sense. Part-whole relationships can also be reversed: the subject feels himself to be a whole, a natural discrete phenomenon (empirical object, some knowledge, etc.); participatory relations can also be of a parity nature (an act of love). It is important that common to all these situations is the action of the mechanism of naturalization as a point-to-point removal (AuNcibu) of subject-object relations and situational folding of a synthetic onto-axiological field. The experience of this state marks the maximum approach to the achievement of a non-dual (consistent) state. Situationally removing the general meta-opposition I-other in the act of participation, the human subject in the act of unity also removes all modalities of subject-object relations” [ibid, p. 56].

Meaning gives a way out of the dual state, but the meaning is always profaned by existence, being burned for the needs of existence. Attempts to escape from the torn duality are illusory.

Attempts to overgrow the trauma were implemented by a body of "mythological, ideological, scientific texts that reproduce the image of an ideally consistent being, ... taking a person beyond the framework of a dualized continuum" [ibid., 35]. It can be assumed, although this issue is subject to a detailed study, that the meaning-setting of those who are recognized as normal is carried out at the expense of semantic actions, acts, indications of abnormal ones. But even the abnormal, one might assume, carry out acts of meaning-making in connection with the normal.

A person exists in the space of lost meaning between the original and acquired, “experiencing cultural consciousness is always in the space of the second position, . and discretizing dualization dooms consciousness to constant analysis (in a broad, and not just in a logical sense). Therefore, the desire to achieve a non-dual state is the pursuit” [ibid.] for the true meaning. This sense, in fact, is impossible and is not needed by the existing in reality.

mental retardation is included in the culture with the help of rhythm, which, although known to those who deal with students, is not understood as a mechanism for the meaning of culture. “The fragmentation of the continuum into discrete elements is a constantly operating principle of cultural genesis and one of the most important procedural aspects of axiological dualization. The discretization of a single something both ontologically and psychologically precedes its semantization and semiotization, endowing it with meaning and value markedness. The discretization principle underlies the ordering of the syncretic continuum through its structuring division. Here symmetry and rhythm play a special role” [ibid., p. 43]. The meaning of rhythm is that “along with symmetry, the most important factor in establishing discrete con-

The main relationship is rhythm. In a certain sense, we can say that symmetry relations act as an internal element of the rhythmic structure... The rhythms of culture are not just a continuation of the rhythms of nature... the human subject, . and would not differ from a natural individual. Rhythmic relations in nature are ... of an object-object nature” [ibid., p. 44]. A person in culture, who has fallen out of the natural continuum, is included in the rhythms of culture.

“Rhythmic structures had to be built on the basis of emerging subjectivity, and not just reproduce natural constants. What is the first manifestation of this emerging human subjectivity? In the aspect of rhythmization as a form of establishing discrete-continuum relations, the specificity of human subjectness lies primarily in the establishment of the cultural modality of time. Physical... time, like a continually pulsating duration, is torn apart, "bumping" into the alienating, self-perception of the human self. Various aspects of this process have repeatedly become the subject of philosophical analysis” [ibid., p. 45].

Rhythm is used in teaching the mentally retarded, but only awareness of the mentally retarded as cultural and in culture can adequately understand the meaning of rhythm in lessons with the mentally retarded.

Education sets the space and factors of meaning. It can be assumed that this is the space of meaning-making for both the mentally retarded and the teacher. In learning, the student participates and tries out the methods of joining. The problematization of meanings is described by V.T. Kudryavtsev as an inversion of cultural forms. This important moment of learning reveals the essence of the cultural production of meanings. Works by V.T. Kudryavtsev has not yet been extrapolated in special psychology.

Attachment always presupposes an object of attachment, rooted in authority, and this is done in the face of the masses.

mental retardation acts as a sense-setting in terms of interaction with others, but a sense-setting that has specificity. Then the backwardness from the norm becomes not so obvious, and what is usually unequivocally attributed to a violation can be considered in the context of the specifics of the possibilities of meaning-making, becoming in the cultural space.

