Thanks to aerokinesis, children with cerebral palsy who could not walk without assistance are learning to ride a bicycle

Mental retardation is a lag in the overall rate of mental development from accepted norms in children of a certain age. Children are assigned to a separate category based on the state of the emotional-volitional sphere and ability for educational and cognitive activities. Child mental retardation syndrome is felt in many areas of life - communication, work, creativity. ZPR can be temporary or permanent. Depends on the society in which the child was before coming to the children's educational institution. Unlike mental retardation, mental retardation is amenable to correction and pedagogical influence, up to the complete disappearance of the syndrome.

Features of children with mental retardation

Development of a child with mental retardation. The main features of children with mental retardation include:

• a lag in the mental and emotional perception of the surrounding world;
• slowing down the thinking process in contrast to peers;
• later development of self-care skills in comparison with healthy children;
• problems with socialization and relationships within the team;
• weakened memory and attention, which makes it difficult to learn new material.

You can read about the causes of mental retardation in children in our article HERE

Due to these characteristics, children with mental retardation are included in the classification of children with disabilities.

Read also our article: “Children with disabilities in kindergarten”

Important! All changes in the nervous system and mental abnormalities in children with mental retardation are changeable, temporary and reversible, unlike children with mental retardation.

Opportunities for children with disabilities

To implement effective work, it is necessary to accurately understand what will be accessible and understandable for each category of children. Each type has a range of capabilities, namely:

1. With hearing impairment of any degree, children poorly understand and assimilate oral speech, so the level of their emotional and intellectual development decreases, but education in a special school under the supervision of a defectologist, audiologist, or psychologist gives good results.

2. Visually impaired and blind children learn about the world through touch and hearing; they need to imagine the appearance of an object to develop speech, so a speech therapist is necessarily involved in the educational process (he will teach how to relate words to objects). Physical exercise is also useful to improve coordination of movements.

3. Speech anomalies that are not accompanied by intellectual ones can attend a regular educational institution. Outside the group, the child receives individual lessons from a psychologist, speech pathologist, and speech therapist. Since the opinions of specialists regarding education in a special school or together with healthy children in this case are different, the decision should be made only personally.

4. In case of mental retardation or mental development characteristics, the degree of impairment plays a role. In mild cases, it is possible to learn against the background of slow speech development. In the future, such a child will be able to take proper care of himself and do simple work. If there is an average degree of mental retardation, special training is indicated in a narrow circle. Constant supervision is required when leaving the group. As for severe violations, learning when they are identified is considered impossible.

5. Autism spectrum disorders vary in syndromes. But in general, it is recommended to start providing psychological and pedagogical assistance to the child as early as possible, because this will allow him to better adapt in the future. For example, with Asperger's syndrome, symptoms completely disappear in adulthood in 20% of people, although difficulties with some skills will remain (inability to empathize, difficulties with communication).

Characteristics of children with mental retardation

Development of a child with mental retardation. Children with mental retardation in preschool age are characterized by:

• insufficient development of perception;
• increased impulsiveness;
• inability to concentrate on specific features of objects;
• impairment of social communication;
• low performance;
• problems with memory and logical thinking;
• speech development defects are noted.

Such children can perform intellectual tasks with the help of adults, but at a slower pace, and are also unable to complete such tasks on their own.

What is normal and deviation in child development: video

Recommendations for parents of preschoolers with mental retardation

In case of mental retardation in children, treatment and effectiveness of work largely depend on the position of the parents. If they understand the full extent of their responsibility for the child’s future and participate in the correction, the effectiveness will be much higher.

Parents can be advised to:

1. Do not hesitate to seek help from specialized specialists. There is nothing shameful in the fact that a child suffers from mental retardation.
2. Communicate with parents who have similar problems. Now, in the age of the Internet, finding such communities is not difficult.
3. Encourage interaction with peers. Give yourself enough time so that the preschooler does not feel lonely.
4. Don't feel sorry for him because he's not like everyone else. It’s better not to focus on this at all. You need to communicate as if he has no violations.
5. Entrust household chores, care for pets, and praise for the desire for self-care.

   

6. Speak in simple phrases, with clearly expressed thoughts. Calmly explain the reason for refusing the request.
7. You need to talk to the baby and listen to him carefully. If he makes a mistake, he needs to correct him correctly, without ridicule or impatience.
8. Develop all areas of mental activity. The teacher will give you the necessary exercises; you need to do them regularly.
9. It is useful to keep a diary in which all the successes of the preschooler are noted. He will help the parent and teacher find the sore spots and make corrections.

