The mental state of human health is no less important than the physical. In the modern world there are a large number of different factors that can adversely affect the human psyche, causing various disorders and serious diseases. In order to provide appropriate qualified medical care to people with mental illness, it is very important to make an accurate diagnosis in a timely manner. That is why psychologists and psychiatrists should use proven methods that can accurately determine the type and degree of mental disorder in a patient. Especially for such purposes, the Semago diagnostic kit was created. It allows you to extremely accurately determine the level of development of children of different age categories.
What is the psycho-diagnostic kit Semago
To determine the psychological development created a large number of different techniques. However, not all of them can be called accurate and effective. Semago Suitcase is a special kit developed by well-known Russian specialists - clinical psychologists Mikhail and Natalya Semago for diagnosing a person’s mental state. This kit includes a large number of special tools and devices necessary for practical use, the selection of which is based on many years of experience working with people suffering from various mental disorders.
The Semago diagnostic kit looks like an ordinary suitcase, inside of which there are only current manuals and techniques aimed at an in-depth assessment of the patient's psyche and its basic functions. Using this kit, you can detect the presence of any deviations in the cognitive, regulatory and affective-emotional state of a person, as well as test the operational activity, personality traits and interpersonal relationships in both an adult and a child aged 3-12 years.
What is the kit for?
Consider the diagnostic kit Semago, a description of it. This kit contains a large number of basic techniques and recommendations for diagnosing the psychological development of the child. The Semago suitcase comes with a special methodological manual for use, which contains a description of the basic principles and technologies for the correct conduct of diagnostic work with children and adults separately. In addition to the research guide, the kit includes a special technique for processing the obtained diagnostic results. Also, all the results obtained after processing are recorded in a special working journal of the psychologist for Semago, which is included in the kit.
The main component in the manual is a description of the principle of conducting diagnostic work with children of primary preschool age, as well as schoolchildren under 12 years of age.
Kit specifics
Semago's diagnostic kit is in great demand among psychologists working in the teaching staff of various preschool institutions, as well as primary school teachers. It is also often used in their work by psychologists working in organizations with inclusive education. Clinical psychologists working directly in hospitals, and psychologists who are engaged in social protection of the population, also use the Semago psychologist kit in their work. However, there are some varieties of the kit, which are determined depending on the area in which its use is foreseen and the diagnosed contingent.
So, let's say, for work with young children, it is necessary to use the diagnostic kit developed by Semago N. Ya. It contains special techniques aimed at detecting any deviations or problems in the child’s psyche, as well as a guide to eliminate existing mental disorders in children from three to eight years old.
As for older children, as well as adults who need the help of a specialist, a different type of kit is provided for them with slightly different working methods. It is called the diagnostic kit Semago M. M, which was accordingly developed by Mikhail Semago. It is usually used to carry out special psychological training among graduates of pedagogical institutes, future psychologists mainly in areas such as special and clinical psychological assistance. Also, this Semago diagnostic kit is used during training courses for the teaching staff of educational institutions, workers in the field of social protection, public health and other areas of activity in which long-term contact with people is provided.
What does a suitcase consist of?
The contents of the kit are presented in various forms, convenient for use, both in digital and in paper format. Semago kit includes special forms and documentation that psychologists will need during their work. It is recorded on a CD in several formats. The selection of the format will depend on the type of device that will be used during the work by the psychologist. Also on the disk there is a complete list of all the necessary protocols on the working methods, in which the data obtained during the research on each specific method are recorded. The full set of documentation that Semago's diagnostic suitcase contains includes:
- A set of forms for pre-registration of work performed with the patient.
- Periodic reporting forms in which monthly and annual reports on the mental state of the patient are kept.
- Plan of measures for the diagnosis and consultation of the patient.
- Work schedule of a psychologist with days off. A schedule is preferable for a week, but can be scheduled for a month.
- A set of forms for fixing the results of research both superficial and deeper.
- Forms for making an opinion on the work performed and the mental state of the patient. Forms can be of several types: for an intermediate and for a final verdict.
- A set of forms for conducting group and individual consultations and diagnostic work, as well as correction of patient behavior.
- Statistical reporting graph.
