Self-assessment of orphans with mental retardation. Topic: Social and personal development of children with mental retardation Self-awareness and self-esteem of children with mental retardation
UDK 376.1-056.34:376.016:51:371.26
PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF SELF-ESTEEM IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION
Prokhorenko Lesya Ivanovna, candidate of pedagogical sciences, senior researcher, Institute of Special Education, National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine,
city Kiev, [email protected]
abstract. The article analyzes the main ways of forming self-esteem, especially its manifestations in children with mental retardation of primary school age. The urgency of this problem is caused by the fact that primary school age is a critical period for the formation of self-schoolboy, its further development and influence on personality. Revealed inadequate self-esteem in primary school children with mental retardation, defined path correction, aimed at developing its adequate level.
Keywords: self-esteem, personality, primary school age, education, activity, psychical processes.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF THE MANIFESTATION OF SELF-ESTIMATION IN YOUNGER SCHOOLCHILDREN WITH MENTAL DELAY
Prokhorenko Lesya Ivanovna, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Senior Researcher, Institute of Special Pedagogy of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, Kyiv, [email protected]
Annotation. The article analyzes the main ways of forming self-esteem, the features of its manifestation in children with mental retardation of primary school age. The relevance of this problem is due to the fact that primary school age is an important period for the formation of a student's self-esteem, its further development and influence on a person. Inadequate self-esteem in younger schoolchildren with mental retardation was revealed, ways of correction were identified that are aimed at forming an adequate level of self-esteem.
Key words: self-esteem, personality, primary school age, learning, activity, mental development.
The global improvement of educational processes that is happening today in Ukraine is aimed at changing the orientation in the field of education, the philosophy of which corresponds to the humanistic concept and is based on the uniqueness of each individual, in order to ensure optimal adaptation of everyone in conditions of intensive, independent intellectual activity.
In the aspect of the reorganization of the education system of a special school, there is a need to solve the problem of the formation of self-regulation of students with a low level of intellectual development, including in children with mental retardation-76
tiya. As part of the study of self-regulation learning activities, self-esteem acts as the core of this process, a link, interconnected with all mental formations of the individual and acts as an important determinant of all forms and types of activity and communication.
Properly formed self-esteem acts not just as a complex of individual personality characteristics, but also, as a guarantee of successful learning, the child's awareness of his strengths, his motives and needs. Underdevelopment of self-esteem causes a number of different problems that arise in the process of becoming a child as an active subject of educational activity. Therefore, it is at the initial stage of training that it is important to lay the foundations for the formation of a differentiated adequate self-esteem.
In the studies of scientists of developmental and educational psychology, considerable attention was paid to self-esteem, which is the central link in arbitrary self-regulation, determines the direction and level of human activity (in children preschool age- L. Wenger, A. Zaporozhets, M. Lisina, N. Podyakov, school - P. Galperin, A. Zakharova, L. Itelson, A. Markova and others); the problem of the development of self-esteem, its structure, functions, was discussed in the works of L. Bozhovich, I. Kohn, E. Erikson, K. Rogers and other psychologists; the patterns of self-esteem formation were studied in the works of A. Belobrykina, L. Bozhovich, V. Gorbacheva, A. Zakharova, V. Mukhina, E. Savonko, L. Umanets and others.
Self-esteem is interpreted as a personal formation that directly affects the regulation of behavior and activity, as an autonomous characteristic of the personality, its central component, formed with the active participation of the personality itself, which reflects the uniqueness of the inner world.
The problem of personality formation elementary school student numerous researchers paid attention: L. Bozhovich, B. Volkov, A. Grebenyuk, D. Elkonin, N. Leites, A. Petrovsky, D. Feldshtein and others considered the features of this age; revealed the essence, nature, role of the subject's conscious activity in self-regulating activity - B. Ananiev, L. Vygotsky, A. Leontiev, S. Rubinshtey; the specifics of the components of self-regulation in different age periods were studied by L. Bozhovich, L. Wenger, D. Elkonin, A. Markova, L. Fridman and others. According to scientists, the most favorable period for the development of all areas of the student, including the sphere of self-esteem, is primary school age. Researchers testify that it is in infancy
At our school age, significant qualitative individual and personal changes take place: a realistic assessment by children of their skills, the results of their activities and specific knowledge, an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses is formed, the attitude of others is taken into account, the ratio of emotional and cognitive components is harmonized.
Other researchers, analyzing self-esteem, note the ability to adequately evaluate the results obtained (K. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B. Ananiev, I. Bekh, L. Vygotsky, V. Davydov, N. Dobrynin, D. Elkonin, A. Zak, K. Levin, N. Leites, B. Lomov, A. Konopkin, A. Leontiev, V. Milman, Yu. Mislavsky, V. Morosanova, A. Osadko, A. Osnitsky, S. Rubinstein, G. Schukina, N Shchu-rkova and others). The authors argue that the basis for the formation of an adequate self-assessment of the achieved results of educational activity is the correlation of self-assessment of one's own educational activity with the assessment that this activity receives from the teacher, others, the ability to perceive their opinion, etc. At the same time, it is important not only how objective the teacher's assessment of the student's learning results is, but also the consideration of what the student himself sees and appreciates in this result.
Considerable attention to self-assessment, as a means of forming self-regulation, is given in his works by P. Janet. The results of the study allow the author to conclude that the following groups of self-esteem are inherent in younger students: a) adequate and stable self-esteem (the ability to analyze one's actions, determine their motive, quickly form self-control skills); b) low and unstable self-esteem (inability to single out one's own essential qualities, analyze one's actions, the need for special classes on self-control skills); c) inadequate self-esteem. According to the author, self-assessment does not consist in a formal statement of certain points, but in a meaningful qualitative consideration of the result of assimilation (the general mode of action and the concept corresponding to it) in comparison with the goal. In other words, self-esteem is the result of a constant search for a real vision of one's own achievements, i.e. without too much overestimation, but also without excessive criticality to their communication, behavior, activities, experiences.
In the studies of I. Boyazitova, G. Sobiev, it is indicated that it is self-esteem that determines the direction, level of active
subject's attitude, its value orientations, personal level of regulation. In her study, I. Boyazitova notes that, regardless of age and type of activity, children with a high level of self-regulation development are dominated by unstable, differentiated, adequate self-esteem, a high level of its cognitive component. And, conversely, in children with a low level of self-regulation, persistent, undifferentiated, inadequate high self-esteem, an average or low level of the cognitive component dominates.
Thus, analyzing scientific research on this issue, it can be argued that at the initial stage of education, children evaluate their learning activities mostly positively, failures are associated only with objective circumstances. However, towards the end elementary school there is a more critical attitude towards themselves, educational activities - children are able to adequately assess both their own successes and their failures in the learning process. That is, there is a transition from a specific situational form of self-assessment to its more generalized form, its criticality and independence increase.
In special psychology and pedagogy, the problem of studying children with developmental disabilities remains relevant (T. Vlasova, T. Dulnev, G. Zharenkova, V. Lubovsky, N. Menchinskaya, M. Pevzner, V. Petrova, V. Pinsky, T. Sak , R. Trigger, U. Ul'enkova, S. Shevchenko and others); studied the features of psychocognitive processes -L. Zankov, I. Solovyov, B. Pinsky, G. Lipkina, G. Dulnev and others; the issue of the development of mentally retarded children and those with mental retardation is covered in the works of T. Dulnev, M. Feofanov, B. Pinsky, L. Prokhorenko, T. Sak and others. The authors note that due to the weakening of the control functions of the cerebral cortex, suffers the whole system of arbitrary self-regulation of activity, first of all, this affects its main components: motivation, self-control, self-esteem.
In the studies of G. Gribanova, K. Lebedinskaya, M. Raiskaya, it was noted that schoolchildren with mental retardation very rarely can adequately evaluate their work and correctly motivate their assessment, which is often overestimated. According to the authors, in younger schoolchildren with mental retardation, there is a weakening of the regulation of educational activities, even if the task is perceived by the child, then difficulties arise in its solution, since the conditions of the task as a whole are not analyzed, possible ways of its implementation are not planned, the received intermediate and co-
inaccurate results.
