The works of Klara Samoilovna and Viktor Vasilyevich Lebedinsky (1969) are based on an etiological principle that allows us to distinguish between 4 options for such development:

1. ZPR of constitutional origin;

2. ZPR of somatogenic origin;

3. Mental retardation of psychogenic origin;

4. ZPR of cerebral-organic origin.

In the clinical and psychological structure of each of the listed variants of mental retardation there is a specific combination of immaturity in the emotional and intellectual spheres.

1.ZPR constitutional origin

(HARMONIC, MENTAL and PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INFANTILISM).

This type of mental retardation is characterized by an infantile body type with childlike plasticity of facial expressions and motor skills. The emotional sphere of these children is, as it were, at an earlier stage of development, corresponding to the mental makeup of a child of a younger age: brightness and liveliness of emotions, the predominance of emotional reactions in behavior, play interests, suggestibility and lack of independence. These children are tireless in play, in which they show a lot of creativity and invention, and at the same time quickly get fed up with intellectual activity. Therefore, in the first grade of school, they sometimes have difficulties associated with both a lack of focus on long-term intellectual activity (they prefer to play in class) and an inability to obey the rules of discipline.

This “harmony” of mental appearance is sometimes disrupted at school and adulthood, because immaturity of the emotional sphere makes social adaptation difficult. Unfavorable living conditions can contribute to the pathological formation of an unstable personality.

However, such an “infantile” constitution can also be formed as a result of mild, mostly metabolic and trophic diseases suffered in the first year of life. If at the time of intrauterine development, then this is genetic infantilism. (Lebedinskaya K.S.).

Thus, in this case there is a predominantly congenital constitutional etiology of this type of infantilism.

According to G.P. Bertyn (1970), harmonic infantilism is often found in twins, which may indicate the pathogenetic role of hypotrophic phenomena associated with multiple births.

2. ZPR of somatogenic origin

This type of developmental anomalies is caused by long-term somatic insufficiency (weakness) of various origins: chronic infections and allergic conditions, congenital and acquired malformations of the somatic sphere, primarily the heart, diseases of the digestive system (V.V. Kovalev, 1979).

Long-term dyspepsia during the first year of life inevitably leads to developmental delays. Cardiovascular failure, chronic pneumonia, and kidney disease are often found in the history of children with mental retardation of somatogenic origin.

It is clear that a poor somatic condition cannot but affect the development of the central nervous system and delays its maturation. Such children spend months in hospitals, which naturally creates conditions of sensory deprivation and also does not contribute to their development.

Chronic physical and mental asthenia inhibits the development of active forms of activity and contributes to the formation of personality traits such as timidity, timidity, and lack of self-confidence. These same properties are largely determined by the creation of a regime of restrictions and prohibitions for a sick or physically weakened child. Thus, artificial infantilization caused by conditions of overprotection is added to the phenomena caused by the disease.

3. Mental retardation of psychogenic origin

This type is associated with unfavorable upbringing conditions that prevent the correct formation of the child’s personality (incomplete or dysfunctional family, mental trauma).

The social genesis of this developmental anomaly does not exclude its pathological nature. As is known, unfavorable environmental conditions that arise early, have a long-term effect and have a traumatic effect on the child’s psyche can lead to persistent changes in his neuropsychic sphere, disruption first of autonomic functions, and then of mental, primarily emotional, development. In such cases, we are talking about pathological (abnormal) personality development. BUT! This type of mental retardation should be distinguished from the phenomena of pedagogical neglect, which do not represent a pathological phenomenon, but are caused by a deficit of knowledge and skills due to a lack of intellectual information. + (Domestic psychologists do not classify pedagogically neglected children, meaning “pure pedagogical neglect”, in which the lag is caused only by reasons of a social nature. Although it is recognized that a long-term lack of information, the lack of mental stimulation during sensitive periods can lead a child to a decrease in potential opportunities for mental development).

(It must be said that such cases are recorded very rarely, as well as mental retardation of somatogenic origin. There must be very unfavorable somatic or microsocial conditions for mental retardation of these two forms to occur. Much more often we observe a combination of organic failure of the central nervous system with somatic weakness or with the influence unfavorable conditions of family upbringing).

Mental retardation of psychogenic origin is observed, first of all, with abnormal personality development by type of mental instability, most often caused by the phenomena of foster care - conditions of neglect, under which the child does not develop a sense of duty and responsibility, forms of behavior, the development of which is associated with the active inhibition of affect. The development of cognitive activity, intellectual interests and attitudes is not stimulated. Therefore, the features of pathological immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere in the form of affective lability, impulsiveness, and increased suggestibility in these children are often combined with an insufficient level of knowledge and ideas necessary for mastering school subjects.

Variant of abnormal personality development like a “family idol” caused, on the contrary, by overprotection - incorrect, pampering upbringing, in which the child is not instilled with the traits of independence, initiative, and responsibility. Children with this type of mental retardation, against the background of general somatic weakness, are characterized by a general decrease in cognitive activity, increased fatigue and exhaustion, especially during prolonged physical and intellectual stress. They get tired quickly and take longer to complete any educational tasks. Cognitive and educational activities suffer SECONDARYLY due to a decrease in the overall tone of the body. This type of psychogenic infantilism, along with a low capacity for volitional effort, is characterized by features of egocentrism and selfishness, dislike of work, and an attitude towards constant help and guardianship.

Variant of pathological personality development neurotic type It is more often observed in children in whose families there is rudeness, cruelty, despotism, and aggression towards the child and other family members. In such an environment, a timid, fearful personality is often formed, whose emotional immaturity is manifested in insufficient independence, indecisiveness, low activity and lack of initiative. Unfavorable upbringing conditions also lead to a delay in the development of cognitive activity.

4. ZPR of cerebral-organic origin

This type of developmental disorder occupies the main place in this polymorphic developmental anomaly. It is more common than other types of mental retardation; often has great persistence and severity of disturbances both in the emotional-volitional sphere and in cognitive activity. It is of the greatest importance for the clinic and special psychology due to the severity of the manifestations and the need (in most cases) for special measures of psychological and pedagogical correction.

A study of the anamnesis of these children in most cases shows the presence of mild organic failure of N.S. - RESIDUAL CHARACTER (remaining, preserved).

Abroad, the pathogenesis of this form of delay is associated with “minimal brain damage” (1947), or with “minimal brain dysfunction” (1962) - MMD. → These terms emphasize the UNEXPRESSIVENESS, CERTAIN FUNCTIONALITY OF CEREBRAL DISORDERS.

Pathology of pregnancy and childbirth, infections, intoxication, incompatibility of the blood of mother and fetus according to the Rh factor, prematurity, asphyxia, injuries during childbirth, postnatal neuroinfections, toxic-dystrophic diseases and injuries of the nervous system in the first years of life. - The reasons are to a certain extent similar to the reasons for mental retardation.

COMMON for this form of mental retardation and oligophrenia- is the presence of so-called MILD BRAIN DYSFUNCTION (LMD). ORGANIC DAMAGE TO THE CNS (RETARDATION) AT THE EARLY STAGES OF ONTOGENESIS.

Similar terms: “minimal brain damage”, “mild childhood encephalopathy”, “hyperkinetic chronic brain syndrome”.