If treatment for a child’s mental retardation is started by the age of 3-4 years, secondary mental disorders most likely will not appear. Children attending preschool institutions regularly undergo psychological diagnostics. Their mental retardation is detected early and can be effectively corrected.

Personal characteristics of children with mental retardation

Development of a child with mental retardation. It is often difficult to distinguish violations from the norm, since each child is individual and has certain character traits. Symptoms of mental retardation can manifest themselves in different ways, depending on the natural temperament of the baby and his life circumstances and the environment around him.

In addition to mental disorders, a child with mental retardation usually has a delay in emotional development, which manifests itself in a rapid and often causeless change in the child’s mood, from goodwill and joy to sadness and aggression. At the same time, the child’s anger is directed not at certain actions that caused indignation, but at a specific person.

Delayed emotional development of a child with mental retardation

Development of a child with mental retardation. Delayed emotional development also manifests itself in children’s inability to understand emotions, both those of others and their own. For example, such children cannot describe from a picture the emotions of the characters depicted. At the same time, they clearly track the reason for the change in the mood of these characters.

Peer interaction

Development of a child with mental retardation. Personality characteristics in children with mental retardation manifest themselves primarily during play activities and can be of two opposite types:

1. Children strive to separate from their peers, quickly become passive, lethargic and lacking initiative, often distracted and staring indifferently out the window.
2. Children show excessive interest in the game, accompanying their actions with excessive emotional reactions in the form of hot temper and touchiness. They can be rude to other children for no reason and show cruelty to others.

The presence of behavioral disorders and their constancy leads to the development of negative character traits in children.

Difficulties in learning, when a child fails to cope with a task, cause sharply negative emotional reactions in him. A baby's anxiety can also cause fear of mistakes and failure in a difficult task, which over time leads to a decrease in the baby's self-esteem.

Anxiety

Development of a child with mental retardation. A frequent manifestation of mental retardation is increased anxiety and restlessness even for small, insignificant reasons.

This is due to the peculiarities of the formation of the emotional-volitional sphere in children with mental disorders, as well as social factors that develop against the background of low academic performance.

Behavior

Typically, children with mental retardation do not need to communicate with peers, preferring to play alone.

They do not have an emotional attachment and preferences for individuals; such children often do not have friends in kindergarten and school. They find it easier to find a common language with adults or children who are older than them, but even in this communication they are inactive and lack initiative.

Read our article: “Developmental methods for children”

Article:

Mental retardation is a diagnosis characterized by impaired development of mental functions (attention, thinking, memory).
It is given to children, as a rule, at the age of 2-3 years. However, if you catch it in time, the situation can be corrected. You shouldn’t wait until everything gets better on its own - neglected mental retardation by the age of 6-7 threatens to place the child in a correctional class. ZPR means a borderline state between the normal development of a child’s psyche and a lag. Children with this diagnosis do not have mental retardation, underdevelopment of speech or physiology . Manifestations of this diagnosis are expressed in mental , decreased learning ability

Signs of mental retardation in a child

How can parents determine whether their treasure has mental retardation ? One of its main manifestations is the difficulty with which the learning process is given.

A clear sign of mental retardation is the immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere. The child cannot force himself to do something without making an effort. Some parents attribute this to childhood and restlessness, but the problem may lie elsewhere.

The attention of such children is unstable . Children are often distracted by motor or speech activity and cannot complete the assigned task. Currently, such children who need to jump up, run or scream during class are placed in a separate group and given a diagnosis of ADHD. However, this is still the same mental retardation .

Very often, mental retardation is accompanied by delayed speech development . This is primarily due to the pace of age-related speech acquisition. Vocabulary may be limited, difficulty forming sentences may be apparent, or deeper forms of DRD may be present.

Memory “works” differently. These children find it easier to remember visual objects or pictures than verbal messages. At the same time, reproducing information from memory is difficult; learning even a simple nursery rhyme becomes an impossible task.

Thinking also suffers. The child cannot draw conclusions on his own based on any information; logic and abstract thinking practically “do not work” without the help of parents or a teacher . Comparison of shape, color, and size of objects cannot be done independently.

Causes of mental retardation

Many parents , having learned about the diagnosis, are sincerely perplexed - the child has developed perfectly all these years , the pediatrician had no complaints.