In addition, the Semago kit contains a special diagnostic album, which is necessary for researching the specifics of cognitive abilities in children aged three to eight years. This diagnostic album contains some classic and original methods with which you can perform research, as well as a description and recommendations on how to use these methods in practice.
A suitcase for a psychologist in combination with other techniques
Psychologist’s suitcase - Semago diagnostic kit offers 25 methods. They are suitable for both individual and group therapy and are primarily a practical guide for diagnosing the processes of the child's psyche.
The psychologist’s suitcase (Semago diagnostic kit) has collected various materials that for twenty years of practice have been used by psychologists after testing on babies with different types of developmental disabilities. The authors of the methods proposed in the set, Natalia and Mikhail Semago, also developed a special sequence by which diagnostics should be carried out. Thanks to this sequence, according to experts, it is possible to achieve certain results during the study in the optimal way, as well as effectively correct the psychological state of the patient.
Naturally, the psychologist’s diagnostic kit, Semago compiled, is not a panacea and cannot exclude the use of other, alternative methods of diagnosing and correcting the psychological state in children. Often, many experts in addition to this kit use several more effective methods of research and work with deviations in the development of babies, which were developed by well-known child psychologists.
Each research methodology that contains the diagnostic kit of the psychologist, Semago compiled, necessarily has the main purpose of application and guidance on the effective use of the material. The sequence of performing diagnostic procedures and the criteria for analyzing the results are also described. In addition, in each description there are certain standards for a specific age group and clear indications for which age a particular technique is intended for.
Semago Diagnostic Kit: A Guide for a Psychologist
There are several ways to use this kit. They depend, first of all, on the age category of children for whom testing is intended. Also important is the size of the test group. The psychologist’s diagnostic kit includes several integrated blocks that are aimed at various areas of the study of the mental state of children of different age categories. The use of techniques from this kit is acceptable for children over the age of three. Also, some techniques are inappropriate to apply to adolescents and children over 12 years old. In total, the psychologist’s suitcase, Semago compiled, contains 5 blocks for the diagnosis of various psychological functions and the degree of development of the child at one or another age:
- The first block is designed to diagnose functions such as performance, attention and memory.
- The second block is aimed at identifying the specifics in the visual perception of the child.
- The third block is necessary to determine the state of such functions as verbal-logical and non-verbal thinking in different age categories.
- The fourth block is used to identify how much spatial representation of reality is formed in children older than five years.
- The fifth block is necessary in order to find out how much the child understands complex logical-grammatical speech constructions.
Each of these blocks can be used both independently and for a comprehensive diagnosis of psychological development as a whole. The results obtained are necessarily included in a special journal of the educational psychologist, Semago developed. Often, in addition to these blocks, a neuropsychological approach is used.
Matrices J. Raven
This diagnostic method consists of 36 tasks, which, in turn, are divided into 3 subgroups, 12 in each. All subgroups have their own specific designations: A, B and AB. Assessing the results of the study is carried out on a special scale, which is formed according to all the rules, and therefore the assessment of the abilities of the patient who underwent this test will be as accurate and reliable as possible. During this test, appropriate conditions are created under which the patient can manifest clear thinking that promotes adequate decision-making, and a holistic perception of the situation, as well as an understanding of what is happening. First, the child is tested in a calm environment, after which the same test is carried out in an accelerated mode, during which the manifestation of orientation in unusual situations is detected.
Using this test, you can accurately determine how well the child perceives the reality surrounding him and how well he can navigate what is happening. The final final assessment of the tested qualities is the total amount of correctly completed tasks that are entered in the psychologist’s journal, Semago developed. However, only those tasks that the child was able to perform in a calm mode are taken into account. This method is used to test children aged 4-10 years.
Vygotsky-Sakharov Methodology
This type of technique is preferably used to conduct evaluative diagnostics regarding the specifics and level of perception of what is happening by the child, as well as to determine how much he generally understands the significance of certain actions. First of all, a test is carried out on the ability to generalize and delimit abstract objects according to any certain similar characteristics.
Through the use of this technique, it is possible to determine the child’s ability to group abstract objects or images that will be presented to him, on the basis of specifically identified specific features inherent in each group individually. This test also helps to determine which particular unifying factors are a priority for the child, what he highlights in the first place and what exactly he focuses his attention on. The Semago diagnostic kit contains several copyright options for conducting analytical actions regarding the results. In the methodology for this test, volumetric wooden figures in the amount of 25 pieces are used, which differ from each other in size, shape, color and height. A standard set of figures is usually used to test children aged 2.5-3 years.