In the understanding of culture A. A. Pelipenko “the ontological aspect of being is modeled in the general opposition of the immanent-transcendent. Behind the usual opposition of the immanent as accessible to empirical experience to the transcendent as lying outside this experience lies the most fundamental cultural and genetic meaning” [ibid, p. 34].

This meaning is revealed as the separation of the self and the other, the establishment of boundaries between the self and the other. This problem of becoming in culture is poorly described.

in studies of the mentally retarded, the work of introducing the mentally retarded in learning into the binarity of self and other is not seen as a cultural problem and the problem of the mentally retarded individual in his self-positing in culture. This goes back to the understanding of mental retardation as a weak opportunity for the assimilation of culture, to a misunderstanding that cultural problems are also solved by the mentally retarded and that culture receives its artifacts in the behavior of the mentally retarded. The education of the mentally retarded should be viewed not as a culturalization, but as a cultural space in which the problem of meaning for the mentally retarded is posed and solved, even if it seems to be outside of culture.

In case of refusal to consider these methodological issues, in fact, one question is solved - what affects mental retardation - nature or society. To what extent is it possible to correct and normalize the psyche of a child with mental retardation? If it is impossible to do this, then it is considered that the natural factor works, if a correction is possible, sociality works. This means that the rejection of methodological analysis means that the practitioner who carries out the correction does not analyze what he is doing, how and why it works.

Accepting that mental retardation is not a natural or social, but a cultural phenomenon, the specificity of which is in the characteristics of the meaning of a person (with mental retardation), we can say that methodological analysis makes it possible to build research and work taking into account the cultural specifics of mental retardation.

An alternative position is the construction of an analysis from the selected individual functions that a person with mental retardation needs to perform in order to adapt in society.

Common sense suggests that one should develop a person with mental retardation not on the basis of abstract criteria, but look at the specific conditions of his existence, considering what he needs for adaptation.

Such a view from the side of common sense and, in a certain sense, some relativization, which in no way casts doubt on the norm, but considers specific normal conditions to be an important point, can make learning difficult. The difficulties are connected, first of all, with the implicit understanding of the limitations of the “full adaptation” of a person with mental retardation.

Common sense is sometimes correlative to the methodological conclusions of classical science and in its values goes back to classical rationality.

Methodology reveals the naivety of common sense and the limited number of problems that can be comprehended regardless of methodology. common sense error

meaning and classical understanding is that the norm is considered as a system of some characteristics, and in its function as a system of dispositions and regulators of behavior: "If there is a mind, then behavior will be smart." In some situations, this is true, but the classical view, within the framework of its methodology, does not distinguish between different situations. The classical view tries not to notice that the normal one is not always adaptive in situations of its capabilities.

The norm does not mean a quick and problem-free adaptation. Nevertheless, the priority of the significance of adaptation to specific conditions determines the importance of correcting (correcting) the violation. Then the problem of development is pushed aside and the main problem remains adaptation.

The methodology of general psychology already provides an opportunity to reconsider this understanding. A normal person is not at all as adaptable and happy as it seems to a mentally retarded person or someone who helps the latter to adapt. Normal is not always adaptable and not always adaptive. Non-adaptive activity is also normal.

Non-adaptive activity is not maladaptive, destructive activity. On the contrary, non-adaptation as going beyond the predetermined is the discovery of both one's own capabilities and a test of the components of accumulated experience that have become and are offered by the teacher for teaching.

The norm is recognized in its non-adaptive activity as capable of going beyond the limits of adaptation. This does not mean the insignificance of adaptation skills, the ability to learn, to interact with others, on the contrary, non-adaptive activity includes and goes beyond adaptation. Supra-situational activity as a non-adaptive activity implies by no means an inability to adapt, self-regulate, control one's behavior. V. A. Petrovsky fundamentally points out that non-adaptation is an exit into the undecided in a situation under control. the student can go out, or maybe linger on adaptability. the narrow framework of adaptation cannot include the entire learning space. While the mentally retarded are still considered only from the point of view of the inability to fully adapt. Learning trajectories for the mentally retarded are so far prescribed for the purposes of the maximum possible adaptation in a particular case.

