Mental retardation of psychogenic origin is characterized. ZPR of constitutional origin. ZPR of somatogenic origin

Glad to see you again, dear readers! Just recently we talked to you about children and adults. Today's topic will partly overlap with it. What does the alarming three-letter abbreviation “ZPR” tell you? I'm sure more than half of you think that this is a diagnosis of children with mental retardation. This is why we are all so afraid of the psychological and pedagogical commission, which checks children before entering school, and supposedly “writes off” many children diagnosed with mental retardation into correctional classes.

But is it worth it to be so afraid of this essentially ambiguous diagnosis? After all, the delay mental development- this is not a severe pathology of speech, sensory organs or physical disability. Today we’ll talk about what mental retardation is, how it manifests itself in children, what it threatens, and how to distinguish it from mental retardation. I want to debunk myths and at the same time dispel all your fears.

Unsociability, anxiety, aggression

In simple words, mental retardation is a slowdown in the rate of mental development and associated problems with adaptation in a team and the child’s education at school. In psychology, a lot of work has been devoted to this problem, and now we can say for sure that there are many factors influencing the delay, starting from the environment in which the baby grows up and ending with pathologies of the central nervous system.

Let's return to the reasons a little later, but for now let's look at when and how this diagnosis manifests itself. Most often, mothers hear about delayed mental development when the baby turns 5-6 years old, that is, before entering school. A strict psychologist aunt comes to the kindergarten, where each child is tested for the level of psychological and intellectual preparation for school.

So she calls Anya from the fifth group and asks: “Tell me, what can you call the items “dress”, “socks”, “blouse”, “sweater”, “coat”? Anya fidgets for a long time, fiddles with the edge of her sundress out of excitement and is silent... Then she finally decides to answer: “This is what lies on the shelf in the closet.” The psychologist concludes that the child has problems with generalization and analysis, and his attention is distracted.

Many mothers of preschoolers now understand what we are talking about, because modern children are hyperactive, restless and not ready to perceive and analyze information. How far is it from raising a young genius? Here I would like to be able to do everything according to the basic school curriculum!

Mental retardation is

Is it possible to recognize a mental retardation before the commission comes and puts this “stamp” next to your child’s last name? Doctors say it is possible, and here are the main symptoms of the onset of developmental delay:

In infancy, such babies later begin to hold their heads, stomp their feet, and speak;
The child is anxious and sometimes even aggressive, while in many situations he is indecisive and fearful;
The baby is withdrawn, does not like to be in a group, does not like to play with everyone, and even avoids relatives. (this may also be a symptom);
The baby does not know how to do basic things at his age: brush his teeth, wash his hands, put on shoes, or he does everything much more slowly.

Other signs of mental retardation are expressed in the undeveloped emotional-volitional sphere. Such children “sway” for a long time, cannot concentrate and force themselves to do anything, move a lot and talk incessantly, interrupting loudly.

Thus, in children with mental retardation, both speech development and thinking and the sphere of emotions suffer. There may be a combination of these disorders, or only one of them.

Are genes to blame for development?

Experts say that it also happens that delayed mental development hardly manifests itself, and the child is no different from his peers, but more often the diagnosis determines not only the pathology itself, but also the types of mental retardation:

Psychogenic (features of this type: unfavorable environment for living and raising a child, deprivation of attention and mother’s love, unemotional communication between close relatives and the baby, or ignoring him).
Constitutional (genetic factor; many psychologists argue that mental retardation is quite often inherited);
Somatogenic (many past illnesses negatively affect the brain and cause developmental delays: asthenia, infections, dysentery,)
Cerebro-organic (associated with intrauterine disorders and complications: maternal alcoholism, toxicosis, birth injuries, etc.)

As we see, both minor and more serious factors can affect the slowdown in mental development. Conventionally, they are divided into biological (prematurity, fetal hypoxia, trauma during childbirth, asphyxia as a result of weak labor, damage to the central nervous system) and social (unfavorable environment, pedagogical connivance, mental trauma).

The more attentive you are to your kids, the more time you devote to them, play, study, the faster you recognize mental retardation, the easier you will cope with it. The main thing is not to give up and not to lament that your child is mentally retarded! This is a more serious pathology, which differs from mental retardation.

