Mental retardation is a mental disorder that is observed in the development of the child. What is this pathology? This is a special state of mind. It is diagnosed in cases where there is a low level of functioning of the central nervous system, resulting in a decrease in cognitive activity.
If we say that a person is mentally retarded, then this does not mean at all that he has "little mind". Just because of a different development of the psyche, personal characteristics become completely different. The most significant deviations in this case are observed in physical development and intellect, in behavior, as well as in the possession of will and emotions.
Specialists have proven that children who are considered mentally retarded are able to learn and develop. However, this happens only up to the limit of their biological capabilities. Of course, parents strive to do everything possible to ensure that their childbecame "like everyone else." However, they should accept his individual characteristics, which will allow their child to become more integrated in society.
Signs
Characteristics of children with mental retardation suggests that their condition is due to a congenital or acquired at an early age delay in mental processes or their insufficient development.
The main sign of such a pathology is a clear violation of the intellect. As a rule, they are caused by failures in the formation of the brain and nervous system. In addition to the fact that such children are lagging behind in the overall development of the psyche, they are also distinguished by social maladaptation.
Signs of mental retardation in a sick child appear in a variety of areas. This is the intellect, and speech, and psychomotor functions, as well as the volitional and emotional sphere. The main signs of mental retardation are:
- low cognitive activity of children (they don't want to know anything);
- poor motor development;
- underdevelopment observed in all types of speech, namely in the pronunciation of words, in the impossibility of constructing sentences, in poor vocabulary, etc.;
- slow thinking, and sometimes the complete absence of such processes;
- productive activity expressed in imitation, in connection with which for such children all games are no more than the most elementary;
- infantile emotional-volitional sphere with possible sudden mood swings that occur for no particular reason;
- difficulties in perceiving the world, expressed in a lack of understanding of the processcomposing a whole from separate parts, as well as the impossibility of highlighting the main thing;
- short attention span and slow pace of all operations;
- arbitrary memory, when the child is more focused not on the internal, but on the external signs of the object.
Dementia
Often, mental retardation is also called mental retardation. Translated from Greek, this word means "foolishness." This is a form of mental retardation, the signs of which become noticeable even before the child develops speech.
Oligophrenia refers to a whole group of disease states, which has a different origin and course. A similar pathology manifests itself in a general deviation in the development of the psyche due to organic damage to the brain or its inferiority. Oligophrenia is a lesion of the cerebral cortex that develops in children under 3 years of age. This is the period when mental or mental retardation sets in.
Oligophrenic children are practically he althy physically. However, at the same time, they have a persistent underdevelopment of mental processes, which manifests itself both in lagging behind the norm and in their deep originality.
Oligophrenics are able to develop. However, such a process is carried out atypically and slowly, with deviations from the usual norm.
As for the term "mental retardation", this concept is much broader. It implies not only the lag of a person in development, but also his pedagogical andsocial neglect.
Dementia
In the classification of mental retardation, considering the time of appearance of its symptoms, another form of pathology stands out. It is called dementia, which means "dementia". This term refers to persistent damage or progressive decay of already developed to a certain level emotional-volitional sphere, criticism, memory and intellect. A similar phenomenon is observed in children after three years and occurs due to organic damage to areas of the brain.
Factors provoking mental retardation
The causes of mental retardation of this type may be:
- infectious diseases that the mother had during pregnancy (chickenpox, mumps, rubella, measles, flu, jaundice);
- parasitic pathologies;
- birth trauma;
- pathological heredity (microcephaly, mental retardation of parents or their existing sexually transmitted diseases);
- violations in the chromosome set (Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome, Klinefelter syndrome, Down's disease);
- malfunctions of the endocrine system (phenylketonuria, diabetes mellitus);
- incompatibility of the Rh factor of the mother and fetus;
- drug intoxication (certain types of antibiotics, anticonvulsants, neuroleptics, and hormones);
- mother's smoking and alcoholism.
In the postpartum period, the causes of mental retardation are neuroinfections - meningitis, parainfectious encephalitis, meningoencephalitis. Less common oligophreniaoccurs due to traumatic brain injury and intoxication. The factors listed above have a negative impact on the nervous system during the period when it is laid, as well as at the very beginning of a person's life.
Factors causing dementia
The second type of mental retardation occurs due to metabolic pathologies, meningoencephalitis, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy or schizophrenia.
Dementia certainly accompanies mucopolysaccharidosis. This is a progressive hereditary disease caused by chromosomal abnormalities. Due to the lack of certain enzymes in the body, it is expressed in the non-cleavage of mucopolysaccharidoses, for example, starch in potatoes and bread. Lack of glucose causes malnutrition of the brain.
Another similar pathology is neurolipidosis. It represents the loss by neurons of their inherent functions due to failures occurring in the metabolism of the myelin sheath. The cause of this disease, which is also chromosomal, is the lack of essential enzymes.
Forms and degrees of oligophrenia
The prevalence of this type of mental retardation in different countries of the world ranges from 0.7 to 3%. These numbers include:
- idiocy - 4 to 5%;
- imbecility - from 18 to 19%;
- debility - ranging from 76 to 78%.
Let's take a closer look at these types of mental retardation classification.
Idiocy
This term refers to the most severe degree, which is typical for mental disorders. Diagnosis of mental retardation of this type is possible even before the year of a child's life. Its signs are obvious and pronounced. The main signs of children with severe mental retardation are:
- Undeveloped thinking and speech.
