Signs of mental retardation in early childhood. What is a ZPR? Prevention and treatment

These three ominous letters are nothing but impaired mental function. Doesn't sound very nice, does it? Unfortunately, today medical card a child can often meet such a diagnosis.

Over the past few years, there has been an increased interest in the problem of ZPR, and there is a lot of controversy around it. All this is due to the fact that in itself such a deviation in mental development is very ambiguous, it can have many different prerequisites, causes and consequences. The phenomenon, which is complex in its structure, requires close and careful analysis, individual approach for each specific case. Meanwhile, the diagnosis of mental retardation is so popular among doctors that some of them, based on the minimum amount of information and relying on their professional instincts, put their autograph under it with unjustified ease, often without thinking about the consequences. And this fact is already quite enough to get to know the problem of ZPR better.

What is suffering

ZPR belongs to the category of mild deviations in mental development and occupies an intermediate place between the norm and pathology. Children with mental retardation do not have such severe developmental disabilities as mental retardation, primary underdevelopment of speech, hearing, vision, motor system. The main difficulties they experience are primarily related to social (including school) adaptation and education.

The explanation for this is the slowdown in the maturation of the psyche. It should also be noted that in each individual child, mental retardation may manifest itself in different ways and differ both in time and in the degree of manifestation. But, despite this, we can try to identify a range of developmental features that are characteristic of most children with mental retardation.

Researchers call the most striking sign of ZPR immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere; in other words, it is very difficult for such a child to make an effort of will on himself, to force himself to do something. And from here inevitably appear attention disorders: his instability, reduced concentration, increased distractibility. Attention disorders may be accompanied by increased motor and speech activity. Such a complex of deviations (attention disorder + increased motor and speech activity), not complicated by any other manifestations, is currently referred to as "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD).

Perceptual disturbance expressed in the difficulty of building a holistic image. For example, it may be difficult for a child to recognize objects known to him in an unfamiliar perspective. Such structured perception is the cause of insufficiency, limitation, knowledge about the surrounding world. The speed of perception and orientation in space also suffer.

If we talk about memory features in children with mental retardation, one regularity was found here: they memorize visual (non-verbal) material much better than verbal. In addition, it was found that after a course of special training in various memorization techniques, the performance of children with mental retardation improved even compared to normally developing children.

ASD is often accompanied speech problems associated primarily with the pace of its development. Other features of speech development in this case may depend on the severity of the mental retardation and the nature of the underlying disorder: for example, in one case it may be only some delay or even correspondence normal level development, while in another case there is a systemic underdevelopment of speech - a violation of its lexical and grammatical side.

Children with ADHD have lag in the development of all forms of thinking; it is found first of all during the solution of tasks for verbal-logical thinking. By the beginning of schooling, children with mental retardation do not fully master all the intellectual operations necessary to complete school assignments (analysis, synthesis, generalization, comparison, abstraction).

At the same time, ZPR is not an obstacle to the development of general educational programs, which, however, require certain adjustments in accordance with the characteristics of the child's development.

Who are these children

The answers of experts to the question of which children should be included in the group with mental retardation are also very ambiguous. Conventionally, they can be divided into two camps.

The former adhere to humanistic views, believing that the main causes of mental retardation are primarily of a socio-pedagogical nature (unfavorable family situation, lack of communication and cultural development, difficult living conditions). Children with mental retardation are defined as unadapted, difficult to learn, pedagogically neglected. This view of the problem prevails in Western psychology, and recently it has become widespread in our country. Many researchers cite evidence that mild forms of intellectual underdevelopment tend to be concentrated in certain social strata where parents have an intellectual level below the average. It is noted that hereditary factors play a significant role in the genesis of underdevelopment of intellectual functions.

It is probably best to take both factors into account.

So, as the reasons leading to mental retardation, domestic specialists M.S. Pevzner and T.A. Vlasov distinguish the following.

Unfavorable course of pregnancy:

• mother's illness during pregnancy (rubella, mumps, influenza);
• chronic diseases of the mother (heart disease, diabetes, thyroid disease);
• toxicosis, especially the second half of pregnancy;
• toxoplasmosis;
• intoxication of the mother's body due to the use of alcohol, nicotine, drugs, chemical and medicines, hormones;
• incompatibility of the blood of the mother and the baby according to the Rh factor.