If schoolchildren still have symptoms of developmental delay by the 4th grade, this is very alarming for doctors. However, if the child shows interest and responds to your help, the doctor insists that this is not mental retardation, and correction can help equalize the rate of speech and thinking of a small patient.

Going to school is like going to hard labor

The word “school” usually frightens mothers of children with mental retardation, because classes and lessons will be an unbearable burden, teachers will shame and scold the child, and this will turn him away from studying even more. Now every secondary school has special correction classes for children with disabilities. As a rule, after the initial level, students already move to a regular class.

Teachers, together with parents and psychologists, work with the child so that he can catch up and surpass his peers. A special adapted program allows you to delve into school course, it’s better to remember, get used to doing tasks on your own. Gradually, the baby recovers, and within a year, or even earlier, the diagnosis of mental retardation is completely removed by a neurologist or psychologist.

Drug treatment is used in severe cases, and very rarely. As a rule, young patients cope with pathology themselves, without pills or physiotherapeutic procedures.

Therefore, dear mothers, never despair. Mental retardation is not the worst deviation and can be easily overcome. Don’t forget to caress your little ones, talk more, walk together, play educational games at home and on the street, and only then the school will “interfere” in the education process. The famous psychologist Lev Vygotsky said: “Learning entails development.” So prepare your child for learning, because you are his main and best teacher!

I hope I was able to dispel your fears. ZPR is not as scary as it is made out to be. And they didn’t cope with that.
I say goodbye to you until the next publication, so leave your reviews and comments and don’t forget to share the article on social networks.

This type is associated with unfavorable upbringing conditions that prevent the correct formation of the child’s personality. Adverse 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 (vegetative functions and emotional development). As a result, abnormal, pathological personality development is observed.

This type of mental retardation should be distinguished from the phenomena of pedagogical neglect, which do not represent a pathology, but consist in a deficit of knowledge and skills due to a lack of intellectual information.

ZPR of psychogenic origin has 3 options:

A) Abnormal personality development according to the type of mental instability. Most often caused by the phenomena hypoprotection.

The child is neglected, he does not develop a sense of duty and responsibility, forms of behavior associated with the active inhibition of affect.

The development of cognitive activity, intellectual interests and attitudes is not stimulated.

Pathological immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere manifests itself in the form of affective lability, impulsiveness, increased suggestibility and is combined with an insufficient level of knowledge and ideas necessary for schooling.

b) Abnormal personality development according to the type of family idol due to overprotection– the child is not instilled with the traits of independence, initiative, and responsibility.

Characterized by a low capacity for effort, traits of selfishness and egocentrism, dislike of work, and an attitude of constant help and guardianship.

V) Abnormal personality development of the neurotic type. In families where rudeness, cruelty, despoticism, and aggression exist, a personality is formed that is fearful, insufficiently independent, indecisive, with little activity and initiative (this manifests emotional immaturity). Unfavorable upbringing conditions lead to delays in cognitive activity.

4. ZPR of cerebral-organic origin.

Corresponds to the type identified by Vlasova-Pevzner.

More common other types described above, has great persistence and severity of disturbances in the emotional-volitional sphere and cognitive activity.

There is a mild organic failure of the nervous system, often of a residual nature.

There is a delay in physical development and general malnutrition.

Emotional-volitional immaturity is represented by organic infantilism - children lack the typical healthy child liveliness and brightness of emotions. Children are poorly interested in evaluation, they have a low level of aspirations. Gaming activity is characterized by a lack of imagination and creativity, a certain monotony, and a predominance of motor disinhibition.

Organic infantilism manifests itself in one of 2 forms:

a) Unstable organic infantilism. Characteristic:

Psychomotor disinhibition,

Euphoric mood tone,

Impulsiveness,

Low ability for volitional effort and systematic activity,

Increased suggestibility

Lack of lasting attachments.

b) Inhibited organic infantilism. Prevails:

Low mood background,

Indecisiveness

Lack of initiative

Fearfulness.