Under LDM- is understood as a syndrome reflecting the presence of mild developmental disorders that occur mainly in the perinatal period, characterized by a very varied clinical picture. This term was adopted in 1962 to designate minimal (dysfunctional) brain disorders in childhood.

FEATURE OF ZPR- there is a qualitatively different structure of intellectual disability compared to u/o. Mental development is characterized by UNEVENITY of disturbances of various mental functions; at the same time, logical thinking may be more preserved compared to memory, attention, mental performance.

In children with LIMITED CNS LESION, a multidimensional picture of cerebral insufficiency is much more often observed, associated with immaturity, immaturity and therefore greater vulnerability of various systems, including the vascular and cerebrospinal fluid.

The nature of dynamic disorders in them is more severe and more frequent than in children with mental retardation of other subgroups. Along with persistent dynamic difficulties, there is a primary deficiency of a number of higher cortical functions.

Signs of a slowdown in the rate of maturation are often detected already in early development and concern almost all areas, in a significant part of cases even the somatic one. Thus, according to I.F. Markova (1993), who examined 1000 primary school students in a special school for children with mental retardation, a slowdown in the rate of physical development was observed in 32% of children, a delay in the development of locomotor functions - in 69% of children, a long delay in the formation of skills tidiness (enuresis) - in 36% of observations.

In tests for visual gnosis, difficulties arose in perceiving complicated versions of object images, as well as letters. In praxis tests, perseverations were often observed when switching from one action to another. When studying spatial praxis, poor orientation in “right” and “left”, specularity in writing letters, and difficulties in differentiating similar graphemes were often noted. When studying speech processes, disorders of speech motor skills and phonemic hearing, auditory-verbal memory, difficulties in constructing an extended phrase, and low speech activity were often discovered.

Special LDM studies have shown that

RISK FACTORS ARE:

Late age of the mother, height and weight of the woman before pregnancy, beyond the age norm, first birth;

Pathological course of previous pregnancies;

Chronic diseases of the mother, especially diabetes, Rh conflict, premature birth, infectious diseases during pregnancy;

Psychosocial factors such as unwanted pregnancy, risk factors of a large city (long daily commute, city noise, etc.)

Presence of mental, neurological and psychosomatic diseases in the family;

Low or, conversely, excessive (more than 4000 kg) weight of the child at birth;

Pathological birth with forceps, cesarean section, etc.

DIFFERENCE FROM U/O:

1. Massiveness of the lesion;

2. Time of defeat. - ZPR is much more often associated with later ones,

exogenous brain damage affecting the period,

when differentiation of the main brain systems is already in

significantly advanced and there is no danger of their rough

underdevelopment. However, some researchers suggest

and the possibility of a genetic etiology.

3. The delay in the formation of functions is qualitatively different than with

oligophrenia. In cases with ZPR, one can observe the presence

temporary regression of acquired skills and their subsequent

instability.

4. Unlike oligophrenia, children with mental retardation do not have inertia

mental processes. They are able not only to accept and

use help, but also transfer learned mental skills

activities in other situations. With the help of an adult they can

carry out the intellectual tasks offered to him at close

normal level.

5. The predominance of later stages of damage determines along with

with symptoms of IMMATURITY almost constant PRESENCE

DAMAGE N.S. → Therefore, unlike oligophrenia, which

often occurs in uncomplicated forms, in the structure of the ZPR

CEREBRAL-ORGANIC GENESIS- almost always available

a set of encephalopathic disorders (cerebroasthenic,

neurosis-like, psychopath-like), indicating

damage to N.S..

CEREBRAL-ORGANIC INSUFFICIENCY first of all, it leaves a typical imprint on the structure of the mental retardation itself - both on the characteristics of emotional-volitional immaturity, and on the nature of cognitive impairment

Data from neuropsychological studies have revealed certain HIERARCHY OF COGNITIVE ACTIVITY DISORDERS in children with mental retardation of CEREBRAL-ORGANIC GENESIS. Yes, in more mild cases it is based on neurodynamic insufficiency, associated primarily with EXHAUSTIBILITY OF MENTAL FUNCTIONS.

With greater severity of organic brain damage, more severe neurodynamic disorders, expressed in the inertia of mental processes, are joined by PRIMARY DEFICITIES OF INDIVIDUAL CORTICO-SUBCORTAL FUNCTIONS: praxis, visual gnosis, memory, speech sensorimotor. + At the same time, a certain PARTIALITY, MOSAICALITY OF THEIR VIOLATIONS is noted. (Therefore, some of these children experience difficulties primarily in mastering reading, others in writing, others in counting, etc.). PARTIAL INSUFFICIENCY OF CORTICAL FUNCTIONS, in turn, leads to underdevelopment of the most complex mental formations, including ARBITRARY REGULATION. Thus, the hierarchy of mental function disorders in mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin is the opposite of that which exists in oligophrenia, where the intellect, and not its prerequisites, is primarily affected.

1. EMOTIONAL-VOLITIONAL IMMATURITY is represented by organic infantilism. With this infantilism, children lack the liveliness and brightness of emotions typical of a healthy child. Children are characterized by a weak interest in evaluation and a low level of aspirations. There is high suggestibility and non-acceptance of criticism addressed to oneself. Gaming activity is characterized by a lack of imagination and creativity, a certain monotony and originality, and a predominance of the component of motor disinhibition. The very desire to play often looks more like a way of avoiding difficulties in tasks than a primary need: the desire to play arises precisely in situations of the need for purposeful intellectual activity and preparation of lessons.

Depending on the prevailing emotional background, one can distinguish II MAIN TYPES OF ORGANIC INFANTILISM:

1) UNSTABLE - with psychomotor disinhibition, a euphoric tint of mood and impulsiveness, imitating childish cheerfulness and spontaneity. Characterized by low capacity for volitional effort and systematic activity, lack of stable attachments with increased suggestibility, and poverty of imagination.

2) INHIBITED - with a predominance of low mood, indecision, lack of initiative, often timidity, which may be a reflection of congenital or acquired functional failure of the autonomic N.S. according to the type of neuropathy. In this case, sleep disturbances, appetite disturbances, dyspeptic symptoms, and vascular lability may be observed. In children with organic infantilism of this type, asthenic and neurosis-like features are accompanied by a feeling of physical weakness, timidity, inability to stand up for themselves, lack of independence, and excessive dependence on loved ones.

2. COGNITIVE DISORDERS.

They are caused by insufficient development of memory processes, attention, inertia of mental processes, their slowness and reduced switchability, as well as deficiency of individual cortical functions. There is instability of attention, insufficient development of phonemic hearing, visual and tactile perception, optical-spatial synthesis, motor and sensory aspects of speech, long-term and short-term memory, hand-eye coordination, automation of movements and actions. Often there is poor orientation in the spatial concepts of “right - left”, the phenomenon of mirroring in writing, and difficulties in differentiating similar graphemes.

Depending on the predominance of either emotional-volitional immaturity or cognitive impairment in the clinical picture ZPR OF CEREBRAL GENESIS can be roughly divided

on II MAIN OPTIONS:

1. organic infantilism

Its various types represent a milder form of mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin, in which functional impairments of cognitive activity are caused by emotional-volitional immaturity and mild cerebrasthenic disorders. Violations of cortical functions are dynamic in nature, due to their insufficient formation and increased exhaustion. Regulatory functions are especially weak at the control level.