Research by G. Lipkina and V. Sinelnikov devoted to the study of self-esteem of younger schoolchildren with mental retardation. The authors found that children with mental retardation who studied for some time in a general education school are characterized by low self-esteem and self-doubt. The authors explain low self-esteem by the fact that children had long learning failures against the background of successful students who develop normally.
By studying the dynamics of self-esteem in primary school, G. Lipkina found the following trend: at first, children do not accept the position of lagging behind, which is assigned to them in grades 1-2, they strive to maintain high self-esteem. If they are asked to evaluate their work, most will rate the completed task higher than it deserves. The unfulfilled need to leave the group, which is considered to be lagging behind, to acquire a higher status is gradually weakening. The number of children who fall behind in their studies and consider themselves even weaker than they really are, increases by almost 3 times until the end of primary school. Self-esteem, overestimated at the beginning of training, decreases sharply. Children with low and low self-esteem often have a feeling of inferiority, and even hopelessness. Even in cases where children compensate for their poor performance with success in other areas, feelings of inferiority, accepting the position of a lagging student, have negative consequences. The researcher notes that children with a low level of aspirations and low self-esteem do not pretend to a good grade, do not set high goals for themselves and constantly doubt their abilities, are quickly satisfied with the level of progress that has developed in the primary grades.
In her study, N. Zhulidova concludes that the more pronounced mental retardation in younger students, the more students overestimate their capabilities, and the less critical they are of themselves. I. Korotenko states that younger students with mental retardation who receive positive teacher assessments express a clear desire to somewhat overestimate themselves. The author explains this by the fact that the child's own underestimation of mental retardation is compensated by an "artificial" overestimation of his personality, which, most likely, is not realized by the child.
Studying the features of the development of self-esteem of schoolchildren with mental retardation, D. Berezina notes that in primary school age, children with
ZPR manifests a partially differentiated self-esteem, which mainly reflects the assessment of schoolchildren by adults, and an overestimated, partially differentiated level of claims. The majority of junior schoolchildren with mental retardation rate their educational achievements low and consider themselves incapable of learning. The researcher argues that as a result of correct correctional and developmental work, adequate self-esteem, a correct understanding of educational problems and the ability to set a quite adequate goal are formed in children with mental retardation.
So, the success of teaching younger students is largely determined by the level of mastery of general educational skills and abilities, one of which is control and evaluation. By the end of the first year of study, students should learn to find the mistakes made by comparing the results of their own work with a model, independently evaluate the results of their activities according to the guidelines given by the teacher (correct or not, what exactly; what was the error found; what needs to be changed, what needs to be avoided in the next work, etc.). By the end of elementary school, children should have developed self-esteem, the ability to express self-evaluative judgments.
Thus, the problem of self-assessment of educational activity in younger students with mental retardation remains relevant in psychological and pedagogical science. Analyzing scientific sources, it can be argued that the development of self-esteem in children with mental retardation occurs with a delay and deviations. Common manifestations of unformed self-esteem in younger students with mental retardation are: low partially differentiated self-esteem, which mainly reflects the assessment of schoolchildren by adults, a low level of claims is formed, self-doubt is characteristic, overestimation of one's capabilities, low criticality, stereotyped answers. In this context, it is important to find out the features of self-esteem of younger students with mental retardation in the process of completing educational tasks.
To study the formation of self-esteem in the process of educational activity, we used a methodology for determining self-esteem in younger students. Orientation towards self-assessment in learning was characterized by a preference for independence in learning and self-assessment based on acquired internal standards. The content of this methodology allows us to find out the features of control and evaluation skills in younger students with mental retardation
according to the following criteria:
The presence of an internal criterion for evaluating one's own activities;
The need for teacher evaluation and the presence of an external criterion for assessing one's own achievements or failures.
The study provided for the use of teacher assessment cards for the knowledge of younger students with mental retardation (in order to determine self-assessment):
Table 1
Criteria for evaluating the student's educational achievements by the teacher
Evaluation criteria Points
Ability to work independently, following instructions 0-2 points
Checking the compliance of the assignment according to the subject sample 0-2 points
Reconciliation with the answer 0-2 points
Checking the compliance of the task with an imaginary sample 0-2 points
Self-assessment of the stages of the task and the result obtained 0-2 points
Ability to justify self-esteem 0-2 points
After completing the experimental tasks, according to the proposed criteria, the following results were obtained: according to the criterion "the ability to work independently, following the instructions" -23% of younger students with mental retardation received 2 points, 34.6% of students - 1 point and 42.4% of children - 0 points. Among their classmates with normal development, 66.6% of children received 2 points, 1 point - 26% of students and 0 - 7.4% of children. A qualitative analysis of the data obtained allows us to assert that children with mental retardation do not fully perceive the conditions of the task, the occurrence of difficulties in solving it, since the condition of the task as a whole is not analyzed, possible ways of its implementation are not planned, and the obtained intermediate and final results are not controlled.
According to the criterion of "checking the compliance of the task performance according to the subject sample", the highest score was received by 27% of students with mental retardation and 77.7% of students with normal mental development. The works of 46.1% of junior schoolchildren with mental retardation and 18.5% of children with normal development were evaluated with one point, they received 0 points
26.9% of children with mental retardation and 3.8% of children with normal development. This indicates that in children with mental retardation the necessary step-by-step control over the activities performed is violated, they often do not
they notice inconsistencies between their work and the proposed sample, they do not always find the mistakes made, even after the request of an adult to check the work done, the check does not occur.
For children with mental retardation, the task, which included checking the answer, turned out to be slightly easier than the previous ones. The following results were revealed: 2 points were received by 11.5% of children, 1 point - by 57.7% of students and zero points - by 30.8% of schoolchildren. Younger schoolchildren with normal development coped with this task much better: 74.1% of children scored 2 points, 25.9% of students
The next criterion for evaluating the knowledge of junior schoolchildren by the teacher was "checking the compliance of the assignment with an imaginary model." The results obtained indicate that this task turned out to be difficult for children with mental retardation: 0 points - 69.2% of students, 1 point - 11.5% of children and 2 points - 19.3% of schoolchildren. In contrast, children with normal development showed the following results: 2 points - 55.5% of children, 1 point - 37.1% of schoolchildren and 0 points - 7.4% of students. The low results that the children received during this assignment allow us to state that when analyzing the assignment, they do not realize the execution instructions even in the process of practical actions. When making a solution, they transfer the method known to them to other tasks, without determining the necessary one, do not check the result according to the condition, and are satisfied with any result of the work.
Tasks that included self-assessment of the stages of their implementation and the response received turned out to be difficult for children of both categories, but to a different extent. Thus, 0 points were received by 46.2% of junior schoolchildren with mental retardation, 1 point - by 50% of children, and 2 points - by 3.8% of students. Younger schoolchildren with normal development showed the following results: 2 points - 51.8% of students, 1 point - 40.8% of children, work was rated at 0 points - 7.4% of children. The data obtained indicate that children with low results are characterized by manifestations of underdevelopment of self-esteem - the inability to adequately evaluate their work and correctly motivate their assessment, which is often overestimated; low differentiated self-assessment of own results.
The last criterion was "the ability to justify self-esteem." After completing the tasks, the following data was obtained. Among students with mental retardation, 7.8% of children scored 2 points, 19.2% of schoolchildren scored 1 point, and 73% of their classmates scored 0 points. Among students
with normal development, 48.1% of schoolchildren rated works with 2 points, 40.8% of children with 1 point, and 11.1% of students with 0 points. This suggests that common manifestations of unformed self-esteem in younger students with mental retardation and students with normal development who could not complete tasks are: low partially differentiated self-esteem, which mainly reflects the assessment of their work by adults, low level of aspirations, uncertainty in themselves, overestimation of their capabilities, low criticality, stereotyping of answers.