“Pulling up” a person with mental retardation with the help of habilitation, training to the norm does not at all mean that adaptation and adaptability are achievable. Adaptation is some idea that does not regulate behavior, but determines only the perception of one's own behavior and its products. Understanding all the vicissitudes of the adaptation of the norm is possible only with a methodological analysis of the study and teaching of normal and "abnormal" people. The classical ideal of algorithmic research and teaching is transformed precisely within the framework of the methodology analysis.

If in the teaching of normal people sometimes questions of meaning are asked in the key of participation in an object that explains the existence of an individual, then in the psychology of teaching children with mental retardation this problem has not yet been raised.

Ignoring a person with mental retardation as a person engaged in meaning-making means a situation in which “at least” minimal adaptive actions or the performance of useful functions are expected from him. However, the functions are also distinguished based on the results of the work of society, adaptation and communication, on the basis of the activities of a normal person, not even on the basis of how a normal person can perform these functions.

The humanism of the approach seems to lie in the fact that a person with mental retardation is not presented with too high demands in training, given his backwardness from the ideal accepted in society. At the same time, the real possibilities of a person with mental retardation for society are not disclosed. It seems unthinkable that a person with mental retardation can teach normal people in terms of their activity and communication, teach, for example, humanity.

It is true that a mentally retarded person knows and can do less, it is true that when issues of adaptation are considered and it is not noticed that a child with mental retardation, like a normal child, is in the same cultural interaction, there is no autonomy for them in culture. The position of one is the opposition of the other.

Fundamentally, not at the level of sentimental reasoning, this question is posed as a rethinking of the principle of autonomy. Fundamentally, it is important to analyze mental retardation in cultural terms as a lack of some possibilities of meaning-making and as an object for the perception of the normal - an object in terms of persuading one's reality. And then mental retardation opens up new possibilities and principles of normality to those that exist not in the key and in the principle of adaptation.

The function of mental retardation is to arouse interest in methodology. The crisis of society, in particular, the education system actualizes the stock of dissystemic meanings, abilities, which in a situation of stability is marginalized and is not experienced as actually applicable.

Interest in the marginalized, children with disabilities, along with the relevance of humanistic discourse, is also due to interest in marginal or, more precisely, marginalized human abilities.

mental retardation acts as a dissis-dark reserve, actualized in a state of crisis, but the actualization of this reserve is possible provided that the originality of mental retardation is understood. The disclosure of a dissystemic stock as peripheral meanings does not imply the use of adaptation techniques, the meanings of a marginal group as a guide to action, on the contrary, it presupposes adequate

ness in actions with these meanings, a margin for adaptation. This does not imply "acceptance" as an admission of any semantic adaptation, but makes it possible to find out ways to establish a dialogue with mental retardation and corrective action.

mental retardation as a store of new meanings is perceived under the condition of understanding the need to abandon the preformist principle in education.

The development of society is carried out both by adults who comprehend problems, and by children and adolescents, who, in the assimilation of social experience, express both their activity and ingenuity in relation to the forms that have become (V. T. Kudryavtsev).

In connection with the revision of the principle of preformism, there is also the possibility of understanding mental retardation as a kind of peculiar way of forming new meanings that are inaccessible and incomprehensible to adults.

In this understanding, the education of children with mental retardation is not adaptation (no matter how relevant this problem may seem for the practice of education), but their inclusion in culture. Education, which includes a person with mental retardation in culture, confronts him with the problem of the cultural production of meanings, accessible to him and inaccessible to those recognized as normal.

The disclosure of mental retardation in the key of meaning production can provide an opportunity to see what problems it faces in learning, and learning as part of existence, and not "preliminary" to it. Education is a real space of existence and there are problems in it that both the normal and the mentally retarded have to comprehend. This methodological point of view can make it possible to accept developments in the psychology of teaching the mentally retarded, which have not yet been implemented in special education.

The ideas of V. A. Petrovsky about learning as a space of non-adaptive activity, revealing the potential of creativity and self-understanding, V. T. Kudryavtsev about the incorrectness of the separation of learning and creative processing of social experience presented to the student as a ready-made and unproblematic block of the past, ideas of V. V. Davydov, V. P. Zinchenko, I. S. Yakimanskaya, which constitute a significant potential of domestic thought, have not yet been updated in special psychology.