The whole point is that it is the physiology that is in perfect order. The psyche “slows down,” which leads to this kind of lag. For the same reason, mental retardation is often diagnosed before entering school - it is at this time that the child is no longer expected to play, but to study.

Physiological causes of mental retardation include:

-Difficult pregnancy and childbirth.

-Somatic problems - frequent illnesses, injuries, as a result of which the child becomes physically weakened.

-Lesions of the nervous system - minimal brain dysfunction.

-Social reasons are:

-Pedagogical neglect.

-Stressful situation.

-Unfavorable family environment.

It is difficult for mothers and fathers to admit that something is wrong with their daughter or son. They often turn a blind eye to problems, believing that the child is “too small”, “just active” or “ developing at his own pace ”. Undoubtedly, everyone has the right to their own speed of development , but it is very important to track the problem in time in order to cope with it.

What to pay attention to:

The child is unsociable and has little contact with peers and adults. Children do not accept it into their games.

Emotional instability. The child may be happy for no reason or, conversely, be anxious or restless.

Difficulty concentrating. During classes, such children find it difficult to concentrate and follow the teacher’s instructions.

Studying comes with great difficulty.

development does not correspond to age norms.

Parents should know that difficulties with learning in elementary school are almost always associated with mental . You shouldn’t scold a teacher, much less a child. Contact a speech pathologist!

Is it possible to help a child with mental retardation?

The fact that mental retardation means only a borderline state between the norm and the need for correction and in no way implies mental retardation suggests that it is quite possible to cope with developmental delay . With hard work and the combined efforts of specialists, the child himself and parents, it is possible to achieve that the studies will improve, and the student himself will completely catch up with his comrades.

The first step is to undergo an examination. In addition to the pediatrician, you should visit a neuropsychologist who can understand the problem and prescribe corrective measures.

Correction of ZPR implies the adoption of comprehensive measures. Drug treatment is combined with the work of a speech therapist-defectologist and a neuropsychologist . You should not rely only on medications. They will not be able to correct the situation on their own. Nootropics, vitamins and drugs that improve cerebral circulation prescribed in this situation only stimulate brain activity, but psychological correction .

These activities are aimed at improving the emotional and cognitive sphere. After all, a child needs to develop memory , attention, and build logical connections.

Parents must remember that mental retardation can and should be corrected. The main thing is to make an effort and work together as a team.

If a child has mental retardation - advice to parents

Don't deny the obvious. The sooner you contact specialists, the easier it will be to help.

Be supportive. You shouldn’t overprotect your child, but you shouldn’t give him complete independence either. So far he simply cannot cope with his studies, but everything can be improved. Guide and correct his actions, but don’t take everything upon yourself.

If the doctor prescribed medication, then it is necessary. However, this does not mean that you do not need to work with the child. It is classes with a psychologist , neuropsychologist and, if necessary, a speech therapist-defectologist that will help cope with the problem.

Select good specialists. It will be easier to find the necessary teachers in one center. The child needs classes to develop speech , fine motor skills, and logic. The educational psychologist will work with communication skills.

Create a nurturing environment . Be sure to complete the teachers' assignments.

Treatment for mental retardation is not a quick or easy process. However, through joint efforts we can help the child catch up with his peers.

Mental development of children with mental retardation

Development of a child with mental retardation. Children with mental retardation try to avoid tasks that require intellectual effort and overcoming difficulties. A child can partially complete a task by completing only a simple part of it. Such kids lack motivation and focus on results. They try to complete the task as quickly as possible, rather than better, without understanding the rules and instructions.

When learning, the baby acts intuitively. Children with mental retardation often give the correct answer, but they are unable to explain the course of the decision or their own thoughts.

Also, babies do not know how to act according to a model; the baby cannot analyze the model, identify the main parts and repeat this structure in independent activities.

The intellectual abilities of children with mental retardation do not correspond to their age due to disturbances in the formation of memory, thinking, speech and attention.

Attention

Development of a child with mental retardation. Attention disorders in children with mental retardation have individual characteristics of manifestation. Some children have the highest performance and concentration at the beginning of activities and tasks; for others, a more productive period occurs after the middle of the lesson and they need more time to engage in activities.

And it also happens that the child experiences periodic fluctuations in the level of performance and attention throughout the lesson.

Voluntary attention is most impaired in children with mental retardation.