Cognitive disorders are as follows:

Instability of attention

Inertia of mental processes,

Slowness and reduced switchability,

Insufficient development of phonemic hearing,

Visual and tactile perception,

Optical-spatial synthesis,

Motor and sensory aspects of speech,

Insufficient long-term and short-term memory,

Hand-eye coordination

Automation of movements and actions.

Poor orientation in “right-left” is observed,

Phenomena of mirroring in writing,

Difficulties in differentiating similar phonemes.

They have a satisfactory understanding of concrete visual material, but the level of generalization and abstraction processes is low.

There is no interest in purposeful activities; children do not like to work independently, without the teacher’s coercion.

Children with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin are sent to special schools, in which treatment is combined with pedagogical correction, in contrast to mental disorders of constitutional, somatogenic and psychogenic origin, which can be compensated in a mass school with an individual pedagogical approach.

In a broad sense, mental retardation in children is immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere in children. With timely treatment, this pathology can be cured completely or partially.

The key factors are the degree of progression of the disease and the reasons for its manifestation. Treatment of the disease includes taking certain medications, classes with specialized specialists and special medical procedures. We will talk about the symptoms and treatment of mental retardation in children in the article.

Concept and characteristics

IN medical practice the term ZPR denotes tempo development of mental processes lag The child has.

The occurring violations are reversible. In such children, gaming preferences have prevailed for a long time; their thinking is characterized by specific immaturity and lack of basic knowledge.

Compared with their peers, children with mental retardation have limited ideas and low level of intellectual activity.

What is it caused by?

The causes of mental retardation include numerous factors that pose a threat to the emotional and volitional development of the child. Such a danger may arise against the background of heredity, complications during pregnancy, difficult childbirth and individual characteristics of the child’s body.

External factors can provoke mental retardation in a child only if there are internal prerequisites.

Impact environment in this case, it becomes the cause of progression of the pathology and an increase in the intensity of its symptoms.

Causes of delayed neuropsychic development in a child the following factors may be involved:

What do children with Down syndrome look like? and the description is on our website.

Classification and types

The classification of mental retardation in children is carried out depending on the reasons that provoked this pathology. In pediatrics, four types of the disease are most common.

Each of its forms has its own characteristic features and is a key factor for determining the complex of therapeutic actions. Forecasts at different forms ZPR are different.

In most cases, the disorders are reversible, but an exception may be a pathology that arises against the background of genetic prerequisites.

The main classification of mental retardation in children:

ZPRD with elements of autism

Delayed psycho- speech development in children may be accompanied elements of autism. This combination of pathologies is a complication of mental retardation and requires special treatment methods.

In this case, the danger of ZPRR becomes development. In medical practice, there are no effective methods of treating this pathology. It is impossible to completely cure autism.

The risk of developing autism is indicated by the following: additional symptoms with ZPRR:

poor facial expressions;
lack of interest in the outside world;
constantly performing actions that have no meaning;
partial or complete lack of speech;
abnormal speech.

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Complications and consequences

With mental retardation, there is a risk of impaired speech development of the child.

The consequences of a combination of such pathologies can be dysgraphia or dyslexia.

The progression of these conditions can result in a critically low level of school performance.

Adapt to society It is extremely difficult for children with mental retardation. Attempts by peers to find an approach to them will provoke not only the child’s isolation, but also attacks of aggression.

Complications The following conditions may occur:

development of complex mental disorders;
significant impairment of basic skills;
serious problems with social adaptation;
development of concomitant diseases (ZPRD, ZRR, etc.).

How to identify?

The symptoms of mental retardation in a child are clearly manifested by age five or six.

Such children differ significantly from their peers in terms of their skills and some behavioral traits.

For example, basic actions are difficult for them(tying shoelaces, dressing independently, eating, etc.). The clinical picture is complemented by deviations of psycho-emotional disorders.

Symptoms ZPR in most cases are the following factors:

Characteristic qualities

When mental development is delayed, the intellect in children is practically not impaired, but serious deviations in the process of perceiving certain information.

It is difficult for a child with this diagnosis to remember educational material and analyze it. Perception in such children is fragmentary.

Children with mental retardation are characterized by the following qualities:

Diagnostic methods

The diagnosis of mental retardation can be made in children who have reached the age of four. In most cases, this pathology is identified in preschool children.