2. Mental retardation with a predominance of functional impairments of cognitive activity - in this variant of retardation, symptoms of damage dominate: pronounced cerebrasthenic, neurosis-like, psychopath-like syndromes.

In essence, this form often expresses a state bordering on u/o (of course, the variability of the state in terms of its severity is also possible here).

Neurological data reflect the severity of organic disorders and a significant frequency of focal disorders. Severe neurodynamic disorders and deficits in cortical functions, including local disorders, are also observed. Dysfunction of regulatory structures is manifested in the links of both control and programming. This variant of ZPR is a more complex and severe form of this developmental anomaly.

CONCLUSION: The presented clinical types of the most persistent forms of mental retardation mainly differ from each other precisely in the peculiarities of the structure and the nature of the relationship between the two main components of this developmental anomaly: the structure of infantilism and the characteristics of the development of mental functions.

P.S. It should also be noted that within each of the listed groups of children with mental retardation there are variants that differ both in the degree of severity and in the characteristics of individual manifestations of mental activity.

CLASSIFICATION OF ZPR L.I.PERESLENI and E.M. MASTYUKOVA

II TYPE ZPR:

1) Type BENIGN (NON-SPECIFIC) DELAY- is not associated with brain damage and is compensated with age under favorable environmental conditions, even without any special therapeutic measures. This type of mental retardation is caused by a slow rate of maturation of brain structures and their functions in the absence of organic changes in the central nervous system.

Benign (nonspecific) developmental delay manifests itself in some delay in the development of motor and (or) psychomotor functions, which can be detected at any age stage, is relatively quickly compensated and is not combined with pathological neurological and (or) psychopathological symptoms.

This type of mental retardation can be easily corrected through early stimulation of psychomotor development.

It can manifest itself both in the form of a general, total lag in development, and in the form of partial (partial) delays in the formation of certain neuropsychic functions, this especially often applies to a lag in the development of speech.

Benign nonspecific delay can be a familial symptom; it is often observed in somatically weakened and premature children. It can also occur when there is insufficient early pedagogical influence.

2) Type SPECIFIC (or CEREBRAL-ORGANIC) DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY- associated with damage to brain structures and functions.

Specific or cerebral-organic developmental delay is associated with changes in the structural or functional activity of the brain. Its cause may be disturbances in intrauterine brain development, fetal hypoxia and asphyxia of the newborn, intrauterine and postnatal infectious and toxic effects, trauma, metabolic disorders and other factors.

Along with severe diseases of N.S., which cause developmental delays, most children have mild neurological disorders, which are detected only during a special neurological examination. These are the so-called signs of MMD, which usually occur in children with cerebral-organic mental retardation.

Many children with this form of mental retardation exhibit motor disinhibition—hyperactive behavior—already in the first years of life. They are extremely restless, constantly on the move, all their activities are unfocused, and they cannot complete a single task they start. The appearance of such a child always brings anxiety, he runs around, fusses, breaks toys. Many of them are also characterized by increased emotional excitability, pugnacity, aggressiveness, and impulsive behavior. Most children are not capable of playful activities, they do not know how to limit their desires, they react violently to all prohibitions, and they are stubborn.

Many children are characterized by motor clumsiness and their fine differentiated movements of the fingers are poorly developed. Therefore, they have difficulty mastering self-care skills, and for a long time they cannot learn to fasten buttons or lace shoes.

From a practical point of view, differentiating specific and nonspecific developmental delay, i.e. essentially pathological and non-pathological delay, is extremely important in terms of determining the intensity and methods of stimulating age-related development, predicting the effectiveness of treatment, learning and social adaptation.

Delay in the development of certain psychomotor functions SPECIFIC FOR EACH AGE STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT.

So, during the period NEWBORN - For such a child, a clear conditioned reflex for time is not formed for a long time. Such a baby does not wake up when he is hungry or wet, and does not fall asleep when he is full and dry; all unconditioned reflexes are weakened and evoked after a long latent period. One of the main sensory reactions of this age - visual fixation or auditory concentration - is weakened or does not appear at all. At the same time, unlike children with damage to the central nervous system, he does not show signs of dysembryogenesis and developmental defects, including those expressed to a minimal extent. He also has no disturbances in crying, sucking, or asymmetric muscle tone.

Aged 1-3 MONTHS in such children, there may be a slight lag in the rate of age-related development, the absence or a weakly expressed tendency to lengthen the period of active wakefulness, a smile when communicating with an adult is absent or appears inconsistently; visual and auditory concentrations are short-term, humming is absent or only isolated rare sounds are observed. Progress in its development begins to be clearly visible by 3 months of life. By this age, he begins to smile and follow a moving object. However, all these functions may not manifest themselves constantly and are characterized by rapid depletion.

At all subsequent stages of development, benign developmental delay manifests itself in the fact that the child in his development goes through stages that are more characteristic of the previous stage. However, mental retardation can appear for the first time at each age stage. For example, a 6-month-old child with this form of developmental delay does not give a differentiated reaction to familiar and unfamiliar people, he may also have delayed development of babbling, and a 9-month-old child may show insufficient activity in communicating with adults, he does not imitate gestures, he has poor play contact is developed, babbling is absent or weakly expressed, intonation-melodic imitation of a phrase does not appear, he may have difficulty grasping or not grasping small objects with two fingers at all, or he may not respond clearly enough to verbal instructions. The slow pace of motor development is manifested in the fact that the child can sit, but does not sit down on his own, and if he sits, he makes no attempt to stand up.

Benign developmental delay in age 11-12 MONTHS most often manifests itself in the absence of the first babbling words, weak intonation expressiveness of vocal reactions, and unclear correlation of words with an object or action. Delayed motor development results in the child standing with support but not walking. Retardation in mental development is characterized by weakness in repeated actions and imitative games; the child does not manipulate with both hands confidently enough and does not sufficiently grasp objects with two fingers.

Nonspecific developmental delay in the first THREE YEARS OF LIFE most often manifests itself in the form of a lag in the development of speech, insufficient play activity, a lag in the development of the function of active attention, the regulating function of speech (the child’s behavior is poorly controlled by the instructions of an adult), insufficient differentiation of emotional manifestations, as well as general psychomotor disinhibition. It can also manifest itself as a delay in the development of motor functions. At the same time, IN THE FIRST MONTHS OF LIFE, the rate of normalization of muscle tone, the extinction of unconditioned reflexes, the formation of straightening reactions and balance reactions, sensory-motor coordination, voluntary motor activity and especially fine differentiated movements of the fingers lag behind.

B 4. PSYCHOLOGICAL PARAMETERS OF DPR

Being informed about frequently encountered and widespread topics in a particular area can save a person’s fate. A striking example is awareness of pathologies that often occur in childhood. You should be especially careful and attentive with them, because knowledge of how to recognize developmental delays and mental infantilism in children in time makes it possible to correct deviations in time.

There are many examples of fairly rapid equalization of the pace of development of children with delays, thanks to the timely intervention of parents and specialists. Through long-term experiments and research on this topic, it was concluded that the group of children with mental development disorders is heterogeneous in the nature of the origin of the disease. Due to the characteristics of their origin and their predominant manifestation, several types of ZPR are distinguished.