Thus, in children who received a score of 0 points
Control and evaluation skills are not formed, these children fully rely on the teacher's assessment, do not express a desire to independently evaluate their own work. In children who completed the task by 1 point, self-esteem is at a low level, such children often rely on the assessment of others in their judgments, hesitate when expressing their own judgment, do not know how to fully justify the work, need encouragement, support from adults. A high score testifies to the formed adequate self-esteem, the ability to correctly assess the work done, correct the mistakes made and explain their occurrence.
So, the analysis of the psychological and pedagogical literature allows us to state that self-esteem of younger students with mental retardation in educational activities is not formed. Its development, against the background of intellectual and speech underdevelopment, occurs with a delay and deviations. These children are characterized by such features of self-esteem - selective interest in learning tasks; avoidance of complex tasks, the rapid end of unsightly activities; inability to bring the work to a logical conclusion; partial perception of the sample in the form of a verbal instruction, inability to keep it in mind throughout the work; lack of awareness of the method of implementation and difficulty in choosing rational methods; fragmented compliance with performance requirements; underdevelopment of speech mediation; inability to see mistakes, correct them, and also adequately evaluate the result.
Such conclusions encourage to determine the ways of corrective work, which will be aimed at the formation of self-esteem of younger students with mental retardation in the process of educational activities. The tasks set for this work include: the formation of skills to systematically overcome at first small difficulties, and over time, more significant ones; point to reasons
received assessments of their work; independently determine learning objectives; choose rational methods and ways to solve them; control and evaluate your work. All this will allow the child to learn how to adequately assess their educational activities, realistically consider their own results and, accordingly, independently set learning goals and objectives.
Literature:
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Features of the social and personal development of preschool children with mental retardation. The ability to look at oneself from the outside, express attitudes towards one’s behavior and activities, evaluate them (self-assessment) and control them (self-control), change or maintain previous forms of behavior and activity (self-regulation) depending on external circumstances and internal attitudes, etc. - these are the components of self-consciousness and personality.
Self-esteem of children with mental retardation is often inadequate and unstable. They may overestimate their individual successes. Meeting with difficulties leads to the formation of low self-esteem. Preschoolers with low self-esteem choose easier tasks to complete, rather than ones that they can actually solve. The level of claims is low. Self-esteem can be increased through a socially acceptable way of self-realization. It can be music, sports, etc.
Children with mental retardation show a significant lag in the formation of self-control and self-regulation actions in comparison with normally developing peers. When completing tasks, preschoolers make numerous mistakes due to inattention and because they do not remember the rules for completing the task. Mistakes made are not noticed and are not corrected. There is no desire to improve the quality of the work performed. The preschooler remains indifferent to the result obtained. Pupils are characterized by the following features: self-doubt, anxiety, anxiety, the presence of fear of failure and inadequate reactions to success, weak achievement motivation. In a situation of failure, the child has a desire to quit work. Children with mental retardation may have reactions to failure such as autonomic changes, affective reactions, crying, silence, desire to leave the room, refusal to answer or complete the task without having tried all means to obtain the correct result. A positive attitude to tasks that require strong-willed and intellectual efforts, adequate reactions to failure and difficulties in work are formed slowly. Preschoolers are more focused on the reaction of an adult. Thanks to the emotional support of the teacher, the creation of appropriate motivation for correcting mistakes and continuing to complete the task, children with mental retardation are able to overcome difficulties. Preschoolers are eager to cooperate with adults.
The motivational-need sphere of children with mental retardation is disharmonious in terms of the ratio of the real level of development and potential opportunities.
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Introduction
1.1. The concept of the term "mental retardation"
Conclusion
Bibliography
Introduction
In special psychology, in recent years, the issue related to the study of important factors formation of personality in case of various deviations in development. An analysis of existing research shows that self-esteem is a significant condition for the development of a person as a whole, which in turn affects a person’s behavior and activities and his relationships with other people. Since self-esteem largely determines the success of the social integration of persons with developmental disabilities, its study in relation to this category of people is of particular importance.
However, psychologists recognize a clear gap between studies of the cognitive sphere of children with developmental anomalies and studies of their personality with a clear advantage of the former, which was due at a certain stage to the demands of the educational system of these children. With the realization of the insufficiency of studying only cognitive processes in isolation from studying the personality of a particular child, studies began to appear devoted to the study of self-esteem in children and adolescents with various forms of dysontogenesis.
In special psychology, the following question remains open today: can a primary violation affect the formation of personality, and in particular self-esteem, and if so, what are the mechanisms of this influence. In my report, I will present the results of existing studies of self-esteem in children with various forms of dysontogenesis, and analyze approaches to the study of self-esteem in this category of people.
Important in studying this issue for me is the position of L.S. Vygotsky about the complex structure of the defect, according to which, the presence of any violation causes a number of secondary deviations in development. In other words, secondary disorders arise under the influence of a primary defect in the course of subsequent abnormal development. Therefore, despite the lower susceptibility of self-consciousness, which is a fairly stable mental phenomenon, to the influence of a primary defect, mental development disorders negatively affect the formation of self-consciousness and such a component as self-esteem. It is known that the main form of mental development is the child's assimilation of universal human experience through joint practice with an adult and through speech (A.N. Leontiev, M.I. Lisina, A.R. Luria.
Research by A.I. Lipkina, E.I. Savonko, V.M. Sinelnikov, devoted to the study of self-esteem of children with mental retardation (MPD), showed that for younger students with mental retardation, studying for some time before a special school in general education, low self-esteem and self-doubt are characteristic. Low self-esteem was explained by the authors by the fact that the children suffered long-term learning failures against the background of normally developing peers.
The purpose of the study: to study the characteristics of self-esteem and the level of claims in preschool children with mental retardation.
Research objectives. In accordance with the goal, the following research objectives are defined:
Expand the concept of the term "mental retardation";
Give clinical characteristics of mental retardation;
To study self-esteem and the level of claims as a structural component of personality;
To study the relationship of self-esteem with the level of claims. Determining the level of claims, the criterion of its adequacy;
To study self-esteem and the level of claims in preschool children with mental retardation.
Object of study: preschool children with mental retardation.
Subject of study: self-esteem and the level of aspirations of adolescents studying at a school for children with mental retardation.
Research hypotheses: the development of self-esteem and the level of claims in preschool children with mental retardation is disharmonious.
Chapter 1. Theoretical issues of studying self-esteem and the level of claims in preschool children with mental retardation
1.1 The concept of the term "mental retardation"
Mental retardation (MPD) is a violation of normal development in which a child who has reached school age continues to remain in the circle of preschool, play interests. The concept of "delay" emphasizes the temporary (discrepancy between the level of development and age) and, at the same time, the temporary nature of the lag, which with age is overcome the more successfully, the earlier adequate conditions for the education and development of children in this category are created (4, 128).
In the psychological and pedagogical, as well as medical literature, other approaches are used to the category of students under consideration: "children with learning disabilities", "lagging behind in learning", "nervous children". However, the criteria on the basis of which these groups are distinguished do not contradict the understanding of the nature of mental retardation. According to one socio-pedagogical the approach of such children is called “children at risk” (G.F. Kumarina).
History of study.
The problem of mild deviations in mental development arose and acquired special significance, both in foreign and domestic science, only in the middle of the 20th century, when, as a result of the rapid development of various fields of science and technology and the complication of programs in general education schools, a large number of children appeared who had difficulties in learning. Teachers and psychologists attached great importance to the analysis of the causes of this poor progress. Quite often, it was explained by mental retardation, which was accompanied by the direction of such children in auxiliary schools, which appeared in Russia in 1908-1910.
