Cognitive functions and reading speed in schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation

The article presents the results of an empirical study of the relationship between indicators of cognitive functioning and the success in reading in groups of schoolchildren with typical development and mild mental retardation (F70.0; ICD — 10). Information processing speed, visuospatial working memory and non-verbal intelligence were considered as indicators of cognitive development. To assess the reading speed, a check was used on the technique of reading texts in accordance with the Federal State Standard of General Education. The study involved 212 schoolchildren (39% girls) enrolled in Grades 1 — 9 of (1) a public school implementing programs of a special (correctional) school of type VIII and (2) a public school. The results revealed that age-related changes in the success of reading during compulsory schooling are characterized by a nonlinear pattern in children with typical development and a linear pattern in children with mild mental retardation. The differences between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development in reading speed increase from Grades 1 to 7, and then from Grades 7 to 9 may decrease. The regression analysis confirmed the differences in the direct effects of the influence of non-verbal intelligence, information processing speed and visuospatial working memory on the reading speed. These differences in effects depend on the type of mental development and the level of schooling. Mediation analysis showed that no more than 17% of the differences in the success of reading between schoolchildren with typical and atypical development can explain by cognitive functioning.

Self-awareness and personal adaptive potential in normal and impaired development

The monograph presents the generalized results of the author's scientific activity related to the diagnosis and phenomenological description of the state of self-consciousness and the Self-concept of persons with developmental disorders, in particular with mild mental retardation. The variants of self-awareness diagnostics and a comprehensive assessment of the personal adaptive potential of subjects of different ages with intellectual disabilities are presented and methodologically justified. The presented methods allow us to form an individual adaptive profile based on a quantitative assessment of qualitative indicators of adaptability/maladaptivity. The content aspects of the formation of the antisocial potential of a person with mild mental retardation, in particular, the problems of suggestibility, indoctrination and the participation of persons with intellectual disabilities in criminal communities, are separately identified. It will be useful for students, postgraduates, researchers and practitioners in the field of pedagogy, psychology, law.

The Analysis of Teacher’s Needs toward Science Learning for Elementary Students with Mild Mental Retardation

Learning media is one of the important things in the child's learning process. The purpose of this study is to determine the teacher's needs of learning media for children with special needs with mild mental retardation in science learning. This research technique uses a qualitative descriptive research method by conducting a needs analysis. The research subject is a teacher at a special school who teaches mild mental retardation. The results showed that the used learning media were not varied. Based on the explanation above, the development of media really needs to be conducted by the teacher. The conclusion of this study found that the learning media used by teachers in science learning still needs to be developed.

DIDACTIC POTENTIAL OF DIGITAL EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES TO DEVELOP TEMPORAL REPRESENTATIONS IN SENIOR PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH MILD MENTAL RETARDATION

Statement of the problem. Currently, there is a trend of digitalization of educational practice, including preschool education for children with health limitations (hereinafter HL). This determines the relevance of the development of digital educational resources (hereinafter DER). This development is determined by the need to disclose the DER didactic potential in the educational activities of preschool children. The purpose of the article is to reveal the didactic potential of DER in the formation of temporal representations in senior preschool children with mild mental retardation. The methodology (materials and methods) of research is based on the theoretical provisions of developmental learning, the laws of mental development in normal and impaired children, the requirements of normative legal acts, the analysis of foreign (S. Parsons, K. Guldberg, K. Porayska-Pomsta, J. Marsh, E. Wood, L. Chesworth, B. Nisha, etc.) and Russian scientists (N.N. Glazkova, O.I. Kukushkina, V.N. Mogileva, V.V. Klyputenko, etc.) on the use of DER in the educational practice of children with normative development and with disabilities, including scientific positions reflecting the need to develop and use information technology in the education of preschool children (M. Prensky, V. Vangsnes, R. Zevenbergen, S. de Castell, J. Jenson, etc.). Research results. In the course of the analysis the following results are presented: the essence of the concept of temporal representations is revealed; the structure of the digital game is characterized and the positive aspects of the use of these technologies in education are highlighted, based on the experience of implementing these resources both in Russian and Western countries; the didactic potential of DER with its structural components based on the requirements of regulatory legal acts and laws of mental development in senior preschoolers with mild mental retardation is revealed. Conclusion. The analysis conducted in the course of the study has revealed the didactic potential of DER for the formation of temporal representations in senior preschool children with mild mental retardation. This, in its turn, allows us to identify further prospects in the development of DER for this nosological group of children.