It can be assumed that in his work a special teacher implements a number of ideas of these scientists, but this moment is not explicated due to the methodological order.

Non-recognition of a mentally retarded individual who is in the flow of meaning production, the classical understanding of the methodological question of what mental retardation is and the problems of learning goals in connection with adaptation to existing functions that are recognized as normal - all these methodological reasons do not yet give a complete

lecture the practice of teaching the mentally retarded and recognize that the teaching of the mentally retarded is not the transfer of adaptive skills, but the function of inclusion in semantic production, the purpose of which for both normal and mentally retarded is participation in the object that substantiates and structures the acts of existence of the individual.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Volodina I. S. The specifics of the development of social intelligence of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation. Diss... cand. psychol. Sciences. St. Petersburg: Russian State Pedagogical University im. A.I. Herzen, 2004. 194 p.

2. Isaev D. N. Mental retardation. St. Petersburg: Rech, 2007. 392 p.

3. Kudryavtsev V. T. Cultural and historical status of childhood // Psychological journal. 1998. V. 19. No. 3. pp. 107-131.

4. Kudryavtsev V. T. Historicism in developmental psychology: from principle to problem // Psikhol. magazine. 1996. V. 17. No. 1. S. 5-17.

5. Pelipenko A. A., Yakovenko I. G. Culture as a system. M.: Languages of Slavic culture, 1998. 365 p.

6. Petrovsky V. A. Psychology of non-adaptive activity. M.: ROU, 1992. 224 p.

7. Petrovsky V. A. Personality in psychology. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1996. 512 p.

Mental retardation- congenital or acquired in the early postnatal period underdevelopment of the psyche with phenomena of severe insufficiency of intelligence, difficulty or complete impossibility of the individual's social functioning. The term "" in world psychiatry has established itself in the last two decades, entered the international classifications, replacing the previously used term "oligophrenia".

The concept of oligophrenia and the term itself were introduced into the scientific lexicon by E. Kraepelin (1915) as a synonym for the concept of “general mental retardation”.

In ICD-10 (F70-79), mental retardation is defined as “a condition of delayed or incomplete development of the psyche, which is primarily characterized by a violation of the abilities that appear during maturation and provide a general level of intelligence, i.e. cognitive, speech, motor and social features. The obligate signs are the early (up to three years) occurrence of intellectual insufficiency and impaired adaptation in the social environment.

The main manifestation of oligophrenia is mental underdevelopment, depending on the characteristics of the form of the disease, it can be combined with various physical, neurological, mental, biochemical, endocrine, autonomic disorders. The absence of progredientity is also its obligate feature, in contrast to various variants of dementing processes.

The prevalence of oligophrenia has not been fully studied. The maximum values of this indicator fall on the age of 10-19 years, it is at this age that special requirements are imposed on the level of cognitive abilities (school education, admission to college, conscription). Official medical reporting gives a wide range of scatter rates from 1.4 to 24.6 per 1000 adolescent population. Regional indicators on the prevalence of oligophrenia also fluctuate. This may be due to the presence of isolates, differences in environmental and socio-economic conditions of life, and the quality of medical care provided.

It is believed that deviations in the mental development of a child cannot be distinguished at an early age, and any inappropriate behavior is regarded as a childish whim. However, today specialists can notice many mental disorders already in a newborn, which allows them to start treatment on time.

Neuropsychological signs of mental disorders in children

Doctors identified a number of syndromes - mental characteristics of children, most common at different ages. The syndrome of functional deficiency of subcortical formations of the brain develops in the prenatal period. It is characterized by:

Emotional instability, expressed in frequent mood swings;
Increased fatigue and associated low work capacity;
Pathological stubbornness and laziness;
Sensitivity, capriciousness and uncontrollability in behavior;
Prolonged enuresis (often up to 10-12 years);
Underdevelopment of fine motor skills;
Manifestations of psoriasis or allergies;
Appetite and sleep disorders;
Slow formation of graphic activity (drawing, handwriting);
Tics, grimacing, screaming, uncontrollable laughter.