However, during clinical examination, more and more often, in many of the children who poorly mastered the program of a general education school, it was not possible to detect the specific features inherent in mental retardation. In the 50s - 60s. this problem acquired special significance, as a result of which, under the guidance of M.S. Pevzner, a student of L.S. Vygotsky, a specialist in the field of mental retardation, a comprehensive study of the causes of academic failure was begun. The sharp increase in academic failure against the background of the increasing complexity of training programs led her to assume the existence of some form of mental insufficiency, which manifests itself in conditions of increased educational requirements. A comprehensive clinical, psychological and pedagogical examination of persistently underachieving students from schools in various regions of the country and the analysis of a huge amount of data formed the basis of the formulated ideas about children with mental retardation (MPD).
This is how a new category of anomalous children appeared who were not subject to being sent to an auxiliary school and made up a significant part (about 50%) of the underachieving students of the general education system. The work of M.S. Pevzner "Children with developmental disabilities: the delimitation of oligophrenia from similar conditions" (1969) and the book "To the teacher about children with developmental disabilities", written jointly with T.A. Vlasova (1967), are the first in a series psychological and pedagogical publications devoted to the study and correction of mental retardation (23).
Thus, a complex of studies of this developmental anomaly, begun at the Research Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR in the 1960s. under the leadership of T.A. Vlasova and M.S. Pevzner, was dictated by the urgent needs of life: on the one hand, the need to establish the causes of failure in public schools and find ways to combat it, on the other hand, the need to further differentiate mental retardation and other clinical disorders cognitive activity.
Comprehensive psychological and pedagogical studies of children diagnosed with mental retardation over the next 15 years made it possible to accumulate a large amount of data characterizing the originality of the mental development of children in this category. According to all studied indicators of psychosocial development, children of this category are qualitatively different from other dysontogenetic disorders, on the one hand, and from “normal” development, on the other, occupying an intermediate position between mentally retarded and normally developing peers in terms of the level of mental development. So, according to the level of intellectual development, diagnosed using the Wechsler test, children with mental retardation often find themselves in the zone of the so-called borderline mental retardation (IQ from 70 to 90 conventional units).
According to the International Classification, mental retardation is defined as a "general disorder of psychological development" (11, 89).
In foreign literature, children with mental retardation are considered either from purely pedagogical positions and are usually described as children with learning difficulties, or are defined as unadapted, mainly due to unfavorable living conditions, pedagogically neglected, subjected to social and cultural deprivation. This group of children also includes children with behavioral disorders. Other authors, according to the idea that developmental delay, manifested in learning difficulties, is associated with residual (residual) organic brain damage, children in this category are called children with minimal brain damage or children with minimal (mild) brain dysfunction. To describe children with specific partial learning difficulties, the term "children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" - ADHD syndrome - is widely used.
Despite the rather large heterogeneity related to this type of dysontogenetic disorders, they can be given the following definition.
Children with mental retardation include children who do not have pronounced developmental disabilities (mental retardation, severe speech underdevelopment, pronounced primary deficiencies in the functioning of individual analyzer systems - hearing, vision, motor system). Children of this category experience difficulties in adaptation, including school, due to various biosocial reasons (residual effects of mild damage to the central nervous system or its functional immaturity, somatic weakness, cerebrasthenic conditions, immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere by the type of psychophysical infantilism, as well as pedagogical neglect as a result of unfavorable socio-pedagogical conditions in the early stages of the child's ontogenesis). The difficulties experienced by children with mental retardation may be due to shortcomings both in the regulatory component of mental activity (lack of attention, immaturity of the motivational sphere, general cognitive passivity and reduced self-control), and in its operational component (reduced level of development of individual mental processes, motor disorders , malfunctions). The characteristics listed above do not prevent children from mastering general educational development programs, but necessitate their certain adaptation to the psychophysical characteristics of the child.
With the timely provision of a system of correctional and pedagogical, and in some cases, medical care partial, and sometimes complete overcoming of this deviation in development is possible.
For the mental sphere of a child with mental retardation, a combination of deficient and intact functions is typical. Partial (partial) deficiency of higher mental functions may be accompanied by infantile personality traits and behavior of the child. At the same time, in some cases, the child suffers from working capacity, in other cases - arbitrariness in the organization of activities, in the third - motivation for various types of cognitive activity, etc.
Mental retardation in children is a complex polymorphic disorder in which different children suffer from different components of their mental, psychological and physical activity.
In order to understand what is the primary violation in the structure of this deviation, it is necessary to recall the structural and functional model of the brain (according to A. R. Luria). In accordance with this model, three blocks are distinguished - energy, a block for receiving, processing and storing information, and a block for programming, regulation and control. The well-coordinated work of these three blocks ensures the integrative activity of the brain and the constant mutual enrichment of all its functional systems (8, 209).
It is known that in childhood, functional systems with a short time period of development show a tendency to damage to a greater extent. This is typical, in particular, for the systems of the medulla oblongata and midbrain. The signs of functional immaturity are shown by systems with a longer postnatal period of development - tertiary fields of analyzers and formations of the frontal region. Since the functional systems of the brain mature heterochronously, a pathogenic factor that acts at different stages of the prenatal or early postnatal period of a child's development can cause a complex combination of symptoms, both mild damage and functional immaturity of various parts of the cerebral cortex.
Subcortical systems provide the optimal energy tone of the cerebral cortex and regulate its activity. With non-functional or organic inferiority, neurodynamic disorders occur in children - lability (instability) and exhaustion of mental tone, impaired concentration, balance and mobility of excitation and inhibition processes, phenomena of vegetative-vascular dystonia, metabolic and trophic disorders, affective disorders. (10, 105)
The tertiary fields of the analyzers relate to the block for receiving, processing and storing information coming from the external and internal environment. Morpho-functional dysfunction of these areas leads to deficiency of modal-specific functions, which include praxis, gnosis, speech, visual and auditory memory.
Formations of the frontal area belong to the block of programming, regulation and control. Together with the tertiary zones of the analyzers, they carry out a complex integrative activity of the brain - they organize the joint participation of various functional subsystems of the brain to build and implement the most complex mental operations, cognitive activity and conscious behavior. The immaturity of these functions leads to the emergence of mental infantilism in children, the unformedness of arbitrary forms of mental activity, and to violations of interanalyzer cortical-cortical and cortical-subcortical connections.
Structural-functional analysis shows that in case of mental retardation, both individual above-mentioned structures and their main functions in various combinations can be primary impaired. In this case, the depth of damage and (or) the degree of immaturity may be different. This is what determines the variety of mental manifestations found in children with mental retardation. A variety of secondary stratifications further enhance the within-group dispersion within a given category.
Causes of mental retardation.
The causes of mental retardation are manifold. The risk factors for the development of mental retardation in a child can be conditionally divided into main groups: biological and social.
Among the biological factors, two groups are distinguished: biomedical and hereditary.
Medical and biological causes include early organic lesions of the central nervous system. Most children have a history of a burdened perinatal period, associated primarily with the unfavorable course of pregnancy and childbirth.
According to neurophysiologists, active growth and maturation of the human brain is formed in the second half of pregnancy and the first 20 weeks after birth. The same period is critical, since the structures of the central nervous system become most sensitive to pathogenic influences that retard growth and prevent the active development of the brain.
Risk factors for intrauterine pathology include (13, 109):
Elderly or very young mother,
The burden of the mother with chronic somatic or obstetric pathology before or during pregnancy.
All this can manifest itself in low birth weight of a child, in syndromes of increased neuro-reflex excitability, in sleep and wakefulness disorders, in increased muscle tone in the first weeks of life.
Often, mental retardation can be caused by infectious diseases in infancy, traumatic brain injuries, and severe somatic diseases.
A number of authors distinguish hereditary factors of mental retardation, which include congenital and including hereditary inferiority of the child's central nervous system. It is often observed in children with delayed cerebro-organic genesis, with minimal brain dysfunction. For example, according to clinicians, 37% of patients diagnosed with MMD have siblings, cousins, and parents with signs of MMD. In addition, 30% of children with locomotor defects and 70% of children with speech defects have relatives with similar disorders in the female or male line.