CONCEPTS OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONSHIP OF PERSONS IN TEENAGERS WITH DIFFERENT LEVELS OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT

The problem of ideas about the interpersonal relationships of adolescents with different levels of intellectual development is poorly studied in special psychology. The article examines the results of a study of ideas about the interpersonal relationships of adolescents with mental retardation and mild mental retardation, gives recommendations for correcting their deficiencies. The study involved 35 adolescents aged 13-15 years with different levels of intellectual development. For the study were used Wechsler test, questionnaire for teenagers. The article presents the characteristics of ideas about interpersonal relations of adolescents with mental retardation and mild mental retardation (verbal and non-verbal presentations). Teenagers with a higher level of intellectual development demonstrate more formed ideas about interpersonal relationships.

Development of Ceker Media and Space Building for Light Mild Mental Retardation Students of SMPLB Pekanbaru

In conveying the concept of mathematics in a concrete manner so that it is easily accepted by participants in the mentally retarded education, tools/media are needed. One of the media developed in this study for mentally retarded students is Ceker media and space building media. This study aims to produce Ceker learning media on number material and spatial shapes on blocks and cubes for mild mental retardation students at SMPLB Pekanbaru that meet valid and practical criteria. The research method used is the Borg and Gall development model. Collecting validation data for the addition and subtraction of integer operation materials was carried out by providing validation sheets to three experts. Practical data collection was carried out by distributing questionnaires to SMPLB mental retardation students using a Likert scale . The learning media of Ceker and building spaces that have been validated by 3 validators are very valid with a percentage of 93,3. The development of learning media for Ceker cards and building space for mild mentally retarded students has met the very practical criteria with a percentage of 100%. Based on the results of the research and discussion, it was concluded that the learning media of Ceker and building spaces (blocks and cubes) for mild mental retardation students at SMPLB have met the criteria of being very valid and very practical.

The Diagnostics of the Development of Skills of Communication with Adults and Peers in PRESchool children with Mental Retardation

В статье представлены результаты теоретико-экспериментального изучения коммуникативного развития умственно отсталых дошкольников, обоснованы психологические условия его оптимизации. В исследовании реализован субъектно-деятельностный подход к изучению становления ребенка дошкольного возраста в качестве субъекта коммуникативного взаимодействия. В качестве ключевых в общении этих детей с окружающими, в реализации их речевой коммуникации рассматриваются качественные характеристики потребностно-мотивационной сферы коммуникативной деятельности дошкольников с умственной отсталостью. В статье отражены результаты сравнительного исследования развития общения со взрослыми и сверстниками детей старшего дошкольного возраста с легкой степенью умственной отсталости и их нормально развивающихся сверстников. Экспериментальные данные свидетельствуют о несформированности у старших умственно отсталых дошкольников мотивационно-потребностной сферы общения, речевых средств, низком уровне их активности и инициативности в общении, доминировании пассивной позиции, достаточно индифферентном отношении к партнеру. В общении и со взрослыми, и со сверстниками у этих детей преобладали ситуативные констатирующие высказывания, потребность в практическом взаимодействии, вербальных контактах, просьбы о помощи. В качестве психологических условий оптимизации коммуникативного развития дошкольников с умственной отсталостью авторами рассматривается расширение сферы коммуникативных отношений таких детей с субъектами социального пространства, усложнение коммуникативных задач и обогащение содержания их контактов, расширение спектра вербальных и невербальных средств в общении. The article presents the results of a theoretical and experimental investigation of communication development in preschool children with mental retardation. It also describes the psychological conditions required to develop and improve communication abilities. The research employs subject-activity approach to the investigation of preschool children communication development. The article maintains that quality characteristics of mentally retarded preschool children’s motivation and needs are the key factors in these children’s interaction with their environment. The article describes the results of a comparative research of the development of skills of communication with adults and peers in preschool children with mild mental retardation and their normotypical peers. The experimental data show that senior preschool children with mental retardation have underdeveloped motivation and needs for communication. They do not have required speech strategies, they do not show initiative, prefer to be passive and placid, are not interested in their communication partners. Communicating with their peers and adults, preschool children with mental retardation tend to use words and phrases that describe current situations, participate in practical interaction, interact verbally, ask for help. The authors maintain that the communicative development of preschool children with mental retardation can be enhanced through children’s communication with other members of community, through gradual elaboration of communicative tasks, through various verbal and non-verbal means of communication.