- Lack of basic self-care skills.
- Poor coordination of movements, because of which the child either has difficulty learning to walk or constantly lies down.
- The inability to distinguish between tastes, in connection with which such children chew and suck on inedible objects.
- Insufficient understanding of any activity, including games.
- The expression of emotions in the form of squeals, screams and chaotic excitement that arise from the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of organic needs.
- Inability to correct mental retardation.
Such children are not subject to education. If the idiocy has a lesser degree of severity, then patients are able to walk, as well as talk and serve themselves.
These children need constant help and supervision. That is why they are kept in a boarding school for mentally retarded children. At the age of 18 they are transferred to institutions for psychochronics. It is worth noting that the IQ of such patients is 0-35 points.
Imbecile
This type of mental retardation is of moderate severity. With this form of the disease, not only the cerebral cortex is affected, but also the underlying formations. As with idiocy, it is possible to diagnose the presence of imbecility already at the mostearly stages of baby development.
What is the characteristic of children with this type of mental retardation? In infancy, they begin to hold their heads late. This happens in the period from 4 to 8 months. Later they begin to roll over and sit. Such children master walking only after 3 years. In infancy, it is almost impossible to hear cooing and babbling from them. The revitalization complex is not formed in such children either.
If there is a moderate degree of imbecility, then children pronounce simple and fairly short phrases, while understanding simple speech.
The stock of knowledge of these patients is limited. Moreover, independent conceptual thinking is inaccessible to them. All available representations have a very narrow range and are of a household nature.
If imbeciles are brought up correctly, then adults manage to acquaint them with the elementary skills of the simplest labor (sweeping the floor, washing dishes, etc.). With compulsion and constant monitoring, such patients perform simple physical work. But it is worth noting that these children do not have a sense of responsibility and duty.
Imbeciles need constant guardianship. For they have a limited capacity for orientation in this life. That is why they are sometimes assigned to a boarding school for mentally retarded children.
Imbeciles can master speech. However, their gross defects in memory, perception, motor skills, thinking and communication abilities lead to the fact that no activity with children with mental retardation of this type can bringproper effect. They are considered practically unteachable, even in a special school setting.
Considering the characteristics of children with mental retardation of this type, it is worth noting that their vocabulary is at the level of more than one hundred words. However, the speech of such patients is imitative. There is no independent story in it, and the content itself is not subjected to comprehension. When taught, imbecile children are able to learn to count within 20, as well as master the simplest elements of reading and writing.
According to the current legislation, they are incompetent. Relatively recently, it was found that some of these patients are able to master certain skills, abilities and knowledge. Moreover, this is possible within the framework of a specially developed adaptation program, which is provided for by the Federal State Educational Standard for children with mental retardation.
As adults, these patients can work from home, performing the simplest tasks (gluing envelopes or boxes). As practice has shown, persons with a moderate degree of backwardness cope remarkably with agricultural tasks. Such work brings them joy due to the possibility of self-realization.
Considering the characteristics of children with mental retardation of this type, it can be noted that they have a deep attachment to loved ones. Moreover, they have developed such feelings as resentment, shame and rancor. Imbeciles can react to censure and praise. The IQ of these children is between 35 and 49 points.
Debility
It is believed that this type of mental retardation refers to a mild degree of pathology. After the age of five, such children master speech quite well. Most of them take care of themselves. The behavior and thinking of morons are characterized by stereotyping and stereotyping, concreteness and inability to identify the essential features of what surrounds them. Such children are weak in criticizing their actions. And their somatic defects in the form of general physical weakness, motor disorders, features of the sphere of emotional-volitional direction and other characteristics significantly limit the scope of their work.
Teaching morons takes place in a support school. For nine years of being within its walls, they are able to master the material corresponding to the initial level of education. That is, they begin to write, read, master a simple account.
Morons have access to a simple profession. They get jobs, live independently, and even get married. Such people are considered capable. They are responsible before the law for their actions, participate in elections, serve in the army, inherit property, and so on. The IQ of such patients is in the range of 50 to 70 points.
Training
As already mentioned, today an adapted program for children with mental retardation has been developed and is being successfully used. Its goal is to create a unified system in the school that would ensure normal pedagogical conditions for all categories of students. An adapted program for children with mental retardation certainly takes into account the age and individual psychological characteristics of such students, and also takes into account their neuropsychic and somatic he alth.
In this program, correctional-developing and diagnostic-advisory, as well as social and labor areas of activity interact with each other.
The whole system of work of a teacher using an adapted educational program involves the application of the necessary efforts to compensate for the shortcomings in the development of children, as well as to fill in the gaps that appeared during the period of previous education. At the same time, the teacher strives for his pupils to overcome the negative features of the emotional and personal sphere as actively as possible, normalize and improve educational activities, while increasing their working capacity and level of knowledge.
The adapted program for mentally retarded children provides for the formation of their general abilities for learning, the correction of existing developmental defects, as well as the conduct of medical and preventive work. All these actions are designed to ensure that sick children achieve state educational standards of students' skills and knowledge. The most important task of the teacher in this case is to protect and strengthen the neuropsychic and physical he alth of children with disabilities, as well as in their social adaptation. The role of such processes cannot be overestimated.