The literature emphasizes the predominance of boys among patients with mental retardation, which can be explained by a number of reasons (8, 98):
Higher vulnerability of the male fetus in relation to pathological effects during pregnancy and childbirth;
A relatively lower degree of functional interhemispheric asymmetry in girls compared to boys, which leads to a greater reserve of compensatory capabilities in case of damage to brain systems that provide higher mental activity.
Most often in the literature there are indications of the following unfavorable psychosocial conditions that exacerbate mental retardation in children. These are (15, 186):
unwanted pregnancy;
Single mother or upbringing in incomplete families;
Frequent conflicts and inconsistency of approaches to education;
The presence of a criminal environment;
Low level of education of parents;
Living in conditions of insufficient material security and dysfunctional life;
Factors of a big city: noise, long commute to and from work, unfavorable environmental factors.
Features and types of family education;
Early mental and social deprivation of the child;
Prolonged stressful situations in which the child is, etc.
However, a combination of biological and social factors plays an important role in the development of ZPR. For example, an unfavorable social environment (outside and inside the family) provokes and exacerbates the influence of residual organic and hereditary factors on the intellectual and emotional development of the child.
Indicators of the frequency of mental retardation in children are heterogeneous. For example, according to the Ministry of Education of Russia (2011), over 60% of first-graders are at risk of school, somatic and psychophysical maladaptation. Of these, about 35% are those who already have junior groups kindergarten obvious disorders of the neuropsychic sphere were found.
The number of primary school students who do not cope with the requirements of the standard school curriculum has increased by 2-2.5 times over the past 20 years, reaching 30% or more. According to medical statistics, the deterioration in the health of students over 10 years of study (in 2010, only 15% of school-age children were recognized as healthy) becomes one of the reasons for the difficulties in their adaptation to school workloads. The intense regime of school life leads to a sharp deterioration in the somatic and psycho-neurological health of a weakened child.
The prevalence of mental retardation, according to clinicians, ranges from 2 to 20% in the population, according to some reports, it reaches 47%.
This variation is primarily due to the lack of unified methodological approaches to the formulation of the diagnosis of mental retardation. With the introduction of a comprehensive medical and psychological system for diagnosing mental retardation, its prevalence rates are limited to 3-5% among the child population. (5;6)
Clinical and psychological features of children with mental retardation.
1.2 Clinical characteristics of mental retardation
In the clinical and psychological-pedagogical literature, several classifications of mental retardation are presented.
The outstanding child psychiatrist G. E. Sukhareva, studying children suffering from persistent school failure, emphasized that the disorders diagnosed in them must be distinguished from mild forms of mental retardation. In addition, as the author noted, mental retardation should not be identified with a delay in the rate of mental development. Mental retardation is a more persistent intellectual disability, while mental retardation is a reversible condition. Based on the etiological criterion, that is, the causes of the onset of ZPR, G. E. Sukhareva identified the following forms of it (28, 112):
intellectual deficiency due to adverse environmental conditions, upbringing or pathology of behavior;
intellectual disorders during prolonged asthenic conditions caused by somatic diseases;
intellectual disturbances in various forms of infantilism;
secondary intellectual insufficiency due to damage to hearing, vision, defects in speech, reading and writing;
functional-dynamic intellectual disorders in children in the residual stage and the remote period of infections and injuries of the central nervous system. (28, 186)
The studies of M. S. Pevzner and T. A. Vlasova made it possible to distinguish two main forms of mental retardation: mental retardation due to mental and psychophysical infantilism (uncomplicated and complicated underdevelopment of cognitive activity and speech, where the main place is occupied by underdevelopment of the emotional-volitional sphere) delay mental development, due to prolonged asthenic and cerebrosthenic conditions. (eighteen)
VV Kovalev distinguishes four main forms of ZPR. (21, 295)
dysontogenetic form of mental retardation, in which the insufficiency is due to the mechanisms of delayed or distorted mental development of the child;
encephalopathic form of mental retardation, which is based on organic damage to brain mechanisms in the early stages of ontogenesis;
ZPR due to underdevelopment of analyzers (blindness, deafness, underdevelopment of speech, etc.), due to the action of the mechanism of sensory deprivation;
ZPR caused by defects in education and information deficit from early childhood (pedagogical neglect).
Table. Classification of forms of borderline forms of intellectual insufficiency according to V.V. Kovalev
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states |
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Dysontogenetic forms |
Intellectual insufficiency in states of mental infantilism Intellectual insufficiency with a lag in the development of individual components of mental activity Distorted mental development with intellectual deficiency |
A consequence of impaired maturation of the youngest structures of the brain, mainly the system of the frontal cortex, and their connections. Etiological factors: Constitutional and genetic; intrauterine intoxication; mild form of birth pathology; toxic-infectious effects in the first years of life |
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Encephalopathic |
Cerebroasthenic syndromes with delayed school skills. Psychoorganic Syndrome with Intellectual Disability and Violation of Higher Cortical Functions Organic intellectual deficiency in children with cerebral palsy Psychoorganic syndrome with intellectual deficiency and impairment of higher cortical functions |
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Intellectual deficiency with general underdevelopment of speech (alalia syndromes |
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Intellectual deficiency associated with defects in analyzers and sensory organs |
Intellectual deficiency in congenital or early acquired deafness or hearing loss Intellectual deficiency in blindness that occurred in early childhood |
sensory deprivation Slow and distorted development of cognitive processes due to the lack of analyzers (vision and hearing), which play a leading role in the cognition of the world around |
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|
Intellectual deficiency due to defects in education and lack of information from early childhood (pedagogical neglect) |
Mental immaturity of parents. Mental illness in parents. Inappropriate Parenting Styles |
Classification V.V. Kovaleva is of great importance in the diagnosis of children and adolescents with mental retardation. However, it should be taken into account that the author considers the problem of mental retardation not as an independent nosological group, but as a syndrome in various forms of dysontogenesis (cerebral palsy, speech impairment, etc.).
The most informative for psychologists and teachers is the classification of K.S. Lebedinskaya. On the basis of a comprehensive clinical, psychological and pedagogical study of underachieving junior schoolchildren, the author developed a clinical systematics of mental retardation.
As well as the classification of V.V. Kovalev, classification by K.S. Lebedinskaya is based on the etiological principle and includes four main options for mental retardation: (21, 162)
Mental retardation of constitutional origin;
Delayed mental development of somatogenic origin;
Delayed mental development of psychogenic origin;
Delayed mental development of cerebral-organic genesis.
Each of these types of mental retardation has its own clinical and psychological structure, its own characteristics of emotional immaturity and cognitive impairment, and is often complicated by a number of painful symptoms - somatic, encephalopathic, neurological. In many cases, these painful signs cannot be regarded only as complicating, since they play a significant pathogenetic role in the formation of the ZPR itself.
The presented clinical types of the most persistent forms of mental retardation mainly differ from each other precisely in the peculiarity of the structure and the nature of the ratio of the two main components of this developmental anomaly: the structure of infantilism and the features of the development of mental functions.
1.3 Self-esteem and the level of claims as a structural component of personality
Self-esteem (SO) and the level of claims (LE) are usually considered to be among the main components of personality.
Self-esteem refers to the core of the personality, includes the awareness and assessment of one's strengths and capabilities, the ability to treat oneself critically. The nature of his interaction with other people, the effectiveness of his activities and the further development of his personality depend on how a person perceives and evaluates himself.
The level of claims is a dynamic construct of personality, since may vary depending on performance.
Self-esteem and the level of claims provide a state of dynamic constancy of the individual in activity: self-esteem allows you to maintain a certain level of self-esteem and self-acceptance by changing the level of claims depending on environmental conditions.
In domestic pedagogy and psychology, the problem of self-esteem and the level of claims was studied in the following areas:
The problem of the formation of self-consciousness and self-esteem in connection with the socio-psychological aspect of the personality's activity;
The genesis of self-esteem and its features at different age;
Forms of self-assessment, the degree of their stability;
Self-esteem and behavioral disorders in adolescents;
The relationship of self-esteem and self-control in solving various kinds of problems;
Self-esteem as a component of the personality structure in the context of the subject's consciousness of the moral qualities of the personality;
Changes in self-esteem in mental illness.
