If there is a mentally retarded child in a regular class
Ordinary children have many ways of learning: they observe what is happening around them, imitate other children and adults, use memory and logic.
Methods of teaching children with mental retardation
The child perceives not only the words of others, but also their facial expressions and gestures. However, a mentally retarded child is not able to grasp many of these nuances, so you need to simplify the ways of expressing your thoughts as much as possible. Vague gestures, unfinished sentences and complex ideas They will only confuse the baby.
Friendships with people of all ages, within the family and outside it, play an important role in the development of a mentally retarded child.
It's the same with actions. What seems very simple for a normal child - eating, getting dressed - can cause big problems in a mentally retarded child who is not able to remember how he did it yesterday and why he needed to do it at all.
The most acceptable way to teach such a child household skills is to divide the work into several simple steps and teach each stage separately, moving on to the next only after the previous one has been thoroughly mastered. This takes a lot of time, but it allows you to achieve sustainable results.
For example, in order for a child to eat with a spoon, he needs to be taught several individual actions: hold a spoon correctly, scoop up food with a spoon, bring it to your mouth, open your mouth, take food from the spoon and chew it, return the spoon to the plate. The same with dressing. Putting on trousers, for example, can be divided into the following stages: open the closet, take the trousers, turn them correctly, put them on one leg, then on the other, pull them on.
Because mentally retarded children often do not understand why they are asked to do what they are asked to do, they desperately need signs of approval. A simple “well done” is not enough here. The best way is with hugs, kisses and lots of words of praise. A reward in the form of a favorite sweet will also help the learning process.
Games for mentally retarded children
As pediatricians note, games are the most important part of a child’s life. By playing alone, he learns to be independent, and by playing with other children he acquires social skills. But some mentally retarded children do not know how to play. And they need help with this - otherwise they will be deprived of vital experience.
In particular, the complexity of toys should correspond not to age, but to the real level of development of the child. It’s worth starting with toys that appeal to the child’s personality. For example, if he likes loud noises, perhaps a plastic hammer that can be used to drive “nails” into the hole will work. You will need to spend time showing your child how to use the toy, but eventually he will be able to use it himself.
Clinic and etiology of mental retardation
Under the concept mental retardation combines numerous and diverse forms of pathology, manifested in underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere.
Mental retardation is a developmental disease - dysontogeny. Accordingly, it can only occur when the developing brain is damaged, i.e. in the prenatal period, during childbirth, at an early and younger age (up to three years)
Mental retardation should be understood as general underdevelopment child’s psyche, in which underdevelopment occupies a central and determining place cognitive activity and other higher mental functions. The time of occurrence of mental retardation is limited to prenatal, natural and the first three years of postnatal life. The structure of the defect is characterized by the totality and relative uniformity of underdevelopment different sides psyche.
Most common exogenous The cause of postnatal mental retardation is neuroinfections, mainly encephalitis and meningoencephalitis, as well as parainfectious incephalitis. Less commonly, the cause of mental retardation is postnatal intoxication and traumatic brain injury. Exogenous forms account for at least half of all cognitive development defects that arise after the birth of a child.
Modern research in the field of the etiology of mental retardation indicate that the leading role in the origin of mental retardation belongs to genetic factors. Numerous and varied changes in the genetic apparatus (mutations) are responsible for approximately three-quarters of all cases of cognitive underdevelopment in children.
Mutations can be chromosomal or genetic. The most common and well-known chromosomal form of oligophrenia is Down's disease, which occurs in 9-10% of all mentally retarded children. In chromosomal forms of oligophrenia, a pronounced and profound underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere is most often observed.
Gene mutations can affect a single gene or a group of weakly acting genes that control the same trait.
Thus, according to etiology, all cases of mental retardation are divided into exogenous and genetic. It is necessary to remember that in the process of development and vital activity of the organism, genetic and exogenous factors are in a complex interaction. In the case of mental retardation, for example, those exogenous factors that are not the direct cause of underdevelopment of the child’s brain can help identify genetic defects or aggravate the manifestations of a hereditary disease. Additional exogenies can introduce new, unusual symptoms into the clinical picture of hereditary mental retardation.
The data presented indicate that defects in the development of the cognitive sphere are extremely heterogeneous in origin. Accordingly, there may be numerous different mechanisms that disrupt the formation and development of the brain, and the same big number independent nosological forms of mental retardation. Common to all forms of pathology included in this group of developmental anomalies is an intellectual defect of one degree or another, which determines the degree of underdevelopment of the child’s entire psyche as a whole, his adaptive capabilities, and his entire personality.
The clinical picture of defects in the development of the cognitive sphere consists of the characteristics of the psychopathological, neurological and somatic symptoms present in children. Those forms in which clearly defined specific somatic manifestations are noted, allowing a nosological diagnosis to be established on the basis of clinical data, and those in which nosological form diseases can be identified using modern special methods laboratory research, are called differentiated forms of mental retardation.
Uncomplicated forms of mental retardation are characterized by the absence of additional psychopathological disorders. The intellectual defect in these children, as well as in all mentally retarded children, is manifested primarily by disturbances in thinking: stiffness, the establishment of mainly private concrete connections, and the inability to distract. The prerequisites for intellectual activity also inevitably suffer. Attention is characterized by insufficient voluntariness and purposefulness, narrowing of volume, difficulty concentrating, as well as switching. Often, with a good ability for mechanical memorization, weakness of semantic and especially associative memory is observed. New information is learned with great difficulty. Memorizing new material requires repeated repetition and reinforcement with specific examples. Nevertheless, children with uncomplicated mental retardation are usually characterized by fairly stable performance and more or less satisfactory productivity.
The level of speech underdevelopment in most children with uncomplicated mental retardation corresponds to the degree of their intellectual defect. They do not have local speech disorders, but there is always a general underdevelopment of speech, manifested by a paucity of active vocabulary, simplified construction of phrases, agrammatism, and often tongue-tiedness. Along with this, in some children it is possible to observe externally good level speech development with a seeming wealth of vocabulary, correct construction of phrases, expressive intonations. However, already at the first examination it becomes clear that outwardly correct phrases are memorized speech cliches.
Underdevelopment of motor skills is manifested mainly by a lack of precise and subtle movements, especially small ones, and the slowness of developing a motor formula for action. In addition, most mentally retarded children have insufficient muscle strength. Therefore, the importance of physical education classes for such children is great.
Severe behavioral disorders are usually not observed in children with uncomplicated mental retardation. With adequate upbringing, children with mild intellectual disabilities can easily master correct forms behavior and to some extent can control their actions.
General personality underdevelopment is characteristic of all children with general mental underdevelopment.
Thus, in uncomplicated forms of mental retardation, the pedagogical prognosis depends mainly on the degree, structure of the defect and the compensatory capabilities of the child.
Complicated forms are characterized by the presence of additional psychopathological disorders that negatively affect the child’s intellectual activity and the success of his education.
Based on the nature of additional symptoms, all complicated forms of mental retardation can be divided into three groups:
1. With cerebrostonic or hypertensive syndromes;
2. With severe behavioral disorders;
3. With emotional-volitional disorders.
This division mainly reflects this. Which of the additional psychopathological syndromes occupies leading place in the clinical picture of the disease.
Children of the first group suffer mainly from intellectual activity.
Cerebrastonic syndrome is a syndrome of irritable weakness. It is based on increased exhaustion of the nerve cell. It manifests itself as general mental intolerance, inability to endure prolonged stress, or to concentrate for a long time.