Features of mental development

What is mental retardation? These are reversible, that is, correctable developmental disorders of the central nervous system in children aged 4-6 years. They are expressed in the slow development of intellectual and emotional-volitional personal qualities. Lack of correction of mental retardation can pose a danger to the development of a growing personality, since these disorders are characterized by difficulties in learning and the formation of healthy emotions, worldview and adequate social perception of the environment. That is why it is so important to identify problems in this area in time and consult a doctor - first, a pediatrician. Diagnosis of mental retardation is carried out exclusively collegiately, by a special commission consisting of medical specialists, teachers and psychologists. During the examination, the child is examined comprehensively, after which a general conclusion is established. On its basis, if necessary, the necessary treatment or, otherwise, correction of mental retardation is prescribed.

Today, the number of children with mental retardation is about 15% of the total child population. This conclusion is most often established for children aged 4 to 5 years. By this age, the emerging personality should exhibit some learning abilities and a desire to make more mature, age-appropriate decisions. A striking example of a healthy psyche can be the desire for independent behavior of a 4-year-old child in autonomous situations and the desire to act independently, learning about the world around him. Since the problems of children with mental developmental disabilities characterize the child’s personality as less mobile, with mental infantilism inappropriate for age, difficult to for training, doctors recommend a specially designed training program. Before starting treatment, it is necessary to ensure that the child is developing at a slow rate. In contrast, mental retardation affects a wide area of ​​central nervous system functions, however, each of them is reduced in a mild form. Initially, such deviations are very difficult to distinguish, so to prevent the aggravation of possible developmental delays, it is better to consult a doctor.

Diagnosis of mental retardation

According to statistics, 1 in 4 children are susceptible to developing mental development delays, so monitoring the development of the central nervous system in children under 6 years of age is very important.

• Information is collected about diseases suffered in early childhood.
• A complete analysis of the child’s living conditions and hereditary information is carried out.
• Neuropsychological testing is mandatory, taking into account the analysis of the child’s independence and social adaptation.
• Speech mobility is diagnosed.
• Particular attention is paid to the conversation with the patient in order to identify the characteristics of the intellectual process and emotional-volitional characteristics.

Classification

So, mental retardation (MDD) is divided into several types. According to the classification of mental retardation proposed by K. S. Lebedinskaya, there are 4 main clinical types of delay.

• ZPR of somatogenic origin. The same signs of mental retardation: the predominance of gaming interests, lack of attention and memory are caused by long-term illnesses at an early age that were somatic in nature. Examples: diseases of the cardiovascular system, kidneys, respiratory tract, including bronchial asthma. A certain kind of pressure on the maturation of the central nervous system is exerted by long-term treatment of somatic diseases in the hospital, which also adds limited exposure to the senses (sensory deprivation).
• ZPR of constitutional origin. A case caused by arbitrarily delayed maturation as a result of the influence of hereditary factors. Children are not infantile for their age, they do not behave according to their age, but as if they remain at the previous stage of development of younger children. The area of ​​interest of children with such disabilities is more playful in nature than cognitive or educational. An important role here is played not only by the desire to learn, but also by the inability to remember large amounts of information and concentrate attention on one object, in the case of school-age children.
• ZPR of psychogenic origin. The causes of this type of mental retardation are lack of attention or overprotection, as well as child abuse. They can cause certain delays in the development of psychogenic origin. Overprotection causes the following symptoms of delayed development: lack of will, psychological weakness, lack of understanding of one’s own desires, lack of initiative, egocentrism. Lack of attention makes children mentally unstable and painfully negative towards others, infantilely impulsive. Abuse creates unexpected symptoms of mental retardation.
• ZPR of cerebral-organic origin. According to studies of the components of the classification of mental retardation, this type of delayed development is the most common manifestation of the disease. It manifests itself with primary non-severe organic damage to the brain. Deviations and mental retardation in children are expressed in the form of symptoms such as lack of interest in the world around them, insufficient brightness of emotions and imagination, high level of suggestibility, etc.

Read more about the constitutional ZPR

In case of mental retardation of constitutional origin, all pathologies are determined by hereditary factors. Children with this type of delay are immature relative to their age, both physically and mentally. That is why this kind of deviation is called harmonious mental infantilism.

Children with delays and deviations in mental development, involved in the general educational process, attract attention from the first day of school, immediately acquiring the status of underachievers in all subjects. The only thing that children with mental retardation of constitutional origin do well is communication with others and with peers, due to their cheerful and kind disposition.

Mental retardation is a violation of its pace relative to the normal period of child development. The characteristics of children with mental retardation lagging behind their peers are heterogeneous. These are mainly mental and emotional characteristics, sometimes manifested in the physical development of children. The general educational program is not suitable for children with such mental characteristics. Their training among faster-developing peers will reduce the efficiency and rate of perception of information of the entire class, and also violate discipline. After such a conclusion, doctors recommend the appointment of specialized schools for children with mental retardation.

Harmonic infantilism is not a definitive diagnosis. With the right approach to correction, the child very quickly reaches the level of his peers. Proper organization of the educational process for such children is the basis for successful correction. For example, outdoor games are organized for children with mental retardation.

What could be the reason

The basis for deviations in the child’s psyche is biological and socio-psychological factors and shortcomings that lead to a decrease in the rate of development of the child’s intellect and emotional background.

The causes of cerebral retardation of constitutional origin may be:

1. Biological factors. This group includes minor local injuries and injuries to the central nervous system, as well as their consequences. They cause a further partial slowdown in the child’s mental development. Similar factors manifest themselves in problematic pregnancy and some complications that can accompany pregnancy: Rhesus conflicts, some types of intrauterine infections, injuries received during childbirth and many others.
2. Social or environmental factors. They cause delays and disruptions in the development of the psyche under the influence of overprotection or lack of attention, abuse or isolation of the child from the external environment and communication with peers.
3. Secondary factors. They occur in early childhood diseases that are difficult for a fragile body. For example, hearing or vision impairment due to damage to the corresponding organs due to diseases.
4. Metabolic factors. Changes in mental metabolism and increased need for certain vitamins and minerals.

Features of children with mental retardation

Let's look at what makes a child with this pathology different. The difference between mental retardation and mental retardation is that mental retardation is reversible and can be corrected. Intellectual impairments in children with mental retardation are mild, but affect all intellectual processes: perception, attention, memory, thinking, speech. This feature requires an individual and attentive approach, since the psyche of children with mental retardation is particularly unstable and fragile.

Peculiarities of the psyche of children with developmental delays are reduced to the following characteristics:

1. Differences in response to the environment. Liveliness of facial expressions, bright gestures, sudden movements. Preferences for learning exclusively through play.
2. Peculiarities in perception and learning ability. Reluctance to learn through general education programs: mandatory volumes of educational material for training in reading, writing and drawing.
3. Preference for the game part over other methods of obtaining information. Tirelessness and creativity in games, absent-mindedness and lack of attention in studies.
4. From the emotional-volitional component of the psyche. Emotional instability is clearly expressed. Against the background of high fatigue, nervous mood swings and hysterics occur when encountering unfamiliar or unpleasant situations for the child.
5. Love to fantasize. It is a means of psychological balancing. Repressing unpleasant situations and information by replacing them with non-existent events or people.