The study of self-esteem and the level of claims was also carried out in special psychology and pedagogy. Features of self-esteem and the level of claims were studied in children:
With a deviation in mental development;
With mental retardation;
With a violation of the musculoskeletal system;
Deaf and hard of hearing students;
with severe speech impairment.
Self-esteem is a value that an individual attributes to himself or to his individual qualities. The system of personal meanings of an individual acts as the main evaluation criterion. The main functions that are performed by self-esteem are regulatory, on the basis of which the tasks of personal choice are solved, and protective, providing relative stability and independence of the individual. A significant role in the formation of self-esteem is played by the assessments of the surrounding personality and the achievements of the individual.
The accumulated data about the possibilities, ideas about oneself are supplemented by an appropriate attitude towards oneself. The formation of the image of oneself occurs on the basis of establishing links between the individual experience of the child and the information received in the process of communication. By contacting people, comparing himself with them, comparing the results of his activities with the results of other children, the child gains knowledge about himself. A child in senior preschool age develops a complex component of self-awareness - self-esteem. It arises on the basis of knowledge and thoughts about oneself (4, 13).
Features of self-esteem are interconnected with the assessment of others. AT research work B.G. Ananyeva, L.I. Bozhovich, L.S. Vygotsky, A.N. Leontiev, S.L. Rubinstein, P.R. Chamaty, I.I. Chesnokovey, E.V. Shorokhova analyzed the question of the formation of self-consciousness and the formation of self-esteem in the problem of personality development (4, 13-14).
With the help of self-esteem, the behavior of the individual is regulated. I.S. Kohn believes that self-esteem is closely related to the level of claim to recognition. The level of claim is the desired level of self-esteem of the individual. A preschooler's assessment of himself largely depends on the assessment of his adulthood. Preschoolers refract adult assessments through the prism of those attitudes and conclusions that their experience prompts them (21, 78-79).
Self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one's own strengths and weaknesses. And an assessment is an opinion about the value, level or significance of someone - something.
In the dictionary of a practical psychologist it is written: "Self-esteem is a person's assessment of himself, his capabilities, qualities and place among other people" (24, 47).
Self-esteem is an assessment of oneself, one's capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. To do this, you need to know yourself. Is it always the same as what others think of us? The question of the formation of self-esteem, its formation in a child is the most important issue that determines the development of his personality.
Self-esteem is externally expressed in how a person evaluates the possibilities and results of his own activities and the activities of others.
Psychological research convincingly proves that the characteristics of self-esteem affect both the emotional state and the degree of satisfaction with one's work, study, life, and relationships with others.
Psychologists view self-esteem from a variety of perspectives. Thus, an assessment of oneself as a whole as good or bad is considered to be a general self-assessment, and an assessment of achievements in certain types of activity is considered to be partial. In addition, they distinguish between actual (what has already been achieved) and potential (what is capable of) self-esteem. Potential self-esteem is often referred to as the level of aspiration. They consider self-esteem as adequate / inadequate, i.e. corresponding / inappropriate to the real achievements and potential capabilities of the individual. Self-esteem also differs by level - high, medium, low.
Too high and too low self-esteem can become a source of personality conflicts, which can manifest themselves in different ways.
If a child has an inflated self-esteem, then there is a negative development of the personality: arrogance, arrogance, and a manifestation of rudeness develop. Adequate self-esteem leads to the development of positive personality traits: benevolence, mutual assistance, will, patience, etc.
Through self-esteem, the child goes through the following stages: the need for self-development, self-knowledge, self-control.
Self-control must be practiced in order to enjoy trust in the team, to bring good to people, to respect oneself and to be respected. In domestic psychology, the question of the influence of self-esteem on human cognitive activity has been developed, methods for the formation of adequate self-esteem have been determined, and when it is deformed, methods for its transformation through educational influences have been developed. And it is at primary school age that one of the main psychological neoplasms is reflection - the ability to observe and evaluate oneself. Such an analysis allows you to evaluate yourself, compare your achievements with others, fix changes in yourself today in comparison with yourself yesterday, imagine yourself tomorrow.
Considering the development of self-esteem in ontogeny, one can notice that newborns and infants do not have clear “boundaries” of their being, not realizing that they are a special part of it, separate from the rest of the world. The baby does not know where he himself ends and the other person begins. He considers himself the cause of all changes and all activity around. The kid believes that he, his thoughts and actions rule the world (9, 254).
A one-year-old child begins to realize his isolation from other people and objects, he begins to understand that the behavior of other people does not depend on his will. However, the baby is sure that the perception of other people is the same as his.
At 2-3 years old, children begin to compare themselves with others, as a result of which they gradually develop a certain self-esteem. When comparing, the child, as a rule, is guided by social norms that are acceptable in his environment. You can often hear parents or other adults say, "What a good boy, he washes his hands." Comparing himself with this child, the baby makes a conclusion about which category he belongs to. A positive sense of self develops in a child when adults, by establishing clear “boundaries”, encourage his independence. Otherwise, the child may feel shame and doubt about own abilities. So, a small child develops a sense of pride, a sense of shame, a level of pretension.
By the age of 4-5, many children can correctly evaluate themselves, their personal qualities, achievements and failures. Moreover, if earlier it mainly concerned the game, now it is transferred to communication, and to work, and to teaching. At this age, it is already possible to predict the immediate prospects for mastering various types of activities. Scientists have found that if a child's self-esteem in any type of activity is inadequate, then, as a rule, self-improvement in this type of activity is also delayed.
It should be noted that the adults surrounding the child (primarily parents) play the leading role in shaping the preschooler's self-esteem. the child “absorbs” assessments of his qualities by adults.
By the older preschool age, the child already separates himself from the assessment of the other. During the exchange of evaluative influences, a certain attitude towards other children arises and at the same time the ability to see oneself through their eyes develops. The ability to compare oneself with comrades reaches a very high level. For preschoolers, especially older preschoolers, a rich experience of individual activity helps to critically evaluate the influences of peers.
With age, the self-esteem of the child becomes correct. At 5-7 years old, preschoolers justify the positive characteristics of themselves in terms of the presence of any moral qualities. By the age of seven there is an important transformation in terms of self-esteem. The child draws conclusions about his achievements in different types activities. By the age of seven, children correctly evaluate themselves, and differentiation of two aspects of self-consciousness is outlined - self-knowledge and attitude towards oneself. An older preschooler is also interested in some mental processes occurring within itself. The child is aware of himself in time, asks adults to talk about how he was small, he is also interested in the past of loved ones. Awareness of one's skills and qualities, representation of oneself in time, discovery of one's own experiences - all this constitutes the initial form of a child's awareness of himself, the emergence of "personal consciousness" (9, 259).
At preschool age, self-esteem develops in the following areas: (26, 118-119)
1) the number of personality traits and activities that the child evaluates increases;
2) self-esteem goes from general to differentiated;
3) Assess yourself in time. The main achievement of this age is a clear, confident, generally emotionally positive self-esteem.
In reality, a person has several successive images of "I". The individual's idea of himself at the current moment, at the moment of the experience itself, is designated as "I am real." In addition, a person has an idea of how he should be in order to match his own ideas about the ideal, the so-called "I am ideal."
A feature of preschool children is their full recognition of the authority of an adult (unlike the preschool period, the authority of the teacher comes to the fore), they unconditionally accept his assessments. Thus, at this age, the child's self-esteem directly depends on the nature of the assessments that an adult gives to the child's personal qualities and his success in various activities.
In general, the development of self-esteem goes through 4 stages: (6, 305-307)
Stage 1 - from birth to 18 months. The basis for the formation of a positive sense of self, the acquisition of a sense of trust in the world around, the formation of a positive attitude towards oneself.