Forensіc psychіatrіc evaluatіon of persons who have sexual offenses

Purpose: this research is devoted to solving scientific and practical problems, which is to develop forensic-psychiatric expert evaluation of persons who have committed sexual offenses. The author analyzed 287 sub-experts who committed sexual offenses and were on forensic psychiatric examination (FPE) at the Kyiv City FPE Center, during the period 2000— 2015 (16 years). Research methods used in the work: information-analytical, socio-demographic, clinical-psychopathological, experimental-psychological, expert, situational analysis, statistical. In the group of “limitedly sane” compared to “sane”, sub-experts significantly prevailed, in whom aggressive- violent psychopathological motivation was combined with the satisfaction of a perverted sexual desire. In the group of “sane” compared to “limitedly sane” the sub-experts with selfish, aggressive, selfish-violent motivations significantly prevailed. The majority of subjects found a compulsive sexual perversions (91.8 %): 65.8 % of subjects suffered from pedophilia, exhibitionism — 13.7 %, gerontophilia — 4.1 %, necrophilia — 1.4 %, sadism — 5.5 %. The majority of subjects were mentally healthy (71.2 %). In 13.7 % of cases, organic brain damage of residual genesis, personality disorder was observed in 5.5 % of cases, mild mental retardation — 5.5 %, dependence syndrome due to alcohol consumption — 4.1 %, simple schizophrenia, incomplete remission — 1.4 %.Most subjects did not have comorbid pathology (58; 79.5 %). The criterion for the use of coercive medical measures in the form of referral to a specialized institution for mental health care is the recognition of a person as “insane”, the provision of compulsory outpatient care — “limitedly sane" and suffering from a sexual desire disorder. The conducted research and the received results allow to improve forensic psychiatric expert research, cause increase of its quality and provability of expert conclusions, which is an additional guarantee of human rights protection, prevents unjustified appointment of re-examination, shortens the time of expert research.

Clinical-phenomenological structure and age-related features of the course of the disease in adolescence with mild mental retardation

Among the forms of mental pathology that are found in childhood, a special place is occupied by mental retardation, which makes a significant contribution to the rates of morbidity and disability. In order to establish the patterns of the clinical-phenomenological structure and age-specific course of the disease in adolescence with mild mental retardation, on the basis of the Kryvyi Rih neuropsychiatric dispensary, a two-stage clinical-epidemiological, clinical-psychopathological and psychodiagnostic study of 154 people born in 2003—2008 with mild mental disorders was carried out. According to the results of the study, it was found that the presence of mental retardation in most cases was diagnosed in the period of 7—10 years (29.8 % of cases), and in almost a third of all examined (29 %) this diagnosis was combined with concomitant psychiatric, neurological or somatic pathology, which just led to a deterioration in the general course of the disease. In 63 % cases there was a burdened family history, in 81 % — obstetric. In addition, a direct correlation (r = 0.498) was found between the level of development of social skills and the preservation of the intellectual level. Thus, it is possible to identify risk factors for the occurrence of mild mental retardation: male sex, family history (primarily addiction states), parents’ age over 30, their low educational level, pathological period of pregnancy and delayed psychomotor development in the first year of life. The level of social adaptation of patients depends on the depth of the intellectual deficit, long-term treatment and rehabilitation interventions, psycho-educational activities for parents and relatives, the organization of assistance in finding a job and medical support can increase the level of social adaptation of this contingent.