A feature of mental retardation is that compensation and correction of all types of disorders is possible in the early stages of their identification and only in conditions of special training and education. Playful inclinations of perception of the surrounding world are taken into account when involving children with mental retardation in educational and developmental activities.

Specialists are developing complex programs with outdoor games for children with mental retardation in combination with dosed educational information from the general program. This style of learning is necessary for compensatory restoration of missed stages of development, corresponding to age and the required level of psyche, intelligence and development of the central nervous system.

Prevention

It is not always possible to prevent all factors influencing a child’s developmental delay in comparison with generally accepted age norms. However, there are a number of methods, hygiene and preventive measures.

The list of main methods of prevention includes planning pregnancy, preventing any infectious and somatic diseases in both the mother and the child at an early age, avoiding mechanical, chemical and other negative effects on the fetus, as well as providing favorable conditions for the upbringing and development of the child.

Treatment

Harmonic infantilism or mental retardation can be corrected quite successfully if a child with mental retardation is placed in a well-organized developmental and educational environment.

The dynamics of a child’s development are determined by the significance of the disorders and pathologies, the level of intelligence, potential and level of performance of the child. Much attention should be paid to time - the sooner the diagnosis of mental retardation is established, the sooner correction can begin, without allowing the situation to worsen.

One of the key problems in constructing and selecting corrective programs is due to the variety of types of ZPR and their manifestations. You need to know that every child with harmonious infantilism has a number of characteristics, including insufficient development of the emotional-volitional sphere and immaturity of cognitive activity.

Harmonic infantilism can be corrected quite successfully, provided that the developmental environment is properly organized.

The dynamics of a child’s development depend on the depth of impairments, level of intelligence, characteristics of mental performance and early correction. The start time of correctional and developmental work is of paramount importance. The sooner a delay is identified and correctional activities are started, the greater the chance for the child to get closer in his development to the requirements of the norm.

What do corrective programs include?

Individual correctional programs take into account many characteristics of the child and the degree of development of intelligence and potential performance, as well as the peculiarities of the formation of the structure of mental activity, the development of sensorimotor function and much more.

1. Working with children with mental retardation requires a general, multifaceted approach. The treatment and correction of such deviations includes the participation of pediatricians from various fields. The complex of examinations and observations includes the work of child neurologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and speech therapists. Speech pathologists and general pediatricians are also involved in the work. Such correction is recommended for a long time and from preschool age.
2. For children with established mental development delays, it is recommended to attend specialized schools and groups or classes in preschool educational institutions.
3. The main features of children with mental retardation are the dosage of educational material and its play type of teaching. All material is divided into small information elements with an emphasis on clarity, frequent changes of activities and repeated repetition.
4. Particular attention is paid to the development of programs to improve memory, thinking and attention. Thanks to numerous art therapy techniques and game elements, improvements in the emotional and sensory sphere of activity are achieved.
5. A very important element of the work is constant monitoring by defectologists, psychologists and psychiatrists.
6. This type of mild impairment is restored through drug therapy in accordance with the identified impairments. An important addition: massages, physical therapy (physical therapy), physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.

Important!

Adults need to remember that the child’s psyche is very flexible and soft. This makes it possible to correct any delays and mild pathologies. Adapted educational programs for children with mental retardation are developed specifically for such deviations and are able to normalize the psyche and emotional-volitional qualities of the child to those corresponding to his age category. Almost all deviations from the norm can be corrected. However, work with delays in the mental development of a child should be carried out taking into account the individual characteristics of the child and in a timely manner.

Parents and teachers of specialized educational institutions should know that there are no general programs for correcting the developmental characteristics of the child’s psyche, even in schools for children with mental retardation.

Such correctional educational and developmental programs are formed individually for each child. Even for work in specialized classes for children with mental retardation, it is recommended to process the program for each child. The development and correction of the program is carried out jointly with specialists from psychological and psychiatric centers. Be attentive to your children, monitor their health and contact pediatric specialists in a timely manner.

Sometimes students are difficult to train and educate, and the main reason for this is a special, in contrast to the norm, state of mental development of the individual, called in defectology “mental retardation” (RD). Every second chronically underachieving child has mental retardation.

Essence of the disease

In general, this condition is characterized by slow development of thinking, memory, perception, attention, speech, and the emotional-volitional aspect. Due to limitations in mental and cognitive capabilities, the child is not able to successfully complete the tasks and demands placed on him by society. For the first time, these limitations are clearly manifested and noticed by adults when the child comes to school. He cannot conduct sustainable, purposeful activity; gaming interests and gaming motivation predominate in him, while pronounced difficulties arise in distributing and switching attention. Such a child is not able to exert mental effort and strain when performing serious tasks, which quickly leads to school failure in one or many subjects.

A study of students with mental retardation showed that the basis of school difficulties is not intellectual disability, but impaired mental performance. This manifests itself in difficulties concentrating on cognitive tasks for a long time, low productivity during study, excessive fussiness or lethargy, and disturbances in switching attention. Children with mental retardation have a qualitatively different structure of the defect, in contrast to mentally retarded children; in their impairment there is no totality in the underdevelopment of mental functions. Children with mental retardation are better able to accept help from adults and are able to transfer the demonstrated mental techniques to a new, similar task. Such children need to be provided with comprehensive assistance from psychologists and teachers, which includes an individual approach to learning, classes with a teacher of the deaf, a psychologist, along with drug therapy.

Constitutional ZPR

Developmental delay has a form that is determined by heredity. Children with this type of mental retardation are characterized by harmonious immaturity of the physique and at the same time of the psyche, which indicates the presence of harmonious psychophysical infantilism. The mood of such a child is predominantly positive; he quickly forgets grievances. At the same time, due to the immature emotional-volitional sphere, the formation of educational motivation is not possible. Children quickly get used to school, but do not accept the new rules of behavior: they are late for lessons, play during lessons and involve their neighbors in games, turn letters in notebooks into flowers. Such a child does not divide grades into “good” and “bad”; he is happy to have them in his notebook.

From the very beginning of school, the child turns into a persistently underachieving student, for which there are reasons. Due to his immature emotional-volitional sphere, he only does what is related to his interests. And due to the immaturity of intellectual development, children of this age have insufficiently formed mental operations, memory, speech, they have a small stock of ideas about the world and knowledge.

For constitutional mental retardation, the prognosis will be favorable with targeted pedagogical influence in an accessible playful form. Developmental correction work and an individual approach will eliminate the problems described above. If you need to leave children for the second year of study, this will not traumatize them, they will easily accept the new team and get used to the new teacher painlessly.

Somatogenic ZPR

Children of this type of disease are born to healthy parents. Developmental delay occurs due to past diseases that affect brain functions: chronic infections, allergies, dystrophy, persistent asthenia, dysentery. The child's intelligence was not initially impaired, but due to his absent-mindedness he becomes unproductive in the learning process.