Stage 2 - from 1.5 to 3-5 years. The child is aware of his individual beginning and of himself as an actively acting being. At this time, children develop a sense of autonomy or a sense of dependence on how adults respond to the child's first attempts at independence. At this stage of development, self-esteem is closely linked to a sense of autonomy. The child is more independent, more inquisitive and usually has a higher self-esteem.
Stage 3 - from 5 to 7 years. The child has the first ideas about what he can become a person. At this time, either a sense of guilt or a sense of initiative develops, depending on how well the process of socialization of the child proceeds, how strict rules of behavior are offered to him, and how tightly adults control their observance.
Stage 4 - school years from 7 to 16 years old. Development of a sense of hard work, the ability to express themselves in productive work. The danger of this stage: inability to perform certain actions, low status in a situation of joint activity lead to the emergence of a sense of one's own inadequacy. The child may lose confidence in his ability to participate in any work. Thus, the development that takes place during the school years significantly affects a person's perception of himself as a competent, creative and capable worker.
The formation of self-esteem in the age aspect is associated with the child's mastery of more advanced methods of self-esteem, with the expansion, deepening of knowledge about himself, their generalization and accumulation, filling them with "personal meanings", with the ability to strengthen their incentive-motivational role.
Some facts about self-esteem:
Children very early begin to form ideas about themselves;
Children seek approval of their actions from their parents and other adults;
Self-esteem affects learning. Children who have a positive opinion of themselves tend to do better in school than those who consider themselves "klut". In turn, learning affects the further development of the child's self-esteem: successes will give self-confidence, and failures will add uncertainty;
The level of self-esteem has an impact on the attitude towards other people. Children with a positive opinion of themselves are easier to establish friendly relationships with others;
The development of creativity depends on self-esteem: children with low self-esteem rarely have enough courage for active creative activity;
First of all, the level of self-esteem of the child is influenced by parents. A parent's self-esteem is reflected in the way they raise their child. According to research, children with adequate self-esteem grow up to be both loving and caring parents. Low self-esteem is a sign of criticality and excessive severity of parents;
Children with low self-esteem are more likely to quarrel with their parents and run away from home.
Information about the child's self-esteem can be obtained in the process of communicating with him, through observing the child's behavior in different life situations(6, p. 308).
Much attention should be paid to the development of adequate self-esteem in preschool children, this can be done by various means:
Reward the child for positive actions;
Do not tell the child that he is worse than others or the same as everyone else;
Constantly develop individuality in the child;
Give an adequate assessment of his actions.
Thus, from the foregoing, we note that the development of adequate self-esteem depends on the full development of the individual.
In the course of these studies, it was shown that children with developmental anomalies show features of self-esteem and the level of claims in the personality structure, due to the specifics of the mental development of these children, communication with others, and the social environment of development.
1.4 The relationship of self-esteem with the level of claims. Determining the level of claims, the criterion of its adequacy
Personal self-esteem, as a rule, is characterized by bipolar constructs: adequate - inadequate, high - low, conscious - unconscious, stable - unstable, reflective - non-reflexive, etc. Traditionally, such a construct as adequacy is singled out as the main characteristic of self-esteem. The measure of adequacy is its correspondence to the objective value of the individual. Adequacy as a specific indicator of self-esteem predetermines the presence of a critical attitude of the subject to himself, the correlation of his capabilities with external requirements, the ability to set realistic goals, analyze his thoughts and results of activity. But self-esteem is not chosen by the child arbitrarily, but is determined by the conditions of his life - it is always objectively conditioned and corresponds to the circumstances that gave rise to it. self-esteem claim delay mental
The next characteristic of self-esteem is its height, determined by three levels: high - medium - low. The ratio of high claims and low abilities characterizes self-esteem as overestimated, that is, inadequate. High abilities, together with low claims, indicate low self-esteem, which is also inadequate. The level of self-esteem depends on the activity of the individual, his participation in activities, including in the conditions of a particular group. According to I.A. Borisova, the essence of the basic laws of the development of self-esteem is as follows (3, 105):
1. Once formed, self-esteem is constantly looking for reinforcements - it acts as a kind of filter to determine what information the subject will own. And this applies to both high and low self-esteem.
2. Once formed, self-esteem acts as an attitude, that is, it provokes others to a certain type of attitude towards the subject.
3. Changing, self-esteem changes the attitude of others towards a person.
Thus, as self-assessments are formed, they become increasingly independent of the reactions of others and even of performance.
The level of claims is the desire to achieve goals of varying degrees of complexity. The basis is an assessment of their capabilities. For the first time, the level of claims was studied by K. Levin and his students, it was revealed that it is not the fact of successful or unsuccessful activity in itself that influences the formation of PM, but the subjective perception by a person of his activity, himself as a whole as successful. The level of claims, on the one hand, is associated with the objective effectiveness of a person's activity, and on the other hand, with a person's self-esteem, a measure of its adequacy and height. The relationship between these three parameters can be expressed by the formula:
PM = success/self-esteem
Self-esteem is closely related to the level of claims, which, in the understanding of L.V. Borozdina is defined as a habitual way of choosing goals, primarily the level of their difficulty. In this capacity, the level of claims (LE) can act as an indicator of self-esteem. In research aimed at learning (LE), as a rule, three main constructs are distinguished: height, adequacy and stability. The height of the level of claims is also evaluated by three levels: high, medium and low, depending on whether the choice belongs to one of the scales of difficulty. The criterion for the adequacy of the level of claims is the ratio of solved and unsolved tasks and the gap between the levels of persistent success and failure. Repeated elections are considered as a criterion for the stability of the level of claims.
Thus, the level of claims is formed on the basis of an individual's assessment of his successes and failures when performing tasks of a certain degree of complexity and is a kind of projection of self-esteem outside the situation when a person has to choose from several goals the one that, in her opinion, best suits her capabilities.
1.5 Self-esteem and level of claims in preschool children with mental retardation
Research by A.I. Lipkina, E.I. Savonko, V.M. Sinelnikova, devoted to the study of self-esteem of children with mental retardation (MPD), showed that for younger students with mental retardation, studying for some time before a special school in general education, low self-esteem and self-doubt are characteristic. Low self-esteem was explained by the authors by the fact that the children experienced long-term learning failures against the background of normally developing students.
I.V. Korotenko came to the conclusion that preschoolers with mental retardation who receive “positive marks in their address” show a clear desire to somewhat overestimate themselves. This situation is explained by the fact that the own low value of a child with mental retardation is compensated by an “artificial” reassessment of his personality, most likely unconscious by the child. Such psychoprotective tendencies in preschool children with mental retardation are due, according to I.V. Korotenko, to a certain extent, the pressure of children from significant adults, as well as the peculiarities of their personal development. Thus, according to the author, in preschool children with mental retardation, inadequate, often overestimated self-esteem is manifested.
In a study investigating self-esteem and its relationship with some personal qualities in preschoolers with mental retardation, it can be concluded that the level of general self-esteem and the level of aspirations are lower in preschoolers with mental retardation than in peers with the norm of mental development, and the level of anxiety is higher. The immaturity of self-esteem in preschoolers with mental retardation as a personal phenomenon was shown.
G.V. Gribanova, exploring the personality characteristics of children with mental retardation, draws attention to the unstable, immature, uncritical self-esteem and insufficient level of awareness of the child of his "I", which in turn leads to increased suggestibility, lack of independence, instability of the behavior of these children. Moreover, comparing children with mental retardation, we can conclude that in the conditions of special education, the internal criteria for self-esteem in children are sufficiently formed and more stable. E.G. comes to similar conclusions. Dzugkoeva, comparing children with normal mental development and children with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin. The researcher showed unstable and often low self-esteem in children with mental retardation, increased suggestibility and naivety. According to I.A. Koneva, in children with mental retardation, there is no tendency to negative self-characteristics, in contrast to children studying in classes of correctional and developmental education.
Thus, the existing studies of self-esteem in children with mental retardation show its certain originality, which, according to researchers, is due to the specifics of a mental defect and the negative influence of microsocial factors.