Hypertension syndrome - a syndrome of increased intracranial pressure - occurs in connection with cerebrospinal fluid dynamics disorders that develop as a result of organic damage to the central nervous system or a congenital defect of the cerebrospinal fluid system of the brain. An increase in intracranial pressure is accompanied by headaches, often dizziness and a disturbance in the child’s general well-being. Exhaustion increases and the child’s performance decreases sharply. Such children have peculiar attention disorders: weak concentration, increased distractibility. Memory is often impaired. Children become motorally disinhibited, restless or lethargic. Emotional lability and the phenomena of vegetative-vascular dystonia are clearly expressed. School performance is noticeably declining.
In children of the second group, behavioral disorders, which manifest themselves in the form of hyperdynamic and psychopathic syndromes, come to the fore in the clinical picture of the disease.
Hyperdynamic syndrome is characterized by severe prolonged restlessness with an abundance of unnecessary movements, restlessness, talkativeness, and often impulsiveness. IN severe cases The child’s behavior is not amenable to self-control and external correction. Hyperdynamic syndrome is difficult to correct with medication.
Psychopathic syndrome is usually observed in children with mental retardation caused by traumatic brain injury or neuroinfections. It is based on deep-seated personality disorders with disinhibition, and sometimes with perversion of gross primitive drives. Behavioral disorders in these children are so severe that they occupy a central place in the clinical picture of the disease, and the underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere seems to aggravate their manifestations.
In children of the third group, in addition to mental retardation, disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere are observed. They can manifest themselves in the form of increased emotional excitability, unmotivated mood swings, decreased emotional tone and motivation to activity, and in the form of disturbances in emotional contact with others.
Among students in auxiliary schools, you can more often meet children with pseudo-autism, i.e. violation of contact caused by reactive moments: fear of a new environment, new requirements, fear of the teacher, fear of children’s aggressiveness.
In addition, complicated forms also include mental retardation with local cerebral disorders: local underdevelopment or speech disorder, local spatial or frontal disorders, local movement disorders(cerebral palsy).
In addition to complicated forms, there are also atypical forms of mental retardation.
1. Epileptic seizures occur in mentally retarded children much more often than in intellectually competent children, and the more often, the deeper the child’s underdevelopment.
2. The group of mental retardation with endocrine disorders includes a significant number of different defects in the development of the cognitive sphere, in which, in addition to the intellectual defect, primary endocrine or secondary cerebro-endocrine disorders are observed.
3. Disorders of the visual and auditory analyzer negatively affect the compensatory and adaptive capabilities of a mentally retarded child and complicate his learning.
Thus, according to clinical manifestations, all cases of mental retardation are divided into uncomplicated, complicated and atypical.
Psychological characteristics mentally retarded schoolchildren
The auxiliary school sets three main tasks for the teacher-defectologist - to give students knowledge, skills and abilities in general education subjects and work, to instill in them positive personal qualities- honesty. Truthfulness, goodwill towards others, love and respect for work, correct their existing defects and thus prepare them for social adaptation, for life among normal people.
Mentally retarded (weak-minded) children are the most numerous category of abnormal children. They make up approximately 1 – 3% of the total child population. Concept mentally retarded child includes a fairly heterogeneous mass of children, who are united by the presence of widespread brain damage.
The overwhelming majority of all mentally retarded children - students of auxiliary schools - are oligophrenic children. In oligophrenia, organic brain failure is residual and not aggravated, which gives grounds for an optimistic prognosis. Such children make up the main contingent of the auxiliary school.
Mental retardation that occurs after the child has fully developed speech is relatively rare. She is not included in the concept mental retardation .
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 personal manifestations and cognition. Thus, mentally retarded children cannot in any way be equated with normally developing children more 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 their development 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.
Didactic principles of the auxiliary school
The following teaching principles are distinguished:
Educational and developmental orientation of training;
Scientific nature and accessibility of training;
Systematic and consistent training;
Connection of learning with life;
The principle of correction in teaching;
The principle of visibility;
Consciousness and activity of students;
Individual and differentiated approach;
Strength of knowledge, skills and abilities.
1. Educational and developmental orientation of training
The learning process in a auxiliary school is primarily aimed at developing in students a variety of knowledge, skills and abilities, but, of course, during training, the education and development of students also occurs.
The educational orientation of education in a auxiliary school is to form in students moral ideas and concepts, adequate ways of behavior in society. This is implemented in the content educational material and in the appropriate organization of student activities in and out of school.
In the curriculum, two groups of academic subjects can be distinguished, which especially clearly contribute to the educational orientation of education. On the one hand, these are educational subjects, the content of which includes material reflecting the heroism of our people in defending the Motherland and in peaceful construction, telling about the riches of our native land and the need to protect our native nature, about working people, some professions, etc. These subjects (expository reading, history, geography, natural science) provide material for educating students with words. However, this work must be linked with socially beneficial activities for the protection of nature and monuments of history, culture, local history work, etc.
Another group of educational subjects (labor training in the lower grades, vocational training, social and everyday orientation) contribute to the education of honesty and integrity, the desire to be a useful person in society.
In addition, there are educational subjects that promote aesthetic and physical education(physical education, drawing, singing and music, rhythm).
To solve the problems of preparing mentally retarded schoolchildren for independent life and work great importance has a well-thought-out and clear organization and a high methodological level of conducting classes on labor, industrial practice, good technical equipment of workshops, the presence of basic enterprises in the training profile, and appropriate training of teachers.
The developmental nature of education in a auxiliary school is to promote general mental and physical development students. In the context of constantly increasing requirements for the level of preparation of mentally retarded schoolchildren for life, the focus of education on their general development acquires special meaning. However, the development of mentally retarded schoolchildren without correction of their thinking and impairment of psychophysical functions cannot be sufficiently successful. Therefore, education in a auxiliary school is of a correctional and developmental nature. However, the developmental orientation of training should be distinguished from correctional focus. In the process of correction, development of a mentally retarded child always occurs, but development may not be associated with correction.
For the development of mentally retarded schoolchildren, we need special conditions, the most important of which is their education in a auxiliary school or other conditions adequate to their capabilities, taking into account the psychophysical characteristics of the development of this group of abnormal children. Implementation of developmental education involves improving the quality of lessons by including students in active educational activities and the development of their cognitive activity and independence.
The educational and corrective orientation of education permeates the entire educational process.
2. Scientific and accessible training
The principle of science in general pedagogy involves a reflection of modern scientific achievements. Prospects for its development in each academic subject.
The scientific principle is implemented, first of all, in the development of programs and the compilation of textbooks, as well as in the activities of teachers and educators. It is known that mentally retarded schoolchildren may develop incorrect and sometimes false ideas about the surrounding reality, since they are not able to understand the essence of phenomena in abstraction from external, random signs and connections. Therefore, from the very beginning of students entering a auxiliary school, it is necessary to help them understand the world around them from a scientific point of view, in accordance with reality.
The principle of scientificity is closely related to the principle of accessibility, because ultimately mentally retarded students can only learn the material that is available to them.
The principle of accessibility involves building education for mentally retarded students at the level of their real educational capabilities.
Many years of practice and scientific research show that the educational opportunities of students in auxiliary schools are very different. These differences are based on objective reasons, namely the heterogeneity, degree and nature of manifestations of the main and concomitant developmental defects of children. In this regard, the implementation of the principle of accessibility in a auxiliary school is distinguished by a certain originality: on the one hand, an unequal degree of assimilation is assumed program material students who have different educational capabilities, on the other hand, the need to differentiate them in training is determined in order to increase the level of mastery of program material.
The principle of accessibility, as well as the principle of scientific character, is implemented primarily in the development curricula and textbooks. The content of education for mentally retarded schoolchildren is determined on the basis of testing it in the long-term practice of the auxiliary school. The content of training in individual academic subjects is continuously improved, the amount of knowledge, skills and abilities is specified by year of study based on the results scientific research and best practices.
