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. They diagnose it in those cases when there is a low level of central nervous system functioning, as a result of which cognitive activity decreases.
If we say that a person is mentally retarded, then this does not mean that he has "little mind." Just because of another development of the psyche, personality characteristics become completely different. The most significant deviations in this case are observed in physical development and in intelligence, 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 only happens to the extent of their biological capabilities. Of course, parents strive to do everything possible to ensure that their child becomes "like everyone else." However, they should accept its individual characteristics, which will allow their child to become more integrated in society.
Signs
The characteristic of children with mental retardation suggests that their condition is explained by a congenital or acquired at an early age retardation of mental processes or their insufficient development.
The main symptom of such a pathology is obvious impaired intelligence. As a rule, they are caused by malfunctions in the formation of the brain and nervous system. In addition to the fact that such children are lagging behind in the general development of the psyche, they also differ in social maladaptation.
Signs of mental retardation in a sick child are manifested in a variety of areas. This is intelligence, and speech, and psychomotor functions, as well as volitional and emotional sphere. The main signs of mental retardation are:
- low cognitive activity of children (they do not want to know anything);
- poor motor development;
- underdevelopment observed in all types of speech, namely the pronunciation of words, the impossibility of constructing sentences, the meager vocabulary, etc .;
- slow thinking, and sometimes the complete absence of such processes;
- productive activity, expressed in imitation, in connection with which such children have all the games no more than the most elementary;
- infantile emotional-volitional sphere with possible sharp mood changes that occur without special reasons;
- difficulties in perceiving the world, expressed in a misunderstanding of the process of compiling the whole from the individual parts, as well as in the inability to single out the main thing;
- short attention spans and slow pace of all operations performed;
- arbitrary memory, when the child is more focused not on the internal, but on the external signs of the subject.
Faint of mind
Often, mental retardation is also called oligophrenia. Translated from Greek, this word means "insanity." This is one of the forms of mental retardation, the signs of which become noticeable even before the child develops speech.
Oligophrenia refers to a whole group of painful conditions that 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, which develops in children under 3 years of age. This is the period when mental or mental retardation occurs.
Oligophrenic children are almost physically healthy. However, at the same time, they have noted a persistent underdevelopment of mental processes, which manifests itself both in lagging behind the norm and in their deep originality.
Oligophrenic can develop. However, a similar 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 and social neglect.
Dementia
In the classification of mental retardation, considering the time of the appearance of its symptoms, another form of pathology is highlighted. It is called dementia, which means "dementia." This term refers to persistent damage or the ongoing breakdown in a progressive form of the emotional-volitional sphere, criticism, memory and intelligence that have already been developed to a certain level. A similar phenomenon is observed in children after three years and occurs due to organic damage to areas of the brain.
Oligophrenia triggering factors
The causes of mental retardation of this type may be:
- infectious diseases that the mother suffered from during pregnancy (chickenpox, mumps, rubella, measles, flu, jaundice);
- parasitic pathologies;
- birth injuries;
- pathological heredity (microcephaly, mental retardation of parents or their sexually transmitted diseases);
- violations in the chromosome set (Shereshevsky-Turner syndrome, Kleinfelter, Down's disease);
- malfunctions of the endocrine system (phenylketonuria, diabetes mellitus);
- incompatibility of the Rhesus factor of the mother and fetus;
- intoxication with drugs (some types of antibiotics, anticonvulsants and antipsychotics, as well as hormones);
- smoking and maternal alcoholism.
In the postpartum period, neuroinfections - meningitis, parainfective encephalitis, meningoencephalitis become the causes of mental retardation. Less commonly, oligophrenia occurs due to traumatic brain injury and intoxication. The factors listed above have a negative effect on the nervous system during the period when it begins to lay, as well as at the very beginning of a person’s life.
Factors Provoking Dementia
The second type of mental retardation occurs due to pathologies of metabolism, meningoencephalitis, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy or schizophrenia.
Dementia certainly accompanies mucopolysaccharidosis. This is a progressive hereditary disease caused by chromosome abnormalities. Due to the lack of certain enzymes in the body, it is expressed in the non-splitting of mucopolysaccharidoses, for example, starch in potatoes and in bread. Lack of glucose causes malnutrition in the brain.
Another similar pathology is neuro lipidosis. It represents the loss by neurons of their inherent functions due to malfunctions occurring in the metabolism of the myelin sheath. The reason for this disease, which is also chromosomal, is the lack of necessary 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 - from 4 to 5%;
- imbecility - from 18 to 19%;
- debility - ranging from 76 to 78%.