Method of indirect memorization
The main purpose of this technique is to determine the memory function of a child at different ages. Also, with its help, a predisposition to the use of various techniques for the indirect storage of a large amount of material is investigated. Testing is aimed at diagnosing the child’s mental abilities and the ability to extract the necessary information from the received amount of information.
In practice, it was repeatedly proved that the use of drawings, little known for a modern child, such as a fountain pen or inkwell during testing, caused a state of some kind of stupor in most children, and only some turned on their imagination and gave rather unpredictable answers to the question of that is depicted. Thus, this test also helps in determining the characteristics of the cognitive strategy and visual perception of various types of children. Typically, this test is carried out on children 5-8 years old, since at an older age there is already a manifestation of a logical explanation of what he saw and memorization of previously obtained information.
Methodology of V. M. Kogan
Testing a child using the Kogan technique is used to determine the level of concentration and attention on something important. The main parameters that are tested by this test are attention fixation and its differentiation into one, two or three important objects at the same time. In addition, criteria are determined by which the child gives preference to an object during switching attention between them. Additionally, diagnostics of the child’s level of health, as well as dynamics and the presence of specific mental characteristics when performing various intellectual tasks, is carried out.
During the analysis of the results, provided that the testing was carried out qualitatively and in accordance with all the recommendations, you can also determine the level of motivation of the child. Depending on the proposed remuneration, it is also possible to determine how much the child may be interested in performing one or another action, which may motivate him to show interest in performing various actions, and on which his attention is preferably focused.
If we evaluate testing by the Kogan method, then we can give him relatively high scores, since it captures the largest number of different aspects of psychological functions, and also has a wide range of interpretations of the research results. Testing is carried out using cards that depict geometric shapes of various colors in the plane, all of these cards, according to the methodology, 25 pieces are provided.In addition, the kit also contains a special table with several graphs, where on the left side there are colored zigzags, almost always 5 pieces, and on the other side of the table there are images of five shapes that correspond to the color scheme of zigzags. This type of testing has several varieties that are used for different age categories of children, it is recommended this test for children 5-9 years old, however, the specific age may vary.
The method of “Exclusion of objects”
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Technique "Scythe Cubes"
The main purpose of using this technique is to determine how constructive spatial thinking is formed, as well as the child’s ability to spatial analysis and synthesis. The use of this type of testing helps to detect the presence of various problems regarding the spatial orientation and representation of reality. In most cases, this technique is used to diagnose the cognitive component of the cognitive process; in addition, it is used to determine the level of development required.
As part of the test material, there are 9 multi-colored cubes in which each side is painted in a different color, 12 multi-colored thematic drawings, on which there is numbering, since it is necessary for testing. Usually, during a test with drawings, they are shown in order in accordance with the numbering, since the pattern on each subsequent image is more difficult to recognize than the previous one. This test is aimed at children aged four to nine years.
Methodology "Establishing a sequence of events"
This testing technique is intended mainly to identify the specifics of thinking and logical perception in children of preschool and primary school age. Using this test, you can determine the child’s predisposition to establish a causal and temporal-spatial relationship between these or other events. In addition, thanks to the test, speech development and the correspondence of the level of speech abilities to the standards for each specific age group are diagnosed.
The methodology contains four original plot sequences, which until recently were not used in any way in psychological diagnostics and research. Each of these four scenes presents sequential actions of varying degrees of difficulty. From the first to the last series, the complexity of the action increases. The principle of determination and the level of complexity of sequences is based both on the plot of the images and on their number. Usually for testing, 3-6 drawings are used, which are added to the plot according to the increasing level of complexity. This helps to determine not only the main plot, but also the subtext of each of them, and also indicates the spatial structure and nature of the plot line. This technique can be used to test children aged four to eight years.
Reviews about the methods of psychologists Semago
Those who used the diagnostic case note that this thing is useful, especially for beginning psychologists. The set has a good selection of teaching material. Kits are especially useful for working with preschool and school children.