The principle of accessibility is also implemented in the constant activities of teachers through the use of appropriate methods and methodological techniques. It is known that using the most successful methodological system can make educational material relatively difficult for mentally retarded students accessible.
3. Systematicity and consistency in training
The essence of the principle of systematicity and consistency is that the knowledge that students acquire at school must be brought into a certain logical system in order to be able to use it, i.e. more successfully applied in practice.
For a auxiliary school, this principle is of great importance because mentally retarded schoolchildren are characterized by inaccuracy, incompleteness or fragmentation of acquired knowledge; they experience certain difficulties in reproducing and using it in practical activities.
The principle of systematicity and consistency is implemented both in the development of curricula and textbooks, and in the everyday work of a teacher. This presupposes such a choice and arrangement of educational material in programs, textbooks, thematic plans, in each lesson, when there is a logical connection between its component parts, when subsequent material is based on the previous one, when the material covered prepares students to learn new things.
Each academic subject sets out its own system of interrelated concepts, facts and patterns.
It should be noted that when developing the content of educational subjects in a auxiliary school, the same system and logic are basically used as in a mainstream school. Thus, in mathematics lessons, addition and subtraction are studied before addition and division; when teaching literacy, the sounds of the native language are first studied, then letters in a certain sequence, reading is formed by syllables, and then by whole numbers. However, in some cases, the construction of the content of educational subjects in a auxiliary school has its own system, logic and sequence of arrangement of educational material. And only when studying history, due to the fact that students experience great difficulties in understanding historical events in their sequence and timing, teachers are forced to impart to them not systematic, but episodic knowledge about the most significant events from the history of our Rodia.
The characteristics of mentally retarded schoolchildren correspond to a linear-concentric arrangement of educational material, when the same sections are first studied in an elementary form, and after some time, usually in the next grade, the same thing is considered much more broadly, with the involvement of new information. The content of many educational subjects is structured in this way.
Systematicity presupposes continuity in the learning process: education in high school is built on a solid foundation, which is laid in the lower grades; the study of each subject is based on previous knowledge that has been acquired in the study of other subjects. Each section of educational material should build on what has been previously studied.
In the activities of a teacher, the principle of systematicity is implemented in planning the sequence of passing new educational material and in repeating previously studied, in testing the knowledge and skills acquired by schoolchildren, in developing a system individual work with them. Based on this principle, it is possible to move on to studying new educational material only after students have mastered the one that is being studied in given time. Taking this circumstance into account, the teacher makes adjustments to previously outlined plans.
4. Connecting learning with life
This principle reflects the conditionality of schooling by social needs and the influence of the social environment on the process of teaching and educating students.
Its essence lies in close interaction between the school and the public in the education and upbringing of children. IN modern conditions this principle takes on a new meaning.
Most feeder schools are boarding institutions and for them there is a potential danger of a certain isolation from the orc life. Therefore, the principle of connecting learning with life plays an important role in the process of training and education of mentally retarded schoolchildren. After all, after graduating from school, graduates enter into independent life and preparedness for it to a certain extent depends on how this principle is implemented in life.
The implementation of this principle in a auxiliary school consists of organizing educational work on the basis of a close and multifaceted connection with the surrounding reality, with the life, first of all, of local enterprises, organizations and institutions. This principle is also implemented by connecting education with the productive work of students in the national economy. Forms of participation may be different, but in all cases, high school students need to be familiarized with socio-economic and legal relations in production, included in feasible public affairs of basic and sponsoring enterprises.
The feeder school should also actively participate in community activities.
Only on the basis of a multifaceted connection between learning and surrounding life auxiliary school educational institution, can gain credibility among the local population and the public. And this will improve the situation of graduates of auxiliary schools and contribute to their more successful adaptation.
In the daily activities of a teacher, this principle is implemented through use in lessons and during extracurricular activities positive examples from life, including those of the local population, but one should not ignore the shortcomings with a mandatory analysis of their causes. To strengthen the connection between learning and life, it is useful to use tools mass media, watching television and listening to radio programs.
5. The principle of correction in training
As is known, mentally retarded children are characterized by a common basic defect - a violation complex shapes cognitive activity (and there is an uneven violation). The emotional-volitional sphere is disturbed in a number of cases, but there are also children in whom it is relatively safe.
A mentally retarded child, like any child, grows and develops, but its development slows down from the very beginning and proceeds on a defective basis, which creates difficulties in entering a social environment designed for normally developing children.
Education in a auxiliary school is crucial for the development of mentally retarded children and their rehabilitation into society. It has been established that the greatest effect in their development is achieved in cases where the principle of correction is implemented in training, i.e. correction of the inherent deficiencies of these children.
Only that teaching is good that stimulates development, “leads it along,” and does not simply serve to enrich the child with new information that easily enters his consciousness. (L.S. Vygotsky, 1985)
Thus, the principle of correction is to correct the shortcomings in the psychophysical development of mentally retarded children in the learning process through the use of special methodological techniques. As a result of the use of corrective teaching methods, some deficiencies in students are overcome, others are weakened, thanks to which schoolchildren move faster in their development. The more a mentally retarded child advances in development, the more successfully he will master educational material, i.e. the development of students and their training based on the principle of correction are two interrelated processes.
Correction of developmental deficiencies among students in auxiliary schools occurs slowly and unevenly. -therefore, it is usually difficult for a teacher to notice shifts in the development of students’ thought processes, in the formation of strong-willed and other personality qualities. He knows well how each student has mastered this or that educational material, but this is not enough to characterize the level of his progress in development.
One of the indicators of success correctional work may serve as the level of independence of students when performing new educational and work tasks.
It is known from psychological research that the independence of schoolchildren depends on the level of development of their generalized educational and work skills. Therefore, the implementation of the principle of correction in teaching lies in the formation of these skills in students, i.e. the ability to independently navigate the requirements for completing tasks, analyze conditions and plan their activities, drawing on existing knowledge and experience, and draw conclusions about the quality of the work performed.
Generalized educational and work skills are formed on the basis of specific skills for each academic subject and through systematic, targeted work using methodological techniques specific to each subject.
Not only shortcomings in psychophysical development, common to all mentally retarded schoolchildren, are subject to correction, but also shortcomings characteristic of certain students (individual correction). Individual correction is due to the fact that the main defect in mentally retarded children manifests itself differently and, in addition to the main one, there are accompanying defects of varying degrees. In education, this is observed in significant differences in the level of mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities by different students and in their uneven progress in mental and physical development.
To carry out individual correction, it is necessary to identify the difficulties experienced by students in learning various subjects and identifying the causes of these difficulties. Based on this, individual correction measures are developed.
General and individual correction is carried out practically on the same educational material and at almost the same time. General correctional work is usually carried out frontally, individual correction - with individual students or with a small group. There may be several students in a class who require different measures of individual correction. When working frontally, it is advisable to carry out individual correction alternately, fixing attention or additionally working with one or the other student.
Correction of violations of the emotional-volitional sphere consists in developing in students strong-willed qualities personality, in the education of emotions, including the emotional-volitional components of behavior, which is reflected in study, and in work, and in relation to one’s comrades and teachers.
6. The principle of visibility
The principle of visualization in teaching means the use of various visual aids in the process of students acquiring knowledge and developing various skills and abilities.
The essence of the principle of visibility is to enrich students with the sensory cognitive experience necessary for the full mastery of abstract concepts.