Memory

The memory of children with mental retardation has an important feature. Such kids have excellent visual memory, but do not remember verbal information well. Therefore, the form of presenting new knowledge is especially important for such children.

Children with mental retardation have problems with both short-term memory and long-term memory, with voluntary and involuntary memorization. Logical memory also suffers due to problems with semantic processing of received information.

Memory capacity and memorization speed are impaired.

When correcting memory processes, an appropriate diet for the child is important. To develop memory, nutritionists advise including a variety of foods on the menu: fish, meat, nuts: walnuts, pine nuts, etc. You can read detailed information about the benefits of nuts for children in our article HERE and in the article “Benefits and harms of walnuts”

Thinking

The development of thinking is influenced by the following mental processes:

• the level of perception and knowledge about the world around us, the higher and richer it is, the more complex conclusions the baby is able to draw;
• level of development of attention;
• the degree of speech development, especially vocabulary.

A feature of children with mental retardation is a lag in the formation of various forms of thinking. In most cases, imaginative thinking is completely absent.

Unlike children with mental retardation, children with mental retardation retain the ability to accept help from adults, generalize, and transfer acquired skills to other situations.

Important! To develop mental activity and stimulate intellectual activity in children with mental retardation, special pedagogical assistance and regular work are needed.

Motor skills

In the preschool period, children with mental retardation have difficulties with general, and especially fine, motor skills.

The problem is expressed in the following manifestations:

• movement technique suffers;
• self-service skills are poorly formed;
• psychomotor deficiencies appear;
• no drawing, modeling, design, or appliqué skills;
• motor characteristics in the form of agility, speed, accuracy, coordination, speed and strength are impaired.

Many children with mental retardation, due to motor impairment, do not know how to use scissors, hold a pen, pencil, or brush incorrectly, and are also unable to control the degree of pressure on the paper.

There are no gross motor pathologies in babies with mental retardation, but the degree of development of motor and physical skills is at a lower level in comparison with peers.

Speech

Children with mental retardation often experience delayed speech development, which manifests itself in the following disorders:

• later appearance of syllables, words and sentences in speech;
• problems with mastering grammatical structure;
• disorders of coherent speech;
• lack of ability to plan one’s own activities using speech;
• defects in the pronunciation of individual sounds and words;
• rearrangement of syllables in words;
• violations of internal speech affecting logical thinking;
• having a poor vocabulary.

Also, children with mental retardation may not be able to speak at all.

For some children with mental retardation, speech disorders manifest themselves in a mild degree, for others - in a more severe degree, which indicates a combination of mental and speech development delays.

Children with disabilities in a preschool institution

Children with disabilities in preschool educational institutions are one of the main problems of a non-specialized kindergarten. Because the process of mutual adaptation is very difficult for the child, parents and teachers.

The priority goal of the integrated group is the socialization of children with disabilities. For them, preschool becomes the primary stage. Children with different abilities and developmental disabilities must learn to interact and communicate in the same group and develop their potential (intellectual and personal). This becomes equally important for all children, as it will allow each of them to push the existing boundaries of the world around them as much as possible.

Groups of children with mental retardation in preschool educational institutions

Development of a child with mental retardation. Children with mental retardation attend preschool institutions of a combined type, compensating, or special temporary groups for children with developmental pathologies.

To help children, the following types of groups are opened according to age:

The main areas of activity with children with mental retardation are:

• formation of communication skills;
• development of fine motor skills;
• sensory and cognitive education;
• play and object activities;
• preparatory stage for schooling;
• physical, musical and creative development;
• formation of visual-spatial coordination.

In the course of raising children with mental retardation in a preschool institution, not only educational and educational tasks are solved, but also diagnostic, correctional, health-improving and developmental tasks.

After the child graduates from a preschool educational institution, he is enrolled in a general education school, in a class for children with mental retardation (if the school has such classes) or in a regular class in a general education school, depending on the diagnostic indications.

What is HIA?

The definition in question (in full and brief form) means quite a lot of violations. For example, these could be sensory, mental, or physical abnormalities. Defects are either permanent or temporary. In the first case, health problems prevent you from leading a normal lifestyle, and also force you to adapt to different areas and to your conditions, taking into account your specific characteristics. In the second case, for example, bone fractures can be detected, so that the limitations are not chronic and it is possible to restore previous capabilities.

As experts note, if the anomalies do not go away, people with disabilities have psychological problems, in particular:

- anxiety;

- low self-esteem;

- inability to experience self-confidence.

