Mentally retarded are children suffering from disruption of the development of psychological processes due to the pathology of the brain.
Mentally retarded children - reasons
Mental retardation is a consequence of congenital or acquired disorders in the brain. Congenital anomalies appear as a result of the influence of harmful factors on the fetus in the womb. It can be:
- trauma, intoxication, alcoholism of the mother;
- lack of a balanced diet in a pregnant woman;
- intrauterine infection;
- hormonal disorders in pregnant women;
- the future mother of teratogenic medicines;
- incompatibility of Rh factor of mother and child blood;
- genetic factor.
Acquired pathologies of the brain arise as a result of harmful effects during and after childbirth:
- mechanical damage and fetal injuries during the birth;
- stopping breathing, or asphyxia in a baby being born;
- infectious diseases in the first year of life (meningitis, poliomyelitis, encephalitis, influenza, measles);
- adverse social conditions of life and lack of communication.
Features of a mentally retarded child
Mental retardation is not a disease, but a child's condition. In the first place, there is a lack of development of intellectual activity. So, for example, the speech of mentally retarded children is meager and wrong, the pace of mastering it slows down. Distinction in speech of words by hearing occurs rather late. The dictionary of the child, as correct, is very limited and inadequate. Regarding the memory of mentally retarded children, it is fragile and works slowly, which manifests itself in the long learning of the new. They manage to remember after repeated repetition, but children also quickly forget this material, and they also can not take advantage of the acquired knowledge. A low level of development of thinking of mentally retarded children is associated with underdevelopment of speech. Because of this, the child accumulates a scanty supply of ideas, so a particular type of thinking prevails. Accordingly, verbal-logical thinking, which requires the operation of analysis, generalization, comparison, is poorly developed. Because of this, the education of mentally retarded children is problematic: it is difficult for a schoolboy to learn school rules, use them, and solve mathematical problems.
If we talk about the psychology of mentally retarded children, it is usually possible to observe sharp changes in their mood: high excitability is often replaced by apathy. There is a weak interest in the world around them, and contact with relatives is established late. There is no need and the ability to communicate with peers. In the behavior of mentally retarded children there is irritability, nervousness, lack of initiative, impulsiveness and limitedness of the manifestations of the senses.
Such children are divided into 3 groups:
- Debilits call children with mild degrees of backwardness. They may well be trained, however, in specialized institutions, since higher cognitive processes are underdeveloped. They learn by counting, reading, writing, speaking.
- Imbeciles are called deeply mentally retarded children, who lack a full-fledged independent activity. They distort their speech, improperly build sentences. Possess some domestic skills, but require supervision.
- Idiots are children with an extremely deep mental retardation, unable to master speech or understand someone else's. They can only react to external stimuli, practically do not move and should always be supervised.
Socialization of mentally retarded children
Unfortunately, in the modern world it is customary to separate mentally retarded children from the rest. Most often they are educated and trained in specialized institutions, which does not stimulate in them an interest in surrounding people. In fact, for the development of a mentally retarded child, it is much more useful to live at home, since it is then that he seeks to communicate with other people, learn the necessary skills, becomes more active. Their speech and understanding of the speech of others are better developed.