In a number of studies, indicators of the level of aspiration are directly compared with the anxiety index. So, in the study of M.S. Neimark, a connection was established between emotional reactions and the specifics of changes in the level of claims. N.V. Imedadze, considering the ratio of the level of anxiety and the level of claims in preschool children, established a significant correlation between the indicators of anxiety and the level of claims: in children with a low level of anxiety, the level of claims, as a rule, was close to the actual performance of tasks; with a high level of anxiety, the level of aspirations was higher than the real possibilities, and even a series of successive failures did not reduce it (31, 110).
A.M. Prikhozhan in her research showed that the most important source of anxiety is often “an internal conflict, mainly related to self-esteem”. Anxiety as a tendency of a person to experience various situations as threatening, usually reduces the effectiveness of a person's activity, is accompanied by his contradictory behavior (29, 870.
The following specific features are distinguished in the behavior of anxious children:
1. Inadequate attitude to the assessments of others. Anxious children, on the one hand, are hypersensitive to assessments, and on the other hand, they doubt that they will be assessed correctly.
2. They choose tasks or complex, honorable ones, the fulfillment of which can bring the respect of others, but at the first failures they try to abandon them; or choose tasks obviously below their abilities, but guaranteeing success.
3. Show an increased interest in comparing themselves with others, while avoiding situations where such a comparison can be explicit.
Conclusion
The social nature of the personality is determined by the fact that its formation and realization are possible only in the process of interaction of the individual with the surrounding people. The structural components of the personality, self-esteem and the level of claims, determine the nature of the behavior, communication and activity of the subject.
Summing up the study of the features of self-esteem and the level of claims in the structure of the personality of preschool children with mental retardation, we can state the following: with the general correspondence of the process of personality development of preschoolers with mental retardation to ontogenetic patterns, there are some features of self-esteem and the level of claims in this category of children that have Negative influence on their behavior, the productivity of play activities, prevent harmonious communication with others and thereby further exacerbate the existing defect in development.
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It is customary to include self-esteem (SO) and the level of claims (LE) among the main components of personality.
Claim level- is the desire to achieve goals of varying degrees of complexity. The basis is an assessment of their capabilities.
The self-esteem of a mentally retarded child under normal conditions of upbringing is subject to contrasting changes. When the child is small, when the intellectual defect is not noticeable, as a rule, a permanent situation of success is created. The child has an inadequate (not corresponding to the possibilities) overestimated level of claims, the habit of receiving only positive reinforcements. But then the child gets into educational institution or simply expands the circle of communication with peers in the yard, and a serious blow to high self-esteem can be dealt. In addition, the family can be the source of the child's secondary neuroticism, if the parents are unable to hide their annoyance at the "unsuccessful child" or if the mentally developing brother or sister constantly emphasizes their superiority.
An experimental study of SD in mentally retarded children generally emphasizes its inadequacy towards overestimation.
So, in the work of De Greef, which is one of the first experimental studies of the SD of mentally retarded children, the subjects were presented with the following task: “Imagine that the three circles that you see drawn represent; the first is for yourself, the second is for your friend, and the third is for your teacher. From these circles, draw down lines of such length that the longest goes to the smartest, the second longest - a little less smart, etc. As a rule, mentally retarded children drew the longest line from the circle that denoted themselves. This symptom is called De Greef's symptom.
In general, agreeing with the researcher that the increased self-esteem of mentally retarded children is associated with their general intellectual underdevelopment, general immaturity of the personality, L.S. Vygotsky points out that another mechanism for the formation of a symptom of increased self-esteem is also possible. It can arise as a pseudo-compensatory characterological formation in response to a low assessment from others. L. S. Vygotsky believes that De Greef is deeply wrong when he writes that a mentally retarded child is self-satisfied, he cannot have a sense of his own low value and the desire for compensation that arises from this. L. S. Vygotsky’s point of view is the opposite: he believes that it is precisely on the basis of weakness, from a feeling of one’s own low value (often unconscious) that a pseudo-compensatory reassessment of one’s personality arises.
Thus, one can speak of a lesser dependence of mentally retarded children on the evaluation situation than is observed in their normally developing peers. However, the observed trend should not rule out a differentiated approach to the use of assessment in teaching children of this category, since some of them show low and very fragile self-esteem, which is completely dependent on external assessment. In others, especially in children with moderate and severe mental underdevelopment, the assessment is increased: such children react little to external assessment.
Features of the formation of motor skills in children with mental retardation.
The reason is the insufficient development of visual perception and memory, spatial representation, interanalyzer interaction in children, hand motility.
Movement disorders - is a consequence of early damage to the central nervous system.
· Insufficiency of motor development of children with mental retardation adversely affects the mastery of writing and complicates school adaptation.
Inferiority of manual motor skills of children with mental retardation is revealed during the behavior of test exercises, where it is necessary to reproduce a series of certain movements.
Tasks for dynamism:
1. Dynamic
2. Coordination
3. Switched movements
4. Differentiation and rhythmic movements of the hands and fingers
In children with ADHD:
1. It is difficult to control and regulate their movements
2. The kinetic organization of motor acts suffers
3. Violation of muscle tone (fatigue, muscles of the fingers and hands, inaccuracy and exhaustion of movements, impaired consistency and smoothness)
4. It is difficult to reproduce both rows with the same element, and with replacing each other elements of different sizes
5. Do not respect the linearity of the letter
6. Don't master calligraphy
7. Non-memorization and automation of the reproduction of motor formulas of letters
The level of development of fine motor skills is one of the indicators of the intellectual development of a preschooler. Usually a child with a high level of development of fine motor skills is able to reason logically, he has sufficiently developed memory and attention, coherent speech.
1. At preschool age, in children with mental retardation, a lag in the development of general and, especially, fine motor skills is revealed: the technique of movements and motor qualities (speed, dexterity, strength, accuracy, coordination) suffer, psychomotor deficiencies are revealed, self-service skills, technical skills are poorly formed in iso-activity, sculpting, appliqué, design, not being able to properly hold a pencil, brush, not regulating the force of pressure, difficulty using scissors.
2. In-depth diagnostic work is needed to determine the educational needs and opportunities of each child. The education and upbringing of this category of children will be effective only if it is based on the results of an in-depth psychological and pedagogical examination.
3. Diagnostic work should be based on the basic psychological and diagnostic principles recognized by domestic special psychology and correctional pedagogy. When examining, it is necessary to use proven methods and diagnostic techniques for studying preschool children, including children with developmental disabilities.
Features of sensation and perception in preschool children with mental retardation.
Sensation and perception create the basis for the formation of thinking, are necessary prerequisites for practical activity.
The absence of primary deficiencies in vision, hearing, and other types of sensitivity is noted in them:
1. slowness and fragmentation of perception (mistakes in copying text, reproduction of figures according to visually presented samples)
2. Difficulties in isolating a figure against the background and details of complex images
3. absence of primary insufficiency of sensory functions
When the object is rotated by 45 degrees, the time required for image recognition increases in normal children by 2.2%, in children with a delay by 31%. With a decrease in brightness and clarity - by 12% and 47%, respectively.
Well-known environmental objects may not be perceived by the child with a delay when they are seen from an unusual angle, dimly and indistinctly. With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, indicators of reaction time improve, reflecting the speed of perception.
1. The reaction time of choice in children with mental retardation is 477 ms (8 years), 64 ms more than in normal children
2. 320 ms - 13-14 years old, 22 ms more than normal children
The slowness of perception in children with a delay is associated with a slower processing of information (slow analytical and synthetic activity at the level of secondary and tertiary cortical zones).
1. Disadvantages of indicative activity
2. Low speed of perceptual operations
3. Insufficient formation of images-representations - fuzziness and incompleteness
4. Poverty and insufficient differentiation of visual images-representations in children with mental retardation of primary and secondary school age
5. Dependence of perception on the level of attention
Development of orientation activities
Formation of perceptual operations
Active verbiage of the process of perception
· Making sense of images