Psychological work with such children begins from birth, and social adaptation and inclusive education begin in the preschool period. By the way, depending on the degree of manifestation of violations, home-based education is acceptable.

In general, work with special children depends on the affected area, that is:

1) if memory, speech, thinking and other mental processes are impaired, a correction program is applied with a certain pace of learning, so that children with disabilities continue to live a normal life, although they will need more time to complete everyday tasks, etc.;

2) for diseases of the respiratory system, heart and other ailments that affect the functioning of the whole body, medical care is required according to the plan, which does not prevent a child with special needs from being in a regular preschool group or in a classroom without risk to himself and others;

3) auditory, visual and other sensory anomalies imply that training will be conducted by teachers with special education, as well as using special teaching aids and tools, for example, the blind and visually impaired need to master Braille, and the deaf and hard of hearing need to learn sign language;

4) problems of a motor (static-dynamic) nature mean, first of all, that a child in a wheelchair needs inclusive education and a comfortable psychological atmosphere.

Combined HIA groups

This material often mentions the education of healthy people with unhealthy people (inclusion). In practice, this means that combined groups are created in kindergartens and schools in order to transform the learning environment, within which:

— if necessary, provide additional consultation to parents;

— psychologist, defectologist, speech therapist and other specialists carry out joint training;

— they work with each child according to an individual development plan, checking the results;

— adapt general educational activities to involve all children in the educational process, regardless of the presence or absence of disabilities.

Conditions suitable for children with disabilities are created in regular kindergartens and schools, while teachers and educators must undergo retraining in order to be able to interact with different children. If the work was productive, those with health limitations become more adapted, confident, and feel better. And their healthy peers can learn empathy, tolerance, and acceptance.

Categories of children with disabilities

Teachers traditionally divide children with special needs into categories based on the existing impairment. We are talking about children who have:

- mental retardation;

— disorders of the musculoskeletal system;

- vision problems - visually impaired and blind (this group is smaller than the first);

— anomalies in the emotional-volitional sphere, including autism spectrum conditions;

- speech and intellectual anomalies - here there is a division according to degrees, at some of which normal learning is impossible;

- hearing impairments - deaf from birth, who encountered the problem later, as well as those who are able to hear poorly;

- a complex of problems when there are problems from different areas, for example, with speech, movement, intelligence.

Focusing on a specific case, they practice a certain operating principle. For example, children classified as having disabilities from birth or a little later have their own characteristics. If the disorders are very early, the child gets used to them and can be trained in a special program from the first days of life.

If problems with vision, hearing, etc., occurred by the time the child received some knowledge, the correction program may be difficult. You have to learn to live with the remaining abilities of your own body.

Education of children with mental retardation

It is possible for children with mental retardation to master the educational program, but this program must meet the following requirements:

• take into account the individual characteristics of the baby;
• involve parents and loved ones of the child in the learning process;
• include constant monitoring of development dynamics;
• Stick to multitasking learning.

Correctional training for mental retardation has several directions:

• developing;
• diagnostic;
• therapeutic and prophylactic;
• advisory;
• social and labor.

Accompanying children with disabilities

This process includes such areas of psychological and pedagogical work as:

— diagnostics through observation, questioning, testing - specialists, in the course of individual work, determine the degree of the child’s limitations in personal terms and in matters of obtaining an education;

— preparation of an individual plan for the subsequent correction of violations and the creation of special learning conditions;

— the actual process of acquiring knowledge, skills, periodic diagnostics, and counseling parents.

By the way, parents can choose an educational institution for their child - with inclusive or special education. But a lot depends on the actual condition of the baby, his skills, etc. And for some, home education is more suitable, although it is considered not conducive to the development of household, social skills, etc.

Which specialists work with children with mental retardation?

The educational process involves not only educators who have undergone special training in working with children with mental development disorders, but also defectologists, speech therapists, psychologists and physical education workers.

Due to the behavioral characteristics of children with mental retardation, they are able to perform only those tasks that are related to their personal interests.

For young children, the predominant activity is play, so it is through play that children with mental retardation learn.

For this purpose, many different games and exercises have been developed aimed at developing thinking, ideas about the world around us, memory, attention and social adaptation of the little ones.

Schools for children with disabilities

Many modern schools strive to work on the principles of inclusive education, that is, classrooms are set up and equipped for the convenience and independence of children with disabilities. Education takes place according to adapted programs, and a child with disabilities should be given special attention from teachers without feeling inferior or weak.

