Is it easy for you to fit into a new team? Do you calmly get used to new living conditions or do you feel anxious? Are you afraid of change? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you have weak adaptive abilities. This article is devoted to the socio-psychological adaptation of the individual; this information will be useful to you if changes terrify you.
In this article:
The concept of socio-psychological adaptationForms of psychological adaptationFeatures of the course of socio-psychological adaptationThe concept of personality maladjustmentTypes of maladjustment
The concept of socio-psychological adaptation
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The topic of adaptation was first raised by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. Observing the factors of adaptation of organisms to environmental conditions, he came to the conclusion that there is a universal expediency in their interactions.
The term “adaptation” was originally used in biology. Subsequently, the term penetrated into other sciences: psychology, sociology, pedagogy and many others.
Adaptation is a complex multifactorial phenomenon that has its own mechanisms and patterns.
Socio-psychological adaptation is the process of psychological inclusion of an individual in systems of social, socio-psychological and professional-activity connections and relationships, in the performance of corresponding role functions.
Socio-psychological adaptation is the individual’s adaptation to the group and relationships in it, the development of his own style of behavior. Social and psychological adaptation of a person is carried out in the following areas of his life and activity:
- In the social sphere with all the diversity of its content sides and components (moral, political, legal and many others).
Adaptation to interaction with new people, to new political or social conditions. Remember how you adapted to living conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.
- In systems of psychological connections and relationships of the individual, its inclusion in the performance of various socio-psychological roles.
Adaptation to a new social role and actions within this role. Agree, if you become a mother, wife or boss, your life changes dramatically and you need to adapt to these conditions.
- In the field of professional, educational, cognitive and other activity connections and relationships of the individual.
Here we are talking specifically about adapting to new teams in professional or educational activities. This may include the child’s adaptation to kindergarten and school, adaptation to a new job, and so on.
Adaptation Success Factors
The success of adaptation to school depends on a number of factors. External and internal factors of school adaptation are distinguished.
- External ones include relationships with the class, teacher and family.
- Internal ones include educational motivation, readiness for school, health and stress resistance of the child.
External and internal factors are interconnected. There is no consensus on what is secondary and determines the rest. This issue has not been fully studied. But many psychologists and teachers (S. N. Vereykina, G. F. Ushamirskaya, S. I. Samygin, T. S. Koposova, M. S. Golub, V. I. Dolgova) agree that the family is paramount. The child’s health (physical, psychological and mental), preparation for school, educational motivation and the ability to establish social contacts depend on the child-parent relationship.
Forms of psychological adaptation
In psychology, there are three forms of adaptation: formal, social and didactic.
- Formal adaptation is a cognitive and informational adaptation to a new environment, new requirements and responsibilities. For example, you are getting used to new work responsibilities.
Adaptation to a new workplace
- Social adaptation is the process of internal integration (unification) of groups and the integration of these same groups as a whole. For example, you get used to new people in group activities (study, work, hobbies).
- Didactic adaptation is the preparation of students for new forms and methods of educational work of an educational institution. Here we are talking specifically about getting used to a new social role - a student.
SIGNS OF SUCCESSFUL ADAPTATION TO SCHOOL
Based on the characteristics of a child who is at a high level, we can identify signs of successful adaptation to school:
- Satisfaction with the learning process, a positive attitude towards learning activities and mastery of its skills.
- The ability to independently organize your learning process and complete your homework.
- Ability to control one's behavior in accordance with school rules and regulations.
- Well-established contact with teachers and classmates.
Features of the course of socio-psychological adaptation
Adaptation has a number of features that must be taken into account when monitoring its progress. The period of socio-psychological adaptation is associated with the breaking of previous stereotypes and attitudes. In the process of socio-psychological adaptation, you may experience the following difficulties:
- Negative experiences associated with new conditions;
- Uncertainty of motivation, insufficient psychological preparation for it;
- Inability to carry out psychological self-regulation of behavior and activity;
- Finding the optimal mode of work and rest in new conditions;
- Establishing everyday life and self-service in new conditions;
- Lack of skill to perform new activities;
- Increased anxiety and emotionality;
- Stress;
- Having fears.
The level of personal adaptation is the result of the adaptation process. Pay attention to them:
- High. You have successfully adapted to new conditions;
- Average. You have adapted to a number of changes, but there are still challenges you face;
- Short. New conditions create a situation of emotional burnout.
The role of family in adaptation
V.I. Dolgova calls the child-parent relationship the main factor in a child’s adaptation. The author, in her study to identify the influence of family education style on school adaptation, relied on 2 indicators of adaptation success: anxiety and educational motivation. The results of the study showed the following:
- in families with the “symbiosis” type, children experience increased anxiety;
- high parental control contributes to a decrease in the child’s educational motivation;
- The “cooperation” style and the ability of parents to accept the child’s failures contribute to the reduction of anxiety.
The best position (style) in the family when adapting a first-grader is recognizing the child as an active subject of family relations; adequate control in the form of emotional acceptance of the child and voluminous, clear, feasible, consistent requirements.
Children from such families adapt well to school. They:
- active (socially, physically and communicatively);
- are proactive;
- independent;
- empathic and friendly.
However, what really prevails in most families is the subject-object attitude of parents towards the child. This causes problems with the child’s adaptation and socialization.
The concept of personality maladjustment
Sometimes it happens that a person, due to some obstacles, was unable to adapt to new conditions. The process of personality disadaptation is the opposite of the process of adaptation. Disadaptation is a destructive and disruptive process.