Childbirth pathology:

• injury due to mechanical damage to the fetus when using various means childbirth (for example, the imposition of forceps);
• asphyxia of newborns and its threat.

Social factors:

• pedagogical neglect as a result of limited emotional contact with the child both at the early stages of development (up to three years) and at later age stages.

Types of developmental delay in children

Mental retardation is usually divided into four groups. Each of these types is due to certain reasons, has its own characteristics of emotional immaturity and cognitive impairment.

The first type - ZPR of constitutional origin. This type is characterized by a pronounced immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere, which is, as it were, at an earlier stage of development. Here we are talking about the so-called mental infantilism. It must be understood that mental infantilism is not a disease, but rather a certain complex of pointed character traits and behavioral characteristics, which, however, can significantly affect the child's activity, primarily educational, his adaptive abilities to a new situation.

Such a child is often dependent, hard to adapt to new conditions for him, often strongly attached to his mother and in her absence feels helpless; it is characterized by an increased background of mood, a violent manifestation of emotions, which are very unstable at the same time. By school age, such a child still has play interests in the foreground, while normally they should be replaced by learning motivation. It is difficult for him to make any decision without outside help, to make a choice, or to make any other volitional effort on himself. Such a baby can behave cheerfully and directly, his developmental lag is not striking, however, when compared with his peers, he always seems a little younger.

To the second group - somatogenic origin- are weakened, often ill children. As a result of a long illness, chronic infections, allergies, congenital malformations may form mental retardation. This is explained by the fact that during a long illness, against the background of a general weakness of the body, the mental state of the baby also suffers, and, therefore, cannot fully develop. Low cognitive activity, increased fatigue, dullness of attention - all this creates a favorable situation for slowing down the pace of development of the psyche.

This also includes children from families with overprotective increased attention to raising a child. When parents take too much care of their beloved child, do not let him go a single step, they do everything for him, fearing that the child might harm himself, that he is still small. In such a situation, relatives, considering their behavior as a model of parental care and guardianship, thereby prevent the child from manifesting independence, and hence the knowledge of the world around him, the formation of a full-fledged personality. It should be noted that the situation of overprotection is just very common in families with a sick child, where pity for the baby and constant anxiety for his condition, the desire to supposedly make his life easier in the end turn out to be poor helpers.

The next group is the mental retardation of psychogenic origin. The main role is given to the social situation of the development of the baby. The reason for this type of mental retardation is unfavorable situations in the family, problematic education, mental trauma. If there is aggression and violence towards the child or other family members in the family, this may lead to the predominance of such traits in the child's character as indecision, lack of independence, lack of initiative, timidity and pathological shyness.

Here, in contrast to the previous type of ZPR, there is a phenomenon of hypo-custody, or insufficient attention to the upbringing of the child. The child grows up in a situation of neglect, pedagogical neglect. The consequence of this is the lack of ideas about the moral norms of behavior in society, the inability to control one's own behavior, irresponsibility and inability to answer for one's actions, and an insufficient level of knowledge about the world around.

The fourth and last type of ZPR is of cerebro-organic origin. It occurs more often than others, and the prognosis for further development for children with this type of mental retardation, compared with the previous three, is usually the least favorable.

As the name implies, the basis for the allocation of this group of ZPR are organic disorders, namely, insufficiency nervous system, the causes of which can be: pathology of pregnancy (toxicoses, infections, intoxications and injuries, Rhesus conflict, etc.), prematurity, asphyxia, birth trauma, neuroinfections. With this form of mental retardation, the so-called minimal brain dysfunction (MMD) takes place, which is understood as a complex of mild developmental disorders that manifest themselves, depending on the specific case, in a very diverse way. various areas mental activity.