At school, children of this type of mental retardation experience serious difficulties in adaptation, they cannot get used to a new team for a long time, they are bored and often cry. They are passive, inactive and lacking initiative. They are always polite with adults and perceive situations adequately, but if they are not influenced by guidance, they will be disorganized and helpless. Such children have great difficulties with learning at school, arising from reduced achievement motivation, lack of interest in the proposed tasks, and an inability and unwillingness to overcome difficulties in completing them. In a state of fatigue, the child’s answers are thoughtless and absurd, and affective inhibition often occurs: children are afraid to answer incorrectly and prefer to remain silent. Also, with severe fatigue, headaches increase, appetite decreases, pain occurs near the heart, which children use as a reason to refuse work if difficulties arise.

Children with somatogenic mental retardation need systematic medical and pedagogical assistance. It is best to place them in sanatorium-type schools or create a medicinal-pedagogical regime in ordinary classes.

Psychogenic mental retardation

Children of this type of mental retardation have normal physical development and are somatically healthy. Research has shown that many children have brain dysfunction. The reason for their mental infantilism is a socio-psychological factor - unfavorable upbringing conditions: monotonous contacts and living environment, emotional deprivation (lack of maternal warmth, emotional relationships), deprivation, poor individual motivation. As a result, the child’s intellectual motivation decreases, superficiality of emotions, lack of independence in behavior, and infantilism in relationships are observed.

This childhood anomaly often develops in dysfunctional families. In an asocially permissive family, there is no proper supervision over the child; there is emotional rejection along with permissiveness. Due to the lifestyle of the parents, the baby experiences impulsive reactions, involuntary behavior, and his intellectual activity is extinguished. This condition often becomes fertile ground for the emergence of stable antisocial attitudes; the child is pedagogically neglected. In an authoritarian-conflict family, the child’s atmosphere is saturated with conflicts between adults. Parents influence the child through suppression and punishment, systematically traumatizing the child’s psyche. He becomes passive, dependent, downtrodden, and feels increased anxiety.

are not interested in productive activities and have unstable attention. Their behavior reveals bias, individualism, aggression, or excessive submissiveness and accommodation.

The teacher must show interest in such a child, in addition, an individual approach and intensive training are necessary. Then children will easily fill the gaps in knowledge in a regular boarding school.

ZPR of cerebral-organic nature

In this case, the disorder of personality development is caused by a local disorder of brain functions. Causes of abnormalities in brain development: pathology of pregnancy, including severe toxicosis, viral flu suffered by the mother, alcoholism and drug addiction of parents, birth pathologies and injuries, asphyxia, serious illnesses in the 1st year of life, infectious diseases.

All children of this type of mental retardation have cerebral asthenia, which manifests itself in excessive fatigue, decreased performance, poor concentration and memory. Thought processes are imperfect, and the productivity indicators of such children are close to those of oligophrenic children. They acquire knowledge in fragments, and they quickly forget it, so at the end of the school year, students turn into persistent underachievers.

The lag in the development of intelligence in these children is combined with an immature emotional-volitional sphere, the manifestations of which are deep and crude. Children take a long time to learn the rules of relationships, do not correlate their emotional reactions with a certain situation, and are insensitive to mistakes. They are led by a game, so a conflict constantly arises between “I want” and “I must.”

Teaching children of this type of mental retardation according to the regular program is futile. They need systematic, competent correctional and pedagogical support.

• Causes of mental retardation
• Symptoms
• Treatment

Mental retardation in children (the disease is often referred to as mental retardation) is a slow pace of improvement of certain mental functions: thinking, emotional-volitional sphere, attention, memory, which lags behind generally accepted norms for a particular age.

The disease is diagnosed in the preschool or primary school period. It is most often discovered during pre-entry testing before school entry. It is expressed in limited ideas, lack of knowledge, inability for intellectual activity, the predominance of gaming, purely childish interests, immaturity of thinking. In each individual case, the causes of the disease are different.

Causes of mental retardation

In medicine, various causes of mental retardation in children are identified:

1. Biological:

• pregnancy pathologies: severe toxicosis, intoxication, infections, injuries;
• prematurity;
• intrauterine fetal hypoxia;
• asphyxia during childbirth;
• infectious, toxic, traumatic diseases at an early age;
• genetic predisposition;
• trauma during childbirth;
• lagging behind peers in physical development;
• somatic diseases (disturbances in the functioning of various organs);
• damage to certain areas of the central nervous system.

2. Social:

• restriction of life activity for a long time;
• mental trauma;
• unfavorable living conditions;
• pedagogical neglect.

Depending on the factors that ultimately led to mental retardation, several types of disease are distinguished, on the basis of which a number of classifications have been compiled.

Types of mental retardation

In medicine, there are several classifications (domestic and foreign) of mental retardation in children. The most famous are M. S. Pevzner and T. A. Vlasova, K. S. Lebedinskaya, P. P. Kovalev. Most often in modern Russian psychology they use the classification of K. S. Lebedinskaya.

1. Constitutional ZPR determined by heredity.
2. Somatogenic ZPR acquired as a result of a previous disease that affected the child’s brain functions: allergies, chronic infections, dystrophy, dysentery, persistent asthenia, etc.
3. Psychogenic mental retardation determined by socio-psychological factors: such children are brought up in unfavorable conditions: monotonous environment, narrow circle of friends, lack of maternal love, poverty of emotional relationships, deprivation.
4. Cerebral-organic mental retardation observed in the case of serious, pathological abnormalities in brain development and is most often determined by complications during pregnancy (toxicosis, viral diseases, asphyxia, parental alcoholism or drug addiction, infections, birth injuries, etc.).

Each of the types according to this classification differs not only in the causes of the disease, but also in symptoms and course of treatment.

Symptoms of mental retardation

A diagnosis of mental retardation can be made with confidence only at the threshold of school, when obvious difficulties arise in preparing for the educational process. However, with careful monitoring of the child, symptoms of the disease can be noticed earlier. These may include:

• skills and abilities lagging behind peers: the child cannot perform the simplest actions characteristic of his age (putting on shoes, dressing, personal hygiene skills, eating independently);
• unsociability and excessive isolation: if he avoids other children and does not participate in common games, this should alert adults;
• indecision;
• aggressiveness;
• anxiety;
• During infancy, such children begin to hold their heads later, take their first steps, and speak.

With mental retardation in children, manifestations of mental retardation and signs of impairment in the emotional-volitional sphere, which is very important for the child, are equally possible. Often there is a combination of them. There are cases when a child with mental retardation is practically no different from the same age, but most often the retardation is quite noticeable. The final diagnosis is made by a pediatric neurologist during a targeted or preventive examination.

Differences from mental retardation

If by the end of junior (4th grade) school age signs of mental retardation remain, doctors begin to talk about either mental retardation (MR) or constitutional infantilism. These diseases are different:

• with mental and intellectual underdevelopment, mental and intellectual underdevelopment is irreversible; with mental retardation, everything can be corrected with the proper approach;
• children with mental retardation differ from mentally retarded children in their ability to use the help that is provided to them and independently transfer it to new tasks;
• a child with mental retardation tries to understand what he read, whereas with LD there is no such desire.

There is no need to give up when making a diagnosis. Modern psychology and pedagogy can offer comprehensive assistance to such children and their parents.

Treatment of mental retardation in children

Practice shows that children with mental retardation may well become students in a regular general education school, rather than in a special correctional school. Adults (teachers and parents) must understand that the difficulties of teaching such children at the very beginning of their school life are not at all the result of their laziness or carelessness: they have objective, quite serious reasons that must be jointly and successfully overcome. Such children should be provided with comprehensive assistance from parents, psychologists, and teachers.

