Teaching and Promoting Generalization of Peer Imitation With Preschoolers With Disabilities

Researchers have identified effective instructional strategies for teaching peer imitation, including embedded classroom-based interventions. However, there is a dearth of strategies that have been effective for teaching generalization of imitation skills to novel contexts. Building on previous research, we examined the use of progressive time delay to increase peer imitation in the context of a play activity for four preschoolers with disabilities. We conducted preference and reinforcer assessments to identify effective reinforcers for each child prior to intervention. We conducted a multiple baseline across participants design meeting contemporary single case standards and used visual analysis to identify a functional relation: the intervention package was associated with an increase in the participants’ peer imitation in training contexts. The intervention also led to levels of peer imitation comparable to those of typically developing peers, as measured by a normative peer sample, and generalization to novel contexts.

The use of digital educational technologies in upbringing and education of senior preschoolers with disabilities

Introduction. The relevance of the study is due to the fact that the search for the most effective upbringing and education technologies is a strategic task of the modern education system that exists and is developing in a post-industrial society. Research purpose is to substantiate the pedagogical feasibility of using digital technologies in the context of transformation of the special education system, including the level of preschool education. Materials and methods. The experimental study was conducted in the Municipal Preschool Educational Institution “Child Development Center – Kindergarten No. 98” in the city of Magnitogorsk in the period from June 2020 to December 2020. Sixty-eight (68) senior preschoolers took part in the experimental work: eighteen (18) children with mental retardation, thirty-eight (38) children with difficulties in psychological development, twelve (12) children with autism spectrum disorders. Research results. Among the respondents of the experimental group, as a result of a series of innovative lessons conducted with the use of Logo 1 sensory wall-mounted developmental speech therapy complex, the percentage increase in the average score of secondary diagnosis in relation to the average score of primary diagnosis in the study of attention development was 15%, in the study of memory development – 23%, in the study of thinking development – 13%, in the study of the level of speech development – 20%. Discussion and conclusion. Digitalization of the preschool educational environment has a positive effect on the development of higher mental processes in preschoolers with disabilities, provided that the following conditions are met: the electronic forms of the provided material are colorful and bright so as to arouse a child’s interest; organized lessons harmoniously combine the classical elements of upbringing and digital educational components that contribute to the transition from simple forms of children’s activity to more complex ones; teachers are interested in studying and using digital analogues of classical forms of organizing correctional and developmental lessons.

Systematic Modeling and Prompting to Teach Math Skills to Preschoolers With Disabilities

Early math skills predict later academic achievement and are of critical importance in preschool. There also are discrepancies in early math skills of preschoolers with disabilities compared with their typically developing peers. We used an experimental single-case research design, multiple probe across skills, to investigate the effectiveness of systematic modeling with mathematical language and a prompting procedure on increasing the early math skills of two preschoolers with disabilities or delays. A functional relation was observed for one participant. Equivocal findings may be due to the following: (a) challenges in assessing early math skills, which may have affected the identification of appropriate target skills, and (b) the involvement of multiple developmental domains in performing math skills, which may have affected the demonstration of target behaviors for the participant with significant fine motor and language delays.

Application of information technologies for the development of communication skills

The goals of modern preschool education imply the creation of conditions for promoting the development of the child's personality, including his communication skills. Their lack of development creates barriers in the process of relationships between preschoolers with peers and adults, and can also lead to problems of self-development, social maladjustment and personal isolation. In children with disabilities, persistent violations of all components of the communication process are observed, which manifest themselves in a decrease in the communicative and cognitive need for interaction with peers and adults. They acquire many skills, including communication, much later, compared to a normally developing peer. In this regard, the need for purposeful development of communication skills in preschoolers with disabilities is becoming increasingly clear. The research methods used were "Observation of the manifestations of communicative abilities in preschoolers" (A.M. Shchetinina, M. A. Nikiforova), the sociometric method "Two Houses" (T. D. Marcinkovskaya), "Diagnostics of the child's communicative abilities "Plot pictures" (N. E. Verax), "Plot pictures" (R. R. Kalinina), "Observation of the manifestation of independence" (A.M. Shchetinina). The data was processed using the Statistica 6.0 software package and the Mann–Whitney U-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Based on the data obtained, it can be concluded that the hypotheses that children of older preschool age with disabilities who attend a group of combined orientation have disorders in the development of communication skills, as well as a correctional and developmental program based on the method of fairy-tale therapy, can overcome the existing communication disorders in preschoolers with disabilities. As evidenced by the results obtained using the methods of mathematical statistics.

Pedagogical cooperation as a condition for the cognitive development of preschoolers with disabilities in inclusive education

We substantiate the need to develop pedagogical cooperation as a condition for the cognitive development of preschoolers with disabilities (on the example of children with mental retardation) in inclusive education. Domestic preschool education is based on new educational standards and equal educational opportunities for students. Our position is that the development of the cognitive sphere of preschoolers with mental retardation in inclusive education is most successful in the process of cooperation of children with teachers (teacher-defectologist and educators). The results of an experimental study carried out on the basis of the “Kindergarten no. 5 “Zvonochek” of the city of Tambov are presented. 20 preschoolers with mental retardation took part in the expe-rimental work. The study of cognitive mental processes was carried out with the help of diagnostic methods: “Correction test”; “10 words”; “Elimination of extra”. The developed program of peda-gogical cooperation as a condition for the cognitive development of preschoolers with mental re-tardation in inclusive education includes two blocks: the first block – classes on “Familiarization with the outside world”; the second block – classes on “Development of elementary mathematical concepts” in the process of joint activities of children, a teacher-defectologist and educators in a preschool educational organization. The relationship between the identified blocks of the program is analyzed, the main factors for pedagogical cooperation are determined. A comparative analysis of the level of development of cognitive processes in preschoolers with mental retardation (expe-rimental and control groups) at the control stage is presented, proving the effectiveness of the tested program.