MMD researchers identified the following risk factors for its occurrence:

• late age of the mother, height and body weight of a woman before pregnancy, beyond the age norm, first birth;
• pathological course of previous births;
• chronic diseases of the mother, especially diabetes, Rh-conflict, premature birth, infectious diseases during pregnancy;
• psychosocial factors such as unwanted pregnancy, risk factors big city(daily long road, city noises);
• the presence of mental, neurological and psychosomatic diseases in the family;
• pathological childbirth with the imposition of forceps, caesarean section etc.

Children of this type are distinguished by weakness in the manifestation of emotions, poverty of imagination, disinterest in evaluating themselves by others.

About prevention

The diagnosis of ZPR appears in the medical record most often closer to school age, at the age of 5-6, or even when the child is directly faced with learning problems. But with a timely and well-constructed correctional and pedagogical and medical care partial and even complete overcoming of this deviation in development is possible. The problem is that the diagnosis of ZPR on early stages development seems to be quite problematic. His methods are based primarily on a comparative analysis of the development of the child with the norms corresponding to his age.

Thus, in the first place prevention of CRA. Recommendations on this matter are no different from those that can be given to any young parents: this is, first of all, the creation of the maximum favorable conditions for the course of pregnancy and childbirth, avoiding the risk factors listed above, and of course, close attention to the development of the baby from the very first days of his life. The latter simultaneously makes it possible to recognize and correct deviations in development in time.

First of all, it is necessary to show the newborn to a neurologist. Today, as a rule, all children after 1 month are sent for examination to this specialist. Many receive a referral directly from the hospital. Even if both pregnancy and childbirth went perfectly, your baby feels great, and there is not the slightest cause for concern - do not be lazy and visit a doctor.

A specialist, having checked the presence or absence of various reflexes that, as you know, accompany a child throughout the entire period of newborn and infancy, will be able to objectively assess the development of the baby. Also, the doctor will check the eyesight and hearing, note the features of interaction with adults. If necessary, he will prescribe neurosonography - an ultrasound examination that will provide valuable information about the development of the brain.

Knowing the age indicators of the norm, you yourself will be able to monitor the psychomotor development of the crumbs. Today, on the Internet and various printed publications, you can find many descriptions and tables that show in detail what a baby should be able to do at a particular age, starting from the first days of life. There you can also find a list of behaviors that should alert young parents. Be sure to read this information, and if there is even the slightest suspicion, immediately go to see a doctor.

If you have already been to an appointment, and the doctor found it necessary to prescribe medication, do not neglect his recommendations. And if doubts do not give rest, or the doctor does not inspire confidence, show the child to another, third specialist, ask questions that concern you, try to find the maximum amount of information.

If you are confused by a medicine prescribed by a doctor, do not hesitate to ask about it in more detail, let the doctor tell you how it works, what substances are included in its composition, why exactly your child needs it. After all, under an hour under menacing-sounding names, relatively "harmless" drugs are hiding, which act as a kind of vitamin for the brain.

Of course, many doctors are reluctant to share such information, believing, not without reason, that there is no need to initiate people who are not related to medicine into purely professional matters. But trying is not torture. If it was not possible to talk with a specialist, try to find people who have encountered similar problems. Here again, the Internet and related literature will come to the rescue. But, of course, you should not take on faith all the statements of parents from Internet forums, because most of them do not have medical education but only share their personal experience and observations. It will be more effective to use the services of an online consultant who can give qualified recommendations.

In addition to visiting doctor's offices, there are several points regarding the interaction of parents with children, which are also necessary for the normal and full development of the child. The components of communication with a baby are familiar to every caring mother and are so simple that we don’t even think about their tremendous impact on a growing body. it body-emotional contact with a baby. body contact implies any touch to the child, hugs, kisses, stroking on the head. Since in the first months after birth, the baby has a very highly developed tactile sensitivity, bodily contact helps him navigate in a new environment for him, feel more confident and calm. The baby must be picked up, caressed, stroked not only on the head, but also on the whole body. The touch of gentle parental hands on the skin of the baby will allow him to form the correct image of his body, adequately perceive the space around him.