The syndrome is quite difficult to correct, because due to the fact that the frontal regions are not formed, most often deviations in the mental development of the child are accompanied by intellectual insufficiency.

Dysgenetic syndrome associated with functional deficiency of brain stem formations can manifest itself in childhood up to 1.5 years. Its main features are:

Disharmonious mental development with a shift in stages;
Facial asymmetries, improper growth of teeth and violation of the body formula;
Difficulty falling asleep;
The abundance of age spots and moles;
Distortion of motor development;
Diathesis, allergies and disorders in the endocrine system;
Problems in the formation of neatness skills;
encopresis or enuresis;
Distorted pain threshold;
Violations of phonemic analysis, school maladaptation;
Memory selectivity.

The mental characteristics of children with this syndrome are difficult to correct. Teachers and parents should ensure the neurological health of the child and the development of his vestibular-motor coordination. It should also be borne in mind that emotional disorders are aggravated against the background of fatigue and exhaustion.

The syndrome associated with the functional immaturity of the right hemisphere of the brain can manifest itself from 1.5 to 7-8 years. Deviations in the mental development of the child are manifested as:

Mosaic perception;
Violation of the differentiation of emotions;
Confabulations (fantasy, fiction);
color vision disorders;
Errors in assessing angles, distances and proportions;
Distortion of memories;
Feeling of multiple limbs;
Violations of the setting of stresses.

To correct the syndrome and reduce the severity of mental disorders in children, it is necessary to ensure the neurological health of the child and pay special attention to the development of visual-figurative and visual-effective thinking, spatial representation, visual perception and memory.

There are also a number of syndromes that develop from 7 to 15 years due to:

Birth injury of the cervical spinal cord;
General anesthesia;
concussions;
emotional stress;
intracranial pressure.

To correct deviations in the child's mental development, a set of measures is needed to develop interhemispheric interaction and ensure the child's neurological health.

Mental characteristics of children of different ages

The most important thing in the development of a small child under 3 years old is communication with the mother. It is the lack of maternal attention, love and communication that many doctors consider the basis for the development of various mental disorders. Doctors call the second reason a genetic predisposition transmitted to children from parents.

The period of early childhood is called somatic, when the development of mental functions is directly related to movements. The most typical manifestations of mental disorders in children include digestive and sleep disorders, startling at sharp sounds, and monotonous crying. Therefore, if the baby is anxious for a long time, it is necessary to consult a doctor who will help either diagnose the problem or dispel the fears of the parents.

Children aged 3-6 years are developing quite actively. Psychologists characterize this period as psychomotor, when the reaction to stress can manifest itself in the form of stuttering, tics, nightmares, neuroticism, irritability, affective disorders and fears. As a rule, this period is quite stressful, since usually at this time the child begins to attend preschool educational institutions.

The ease of adaptation in the children's team largely depends on the psychological, social and intellectual preparation. Mental abnormalities in children of this age may occur due to increased stress, for which they are not prepared. It is quite difficult for hyperactive children to get used to the new rules that require perseverance and concentration.

At the age of 7-12 years, mental disorders in children may manifest as depressive disorders. Quite often, for self-affirmation, children choose friends with similar problems and a way of expressing themselves. But even more often in our time, children replace real communication with virtual ones in social networks. The impunity and anonymity of such communication contributes to even greater alienation, and existing disorders can progress rapidly. In addition, prolonged concentration in front of a screen affects the brain and can cause epileptic seizures.

Deviations in the mental development of a child at this age, in the absence of a reaction from adults, can lead to quite serious consequences, including sexual developmental disorders and suicide. It is also important to monitor the behavior of girls, who often begin to be dissatisfied with their appearance during this period. In this case, anorexia nervosa can develop, which is a severe psychosomatic disorder that can irreversibly disrupt metabolic processes in the body.

Doctors also note that at this time, mental abnormalities in children can develop into a manifest period of schizophrenia. If you do not respond in time, pathological fantasies and overvalued hobbies can develop into crazy ideas with hallucinations, changes in thinking and behavior.