An alarming signal is the child’s poor performance at school and difficulties in mastering educational material.

The diagnosis is confirmed by a comprehensive examination of children and the conclusion of a special commission (PMPC).

Diagnostics carried out using the following methods:

examination by specialized specialists (speech therapist, child psychologist, neurologist, pediatrician, psychiatrist, etc.);
neuropsychological testing;
research of intellectual processes;
MRI of the brain;
CT and EEG;
mandatory differential diagnosis with autism and mental retardation.

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Treatment and correction

Treatment methods for mental retardation are always prescribed in accordance with individual clinical picture child's health status.

Children with such a diagnosis should receive help not only from psychologists and teachers, but also from their parents.

Drug therapy is used only in the absence of results other techniques or a delayed tendency to recovery.

Microcurrent reflexology

The use of microcurrent reflexology in the treatment of mental retardation in children shows good results and an acceleration of the tendency towards recovery. The essence of this procedure is to influence certain areas brain ultra-small electrical impulses.

With timely use of this technique, damaged functions of the central nervous system are restored. The procedure is allowed for children from six months of age.

Classes with a defectologist and speech therapist

Conducting classes with a speech therapist and a speech pathologist are among the mandatory methods of treating mental retardation in children. Exercises and educational material are selected for each child individually.

Speech therapists can additionally use acupressure techniques (the area of the tip of the nose, between the eyes, in the center of the chin, in the corners of the lips and under the ears is lightly affected by massage movements).

In most cases, the need for training with such specialists arises when the child reaches the age of five.

Target speech therapy and defectology classes:

development of the child's memory;
improvement of motor skills;
normalization of articulation;
improvement of adaptive qualities;
elimination;
improved thinking.

Drug therapy

The need to use drug therapy for mental retardation can only be determined by neurologist or neuropathologist.

Medicines are used primarily to restore certain functions of the child’s brain and nervous system.

You should never take such medications on your own.. For drug therapy there must be certain reasons identified through a comprehensive examination of the baby and special procedures for studying his central nervous system and parts of the brain.

For mental retardation in children, the following medications can be used:

nootropics (Piracetam, Cortexin);
vitamin complexes appropriate for the child’s age.

Family atmosphere plays a key role in the treatment of mental retardation The child has. Children with this diagnosis require a special approach.

The tendency towards recovery and the effectiveness of the correction methods being carried out largely depend on the behavior of the parents. Adults need to remember that they will have to constantly work with the child (even during games and communication).

When raising children with mental retardation, it is important to consider the following: recommendations:

Can speed up the child’s treatment process dolphin therapy and hippotherapy(horses and dolphins are believed to help children normalize to a large extent mental condition).
You always need a child praise for successes and encourage him (parental support will give him self-confidence and help him develop adaptive skills).
If it is difficult for your child to perform basic actions (for example, tying shoelaces, fastening buttons, etc.), in no case you can’t criticize him or punish him or left unattended (training must be carried out gradually).
Quarrels between family members, nervous breakdowns in children and other negative factors should be excluded.
With a child you need to do as much as possible communicate more(you should try to discuss with your baby everything that surrounds him).
During games or walks, the child should be presented with important information in a playful form (description of flora, fauna, surrounding objects, why they are needed, etc.).
Not worth it set challenging tasks for the child (parents should take into account that the reason for the child’s lack of certain skills is not laziness, but existing pathology).

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Where to get treatment in Russia?

If there are complications, lack of treatment results, or certain medical indications, the child may be prescribed specialized treatment for mental retardation.

In medical practice in last years Surgical methods to correct the disease began to be widely used. In Russia, clinics offering a range of procedures to eliminate mental retardation are mainly located in Moscow.

Examples of metropolitan clinics treating mental retardation in children:

Clinic of Restorative Neurology;
Medicor Plus;
Alexandria.

Forecasts

With timely and correct treatment, mental retardation in children is significantly reduces its intensity.

If the pathology is accompanied by complications, then it becomes necessary to place the child in a specialized school or correctional classes. The general curriculum will be too difficult for him.

In addition, you should not stop exercising even if there are trends towards improving your health. The disease has a high risk of regression.