A special place is given to eye contact, which is the main and most effective way transmission of feelings. In particular, of course, this applies to infants, who are not yet available other means of communication and expression of emotions. A kind look reduces anxiety in a baby, has a calming effect on him, gives a sense of security. And, of course, it is very important to give all your attention to the baby. Some believe that by indulging the whims of a baby, you thereby pamper him. This, of course, is not true. After all, the little man feels so insecure in a completely unfamiliar environment that he constantly needs confirmation that he is not alone, someone needs him. If a child receives less attention in early childhood, it will definitely affect later.

Needless to say, a baby with certain developmental disabilities needs warmth mother's hands, her gentle voice, kindness, love, attention and understanding are a thousand times more than their healthy peers.

The concept of "mental retardation".

Mental retardation (MPD) - a special type of anomaly, manifested in a violation of the normal pace of the mental development of the child. It can be caused by various reasons: defects constitution of the child (harmonic infantilism), somatic diseases, organic lesions of the central nervous system (minimal brain dysfunction).

Children with mental retardation turn out to be unsuccessful from the very beginning of their education. However, the insufficiency of their intellect is more correctly defined not as backwardness, but as a lag. Under ZPR in domestic science refers to syndromes of a temporary lag in the development of the psyche as a whole or its individual functions (motor, sensory, speech, emotional-volitional), a slow pace of implementation of the properties of the body encoded in the genotype. Being a consequence of temporary and mild factors (early deprivation, poor care, etc.), DRA may be reversible. In the etiology of ZPR, constitutional factors, somatic diseases, and organic insufficiency of the nervous system play a role.

Classification ZPR K.S. Lebedinskaya.

The main clinical types of mental retardation are differentiated according to the etiopathogenetic principle: mental retardation of constitutional origin, mental retardation of somatogenic origin, mental retardation of psychogenic origin, mental retardation of cerebroorganic origin.

Each of these types of mental retardation has its own clinical and psychological structure, its own characteristics of emotional immaturity and cognitive impairment, and is often complicated by a number of painful symptoms - somatic, encephalopathic, neurological.

The presented clinical types of the most persistent forms of mental retardation mainly differ from each other precisely in the peculiarity of the structure and the nature of the ratio of the two main components of this developmental anomaly: the structure of infantilism and the nature of neurodynamic disorders.

At ZPR of constitutional origin we are talking about the so-called harmonic infantilism, in which the emotional-volitional sphere is, as it were, at an earlier stage of development, in many respects resembling the normal structure of the emotional make-up of younger children. The predominance of emotional motivation of behavior, an increased background of mood, immediacy and brightness of emotions with their superficiality and instability, easy suggestibility are characteristic.

ZPR of somatogenic origin due to long-term somatic insufficiency of various origins: chronic infections and allergic conditions, congenital and acquired malformations of the somatic sphere. Often there is a delay in emotional development - somatogenic infantilism, due to a number of neurotic layers - insecurity, timidity, capriciousness associated with a sense of one's physical inferiority.

ZPR of psychogenic origin associated with unfavorable conditions of education that impede the correct formation of the child's personality (phenomena of hypo-custody, hyper-custody, etc.). The features of pathological immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere in the form of affective lability (mood instability with pronounced manifestations of frequently changing emotions), impulsivity, increased suggestibility, indecision in these children are often combined with an insufficient level of knowledge and ideas necessary for mastering school subjects.

ZPR of cerebro-organic origin occurs more often than the other types described above, often has greater persistence and severity of disturbances both in the emotional-volitional sphere and in cognitive activity.

The study of the anamnesis of these children in most cases shows the presence of a mild organic insufficiency of the nervous system. Depending on the predominance clinical picture phenomena of either emotional-volitional immaturity, or impaired cognitive activity of cerebral genesis DRA can be divided into two main options: 1) organic infantilism; 2) mental retardation with a predominance of functional disorders of cognitive activity.

Usually, different kinds organic infantilism are a milder form of mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin, in which functional disorders of cognitive activity are caused by emotional-volitional immaturity and mild cerebrosthenic disorders.

In case of mental retardation with a predominance of functional disorders, there is instability of attention, insufficient development of phonemic hearing, visual and tactile perception, optical-spatial synthesis, motor and sensory side of speech, long-term and short-term memory, hand-eye coordination, automation of movements and actions. Often there is a poor orientation in the "right - left", the phenomenon of mirroring in writing, difficulties in differentiating similar graphemes.