Deviations in the mental development of a child can manifest itself in different ways. In some cases, the parents' fears are not confirmed to their joy, and sometimes the help of a doctor is really needed. The treatment of mental disorders can and should be carried out only by a specialist who has sufficient experience to make the correct diagnosis, and success largely depends not only on the right medicines, but also on the support of the family.

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Mental retardation is a fairly common disease, which in the modern period is increasingly common in newborns. In its essence, it is an ailment, the fundamental feature of which is a congenital or acquired (up to 3 years) decrease in intelligence, unable to progress. Therefore, mental retardation is a stable level of intellectual underdevelopment. The emotional sphere in the disease under consideration practically does not suffer, that is, people are able to freely feel sympathy and hostility, joy and grief, sadness and fun, but not as complex and multifaceted as healthy people. The most significant problem is the lack of ability to think abstractly.

It has been proven that human intelligence is determined by genetic and environmental factors. Children whose parents are diagnosed with mental retardation are at risk. That is, they are prone to the development of various mental disorders, however, this genetic transmission is quite rare. Even despite the fact that there have been some advances in the field of genetics, in 80% of cases it is still not possible to identify the causes of diseases. Basically, they are installed in already particularly severe cases.

The most common factors provoking the occurrence of the condition in question are: prenatal causes (chromosomal abnormalities, nervous diseases, parental use of alcohol, drugs, HIV disease); intranatal causes (immaturity, prematurity, multiple pregnancy, asphyxia, forceps during childbirth); postnatal causes (lack or complete absence of cognitive, physical, and emotional support, viral encephalitis, meningitis, head trauma, malnutrition).

The ailment in question, like other diseases, has a variety of criteria, which, in turn, make it possible to subdivide mental retardation into certain degrees and forms. The classification of the disease is determined by the degree of the course, as well as the forms of manifestation. In the modern period, the following are distinguished: mild degree (IQ level ranges from 50-69 points); average degree (IQ level ranges from 20-49 points); severe (IQ level is less than 20 points). To determine the exact indicators, the patient is offered to pass a test task, the results of which make it possible to judge the presence of the degree of the disease. It is important to note that such a division is considered conditional, since the classification must take into account both the degree of intellectual decline and the level of assistance and care that a sick person needs.

Modern statistics confirm that approximately three percent of the world's population exists with an IQ level of less than 70 points. As for the severe form of mental retardation, it is observed in about one percent of people. Therefore, during the diagnostic examinations, a sufficiently large number of various additional factors are taken into account. Severe mental retardation is noted in young children, regardless of the education of relatives and parents, and their family's belonging to any social stratum. If we talk about a moderate form of mental retardation, then in this case it is worth noting that it is most often observed in families with low socioeconomic status.

The symptomatology of the disease should be considered depending on the degree of the immediate ailment. A mild degree does not allow in appearance to distinguish an unhealthy person from a healthy one. The main criteria is the inability to study in the way that a general educational institution requires, the ability to concentrate on any activity is significantly reduced. It is important to point out that such people have a good memory, but there are deviations in behavior. For example, children with mild to moderate retardation are dependent on caregivers and parents. An abrupt change of scenery greatly disturbs and frightens them. Patients often withdraw into themselves or, on the contrary, actively seek to attract special attention to their person through various ridiculous antisocial acts. Based on the above text, it is concluded that individuals suffering from the disease in question very often fall into the criminal world or become victims of scammers, since it is very easy for them to inspire something. A characteristic sign of mild to moderate retardation is every kind of concealment of one's own indisposition from other persons.

With an average degree of mental retardation, people have the ability to distinguish between praise and punishment, empathize, experience joy. It is noted that they easily learn self-service skills, reading and writing, and elementary arithmetic. However, they are unable to live without outside help. Regular monitoring and maintenance is essential.

People with a severe form of mental retardation are completely speechless, all their movements are clumsy and purposeless. They are by nature untrainable. Among other things, their emotional sphere is limited to elementary manifestations of joy or displeasure. The treated patients need supervision. Therefore, they should be kept in specialized institutions.