At correct and timely treatment The following factors are likely:

the child adapts well among his peers;
the functions of the brain and nervous system are largely restored;
certain talents develop (musical, choreographic, etc.);
diagnosis does not interfere with getting higher education and achieve success in your professional activities.

Is it possible to prevent the disease?

It is recommended to engage in the prevention of mental retardation at the stage of pregnancy planning. If parents have identified pathologies that increase the risk of mental retardation in the child, then first of all it is necessary to reduce their manifestation as much as possible.

Doctors note that mental formation declines in children by the age of eight. If the disease is not diagnosed before this period, the risk of its development is minimal.

Preventive measures for mental retardation include the following: recommendations:

attentive attitude of parents to the planning stage of the child;
preventing exposure of the fetus to any adverse factors;
prevention and timely treatment of somatic and infectious diseases in children from a very early age;
if a child is suspected of having a mental retardation, it is necessary to undergo examination as soon as possible;
providing favorable conditions for raising a child.

If a child has any symptoms of mental retardation, it is necessary carry out his examination as soon as possible in a medical facility.

If the diagnosis is confirmed, then therapy should be started immediately. Early detection of pathology and the correct approach to its treatment increase the chances of a favorable trend and good prognosis.

You can find pediatricians specializing in the treatment of stuttering in children on our website.

The emotional sphere of a child with mental retardation. All what parents need to know in this video:

We kindly ask you not to self-medicate. Make an appointment with a doctor!

Mental retardation refers to disturbances in the rate of mental development. Over time, the child lags behind his peers in mental development. Mental retardation is heterogeneous in nature, as it has various causes.

Based on etiology, there are 4 types of mental retardation:

constitutional origin;
psychogenic in nature;
somatogenic nature;
cerebral-organic nature.

All types of mental retardation have their own characteristics, which manifest themselves in emotional immaturity and cognitive impairment. Some types of mental retardation are accompanied by complications in the somatic and neurological spheres. But the main difference between the types of delays is in the characteristics of the development of mental functions.

Features of mental retardation of constitutional origin

Delayed mental development of constitutional origin is called harmonic psychophysical infantilism in medicine. When diagnosing it, the family nature of infantilism is revealed, that is, it also occurs in other family members, but does not reach a pathological level.

Harmonic psychophysical infantilism affects not only the mental, but also the physical development of the child. Children are 1.5-2 years behind their peers in height and physical fitness.

Such children are characterized by displays of lively facial expressions, expressive gestures, and sharp expressive movements. Children have a range of interests narrowed to play activities. At the same time, the game itself is very developed, role-playing, filled with a lot of small plots and additional characters. During the game, the child shows creativity and endurance.

Along with developed play activities, it must be stated that educational and cognitive activities are not very attractive for these children. Training assignments cause rapid satiety.

It turns out to be a paradox: children are tireless in play, but get tired very quickly in educational activities. It is especially difficult for them to have monotonous tasks that require maintaining attention for a long time: reading, drawing, writing.

Children are emotionally unstable. They may cry over trifles, but quickly switch to playing or other objects or activities that are pleasant to them. At the same time, there are simply no traces of the previous “hysteria”.

Children with mental retardation of constitutional origin love to fantasize. Moreover, fantasy for them is a means of mental stabilization. They replace unpleasant life situations with fantasies and fictions.

Harmonic psychophysical infantilism affects the emotional-volitional sphere, which leads to a lack of voluntary regulation of activity, as well as mental processes: thinking, attention, memorization.

With the correct organization of the educational process, with the obligatory use of methods of encouragement, children with harmonious infantilism demonstrate high results. In the future, it is possible to bring such children as close as possible to the level of their peers, thanks to leveling classes.

Causes of infantilism

The causes of infantilism can be:

damage to the central nervous system as a result of traumatic brain injury or infection;
endocrine disorders, chronic diseases, lesions internal organs(kidneys, heart, liver);
mental metabolism.

Mental metabolism deserves special attention as a situation in which the need for certain substances is identified during development.

Correction of mental retardation of constitutional origin

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 corrective action is started, the greater the child’s chances of approaching the normal requirements in his development.