At the same time, a certain partiality, a mosaic pattern of violations of individual cortical functions, is noted. Obviously, in this regard, some of these children experience predominant difficulties in mastering reading, others in writing, others in counting, fourths show the greatest lack of motor coordination, fifths in memory, etc. X. Spionek (1972) emphasizes that such a child does not have a sufficient number of premises on which logical thinking is built.

School applicants children with mental retardation has a number of specific features. In general, they have not formed a readiness for schooling. They have insufficiently formed the skills, abilities and knowledge necessary for mastering the program material, which normally developing children usually master in the preschool period. In this regard, children are not able (without special help) to master counting, reading and writing. It is difficult for them to comply with school norms of behavior. They experience difficulties in the arbitrary organization of activities: they do not know how to consistently follow the instructions of the teacher, switch from one task to another at his direction. Their difficulties are exacerbated by the weakening of their nervous system. Students with mental retardation quickly get tired, their performance decreases, and sometimes they simply stop performing the activity they have begun.

The decrease in working capacity and instability characteristic of these children attention have different forms of individual manifestation. In some children, the maximum tension of attention and the highest working capacity are found at the beginning of the task and steadily decrease as the work continues; in others, concentration of attention occurs only after a certain period of activity; still others have periodic fluctuations in attention and uneven performance throughout the entire time of the task.

It has been established that many of these children experience difficulties in the process perception . First of all, this is manifested in the fact that children do not perceive the educational material presented with sufficient completeness. Many things are misunderstood by them. This is important to keep in mind, since it is easy to assume that children who do not have hearing or visual impairments should not have difficulties in the process of perception.

All children with mental retardation also have deficiencies memory: moreover, these shortcomings relate to all types of memorization: involuntary and voluntary, short-term and long-term. First of all, as shown in the studies of V. L. Podobed, they have a limited amount of memory and a reduced strength of memorization. This applies to the memorization of both visual and (especially) verbal material, which cannot but affect academic performance.

A significant lag and originality is also found in the development of their mental activity . Both are most evident in the process of solving intellectual problems. So, when independently analyzing the objects he proposed to describe, children with mental retardation emit significantly fewer signs than their normally developing peers.

The most typical mistakes of children with mental retardation are the substitution of the comparison of one object with all the others by pairwise comparison (which does not give a real basis for generalization) or generalization according to insignificant features. The mistakes that normally developing children make when performing such tasks are due only to an insufficiently clear differentiation of concepts.

The fact that, after receiving help, the children of the group under consideration are able to perform the various tasks offered to them at a level close to the norm, allows us to speak of their qualitative difference from mentally retarded children. Children with mental retardation have much greater potential in terms of the ability to master the educational material offered to them.

One of psychological features children with mental retardation is that they have a lag in the development of all types of thinking. This lag is found to the greatest extent during the solution of tasks involving the use of verbal-logical thinking.

The development of visual-figurative thinking in children is significantly behind. It is especially difficult for these children to operate in their minds with parts of images (S.K. Sivolapov). Their visual-effective thinking lags least of all in development. Children with mental retardation, studying in special schools or special classes, by the fourth grade begin to solve tasks of a visual-effective nature at the level of their normally developing peers. As for the tasks associated with the use of visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking, they are solved by the children of the group under consideration at a much lower level.

different from the norm and speech children with mental retardation. Many of them are characterized by defects in pronunciation, which naturally leads to difficulties in the process of mastering reading and writing. Children of the group under consideration have a poor vocabulary (especially an active one), they poorly form empirical grammatical generalizations; therefore, in their speech there are many incorrect grammatical constructions.

Significantly different behavior and activity these children. After entering school, they continue to behave like preschoolers. Play remains the dominant activity. Children do not have a positive attitude towards school. Learning motivation is absent or extremely weakly expressed. It was suggested that the state of their emotional-volitional sphere corresponds, as it were, to the previous stage of development.