Let us consider in more detail these types from the classification of mental retardation.
Idiocy
This term refers to the most severe degree that is characteristic of mental disorders. Diagnosis of mental retardation of this type is possible even before the child's year of life. Her signs are obvious and pronounced. The main symptoms of children with severe mental retardation are:
- Underdeveloped thinking and speech.
- Lack of basic self-care skills.
- Poor coordination of movements, because of which the child either has difficulty mastering walking or is constantly lying.
- The inability to distinguish taste, in connection with which such children chew and suck inedible objects.
- Insufficient understanding of any activity, including gaming.
- Expression of emotions in the form of squeals, screams and chaotic excitement that arise due to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of organic needs.
- Inability to correct mental retardation.
Such children are not subject to training. If idiocy is less severe, then patients are able to walk, as well as talk and serve themselves.
Such children need constant help and supervision. That is why they are kept in a boarding school for mentally retarded children. At age 18, they are transferred to institutions for psychochronics. It is worth noting that the intelligence coefficient of such patients is 0-35 points.
Imbecility
This type of mental retardation is of moderate severity. With this form of the disease, damage occurs not only to the cerebral cortex, but also to the underlying formations. As with idiocy, it is possible to diagnose the presence of imbecility already in the very early stages of the development of the baby.
What is the characteristic of children with mental retardation of this type? 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 take possession of walking only after 3 years. In infancy, it is almost impossible to hear babble and babble from them. The revitalization complex does not form in such children.
If imbecility is present to a moderate degree, then children pronounce simple and rather short phrases, while understanding simple speech.
The stock of knowledge of these patients is limited. Moreover, independent conceptual thinking is not available to them. All presentations have a very narrow range and are of a domestic nature.
If imbeciles are educated correctly, then adults manage to familiarize them with the elementary skills of the simplest work (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 possess a sense of responsibility and duty.
Imbeciles need constant custody. After all, they have a limited ability of orientation in this life. That is why they are sometimes assigned to a boarding school for mentally retarded children.
Imbeciles can master the speech. However, their gross defects in memory, perception, motor skills, thinking, and communicative abilities lead to the fact that no activity with children with mental retardation of this kind can bring the proper effect. They are considered practically uneducable, even in a secondary school.
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. It does not contain any independent story, and the content itself is not subject to comprehension. During training, imbecile children are able to learn the score within 20, as well as master the simplest elements of reading and writing.
According to the current legislation, they are incompetent. More 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, such patients can work at home, performing the simplest actions (gluing envelopes or boxes). As practice has shown, people with a moderate degree of backwardness do an excellent job 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 affection for loved ones. Moreover, they have developed such feelings as resentment, shame and vindictiveness. Imbeciles can respond to censure and praise. The intelligence coefficient of such 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 five years, such children master the speech quite well. Most of them take care of themselves. Stereotyping and stereotyping, concreteness and inability to highlight the essential signs that surround them are characteristic of morons' behavior and thinking. Such children weakly criticize their actions. And their physical defects in the form of general physical weakness, impaired motor skills, characteristics of the sphere of emotional-volitional direction and other characteristics significantly limit the scope of their work.
Training morons occurs in a secondary school. For nine years of being in 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 available simple profession. They get a job, live independently and even marry. Such people are considered competent. They are accountable to the law for their actions, participate in elections, serve in the army, inherit property, etc. The intelligence coefficient of such patients is in the range from 50 to 70 points.
Training
As already mentioned, an adapted program for children with mental retardation has been developed and is successfully used today. Its goal is to create a unified system in the school that would ensure normal pedagogical conditions for all categories of students. The 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 health.
In this program, correctional-developing and diagnostic-advisory, as well as social and labor areas of interaction interact with each other.
The entire system of work of a teacher who uses an adapted educational program involves the necessary efforts to compensate for children's developmental deficiencies, as well as to fill in the gaps that appeared during the period of previous education. At the same time, the teacher seeks to ensure that his students as actively as possible overcome the negative characteristics of the emotional and personal sphere, normalize and improve their educational activities, while increasing their efficiency and level of knowledge.
The adapted program for mentally retarded children provides for the formation of their common learning abilities, the correction of existing developmental defects, as well as therapeutic 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 is to protect and strengthen the mental and physical health of children with disabilities, as well as their social adaptation. The role of such processes cannot be overestimated.