It is known that human sensations received from outside world, are the first stage of his knowledge. At the next stage, knowledge is acquired in the form of concepts, definitions, rules and laws. In order for students’ knowledge to be conscious and reflect objectively existing reality, the learning process must ensure that it is based on sensations. Visualization performs this function.
There is a general rule for applying the principle of visibility in secondary schools: teaching should be visual to the extent necessary for students to consciously assimilate knowledge and develop skills based on living images of objects, phenomena and actions.
The implementation of the principle of visibility in a auxiliary school is based on these general rules, however, in particular their application is somewhat unique. First of all, in the auxiliary school, for the formation of abstract concepts, generalizations, general work skills, object-based visualization is used more long time. This is due to the fact that mentally retarded children have severely impaired processes of abstraction and generalization; it is difficult for them to break away from observing specific objects and draw an abstract conclusion or conclusion, which is necessary for the formation of a particular concept.
Object visualization is also used to study the properties of objects as such, as well as for the purpose of manufacturing them. The use of this form of visualization must be organized taking into account the peculiarities of perception of mentally retarded schoolchildren. It is known that their perception initially has an undifferentiated character; they find it difficult to identify the main, essential features of an object. The images of objects that appear in the mind are unclear, incomplete and often distorted; speech often lacks the appropriate linguistic means necessary to correctly reflect the properties of the observed objects.
Taking into account all these characteristics of students, visual aids need to be differentiated, containing the most basic features of the object and, if possible, without additional unimportant details, which often divert students’ attention away from the main goal that the teacher achieves when using these aids.
Taking into account the characteristics of mentally retarded schoolchildren when implementing the principle of visibility also lies in the fact that, along with creating clear and complete ideas about the world around them, it is necessary to teach them to correctly use the appropriate words and terms denoting the properties of objects, signs of phenomena, relationships and connections that exist V real world. The teacher’s word in this process is an organizing and regulating factor. The role of the word increases even more in cases where visualization is used to develop in students general ideas and concepts.
Thus, the implementation of the principle of visibility in a auxiliary school is carried out in stages.
· Enrichment of sensory cognitive experience, which involves learning the skills to observe, compare and highlight the essential features of objects and phenomena and reflect them in speech;
· Ensuring the transition of created subject images into abstract concepts;
· Using abstract visualization to form concrete images of objects, phenomena and actions.
7. Consciousness and activity of students in learning
Consciousness in learning means students’ understanding of the educational material being studied: the essence of the concepts being learned, the meaning labor actions, techniques and operations. Conscious assimilation of knowledge and skills ensures successful application them in practical activities, prevents formalism, promotes the transformation of knowledge into stable beliefs.
In a auxiliary school, this principle is one of the most important, since in the process of conscious assimilation of educational material, more intensive mental development of mentally retarded schoolchildren occurs. However, when implementing this principle, the teacher encounters great difficulties. Violations of analytical and synthetic activity, characteristic of mentally retarded schoolchildren, prevent the assimilation of educational material on the basis of its full understanding. Therefore, in a auxiliary school, the question of how to achieve a complete understanding of the educational material by students was and remains the most significant. The solution to this issue is possible if every teacher uses corrective methodological techniques aimed at developing mental operations, as well as the ability to express one’s thoughts in words. After all, one can judge how well a student understands this or that educational material, first of all, by his statements, and only then by the nature of the application of knowledge when performing exercises.
There are a number of methodological techniques that help students more consciously assimilate educational material: dividing complex educational material into parts that are logically complete and interconnected, identifying the main essential aspects of an object or phenomenon and distinguishing them from secondary, unimportant ones, reflecting in speech the tasks performed practical actions, before, during and after work, the connection of new actions with previously learned ones, varying the material during repetition, etc.
It has long been known that mechanical memorization of this or that educational material does not contribute to its conscious assimilation. This means that the student cannot use the knowledge acquired in this way in practical activities, that they represent a passive fund. That is why the principle of consciousness in teaching in a auxiliary school is given such great importance.
Conscious assimilation of educational material presupposes students' activity in learning. Cognitive activity In most cases, mental retardation in schoolchildren does not arise on its own, so it is necessary to activate it. Activation of learning is understood as the appropriate organization of schoolchildren’s actions, aimed at making them understand the educational material.
In a mass school, the leading means of activating schoolchildren’s learning is a problem-based approach to teaching. Its essence lies in the fact that the teacher poses an educational problem to the students, the students, together with the teacher or independently, determine ways to find a solution to the problem, independently or with the help of the teacher, find a solution, draw conclusions, generalizations, and comparisons.
If we consider the problem-based approach to teaching as creating conditions for independent mental activity of schoolchildren when studying new educational material or generalizing it, then when using conditions that correspond to the conditions of mentally retarded schoolchildren, it can also be applied in a auxiliary school as a means of organizing educational activities. If the teacher gradually introduces schoolchildren to new educational material, involving them in reasoning and encouraging their own statements with analysis of observations or their experience, then such training will help to activate mentally retarded students and in cases of incorrect statements, moreover, it should be friendly and treat them carefully and patiently explain what their mistake is.
Clinic and etiology of mental retardation The concept of mental retardation combines numerous and varied forms of pathology, manifested in underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere. Mental retardation is a developmental disease - dysontogeny. Accordingly, it can only occur when the developing brain is damaged, i.e. in the prenatal period, during childbirth, at an early and younger age (up to three years). Mental retardation should be understood as a general underdevelopment of the child’s psyche, in which the central and determining place is occupied by the underdevelopment of cognitive activity and other higher mental functions. The time of occurrence of mental retardation is limited to prenatal, natural and the first three years of postnatal life. The structure of the defect is characterized by the totality and relative uniformity of underdevelopment of different aspects of the psyche. The most common exogenous cause of postnatal mental retardation is neuroinfections, mainly encephalitis and meningoencephalitis, as well as parainfectious incephalitis. Less commonly, the cause of mental retardation is postnatal intoxication and traumatic brain injury. Exogenous forms account for at least half of all cognitive development defects that arise after the birth of a child. Modern research in the field of the etiology of mental retardation indicates that the leading role in the origin of mental retardation belongs to genetic factors. Numerous and varied changes in the genetic apparatus (mutations) are responsible for approximately ½ of all cases of underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere in children. Mutations can be chromosomal or genetic. The most common and well-known chromosomal form of oligophrenia is Down's disease, which occurs in 9-10% of all mentally retarded children. In chromosomal forms of oligophrenia, a pronounced and profound underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere is most often observed. Gene mutations can affect a single gene or a group of weakly acting genes that control the same trait. Thus, according to etiology, all cases of mental retardation are divided into exogenous and genetic. It is necessary to remember that in the process of development and vital activity of the organism, genetic and exogenous factors are in a complex interaction. In the case of mental retardation, for example, those exogenous factors that are not the direct cause of underdevelopment of the child’s brain can help identify genetic defects or aggravate the manifestations of a hereditary disease. Additional exogenies can introduce new, unusual symptoms into the clinical picture of hereditary mental retardation. The data presented indicate that defects in the development of the cognitive sphere are extremely heterogeneous in origin. Accordingly, there may be numerous different mechanisms that disrupt the formation and development of the brain, as well as a large number of independent nosological forms of mental retardation. Common to all forms of pathology included in this group of developmental anomalies is an intellectual defect of one degree or another, which determines the degree of underdevelopment of the child’s entire psyche as a whole, his adaptive capabilities, and his entire personality. The clinical picture of defects in the development of the cognitive sphere consists of the characteristics of the psychopathological, neurological and somatic symptoms present in children. Those forms in which clearly defined specific somatic manifestations are noted, allowing a nosological diagnosis to be established on the basis of clinical data, and those in which the nosological form of the disease can be established using modern methods of special laboratory tests, are called differentiated forms of mental retardation. Uncomplicated forms of mental