It is very important to note that in the conditions of a mass school, a child with mental retardation for the first time begins to clearly realize his inadequacy, which is expressed primarily in academic failure. This, on the one hand, leads to a feeling of inferiority, and on the other hand, to attempts at personal compensation. in some other area. Such attempts are sometimes expressed in various behavioral disorders (“antics”).

Under the influence of failures, a child with mental retardation quickly develops a negative attitude towards learning activities. This can and should be avoided. It is necessary to carry out an individual approach to each such child, based on a deep knowledge of the features of the development of his mental processes and personality as a whole. The teacher needs to do everything possible to support the child's positive attitude towards school at first. The lack of success in learning activities should not be emphasized and criticized for not quite adequate behavior. Sometimes it is necessary to encourage the child to complete the proposed tasks based on the game motivation of the activity.

If the indicated lag and not quite adequate behavior cannot be overcome in the conditions of a mass school, it is necessary, having prepared a detailed psychological and pedagogical description describing all the features of the child's behavior in the classroom and in his free time, send the child to the medical and pedagogical commission, which will resolve the issue on the advisability of transferring him to a special school for children with mental retardation.

Features of the manifestation of ZPR

Children with mental retardation are the most difficult to diagnose, especially in the early stages of development.

In children with mental retardation in the somatic state, there are frequent signs of physical development delay (underdevelopment of muscles, insufficiency of muscle and vascular tone, growth retardation), the formation of walking, speech, neatness skills, stages of play activity is delayed.

These children have features of the emotional-volitional sphere (its immaturity) and persistent impairments in cognitive activity.

Emotionally-volitional immaturity is represented by organic infantilism. Children with mental retardation do not have the liveliness and brightness of emotions typical of a healthy child; they are characterized by a weak will and a weak interest in evaluating their activities. The game is distinguished by the poverty of imagination and creativity, monotony, monotony. These children have low performance as a result of increased exhaustion.

In cognitive activity, there are observed: weak memory, instability of attention, slowness of mental processes and their reduced switchability. For a child with mental retardation, a longer period is needed to receive and process visual, auditory and other impressions.

Researchers call the immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere the most striking sign of mental retardation; in other words, it is very difficult for such a child to make an effort of will on himself, to force himself to do something. And from here, disturbances of attention inevitably appear: its instability, reduced concentration, increased distractibility. Attention disorders may be accompanied by increased motor and speech activity. Such a complex of deviations (attention disorder + increased motor and speech activity), not complicated by any other manifestations, is currently referred to as "attention deficit hyperactivity disorder" (ADHD).

^ Violation of perception is expressed in the difficulty of building a holistic image. For example, it may be difficult for a child to recognize objects known to him in an unfamiliar perspective. Such structured perception is the cause of insufficiency, limitation, knowledge about the surrounding world. The speed of perception and orientation in space also suffer.

If we talk about the features of memory in children with mental retardation, then one pattern was found here: they memorize visual (non-verbal) material much better than verbal. In addition, it was found that after a course of special training in various memorization techniques, the performance of children with mental retardation improved even compared to normally developing children.

ZPR is often accompanied by speech problems, primarily related to the pace of its development. Other features of speech development in this case may depend on the form of severity of the mental retardation and the nature of the underlying disorder: for example, in one case it may be only some delay or even compliance with the normal level of development, while in the other case there is a systemic underdevelopment of speech - a violation of its lexical grammatical side.

In children with mental retardation, there is a lag in the development of all forms of thinking; it is found first of all during the solution of tasks for verbal-logical thinking. By the beginning of schooling, children with mental retardation do not fully master all the intellectual operations necessary to complete school assignments (analysis, synthesis, generalization, comparison, abstraction).

Children with mental retardation are characterized by a limited (much poorer than in normally developing children of the same age) general information about the environment, insufficiently formed spatial and temporal representations, poor vocabulary, unformed skills of intellectual activity.

The immaturity of the functional state of the central nervous system is one of the reasons that children with mental retardation are not ready for schooling by the age of 7. By this time, as a rule, they have not formed the main mental operations, they do not know how to navigate tasks, do not plan their activities. Such a child hardly masters reading and writing skills, often mixes letters that are similar in outline, and has difficulty writing text on his own.