Difficulties in building correctional programs are due to the diversity of manifestations of mental retardation. You need to know that every child with harmonious infantilism has a number of characteristics, including immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere and immaturity of cognitive activity.

Correctional pedagogical work with children is conventionally divided into two blocks:

Educational;
Developmental.

Corrective work needs to begin preschool age so that at the start of school, the child's developmental level is clearly defined, and together with this, a decision is made on the type of class for the child's education.

Individual correction programs take into account the following characteristics of the child:

level of intelligence;
emotional and personal development;
sensorimotor development of children,
formation of operational and motivational-need spheres;
development of perceptual actions;
formation of the structure of mental activity.

Parents and teachers need to know that there is no general programs. Correctional pedagogical programs can only be individual. To process them, you need to contact specialists in medical, psychological and psychiatric centers.

These three ominous letters are nothing more than mental retardation. Doesn't sound too nice, does it? Unfortunately, today you can often find such a diagnosis in a child’s medical record.

These three ominous letters are nothing more than impaired mental function. Doesn't sound too nice, does it? Unfortunately, today you can often find such a diagnosis in a child’s medical record.

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

What suffers

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

The explanation for this is the slowdown in the rate of maturation of the psyche. It should also be noted that in each individual child, mental retardation may manifest itself differently 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 the majority of children with mental retardation.

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

Perception disturbance is expressed in the difficulty of constructing a holistic image. For example, it may be difficult for a child to recognize familiar objects from an unfamiliar perspective. This structured perception is the cause of insufficient, limited knowledge about the world around us. The speed of perception and orientation in space also suffers.

If we talk about memory features in children with mental retardation, one pattern was found here: they remember visual (non-verbal) material much better than verbal material. 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 in comparison with normally developing children.

ZPR is often accompanied speech problems, related primarily to the pace of its development. Other features of speech development in this case may depend on the form of severity of mental retardation and the nature of the main disorder: for example, in one case there may be only a slight delay or even compliance normal level development, while in another case there is a systemic underdevelopment of speech - a violation of its lexico-grammatical aspect.

In children with mental retardation there is delay in the development of all forms of thinking; it is detected primarily during solving problems of verbal and logical thinking. By the beginning of school, 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, the developmental disability is not an obstacle to the development of general education programs, which, however, require certain adjustments in accordance with the characteristics of the child’s development.

Who are these children

Experts' answers 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 first adhere to humanistic views, believing that the main causes of mental retardation are primarily social and pedagogical in nature (unfavorable family conditions, lack of communication and cultural development, difficult living conditions). Children with mental retardation are defined as maladapted, difficult to teach, and pedagogically neglected. This view of the problem prevails in Western psychology, and Lately it has become widespread in our country too. Many researchers provide evidence that mild forms of intellectual underdevelopment tend to concentrate 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.

Thus, as the reasons leading to mental development delays, domestic specialists M.S. Pevzner and T.A. Vlasov is distinguished as follows.

Unfavorable course of pregnancy:

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

Pathology of childbirth:

injuries due to mechanical damage to the fetus during use various means obstetrics (for example, forceps);
asphyxia of newborns and its threat.

Social factors:

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

Types of child development delays

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

The first type is 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 is necessary to understand that mental infantilism is not a disease, but rather a certain complex of sharpened character traits and behavioral characteristics, which, however, can significantly affect the child’s activities, primarily his educational abilities, his adaptive abilities to a new situation.

Such a child is often not independent, has difficulty adapting to new conditions for him, is often strongly attached to his mother and feels helpless in her absence; it is characterized by a heightened background of mood, a violent manifestation of emotions, which at the same time are very unstable. By school age, such a child still has gaming interests in the foreground, whereas normally they should be replaced by educational motivation. It is difficult for him to make any decision without outside help, make a choice or perform any other volitional effort on yourself. Such a child can behave cheerfully and spontaneously; his developmental delay is not noticeable, but when compared with his peers, he always seems a little younger.

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

This also includes children from families with overprotection - excessive attention to the upbringing of the child. When parents care too much about their beloved child, they do not let him go a single step, they do everything for him, fearing that the child may harm himself, that he is still small. In such a situation, loved ones, considering their behavior as an example of parental care and guardianship, thereby hinder the child’s expression of independence, and therefore, knowledge of the world around him, and the formation of a full-fledged personality. It should be noted that the situation of overprotection is very common in families with a sick child, where pity for the baby and constant worry about his condition, the desire to supposedly make his life easier ultimately turn out to be bad helpers.