It includes:

• individual approach to each child;
• classes with a psychologist and a teacher of the deaf (who deals with children’s learning problems);
• in some cases - drug therapy.

Many parents find it difficult to accept the fact that their child, due to his developmental characteristics, will learn slower than other children. But this needs to be done to help the little schoolchild. Parental care, attention, patience, coupled with qualified assistance from specialists (teacher-defectologist, psychotherapist) will help provide him with targeted upbringing and create favorable conditions for learning.

The diagnosis of mental retardation is made mainly in preschool or school age, when the child faces learning problems. With timely correction and medical care, it is possible to completely overcome developmental problems, but early diagnosis of the pathology is quite difficult.

What is mental retardation?

Mental retardation, abbreviated as MDD, is a lag in development from the norms accepted for a certain age. With mental retardation, certain cognitive functions - thinking, memory, attention, and the emotional sphere - suffer.

Causes of developmental delay

ZPR can arise due to various reasons, they can be divided into biological and social.

Biological reasons include:

• damage to the central nervous system during fetal development: injuries and infections during pregnancy, bad habits of the mother, fetal hypoxia;
• prematurity, symptoms of jaundice;
• hydrocephalus;
• malformations and neoplasms of the brain;
• epilepsy;
• congenital endocrine pathologies;
• hereditary diseases - phenylketonuria, homocystinuria, histidinemia, Down syndrome;
• severe infectious diseases (meningitis, meningoencephalitis, sepsis);
• heart disease, kidney disease;
• rickets;
• impairment of sensory functions (vision, hearing).

Social reasons include:

• restriction of the baby’s life activity;
• unfavorable educational conditions, pedagogical neglect;
• frequent psychological traumas in a child’s life.

Symptoms and signs of developmental delay

Signs of mental retardation can be suspected by paying attention to the characteristics of mental functions:

1. Perception: slow, inaccurate, inability to form a holistic image. Children with mental retardation perceive information better visually than auditorily.
2. Attention: superficial, unstable, short-term. Any external stimuli contribute to switching attention.
3. Memory: visual-figurative memory predominates, mosaic memorization of information, low mental activity when reproducing information.
4. Thinking: violation of figurative thinking, abstract and logical thinking only with the help of a teacher or parent. Children with mental retardation cannot draw conclusions from what has been said, summarize information, or draw a conclusion.
5. Speech: distortion of articulation of sounds, limitation of vocabulary, difficulties in constructing a statement, impaired auditory differentiation, delayed speech development, dyslalia, dyslexia, dysgraphia.

Psychology of children with mental retardation

1. Interpersonal communication: children without developmental disabilities rarely communicate with lagging children and do not accept them in games. In a peer group, a child with mental retardation practically does not interact with others. Many children prefer to play separately. During lessons, children with mental retardation work alone, cooperation is rare, and communication with others is limited. Children who are lagging behind in most cases communicate with children younger than themselves, who accept them better. Some kids completely avoid contact with the team.
2. Emotional sphere: children with mental retardation are emotionally unstable, labile, suggestible and not independent. They are often in a state of anxiety, restlessness, and affect. They are characterized by frequent mood swings and contrast in the expression of emotions. Inappropriate cheerfulness and uplifting mood may be observed. Children with mental retardation cannot characterize their emotional state, have difficulty identifying the emotions of others, and are often aggressive. Such children are characterized by low self-esteem, uncertainty, and attachment to one of their peers.

As a result of problems in the emotional sphere and the sphere of interpersonal relationships, children with mental retardation often prefer loneliness; they lose confidence in themselves.

According to the classification by K. S. Lebedinskaya according to the etiopathogenetic principle, ZPR can be of the following types:

1. Delayed development of constitutional etiology is uncomplicated psychophysical infantilism, in which the cognitive and emotional spheres are at an early stage of development.
2. ZPR of somatogenic etiology - occurs as a result of severe diseases suffered during early childhood.
3. Mental retardation of psychogenic etiology is the result of unfavorable upbringing conditions (overprotection, impulsiveness, lability, authoritarianism on the part of parents).
4. ZPR of cerebral-organic etiology.

Complications and consequences of ZPR

The consequences of mental retardation have a greater impact on the psychological health of the individual. If the problem is not corrected, the child continues to move away from the team, and his self-esteem decreases. In the future, social adaptation of such children is difficult. Along with the progression of mental retardation, writing and speech deteriorate.

Diagnosis of mental retardation

Early diagnosis of mental retardation is difficult. This is due to the fact that to confirm the diagnosis, a comparative analysis of the child’s mental development with age norms is necessary.

The degree and nature of developmental delay is determined collectively by a psychotherapist, psychologist, speech therapist, and defectologist.

Mental development includes assessment of the following criteria:

• speech and pre-speech development;
• memory and thinking;
• perception (knowledge of objects and parts of the body, colors, shapes, orientation in space);
• attention;
• gaming and visual activities;
• level of self-care skills;
• communication skills and self-awareness;
• school skills.

The Denver test, the Bayley scale, the IQ test and others are used for examination.

Additionally, the following instrumental studies may be indicated:

• CT and MRI of the brain.

How to cure mental retardation

The main help for children with mental retardation consists of long-term psychological and pedagogical correction, which is aimed at improving the emotional, communicative and cognitive sphere. Its essence is to conduct classes with a psychologist, speech therapist, defectologist, or psychiatrist.

If psychocorrection is not enough, it is supported by drug treatment based on nootropic drugs.

The main drugs for drug correction:

• Piracetam, Encephabol, Aminalon, Phenibut, Cerebrolysin, Actovegin;
• Glycine;
• homeopathic medicines – Cerebrum compositum;
• vitamins and vitamin-like products – vitamin B, Neuromultivit, Magne B6;
• antioxidants and antihypoxants – Mexidol, Cytoflavin;
• general tonics – Cogitum, Lecithin, Elkar.

Preventing developmental problems

To avoid CPR, you need to follow simple rules:

• create favorable conditions for pregnancy and childbirth;
• create a friendly environment in the family;
• closely monitor the child’s condition from the first days of life;
• promptly treat any kind of disease in the baby;
• engage with the child and develop him from an early age.

Of no small importance in the prevention of mental retardation is the physical and emotional contact between mother and baby. Hugs, kisses, and touches help the child feel calm and confident, navigate a new environment, and adequately perceive the world around him.

Doctor pays attention

1. There are 2 dangerous extremes to which many parents of children with mental retardation fall - overprotection and indifference. In both the first and second variants, personality development is inhibited. Overprotection does not allow the child to develop, since the parents do everything for him and treat the student like a little child. Indifference on the part of adults takes away the child’s incentive and desire to develop and learn something new.
2. There are special schools for children with mental retardation or separate classes in general education schools based on a correctional and developmental education model. In special classes, optimal conditions have been created for teaching special children - small numbers, individual lessons, which allow not to miss the psychological characteristics of the child, useful for his development.

The sooner parents pay attention to mental retardation or stop denying it, the higher the likelihood of full compensation for deficiencies in the emotional and cognitive sphere. Timely correction will prevent future psychological trauma associated with the awareness of one’s inadequacy and helplessness in the flow of general learning.