In the conditions of a mass school, children with mental retardation naturally fall into the category of consistently underachieving students, which further traumatizes their psyche and causes a negative attitude towards learning.

3. Fizminutka for parents.

Teacher: Let's remember the traffic lights. What does red light mean? Yellow? Green? Well done, now let's turn into a traffic light. At the same time we will check your attention. If I say "Green" - you stomp your feet; "Yellow" - clap your hands; "Red" - silence. And I will be a faulty traffic light and will sometimes show the wrong signals.

ZPR is a partial (partial) underdevelopment of higher mental functions. Main features: immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere, underdevelopment of cognitive activity. A characteristic feature is partiality, focality of the lesion, and not monotony, as with mental retardation. As well as the temporary nature of the disease.

Underdevelopment of the emotional-volitional sphere is usually expressed in insufficient motivation for communication, emotions are developed for the “previous” age, increased suggestibility, rapid nervous exhaustion, shallowness of imagination, with a general impoverishment of gaming activity, bright emotional enthusiasm.

The underdevelopment of the cognitive sphere is expressed in the lack of motivation for learning, lack of curiosity, the search for easy ways, the proposal of the first solution that comes across and the unwillingness / inability to think about other options.

With ZPR, all functions of higher nervous activity starve - memory, speech, thinking, will, emotions, attention, imagination.

Causes of the occurrence of SPD can be conditionally divided into three groups:
1. Focal lesions of the central nervous system, central nervous system insufficiency caused by some problems, such as: pathology of intrauterine development (prolonged hypoxia), pathology of childbirth (premature abruption of the placenta, the use of mechanical stimulation, etc.), diseases in the first 3 years of life.
2. chronic diseases, frequent stay in hospitals, a special regime for the preservation of physical health.
4. Long-term socio-cultural deprivation - a dysfunctional, asocial family or orphanhood.
5. Prolonged or excessively strong exposure to traumatic factors. Including overprotection.

According to various estimates, 80 to 90% of all cases of mental retardation are related to cerebroorganic lesions. Those. ZPR caused by focal lesions of the brain. This is the most severe form of AD. But it's easier to diagnose.

What do parents need to know?
Firstly the fact that ZPR is diagnosed no earlier than 5-7 years. Prior to this, the diagnosis is conditional, approximate - the development of preschoolers occurs in leaps and quite significant discrepancies with the average norm are allowed. The individuality of the pace of development does not allow a specialist to make a diagnosis at a younger preschool age.

Moreover, the younger the child, the more difficult it is to suspect he has a mental retardation. In children up to three years it is correct to put suspicion on ZPR only when very serious, unambiguous signs are found.

However, if a child is found to be lagging behind the norms, a specific behavior based on which an assumption is made about developing mental retardation, adequate measures should be taken. It is important to understand that ZPR never goes away “on its own”, “just with age”. These are not pubertal pimples, this is an underdevelopment of brain functions.

Secondly, ZPR is not a permanent state, with timely, competent correction, children progress up to an absolutely normal state of mind and intellect.

Thirdly, dear parents, if your child has a mental retardation, in the vast majority of cases it will really be better for him to study in special KRO classes or in a special school for the first years. Your child is not like everyone else, and if you just pretend that this is not so, the problem will not resolve itself. On the contrary, it is precisely because of the obstinacy of parents that children suffer - the correction was not made on time, during the sensitive period and time is lost FOREVER.

If a child with mental retardation enters a CRO class or a special school from the first grade, in most cases by secondary school he is quite ready to return to mass classes and a child's diagnosis of mental retardation does not affect his future life in any way. If a child with mental retardation goes through elementary school in mass classes, then intellectual and mental abilities are practically not restored. And even if by the middle school the parents recognize the problems of the child and send him to corrective education, the chances of restoring abilities are minimal.

Fourth, take care of the correct and accurate diagnosis. It is not always possible for a neurologist from a district clinic to make a truly correct diagnosis of mental retardation. Contact specialists working specifically on intellectual disabilities, and not general practitioners!