The first signs of the presence of an ailment are intellectual retardation, immature, as well as insufficient self-service skills. In rare cases, the development of children with mental retardation can go normalized before school years. If there is a mild degree of the disease, then the symptoms are not recognized at all. As for the other two degrees, they are diagnosed in the early stages and are combined with a variety of physical anomalies and malformations. In such a situation, the disease is diagnosed by school age.

In a considerable number of children, mental retardation along the way follows with cerebral palsy, hearing loss, delayed speech development, the presence of motor disorders and other deviations in general development. Over time, the characteristic of the disease acquires more and more new symptoms. People of childhood become prone to regular depression, anxiety. In particular, this fact applies to those moments when they are considered as flawed or rejected.

For children in kindergarten with the disease in question, there is difficulty in observing the established regimen, difficulty with adaptation, all elementary tasks seem to them simply impossible. At school age, inattention and restlessness, bad behavior and excessive fatigue are noted in children. Such behavior should necessarily alert parents.

In accordance with the international classification, certain forms of mental retardation are distinguished. Firstly, it is an uncomplicated form of the disease, where the fundamental nervous processes are characterized by stable balance. All violations of the cognitive sphere of the child are not accompanied by any gross and obvious deviations. As for the emotional sphere, in this case, children are able to act purposefully, but only in cases where the tasks are extremely clear to them. Deviations may not appear if the environment is not new.

A disease with neurodynamic disorders is characterized by instability of the emotional sphere by the type of excitability or inhibition, as well as instability of the volitional sphere. All violations are manifested in a change in behavior and a decrease in performance.

An ailment with deviations of analyzer functions is formed due to diffuse lesions of the cortex in combination with severe disorders of any brain system. In addition, there are local defects, hearing, vision, speech, musculoskeletal system.

Mental retardation with psychopathic behavior is caused by a developmental delay due to disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere. In such patients, criticality towards oneself is reduced, personal components are underdeveloped, and disinhibition of drives is formed. Children have a clear tendency to unjustified affects.

Mental retardation with pronounced frontal insufficiency is due to lack of initiative, lethargy and helplessness. The speech of such children is verbose. It is more imitative in nature, but has no sensible content. Patients do not have the opportunity to mentally strain and adequately assess the situations that are developing around them.

Any approach to the diagnosis of the disease under consideration should be systemic and multilateral. It is mandatory to record all observations and concerns on the part of parents.

First of all, in the diagnosis, attention is paid to identifying risk factors in the family and individual history, as well as the environment in which the child lives. All established risk factors, i.e. prematurity, maternal drug abuse or perinatal injury, should be clearly reflected in the medical record. In children who are at risk, it is required to assess the state of lag during the developmental period in the first two years of life. In this case, early rehabilitation intervention is being introduced. The card of the child should contain the milestones of his development. Each preventive examination is characterized by paying attention to deviations from the functional norm, external abnormal manifestations.

Before a mental retardation is diagnosed, it is determined whether the child has any disorders in adaptive behavior and cognitive functions. And this is no accident, since these disorders can mimic or contribute to intellectual retardation. Mental retardation has been noted to be present in autism and cerebral palsy. In such cases, the diagnosis of cerebral palsy is based on a more significant deficit in motor functions compared to cognitive deficits. In this situation, there are changes in muscle tone and pathological reflexes. As for autism, here the delay in social adaptation skills and speech development is more pronounced than non-verbal skills. Speaking of mental retardation, it affects motor, social, cognitive and adaptive skills equally. Intellectual retardation also mimics sensory deficits, that is, deafness and blindness, various communication disorders that are quite difficult to treat.

It is important to note that the diagnosis of the disease must be confirmed by specialized intellectual testing and tasks for checking adaptive functions. The most common in practice are the Wechsler scale, the Bailey-P infant development scale, and the Stanford-Binet scale.

The Bailey-P Infant Development Scale includes in its structure indicators of speech skills, achievement skills, and gross motor skills in a child aged from one to three and a half years. Based on the estimates obtained, the indices of psychomotor and mental development are calculated. Thanks to the considered scale, it is possible to confirm the established diagnosis of severe mental retardation. However, a mild degree cannot be determined using this test.