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Parents are sometimes discouraged when their child is diagnosed with mental development delay (MDD). Most often, this disorder can be easily corrected with the right approach from parents and teachers. But to do this, it is necessary to identify this deviation from the norm early in the child. The tests in the article will help you do this, and a unique table will help you determine the type of mental retardation in a child. This material also provides advice to parents of children with delayed psychological development.

What does the diagnosis of mental retardation mean? Who is diagnosed with delayed psychological development and when?

Mental retardation (MDD) is a violation of the normal development of the psyche, which is characterized by a lag in the development of certain mental functions (thinking, memory, attention).

The diagnosis of mental retardation is usually made in children under 8 years of age. In newborn children, mental retardation cannot be detected because it is normal. When a child grows up, parents do not always pay attention to the limitation of his mental abilities or attribute it to his young age. But some children may be diagnosed in infancy. He points to some disorders in the functioning of the brain, which in adulthood can manifest themselves in the form of mental retardation.

When attending kindergarten, it is not always possible to diagnose mental retardation in a child, since there the child is not required to engage in any intensive mental activity. But When entering school, a child with mental retardation will clearly stand out from other children because he:

• hard to sit in class;
• hard to obey the teacher;
• concentrate your attention on mental activity;
• is not easy to learn as he strives to play and have fun.

Children with mental retardation are physically healthy; the main difficulty for them is social adaptation. In children with mental retardation, delayed development of either the emotional sphere or intelligence may predominate.

• With delayed development of the emotional sphere Children's mental abilities are relatively normal. The emotional development of such children does not correspond to their age and corresponds to the psyche of a younger child. These children can play tirelessly, they are not independent and any mental activity is very tiring for them. Thus, while attending school, it is difficult for them to concentrate on their studies, obey the teacher and obey discipline in the classroom.

• If the child has hslow development of the intellectual sphere , then, on the contrary, he will sit calmly and patiently in class, listen to the teacher and obey his elders. Such children are very timid, shy and take any difficulties to heart. They are referred to a psychologist not because of disciplinary violations, but because of learning difficulties.

Tests to identify mental retardation - 6 ways to determine mental retardation in a child

If parents have doubts about the mental development of their child, then there are some tests that will help determine mental development disorders.

You should not interpret the results of these tests yourself, since this should only be done by a specialist.

Test No. 1 (up to 1 year)

The physical and psychological development of a child must correspond to his age. He should begin to hold his head no later than 1.5 months, roll over from back to stomach - at 3-5 months, sit and stand up - at 8-10 months. It is also worth paying attention to. A child should babble at 6-8 months and pronounce the word “mom” by 1 year.

KID-R scale for assessing child development from 2 to 16 months - and

Test No. 2 (9-12 months)

At this age, the child begins to develop simple thinking skills. For example, you can hide a toy under a box in front of a child and ask in surprise, “Where is the toy?” The child should respond by removing the box and showing with delight that he found the toy. The child must understand that a toy cannot disappear without a trace.

Test No. 3 (1-1.5 years)

At this age, the baby shows interest in the world around him. He is interested in learning something new, trying new toys by touch, and showing joy when he sees his mother. If such activity is not observed in the baby, this should raise suspicion.

RCDI-2000 scale for assessing the development of children aged 14 months to 3.5 years - download the questionnaire form in PDF format and instructions for parents on how to fill it out

Test No. 4 (2-3 years)

There is a children's game where you need to insert figures into their corresponding holes. At the age of two or three years, the baby should be able to do this without problems.

Test No. 5 (3-5 years)

At this age, a child’s horizons begin to form. He calls a spade a spade. A child can explain what a machine is or what kind of robot a doctor makes. At this age, you shouldn’t demand a lot of information from your child, but nevertheless, a narrow vocabulary and limited horizons should raise suspicions.

Test No. 6 (5-7 years old)

At this age, the baby can freely count to 10 and perform computational operations within these numbers. He can freely name the names of geometric shapes and understands where there is one object and where there are many. Also, the child must clearly know and name the primary colors. It is very important to pay attention to his creative activity: children at this age should draw, sculpt or design something.

Factors causing PVD

There may be several reasons for delayed mental development in children. Sometimes these are social factors, and in other situations the cause of mental retardation is congenital brain pathologies, which are determined using various examinations (for example,).

• To the social factors of ZPR include inappropriate conditions for raising a child. Such children often do not have parental or maternal love and care. Their families may be antisocial, dysfunctional, or these children are raised in orphanages. This leaves a heavy mark on the child’s psyche and often affects his mental health in the future.
• To the physiological causes of mental retardation include heredity, congenital diseases, severe pregnancy of the mother, or illnesses suffered in early childhood that affected the normal development of the brain. In this case, the child’s mental health suffers due to brain damage.

Four types of psychological development delay in children

Table 1. Types of mental retardation in children

ZPR type	Causes	How does it manifest?
ZPR of constitutional origin	Heredity.	Simultaneous immaturity of physique and psyche.
ZPR of somatogenic origin	Previously suffered dangerous diseases that affect brain development.	In most cases, intelligence does not suffer, but the functions of the emotional-volitional sphere lag significantly behind in development.
ZPR of psychogenic origin	Inappropriate upbringing conditions (orphans, children from single-parent families, etc.).	Decreased intellectual motivation, lack of independence.
Cerebral-organic origin	Severe disorders of brain maturation due to pathologies of pregnancy or after suffering serious illnesses in the first year of life.	The most severe form of mental retardation, there are obvious delays in the development of the emotional-volitional and intellectual spheres.

In most situations, parents perceive the diagnosis of mental retardation very painfully, often not understanding its meaning. It is important to realize that mental retardation does not mean that the child is mentally ill. ZPR means that the child is developing normally, only slightly behind his peers.

With the right approach to this diagnosis, by the age of 10, all manifestations of mental retardation can be eliminated.

• Research this disease scientifically. Read medical articles, consult a psychiatrist or psychologist. Parents will find the articles useful: O.A. Vinogradova “Development of speech communication in preschool children with mental retardation”, N.Yu. Boryakova “Clinical and psychological-pedagogical characteristics of children with mental retardation”, D.V. Zaitsev “Development of communication skills in children with intellectual disabilities in the family.”
• Contact the specialists. Children with mental retardation need consultation with a neurologist, psychoneurologist, as well as the help of a speech pathologist, educational psychologist, and speech therapist.
• It will be useful to use didactic games in teaching. Such games should be selected based on the child’s age and mental abilities; they should not be difficult or incomprehensible for the child.
• Children of senior preschool or primary school age must attend FEMP classes(formation of elementary mathematical concepts). This will help them prepare for mastering mathematics and exact sciences, improve logical thinking and memory.
• Highlight a specific time (20-30 min) to complete lessons and sit down with your child for homework every day at this time. Initially, help him, and then gradually teach him to be independent.
• Find like-minded people. For example, on thematic forums you can find parents with the same problem and maintain communication with them, exchanging your experiences and advice.

It is important for parents to understand that a child with mental retardation is not considered mentally retarded, since he perfectly understands the essence of the events taking place and consciously performs assigned tasks. With the right approach, in most cases, the child’s intellectual and social functions return to normal over time.