retardation are characterized by the absence of additional psychopathological disorders. The intellectual defect in these children, as well as in all mentally retarded children, is manifested primarily by disturbances in thinking: stiffness, the establishment of mainly private concrete connections, and the inability to distract. The prerequisites for intellectual activity also inevitably suffer. Attention is characterized by insufficient voluntariness and purposefulness, narrowing of volume, difficulty concentrating, as well as switching. Often, with a good ability for mechanical memorization, weakness of semantic and especially associative memory is observed. New information is learned with great difficulty. Memorizing new material requires repeated repetition and reinforcement with specific examples. Nevertheless, children with uncomplicated mental retardation are usually characterized by fairly stable performance and more or less satisfactory productivity. The level of speech underdevelopment in most children with uncomplicated mental retardation corresponds to the degree of their intellectual defect. They do not have local speech disorders, but there is always a general underdevelopment of speech, manifested by a paucity of active vocabulary, simplified construction of phrases, agrammatism, and often tongue-tiedness. Along with this, in some children one can observe an outwardly good level of speech development with an apparent wealth of vocabulary, correct construction of phrases, and expressive intonations. However, already at the first examination it becomes clear that outwardly correct phrases are memorized speech cliches. Underdevelopment of motor skills is manifested mainly by a lack of precise and subtle movements, especially small ones, and the slowness of developing a motor formula for action. In addition, most mentally retarded children have insufficient muscle strength. Therefore, the importance of physical education classes for such children is great. Severe behavioral disorders are usually not observed in children with uncomplicated mental retardation. With adequate upbringing, children with mild intellectual disabilities can easily learn correct forms of behavior and, to some extent, can control their actions. General personality underdevelopment is characteristic of all children with general mental underdevelopment. Thus, in uncomplicated forms of mental retardation, the pedagogical prognosis depends mainly on the degree, structure of the defect and the compensatory capabilities of the child. Complicated forms are characterized by the presence of additional psychopathological disorders that negatively affect the child’s intellectual activity and the success of his education. According to the nature of additional symptoms, all complicated forms of mental retardation can be divided into three groups: 1. With cerebrostonic or hypertensive syndromes; 2. With severe behavioral disorders; 3. With emotional-volitional disorders. This division mainly reflects this. Which of the additional psychopathological syndromes occupies a leading place in the clinical picture of the disease? Children of the first group suffer mainly from intellectual activity. Cerebrastonic syndrome is a syndrome of irritable weakness. It is based on increased exhaustion of the nerve cell. It manifests itself as general mental intolerance, inability to endure prolonged stress, or to concentrate for a long time. Hypertension syndrome - a syndrome of increased intracranial pressure - occurs in connection with cerebrospinal fluid dynamics disorders that develop as a result of organic damage to the central nervous system or a congenital defect of the cerebrospinal fluid system of the brain. An increase in intracranial pressure is accompanied by headaches, often dizziness and a disturbance in the child’s general well-being. Exhaustion increases and the child’s performance decreases sharply. Such children have peculiar attention disorders: weak concentration, increased distractibility. Memory is often impaired. Children become motorally disinhibited, restless or lethargic. Emotional lability and the phenomena of vegetative-vascular dystonia are clearly expressed. School performance is noticeably declining. In children of the second group, behavioral disorders, which manifest themselves in the form of hyperdynamic and psychopathic syndromes, come to the fore in the clinical picture of the disease. Hyperdynamic syndrome is characterized by severe prolonged restlessness with an abundance of unnecessary movements, restlessness, talkativeness, and often impulsiveness. In severe cases, the child’s behavior is not amenable to self-control and external correction. Hyperdynamic syndrome is difficult to correct with medication. Psychopathic syndrome is usually observed in children with mental retardation caused by traumatic brain injury or neuroinfections. It is based on deep-seated personality disorders with disinhibition, and sometimes with perversion of gross primitive drives. Behavioral disorders in these children are so severe that they occupy a central place in the clinical picture of the disease, and the underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere seems to aggravate their manifestations. In children of the third group, in addition to mental retardation, disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere are observed. They can manifest themselves in the form of increased emotional excitability, unmotivated mood swings, decreased emotional tone and motivation to activity, and in the form of disturbances in emotional contact with others. Among students in auxiliary schools, you can more often meet children with pseudo-autism, i.e. violation of contact caused by reactive moments: fear of a new environment, new requirements, fear of the teacher, fear of children’s aggressiveness. In addition, complicated forms also include mental retardation with local cerebral disorders: local underdevelopment or speech disorder, local spatial or frontal disorders, local motor disorders (CP). In addition to complicated forms, there are also atypical forms of mental retardation. 1. Epileptic seizures occur in mentally retarded children much more often than in intellectually competent children, and the more often, the deeper the child’s underdevelopment. 2. The group of mental retardation with endocrine disorders includes a significant number of different defects in the development of the cognitive sphere, in which, in addition to the intellectual defect, primary endocrine or secondary cerebro-endocrine disorders are observed. 3. Disorders of the visual and auditory analyzer negatively affect the compensatory and adaptive capabilities of a mentally retarded child and complicate his learning. Thus, according to clinical manifestations, all cases of mental retardation are divided into uncomplicated, complicated and atypical. Psychological characteristics of mentally retarded schoolchildren The auxiliary school sets three main tasks for the teacher-defectologist - to give students knowledge, skills and abilities in general education subjects and work, to cultivate in them positive personal qualities - honesty. Truthfulness, goodwill towards others, love and respect for work, correct their existing defects and thus prepare them for social adaptation, for life among normal people. Mentally retarded (weak-minded) children are the most numerous category of abnormal children. They make up approximately 1 – 3% of the total child population. The concept of a mentally retarded child includes a fairly heterogeneous mass of children who are united by the presence of widespread brain damage. The overwhelming majority of all mentally retarded children - students of auxiliary schools - are oligophrenic children. In oligophrenia, organic brain failure is residual and not aggravated, which gives grounds for an optimistic prognosis. Such children make up the main contingent of the auxiliary school. Mental retardation that occurs after the child has fully developed speech is relatively rare. It is not included in the concept of oligophrenia. 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 personal manifestations and cognition. Thus, mentally retarded children 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 their development 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. Didactic principles of the auxiliary school The following teaching principles are distinguished: - educational and developmental orientation of teaching; - scientific nature and accessibility of training; - systematic and consistent training; - connection between learning and life; - the principle of correction in teaching; - the principle of clarity; - consciousness and activity of students; - individual and differentiated approach; - strength of knowledge, skills and abilities. 1. Educational and developmental orientation of teaching The learning process in a auxiliary school is primarily aimed at developing in students a variety of knowledge, skills and abilities, but, of course, during learning, both the education and development of students occur. The educational orientation of education in a auxiliary school is to form in students moral ideas and concepts, adequate ways of behavior in society. This is realized in the content of educational material and in the appropriate organization of students’ activities at school and outside it. In the curriculum, two groups of academic subjects can be distinguished, which especially clearly contribute to the educational orientation of learning. On the one hand, these are educational subjects, the content of which includes material reflecting the heroism of our people in defending the Motherland and in peaceful construction, telling about the riches of our native land and the need to protect our native nature, about working people, some professions, etc. These subjects (expository reading, history, geography, natural science) provide material for educating students with words. However, this work must be linked with socially beneficial activities for the protection of nature and historical monuments, culture, local history work, etc. Another group of educational subjects (labor training in the lower grades, vocational training, social orientation) contribute to the education of honesty and integrity , the desire to be a useful person in society. In addition, there are educational subjects that contribute to aesthetic and physical education (physical education, drawing, singing and music, rhythm). To solve the problems of preparing mentally retarded schoolchildren for independent life and work, a well-thought-out and clear organization and a high methodological level of conducting classes on labor, industrial practice, good technical equipment of workshops, the presence of basic enterprises in the training profile, and appropriate training of teachers are of great importance. The developmental nature of education in a auxiliary school is to promote the overall mental and physical development of students. In the context of constantly increasing demands on the level of preparation of mentally retarded schoolchildren for life, the focus of education on their overall development takes on special importance. However, the development of mentally retarded schoolchildren without correction of their thinking and impairment of psychophysical functions cannot be sufficiently successful. Therefore, education in a auxiliary school is of a correctional and developmental nature. However, the developmental focus of education should be distinguished from the correctional focus. In the process of correction, development of a mentally retarded child always occurs, but development may not be associated with correction. For the development of mentally retarded schoolchildren, special conditions are needed, the most important of which is their education in a auxiliary school or other conditions adequate to their capabilities, taking into account the psychophysical characteristics of the development of this group of abnormal children. The implementation of developmental education involves improving the quality of lessons by including students in active learning activities and developing their cognitive activity and independence. The educational and corrective orientation of education permeates the entire educational process. 