Intelligence testing is carried out in children older than three years. In this case, the Wechsler scale is used, which makes it possible to freely assess mental development at the age of three to seven years. The Wechsler scale of the third edition is used to test children whose mental age is more than six years. These scales contain in their structure a list of certain tests that allow assessing speech development and determining the degree of skills in performing various actions. In the case of any pathology, the final indicators of all tests are below average. However, it is important to note that in some cases the results of tasks in 1 or 2 non-verbal areas can reach the average level.

For school-age children, the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale is also often used. This diagnostic scale contains fifteen tests that measure four areas of intelligence. This is the comprehension of visual information, the ability to short-term memorization, speech capabilities, as well as the skills of counting operations. Testing makes it possible to judge which aspects of the intellect are stronger and which are weaker. For preschool children, this scale is not informative.

Adaptive function testing involves the use of the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale. The tasks under consideration include in their structure semi-structured interviews with teachers, caregivers and, of course, parents. This approach focuses primarily on four aspects of adaptive behavior: motor skills, socialization, daily life skills, communication with others.

Among other things, in the study of adaptive behavior, the Woodcock-Johnson Independent Behavior Scale and the American Mental Retardation Association Adaptive Behavior Scale are also used. Not always, but quite often, the indicators of these two directions are close. Dominant adaptive capabilities increase significantly in response to rehabilitation therapies to a greater extent than indicators of the level of intelligence. It is important that indicators of adaptive human capabilities to a certain extent depend on the immediate causes of mental retardation, as well as the expectations of carers of sick patients.

In the course of the development of special psychology, certain theoretical and methodological provisions of diagnostics were developed. The result of establishing a psychological and pedagogical diagnosis is a direct diagnosis, which should indicate the pedagogical categories of impaired development, the severity of disorders, the lack of development, which ultimately complicates all leading disorders, the individual characteristics of a sick child and further recommendations in the development of a specific correctional program.

The process of analysis and, of course, the interpretation of the data of psychological and pedagogical research must be based on the developed methodological and explanatory principles of the phenomena of deviant development. The fundamental principles should be considered an ontogenetic, system-structural approach, the principle of level analysis, the principle of humanity, the principle of comprehensive study, the principle of comprehensive, holistic and systemic study, dynamic study, a qualitative-quantitative approach, an individual approach.

The ontogenetic principle makes it possible to adequately understand the positive and negative features of age-related development with its inherent structure of the psyche, social situation, typical interfunctional relationships, and psychological neoplasms.

The system-structural approach considers the violation as the integrity of the entire system.

Level analysis takes into account the nature of the defect in hierarchical and level relationships.

The principle of humanity obliges each sick child to be thoroughly and carefully examined, while looking for means and ways to overcome the difficulties that have arisen. This principle states that only such an approach will give positive results, assistance measures and all kinds of means for conducting corrective work.

A comprehensive study of patients obliges to take into account the data obtained during examinations by all medical specialists. In case of discrepancy between the received information data, a new examination should be appointed.

The principle of a systematic, comprehensive, holistic study is determined by the study of the child's cognitive activity, behavior and emotional-volitional sphere. The principle under consideration requires the establishment of interrelations and interdependencies between certain formations of developmental disorders and primary defects.

Dynamic learning is characterized by taking into account and evaluating the results obtained during testing.

The principle of a qualitative-quantitative approach is determined not only by the assessment of the final results of the tests, but also by the direct method of action, rationality, consistency and perseverance of the child.

The principle of an individual approach requires, first of all, individualization, the methods used, as well as a specialized organization of the patient's positive orientation towards contact with a specialist.

Prospects for the development of diagnostic work with children who have certain deviations are based on the creation of original examination technologies. The purpose of any diagnostic work is to recognize the fact of mental underdevelopment and formulate a comprehensive diagnosis, which, in turn, reflects the assessment and features of the severity of the defect, the clinical and psychological characteristics of the structure of the disease, the presence or absence of comorbid disorders, the level of adaptation to the environment, etiological factors, social and psychological factors and so on.