Special work is also carried out with healthy schoolchildren - they are taught to adequately communicate with special children, accept their limitations, etc. In this way, they strive to create a comfortable environment in the classroom, increase the educational level and motivation to learn the material.

Games for children with mental retardation

The play of a child with mental retardation is characterized by the following features:

• poverty of imagination;
• monotony and lack of plot;
• misunderstanding of the rules of the game;
• lack of separation of roles;
• decreased activity;
• lack of emotionality.

Remember! It is during play that mental developmental abnormalities in children can be noticed.

This is explained by the fact that children with developmental delays do not have a sufficient understanding of the actions of adults and reality. Lack of emotionality also manifests itself in relation to toys.

Important! Such problems can also occur in children with normal development in early preschool age. But children with mental retardation never begin to play role-playing games on their own.

Adults, not objects, should support the play activities of children with mental retardation. It is difficult for kids to independently build associations that with dishes you can play cook, with a comb you can play hairdresser, etc.

The main tool for teaching play to children with mental retardation will be role-playing entertainment and theatrical activities.

Children with disabilities in kindergarten

Since special groups in kindergartens began to be created recently, not everyone understands what we are talking about. The fact is that now the right to educate children with disabilities along with everyone else is subject to strict protection, so parents choose where their child will receive basic knowledge:

- in a regular class;

— in a special correctional kindergarten (or group);

— in a group with a specialist who knows the principles of inclusive education.

The latter option is preferable, since the integration of an unhealthy child with ordinary peers occurs competently. In particular, a barrier-free educational environment is created for preschool children with special needs, which guarantees equality with everyone, but does not negate the support of specialists (psychologists, doctors), assessment of the level of adaptation and mutual influence of some children on others.

When working with children with disabilities, special attention is paid to:

— physical education according to an individual plan, which includes various exercises, including those aimed at correcting defects;

- cognitive interest, which allows stimulating the child’s interest in understanding the world with an orientation towards its characteristics (inhibition, excessive activity, etc.);

- social communication - since even children with disabilities have difficulties with communication and self-esteem, teachers additionally develop their social skills, confidence, and ability to interact with peers.

Card index of educational games for children with mental retardation

The following games are useful for children with mental development disorders:

1. "Repeat after me" . It consists of repeating certain movements and actions for adults. The game improves motor skills and voluntary attention
2. "Guess whose sound" . An adult introduces children to various objects (scissors, whistle, bell, rattle, paper), shows what sound they can make. Then behind the screen he plays a sound with one of the objects, and the children guess what it is. The game develops perception and auditory attention.
3. “Repeat the figure . The task is that children are given cards with a picture of a figure made from counting sticks. Kids must reproduce the shapes on the table or, if unsuccessful, lay out the pattern on the card using the “overlay” method. This game develops motor skills, attention, visual perception and teaches action according to a model.
4. "Whether it flies or not" . An adult names objects and living beings, and children must show whether a given object flies or not. If it flies, the children wave their arms; if not, they keep their arms down. The one who makes a mistake is out of the game. The task helps to identify the characteristics of various objects and helps to learn to switch attention. The game can be changed to “Jumps or not” , “Swims or not” , etc.
5. Reaction speed and hand-eye coordination can be developed with the help of the game “Edible - Inedible” .
6. “Cooking borscht . An adult prepares two hoops, lays out various objects and divides the children into 2 teams. The kids run to the hoop for a while and choose vegetables to cook borscht. Teams are judged on their speed and correct choice of items. Similarly, you can play “Hospital” , “Barbershop” , using other objects. The game is aimed at speed of reaction.

It is useful to conduct relay races where you need, for example, to carry an object overcoming obstacles in the form of logs, pins, etc. Round dance games with poetic accompaniment allow you to unite children and make friends.

You can also read more about outdoor games for preschool children in our article HERE

Exercises for children with mental retardation

Various play-based exercises are also used to develop children with mental retardation.