2. Scientific character and accessibility of education The principle of scientific character in general pedagogy presupposes reflection of modern achievements of science. Prospects for its development in each academic subject. The content of education in the auxiliary school is elementary and practical. Despite the elementary level of knowledge that mentally retarded schoolchildren need to acquire, it must be scientific and not contradict objective scientific knowledge. The scientific principle is implemented, first of all, in the development of programs and the compilation of textbooks, as well as in the activities of teachers and educators. It is known that mentally retarded schoolchildren may develop incorrect and sometimes false ideas about the surrounding reality, since they are not able to understand the essence of phenomena in abstraction from external, random signs and connections. Therefore, from the very beginning of students entering a auxiliary school, it is necessary to help them understand the world around them from a scientific point of view, in accordance with reality. The principle of scientificity is closely related to the principle of accessibility, because ultimately mentally retarded students can only learn the material that is available to them. The principle of accessibility involves building education for mentally retarded students at the level of their real educational capabilities. Many years of practice and scientific research show that the educational opportunities of students in auxiliary schools are very different. These differences are based on objective reasons, namely the heterogeneity, degree and nature of manifestations of the main and concomitant developmental defects of children. In this regard, the implementation of the principle of accessibility in a auxiliary school is distinguished by a certain originality: on the one hand, an unequal degree of assimilation of program material by students with different educational capabilities is assumed, on the other hand, the need to differentiate them in training is determined in order to increase the level of assimilation of program material. The principle of accessibility, as well as the principle of scientific character, is implemented primarily in the development of curricula and textbooks. The content of education for mentally retarded schoolchildren is determined on the basis of testing it in the long-term practice of the auxiliary school. The content of training in individual academic subjects is continuously improved, the scope of knowledge, skills and abilities is specified by year of study based on the results of scientific research and best practices. The principle of accessibility is also implemented in the constant activities of teachers through the use of appropriate methods and methodological techniques. It is known that the use of the most successful methodological system can make educational material that is relatively complex for mentally retarded schoolchildren accessible. 3. Systematicity and consistency in teaching The essence of the principle of systematicity and consistency is that the knowledge that students acquire at school must be brought into a certain logical system in order to be able to use it, i.e. more successfully applied in practice. For auxiliary schools, this principle is of great importance because mentally retarded schoolchildren are characterized by inaccuracy, incompleteness or fragmentation of acquired knowledge, and they experience certain difficulties in reproducing it and using it in practical activities. The principle of systematicity and consistency is implemented both in the development of curricula and textbooks, and in the everyday work of a teacher. This presupposes such a choice and arrangement of educational material in programs, textbooks, thematic plans, in each lesson, when there is a logical connection between its component parts, when subsequent material is based on the previous one, when the material covered prepares students to learn new things. Each academic subject sets out its own system of interrelated concepts, facts and patterns. It should be noted that when developing the content of educational subjects in a auxiliary school, the same system and logic are basically used as in a mainstream school. Thus, in mathematics lessons, addition and subtraction are studied before addition and division; when teaching literacy, the sounds of the native language are first studied, then letters in a certain sequence, reading is formed by syllables, and then by whole numbers. However, in some cases, the construction of the content of educational subjects in a auxiliary school has its own system, logic and sequence of arrangement of educational material. And only when studying history, due to the fact that students experience great difficulties in understanding historical events in their sequence and time, teachers are forced to impart to them not systematic, but episodic knowledge about the most significant events from the history of our country. The characteristics of mentally retarded schoolchildren correspond to a linear-concentric arrangement of educational material, when the same sections are first studied in an elementary form, and after some time, usually in the next grade, the same thing is considered much more broadly, with the involvement of new information. The content of many educational subjects is structured in this way. Systematicity presupposes continuity in the learning process: education in high school is built on a solid foundation, which is laid in lower grades; the study of each subject is based on previous knowledge that has been acquired in the study of other subjects. Each section of educational material should build on what has been previously studied. In the activities of a teacher, the principle of systematicity is implemented in planning the sequence of passing new educational material and in repeating previously studied, in testing the knowledge and skills acquired by schoolchildren, in developing a system of individual work with them. Based on this principle, it is possible to move on to studying new educational material only after students have mastered the one that is currently being studied. Taking this circumstance into account, the teacher makes adjustments to previously outlined plans. 4. The connection between learning and life This principle reflects the conditionality of schooling by social needs and the influence of the social environment on the process of learning and educating students. Its essence lies in close interaction between the school and the public in the education and upbringing of children. In modern conditions, this principle takes on a new meaning. Most auxiliary schools are boarding institutions and for them there is a potential danger of a certain isolation from the surrounding life. Therefore, the principle of connecting learning with life plays an important role in the process of training and education of mentally retarded schoolchildren. After all, after graduating from school, graduates enter an independent life and their preparedness for it to a certain extent depends on how this principle is implemented in life. The implementation of this principle in a auxiliary school consists of organizing educational work on the basis of a close and multifaceted connection with the surrounding reality, with the life, first of all, of local enterprises, organizations and institutions. This principle is also implemented by connecting education with the productive work of students in the national economy. Forms of participation may be different, but in all cases, high school students need to be familiarized with socio-economic and legal relations in production, included in feasible public affairs of basic and sponsoring enterprises. The feeder school should also actively participate in community activities. Only on the basis of a multifaceted connection between learning and the surrounding life, an auxiliary school, as an educational institution, can gain authority among the local population and the public. And this will improve the situation of graduates of auxiliary schools and contribute to their more successful adaptation. In the daily activities of a teacher, this principle is implemented by using positive examples from life in lessons and in extracurricular activities, including those of the local population, but one should not ignore the shortcomings with a mandatory analysis of their causes. To strengthen the connection between learning and life, it is useful to use the media, watching television and listening to radio programs. 