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

Here, in contrast to the previous type of mental retardation, there is the phenomenon of hypoguardianship, or insufficient attention to the upbringing of the child. The child grows up in a situation of neglect and pedagogical neglect. The consequence of this is a lack of ideas about moral standards of behavior in society, an 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 us.

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

As the name suggests, the basis for highlighting this ZPR groups are organic disorders, namely, insufficiency of the nervous system, the causes of which can be: pathology of pregnancy (toxicosis, infections, intoxication and trauma, Rh conflict, etc.), prematurity, asphyxia, birth injury, neuroinfections. With this form of mental retardation, the so-called minimal brain dysfunction (MMD) occurs, which is understood as a complex of mild developmental disorders that manifest themselves, depending on the specific case, in a very diverse manner in various areas of mental activity.

MMD researchers have identified the following risk factors for its occurrence:

late age of the mother, height and weight of the woman before pregnancy, beyond the age norm, first birth;
pathological course of previous births;
chronic maternal diseases, 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);
presence of mental, neurological and psychosomatic diseases in the family;
pathological birth with forceps, caesarean section and so on.

Children of this type are distinguished by weakness in the expression of emotions, poverty of imagination, and disinterest in how others evaluate themselves.

About prevention

The diagnosis of mental retardation appears in the medical record most often closer to school age, at 5-6 years old, or already when the child is directly faced with learning problems. But with timely and well-structured correctional, pedagogical and medical assistance, partial and even complete overcoming of this developmental deviation is possible. The problem is that diagnosing mental retardation on early stages development seems quite problematic. His methods are based primarily on comparative analysis development of the child with age-appropriate standards.

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

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 referrals directly from the maternity hospital. Even if both pregnancy and childbirth went perfectly, your baby feels great, and there is not the slightest reason for concern - do not be lazy and visit a doctor.

A specialist, having checked the presence or absence of various reflexes, which, as is known, accompany the child throughout the entire period of newbornness and infancy, will be able to objectively assess the development of the baby. The doctor will also check your vision and hearing and note the peculiarities of interaction with adults. If necessary, he will prescribe neurosonography - an ultrasound examination that will provide valuable information about brain development.

Knowing the age norms, you yourself will be able to monitor the psychomotor development of the baby. 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 given age, starting from the first days of life. There you can also find a list of behavioral features that should alert young parents. Be sure to read this information, and if you have even the slightest suspicion, immediately go to see a doctor.

If you have already been to an appointment and the doctor has deemed it necessary to prescribe medications, do not neglect his recommendations. And if doubts haunt you, 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 more about it, let the doctor tell you how it works, what substances are included in its composition, and why your child needs it. After all, under the hour, under threatening-sounding names, relatively “harmless” drugs are hidden, acting as a kind of vitamins for the brain.

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

In addition to visiting doctors' offices, several points can be highlighted 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 colossal impact on the growing body. This bodily-emotional contact with the baby. Skin contact means any touching of the child, hugging, kissing, stroking the head. Since in the first months after birth the baby’s tactile sensitivity is very developed, physical contact helps him navigate a new environment and feel more confident and calm. The baby must be picked up, caressed, stroked not only on the head, but also all over the body. The touch of gentle parental hands on the baby’s skin will allow him to form the correct image of his body and adequately perceive the space around him.

A special place is given to eye contact, which is the main and most effective way transfer of feelings. This is especially true, of course, for infants who do not yet have access to other means of communication and expression of emotions. A kind look reduces the baby’s anxiety, has a calming effect on him, and gives him a feeling of security. And, of course, it is very important to pay all your attention to the baby. Some people believe that by indulging a baby's whims, you are spoiling him. This is, of course, 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, that someone needs him. If the child did not receive enough attention early childhood, this will definitely have an impact later.

Needless to say, a baby with certain developmental disorders needs the warmth of his mother’s hands, her gentle voice, kindness, love, attention and understanding a thousand times more than his healthy peers.