Here are some of them:

1. "Find your apple" . The adult invites the child to choose one from three or four apples and study it for a couple of minutes. Then the baby closes his eyes, the apples are mixed, and the child must find his apple using the highlighted distinctive features. The exercise trains memory and attention.
2. "Clap your hands . The adult says that the children should clap their hands if he names, for example, an animal. With this exercise, kids practice switching attention.
3. "Bell and Tambourine" . An adult beats a tambourine or rings a bell. In this case, children should, in the first case, walk around the group at a calm pace, in the second case, run after each other. The exercise teaches you to perform actions according to instructions.
4. "Find differences" . The child is offered two similar pictures, and the child must name the differences. This helps develop concentration.
5. "Remember where" . An adult lays out three to five cards on the table depicting different objects. The baby remembers them, then the cards are turned over, and the baby must show which object is where. You can modify the exercise. In this case, you don’t have to turn the cards over, but remove one card from the table until the baby sees, and then ask what’s missing. These exercises improve and train memory.
6. “Complete the drawing . The child is asked to complete the second part of various simple objects on the cards - a ball, a sun, a butterfly, etc. The exercise helps develop the integrity of perception.
7. "What's extra" . The cards show four objects, one of which is extra. The child must name the extra object and answer on what basis they differ. You can use groups of vegetables, fruits, plants, mushrooms, furniture, etc. You can also play “Find the extra word” in the same way.

To develop speech skills, articulatory gymnastics exercises are used, accompanied by thematic poems, which contain instructions for performing movements.

Breathing exercises are also useful. To perform gymnastics, you can use the exercise “Guess the smell” . To accomplish this, you can use vegetables and fruits. Children get acquainted with their smell, and then, blindfolded, try to guess what kind of fruit or vegetable the adult gave them.

Difficulties in teaching special children

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Parents may notice mental retardation even before school age. Typically, such children begin to walk later, pronounce their first words later, are not very active in the cognitive process, and have poor contact with peers. Most adults attribute these features to the child’s individual developmental rates and character traits. All children do develop differently, so small deviations from age norms should not be a cause for concern. Training such children within the framework of the general educational process will fully reveal existing mental problems.

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By the age of 6-7, children already show attentiveness and purposefulness, know how to manage mental operations and rely on previous experience in the learning process, and use abstract logical thinking. For schoolchildren with an immature psyche, the general education system will be too difficult. Typically, a child with mental retardation experiences the greatest difficulties in mastering his native and foreign languages ​​and mathematics. It is impossible to master writing without sufficient development of oral speech, and to understand mathematics, a child must know such concepts as comparison, shape, quantity, and magnitude.

Raising a child with mental retardation

Many parents are sensitive to the diagnosis of mental retardation in their child. But it should be remembered that this is not a mental illness, but only a temporary lag in development in comparison with peers, which can be made up.

Remember! With proper development and support, as well as compliance with all recommendations of doctors and specialists, by the age of 10, you can completely get rid of the symptoms of mental retardation in a child.

Children with disabilities at school

The priority task of modern inclusive education is to increase attention to the socialization of children with disabilities. An approved adapted program for children with disabilities is required for training in a general education school. However, the currently available materials are scattered and not integrated into a system.

On the one hand, inclusive education in secondary schools is beginning to appear, on the other hand, the heterogeneity of the composition of students is increasing, taking into account the level of their speech, mental and mental development.

This approach leads to the fact that the adaptation of both relatively healthy children and children with disabilities is significantly hampered. This leads to additional, often insurmountable difficulties when implementing the teacher’s individual approach.

Therefore, children with disabilities cannot simply study at school on an equal basis with others. For a favorable result, certain conditions must be created.

Planned successes in program implementation

Planned achievements in speech development are as follows:

• understanding the meaning of individual sentences and coherent speech;
• understanding different forms of words;
• learning new words;
• understanding of phrases, constructions with prepositions, diminutive suffixes, differentiation of plural and singular numbers;
• correct formation of nouns with diminutive suffixes;
• correct pronunciation of sounds;
• use of basic types of speech, rhythm and tempo, normal pauses.

Within the framework of social and communicative development, the following results of following a correctional program for children with mental retardation are expected:

• manifestation of independence in play and communication;
• selection of activities, participants in group activities, sustainable interaction with children;
• participation in a group lesson;
• the ability to accurately convey information to the interlocutor;
• the ability to cooperate during the game, regulate one’s own behavior;
• use of knowledge acquired during educational activities;
• the desire for independence and the manifestation of a certain independence from an adult.