5. The principle of correction in education Mentally retarded children, as is known, are characterized by a common main disadvantage - a violation of complex forms of cognitive activity (and there is an uneven violation). The emotional-volitional sphere is disturbed in a number of cases, but there are also children in whom it is relatively safe. A mentally retarded child, like any child, grows and develops, but its development slows down from the very beginning and proceeds on a defective basis, which creates difficulties in entering a social environment designed for normally developing children. Education in a auxiliary school is crucial for the development of mentally retarded children and their rehabilitation into society. It has been established that the greatest effect in their development is achieved in cases where the principle of correction is implemented in training, i.e. correction of the inherent deficiencies of these children. Only that teaching is good that stimulates development, “leads it along,” and does not simply serve to enrich the child with new information that easily enters his consciousness. (L.S. Vygotsky, 1985) Thus, the principle of correction is to correct the deficiencies in the psychophysical development of mentally retarded children in the learning process through the use of special methodological techniques. As a result of the use of corrective teaching methods, some deficiencies in students are overcome, others are weakened, thanks to which schoolchildren move faster in their development. The more a mentally retarded child advances in development, the more successfully he will master educational material, i.e. the development of students and their training based on the principle of correction are two interrelated processes. Correction of developmental deficiencies among students in auxiliary schools occurs slowly and unevenly. -therefore, it is usually difficult for a teacher to notice shifts in the development of students’ thought processes, in the formation of strong-willed and other personality qualities. He knows well how each student has mastered this or that educational material, but this is not enough to characterize the level of his progress in development. One of the indicators of the success of correctional work can be the level of independence of students when performing new educational and work tasks. It is known from psychological research that the independence of schoolchildren depends on the level of development of their generalized educational and work skills. Therefore, the implementation of the principle of correction in teaching lies in the formation of these skills in students, i.e. the ability to independently navigate the requirements for completing tasks, analyze conditions and plan their activities, drawing on existing knowledge and experience, and draw conclusions about the quality of the work performed. Generalized educational and work skills are formed on the basis of specific skills in each academic subject and through systematic, targeted work using methodological techniques specific to each subject. Not only shortcomings in psychophysical development, common to all mentally retarded schoolchildren, are subject to correction, but also shortcomings characteristic of certain students (individual correction). Individual correction is due to the fact that the main defect in mentally retarded children manifests itself differently and, in addition to the main one, there are accompanying defects of varying degrees. In education, this is observed in significant differences in the level of mastery of knowledge, skills and abilities by different students and in their uneven progress in mental and physical development. To carry out individual correction, it is necessary to identify the difficulties experienced by students in learning various subjects and to establish the causes of these difficulties. Based on this, individual correction measures are developed. General and individual correction is carried out practically on the same educational material and at almost the same time. General correctional work is usually carried out frontally, individual correction - with individual students or with a small group. There may be several students in a class who require different measures of individual correction. When working frontally, it is advisable to carry out individual correction alternately, fixing attention or additionally working with one or the other student. Correction of violations of the emotional-volitional sphere consists in the formation of volitional personality traits in students, in the education of emotions, including the emotional-volitional components of behavior, which is reflected in their studies, and in work, and in their attitude towards their comrades and teachers. 6. The principle of visibility The principle of visibility in teaching means the involvement of various visual aids in the process of students acquiring knowledge and developing various skills in them. The essence of the principle of visibility is to enrich students with the sensory cognitive experience necessary for the full mastery of abstract concepts. It is known that a person’s sensations received from the outside world are the first stage of his knowledge. At the next stage, knowledge is acquired in the form of concepts, definitions, rules and laws. In order for students’ knowledge to be conscious and reflect objectively existing reality, the learning process must ensure that it is based on sensations. Visualization performs this function. There is a general rule for applying the principle of visibility in secondary schools: teaching should be visual to the extent necessary for students to consciously assimilate knowledge and develop skills based on living images of objects, phenomena and actions. The implementation of the principle of visibility in a auxiliary school is based on these general rules, but in particular their application is somewhat unique. First of all, in the auxiliary school, for the formation of abstract concepts, generalizations, and general labor skills, object-based visualization is used for a longer period of time. This is due to the fact that mentally retarded children have severely impaired processes of abstraction and generalization; it is difficult for them to break away from observing specific objects and draw an abstract conclusion or conclusion, which is necessary for the formation of a particular concept. Object visualization is also used to study the properties of objects as such, as well as for the purpose of manufacturing them. The use of this form of visualization must be organized taking into account the peculiarities of perception of mentally retarded schoolchildren. It is known that their perception initially has an undifferentiated character; they find it difficult to identify the main, essential features of an object. The images of objects that appear in the mind are unclear, incomplete and often distorted; speech often lacks the appropriate linguistic means necessary to correctly reflect the properties of the observed objects. Taking into account all these characteristics of students, visual aids need to be differentiated, containing the most basic features of the object and, if possible, without additional unimportant details, which often divert the attention of students away from the main goal that the teacher achieves when using these aids. Taking into account the characteristics of mentally retarded schoolchildren when implementing the principle of visibility also lies in the fact that, along with creating clear and complete ideas about the world around them, it is necessary to teach them to correctly use the appropriate words and terms denoting the properties of objects, signs of phenomena, relationships and connections that exist in the real world. The teacher’s word in this process is an organizing and regulating factor. The role of the word increases even more in cases where visualization is used to form common ideas and concepts among students. Thus, the implementation of the principle of visibility in a auxiliary school is carried out in stages. . Enrichment of sensory cognitive experience, which involves learning the skills to observe, compare and highlight the essential features of objects and phenomena and reflect them in speech; . Ensuring the transition of created subject images into abstract concepts; . Using abstract visualization to form concrete images of objects, phenomena and actions. 7. Consciousness and activity of students in learning Consciousness in learning means students’ understanding of the educational material being studied: the essence of the concepts being learned, the meaning of work actions, techniques and operations. Conscious assimilation of knowledge and skills ensures their successful application in practical activities, prevents formalism, and promotes the transformation of knowledge into stable beliefs. In a auxiliary school, this principle is one of the most important, since in the process of conscious assimilation of educational material, more intensive mental development of mentally retarded schoolchildren occurs. However, when implementing this principle, the teacher encounters great difficulties. Violations of analytical and synthetic activity, characteristic of mentally retarded schoolchildren, prevent the assimilation of educational material on the basis of its full understanding. Therefore, in a auxiliary school, the question of how to achieve a complete understanding of the educational material by students was and remains the most significant. The solution to this issue is possible if every teacher uses corrective methodological techniques aimed at developing mental operations, as well as the ability to express their thoughts in words. After all, one can judge how well a student understands this or that educational material, first of all, by his statements, and only then by the nature of the application of knowledge when performing exercises. There are a number of methodological techniques that help students more consciously assimilate educational material: dividing complex educational material into parts that are logically complete and interconnected, identifying the main essential aspects of an object or phenomenon and distinguishing them from secondary, unimportant ones, reflecting in speech the practical actions performed, beginning, during and after work, the connection of new actions with previously learned ones, varying the material during repetition, etc. It has long been known that mechanical memorization of this or that educational material does not contribute to its conscious assimilation. This means that the student cannot use the knowledge acquired in this way in practical activities, that they represent a passive fund. That is why the principle of consciousness in teaching in a auxiliary school is given such great importance. Conscious assimilation of educational material presupposes students' activity in learning. In most cases, the cognitive activity of mentally retarded schoolchildren does not arise on its own, so it is necessary to intensify it. Activation of learning is understood as the appropriate organization of schoolchildren’s actions, aimed at making them understand the educational material. In a mass school, the leading means of activating schoolchildren’s learning is a problem-based approach to teaching. Its essence lies in the fact that the teacher poses an educational problem to the students, the students, together with the teacher or independently, determine ways to find a solution to the problem, independently or with the help of the teacher, find a solution, draw conclusions, generalizations, and comparisons. If we consider the problem-based approach to teaching as creating conditions for independent mental activity of schoolchildren when studying new educational material or generalizing it, then when using conditions that correspond to the conditions of mentally retarded schoolchildren, it can also be applied in a auxiliary school as a means of organizing educational activities. If the teacher gradually introduces schoolchildren to new educational material, involving them in reasoning and encouraging their own statements with analysis of observations or their experience, then such training will help to activate mentally retarded students and in cases of incorrect statements, moreover, it should be friendly and treat them carefully and patiently explain what their mistake is.
Clinic and etiology of mental retardation
Under the concept mental retardation combines numerous and diverse forms of pathology, manifested in underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere.
Mental retardation is a developmental disease - dysontogeny. Accordingly, it can only occur when the developing brain is damaged, i.e. in the prenatal period, during childbirth, at an early and younger age (up to three years)
Mental retardation should be understood as a general underdevelopment of the child’s psyche, in which the central and determining place is occupied by the underdevelopment of cognitive activity and other higher mental functions. The time of occurrence of mental retardation is limited to prenatal, natural and the first three years of postnatal life. The structure of the defect is characterized by the totality and relative uniformity of underdevelopment of different aspects of the psyche.
Most common exogenous The cause of postnatal mental retardation is neuroinfections, mainly encephalitis and meningoencephalitis, as well as parainfectious incephalitis. Less commonly, the cause of mental retardation is postnatal intoxication and traumatic brain injury. Exogenous forms account for at least half of all cognitive development defects that arise after the birth of a child.
Modern research in the field of the etiology of mental retardation indicates that the leading role in the origin of mental retardation belongs to genetic factors. Numerous and varied changes in the genetic apparatus (mutations) are responsible for approximately three-quarters of all cases of cognitive underdevelopment in children.
Mutations can be chromosomal or genetic. The most common and well-known chromosomal form of oligophrenia is Down's disease, which occurs in 9-10% of all mentally retarded children. In chromosomal forms of oligophrenia, a pronounced and profound underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere is most often observed.
Gene mutations can affect a single gene or a group of weakly acting genes that control the same trait.
Thus, according to etiology, all cases of mental retardation are divided into exogenous and genetic. It is necessary to remember that in the process of development and vital activity of the organism, genetic and exogenous factors are in a complex interaction. In the case of mental retardation, for example, those exogenous factors that are not the direct cause of underdevelopment of the child’s brain can help identify genetic defects or aggravate the manifestations of a hereditary disease. Additional exogenies can introduce new, unusual symptoms into the clinical picture of hereditary mental retardation.
The data presented indicate that defects in the development of the cognitive sphere are extremely heterogeneous in origin. Accordingly, there may be numerous different mechanisms that disrupt the formation and development of the brain, as well as a large number of independent nosological forms of mental retardation. Common to all forms of pathology included in this group of developmental anomalies is an intellectual defect of one degree or another, which determines the degree of underdevelopment of the child’s entire psyche as a whole, his adaptive capabilities, and his entire personality.
The clinical picture of defects in the development of the cognitive sphere consists of the characteristics of the psychopathological, neurological and somatic symptoms present in children. Those forms in which clearly defined specific somatic manifestations are noted, allowing a nosological diagnosis to be established on the basis of clinical data, and those in which the nosological form of the disease can be established using modern methods of special laboratory tests, are called differentiated forms of mental retardation.
Uncomplicated forms of mental retardation are characterized by the absence of additional psychopathological disorders. The intellectual defect in these children, as well as in all mentally retarded children, is manifested primarily by disturbances in thinking: stiffness, the establishment of mainly private concrete connections, and the inability to distract. The prerequisites for intellectual activity also inevitably suffer. Attention is characterized by insufficient voluntariness and purposefulness, narrowing of volume, difficulty concentrating, as well as switching. Often, with a good ability for mechanical memorization, weakness of semantic and especially associative memory is observed. New information is learned with great difficulty. Memorizing new material requires repeated repetition and reinforcement with specific examples. Nevertheless, children with uncomplicated mental retardation are usually characterized by fairly stable performance and more or less satisfactory productivity.
The level of speech underdevelopment in most children with uncomplicated mental retardation corresponds to the degree of their intellectual defect. They do not have local speech disorders, but there is always a general underdevelopment of speech, manifested by a paucity of active vocabulary, simplified construction of phrases, agrammatism, and often tongue-tiedness. Along with this, in some children one can observe an outwardly good level of speech development with an apparent wealth of vocabulary, correct construction of phrases, and expressive intonations. However, already at the first examination it becomes clear that outwardly correct phrases are memorized speech cliches.
Underdevelopment of motor skills is manifested mainly by a lack of precise and subtle movements, especially small ones, and the slowness of developing a motor formula for action. In addition, most mentally retarded children have insufficient muscle strength. Therefore, the importance of physical education classes for such children is great.
Severe behavioral disorders are usually not observed in children with uncomplicated mental retardation. With adequate upbringing, children with mild intellectual disabilities can easily learn correct forms of behavior and, to some extent, can control their actions.
General personality underdevelopment is characteristic of all children with general mental underdevelopment.
Thus, in uncomplicated forms of mental retardation, the pedagogical prognosis depends mainly on the degree, structure of the defect and the compensatory capabilities of the child.
Complicated forms are characterized by the presence of additional psychopathological disorders that negatively affect the child’s intellectual activity and the success of his education.
Based on the nature of additional symptoms, all complicated forms of mental retardation can be divided into three groups:
1. With cerebrostonic or hypertensive syndromes;
2. With severe behavioral disorders;
3. With emotional-volitional disorders.
This division mainly reflects this. Which of the additional psychopathological syndromes occupies a leading place in the clinical picture of the disease?
Children of the first group suffer mainly from intellectual activity.
Cerebrastonic syndrome is a syndrome of irritable weakness. It is based on increased exhaustion of the nerve cell. It manifests itself as general mental intolerance, inability to endure prolonged stress, or to concentrate for a long time.
Hypertension syndrome - a syndrome of increased intracranial pressure - occurs in connection with cerebrospinal fluid dynamics disorders that develop as a result of organic damage to the central nervous system or a congenital defect of the cerebrospinal fluid system of the brain. An increase in intracranial pressure is accompanied by headaches, often dizziness and a disturbance in the child’s general well-being. Exhaustion increases and the child’s performance decreases sharply. Such children have peculiar attention disorders: weak concentration, increased distractibility. Memory is often impaired. Children become motorally disinhibited, restless or lethargic. Emotional lability and the phenomena of vegetative-vascular dystonia are clearly expressed. School performance is noticeably declining.
In children of the second group, behavioral disorders, which manifest themselves in the form of hyperdynamic and psychopathic syndromes, come to the fore in the clinical picture of the disease.
Hyperdynamic syndrome is characterized by severe prolonged restlessness with an abundance of unnecessary movements, restlessness, talkativeness, and often impulsiveness. In severe cases, the child’s behavior is not amenable to self-control and external correction. Hyperdynamic syndrome is difficult to correct with medication.
Psychopathic syndrome is usually observed in children with mental retardation caused by traumatic brain injury or neuroinfections. It is based on deep-seated personality disorders with disinhibition, and sometimes with perversion of gross primitive drives. Behavioral disorders in these children are so severe that they occupy a central place in the clinical picture of the disease, and the underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere seems to aggravate their manifestations.
In children of the third group, in addition to mental retardation, disorders of the emotional-volitional sphere are observed. They can manifest themselves in the form of increased emotional excitability, unmotivated mood swings, decreased emotional tone and motivation to activity, and in the form of disturbances in emotional contact with others.
Among students in auxiliary schools, you can more often meet children with pseudo-autism, i.e. violation of contact caused by reactive moments: fear of a new environment, new requirements, fear of the teacher, fear of children’s aggressiveness.
In addition, complicated forms also include mental retardation with local cerebral disorders: local underdevelopment or speech disorder, local spatial or frontal disorders, local motor disorders (CP).