Expected results of cognitive development:

• the ability to generalize objects and concepts into groups;
• the presence of ideas about size, quantity, shape, the ability to express them in speech;
• the ability to name objects and their parts from pictures;
• the ability to show named actions in pictures;
• use of verbal accompaniment, activity planning or reporting during the activity;
• possession of a score within ten;
• the ability to construct from different materials (with the help of an adult);
• the ability to determine the seasons and parts of the day;
• the ability to identify geometric shapes and bodies, the location of objects relative to oneself;
• creation of subject and plot compositions from material according to a sample, conditions, scheme.

In the artistic and aesthetic segment of the correctional program for children with mental retardation, the following successes are expected to be achieved:

• having basic understanding of different types of art;
• emotional perception of music, literature, folklore;
• mastery of cutting skills;
• knowledge of primary colors and shades, the ability to mix them;
• showing interest in art;
• pronunciation of all words while singing;
• composing melodies of various types;
• the ability to convey the character of music through movements.

As part of successful physical development, the following results are achieved:

• performing basic exercises and movements according to adult instructions;
• performing various types of running;
• knowledge of the rules of outdoor games, games with elements of sports;
• knowledge of basic rules in the formation of healthy habits, physical activity, nutrition;
• maintaining a given pace when walking, and so on.

Expected results are presented for students aged five to seven years. The correctional development program for children with mental retardation (on January 24, 2017, news appeared that children with such a diagnosis will no longer be sent to special institutions) of younger age sets other goals and is implemented not in secondary schools, but in correctional groups of pre-school educational institutions or at home .

Recommendations for creating a program

Option 7.1 of the correctional work program for children with mental retardation provides that the work will be carried out with children who, in terms of their level of psychophysical development, are close to the age norm, but in the educational process they encounter difficulties in voluntary self-regulation. Such children require a special approach; they learn the material more slowly and take longer to achieve results, but by the time they reach the secondary level they are usually on par in development with their peers.

The high efficiency of the implementation of the correctional program of a defectologist for children with mental retardation is ensured by the gradual complication of tasks and the conduct of classes with material that is close to the main educational program. It must be taken into account that teaching children with mental retardation requires the use of game methods and work techniques that include an element of competition. A good technique is to introduce a system of rewards and penalties. This helps to develop organization.

It is necessary to alternate sedentary and mobile methods of work, conduct physical education sessions more often, and alternate oral and written work. This will give children the opportunity to distribute energy, and also help relieve fatigue, increase concentration and performance. It is important to use simple exercises to test attention (questions like: “Who heard the task, show your thumb”).

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The lesson outline includes an introduction, the main content of the lesson and the final stage. At the introduction stage, a greeting is required, which sets children up for successful interaction with the teacher, discussion of news (children can discuss the difficulties that arose while doing homework, the results obtained, evaluate their mood verbally or in points, recall the content of the previous lesson, and so on), communicative game (carried out to increase energy resources and create a positive attitude).

The main stage is aimed at the formation and development of the main list of functions that are necessary when mastering educational material. Usually, tasks aimed at developing spatial concepts are first offered, then speech and thinking are developed, and homework is given. At the final stage, a relaxation exercise and a communicative game are carried out, which helps children relax and forms a positive attitude towards the lesson as a whole. The features of the correctional and developmental program for children with mental retardation consist precisely in a sequential transition and the allocation of additional time for the correction of mental skills and memorization of material.

Corrective work system

Any correctional program for children with mental retardation consists of four main blocks: development and improvement of communication skills, development of mental and speech activity, development of mental activity, development of spatial concepts. Only an integrated approach to teaching special children will lead to success and equalization of development rates.

In the course of developing and improving communication skills, it is necessary to teach the child to master the means of communication, to form attitudes towards a friendly attitude towards peers and adults, successful interaction, to achieve positive relationships with others (the child must be able to correctly express his opinion and attitude towards the interlocutor, listen to comrades, not interrupt elders), to form a positive image of one’s own self. The development of speech and mental activity involves expanding the vocabulary, acquiring knowledge about the world around us, which can help improve social skills, the formation of developed monologue and dialogic speech (the ability to express one’s thoughts, observing the rules of communication), the formation of basic mental operations (comparison, analysis, generalization). ).

The child must learn to work according to models and instructions, to regulate his behavior in educational and life situations. The skills of monitoring one’s activities are instilled, mastery of control and evaluation actions is provided, and so on. The development of spatial concepts involves mastering spatial orientation (indoors and in a notebook), mastering basic educational concepts, developing the ability to distinguish geometric shapes, manipulate images, making mental transformations: dismembering into parts, rotating, connecting parts into a single whole, and so on.