You have maladaptation if the problem situation associated with new conditions is not resolved, but on the contrary, it worsens, the difficulties increase, and you feel a persistent experience of unpleasant experiences and feelings.
Disadaptation can be pathological and non-pathological. Non-pathological adaptation is characterized by deviations in the behavior and experiences of the subject associated with insufficient socialization, socially unacceptable personality attitudes, a sharp change in living conditions, and a break in significant interpersonal relationships. In a pathological case, maladaptive states and conflicts can become the source of risky and auto-aggressive behavior of a person.
Be careful, if you feel that maladjustment is happening to you, contact a psychologist, or get out of this situation. It’s worth considering if you have the following signs:
- Changing behavior in the social sphere;
- Inconsistency between behavior and social functions;
- Mental changes;
- A state of psychological impasse that arises as a result of a person being in conflict for a long time (external or internal) and the absence of the necessary adaptive mechanisms to get out of this state.
Phases of the adaptation process
The implementation of the adaptation process is carried out in stages:
- at the first stage, deconstruction and decomposition of the old homeostasis program is carried out, resulting in a complex situation in which previous behavioral patterns, activity stereotypes and patterns lose their effectiveness, and new ones have not yet been created. At this phase, temporary adaptation mechanisms are updated to overcome the crisis situation;
- at the second stage, a new strategy and a program for deploying regulatory mechanisms are formed;
- the third phase of adaptation is characterized by stabilization of adaptation indicators and the development of new effective behavioral strategies.
Types of maladjustment
There are three types of personality maladjustment:
- Temporary maladjustment;
- Sustained situational maladjustment;
- General stable maladjustment.
Temporary maladjustment is characterized by an imbalance between the individual and the environment, which generates adaptive activity of the individual. Stable situational maladaptation of a person is distinguished by the absence of adaptation mechanisms, the presence of desire, but the inability to adapt. General stable maladaptation is manifested by a state of permanent frustration, activating pathological mechanisms and leading to the development of neuroses and psychoses.
As you can see, maladaptation is the very condition that can harm the human psyche. If you have difficulties with social and mental adaptation, seek help.
Psychology of social work. Theory and practice. Textbook for universities
Social adaptation strategies
The process of social adaptation involves the manifestation of various combinations of techniques and methods, strategies of social adaptation. The concept of “strategy” in a general sense can be defined as a guiding, organizing way of conducting actions and behavior designed to achieve not random, momentary, but significant, defining goals.
Social adaptation strategy
as a way of harmonizing an individual with the environment, a way of aligning his needs, interests, attitudes, value orientations and environmental requirements should be considered in the context of a person’s life goals and life path. In this regard, it is necessary to consider such a range of concepts as “lifestyle”, “life history”, “picture of life”, “life plan”, “life path”, “life strategy”, “lifestyle”, “life scenario” .
V. A. Yadov notes that socio-psychological analysis of lifestyle is intended to identify the mechanisms of self-regulation of the subject associated with his attitude to the conditions of life and activity, with his needs and life orientations, as well as with his attitude to social norms.
K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya highlights the basic principles of studying personality in the process of life, formulated by S. L. Rubinshtein and B. G. Ananyev:
• the principle of historicism,
where the inclusion of a personality in historical time allows us to consider biography as its personal history;
• genetic approach
making it possible to highlight different reasons for determining the stages, stages of its development in life;
• communication principle
development and life movement of the individual with his work activity, communication and cognition.
The principle of historicism was based on the idea of S. Bühler, who proposed an analogy between the process of an individual’s life and the process of history and declared the life of an individual to be an individual history. She called individual, or personal, life in its dynamics the life path of the individual and identified a number of aspects of life in order to trace them in dynamics:
• sequence of external events as the objective logic of life;
• logic of internal events—change of experiences, values—evolution of a person’s inner world;
• results of human activity.
S. Bühler considered the driving force of personality to be the desire for self-fulfillment and creativity. As K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya emphasized, the understanding of Sh. Buhler’s life path contained the main thing: the life of a particular person is not accidental, but natural, it lends itself not only to description, but also to explanation.
B. G. Ananyev believed that the subjective picture of a person’s life path in a person’s self-awareness is always built according to individual and social development, commensurate in biographical and historical dates.
A. A. Kronik presents a subjective picture of life’s path
as an image, the time dimensions of which are commensurate with the scale of human life as a whole, an image that captures not only the past of the individual - the history of its formation, not only the present - life situation and current activities, but also the future - plans, dreams, hopes. The subjective picture of the life path is a mental image that reflects the socially determined spatio-temporal characteristics of the life path (past, present and future), its stages, events and their relationships. This image performs the functions of long-term regulation and coordination of the individual’s life path with the lives of others, especially people who are significant to him.
S. L. Rubinstein, analyzing the works of S. Buhler, adopted and developed the idea of the life path and came to the conclusion that the life path cannot be understood only as the sum of life events, individual actions, and creative products. It needs to be presented as something more complete. To reveal the integrity and continuity of the life path, S. L. Rubinstein proposed not just highlighting its individual stages, but also finding out how each stage prepares and influences the next. While playing an important role in the path of life, these stages do not predetermine it with fatal inevitability.
One of the most important and interesting thoughts of S. L. Rubinstein, according to K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, is the idea of the turning stages of a person’s life, which are determined by personality. S. L. Rubinstein affirms the idea of personality activity
, her “active essence”, the ability to make choices, make decisions that influence her own life path. S. L. Rubinstein introduces the concept of personality as a subject of life. Manifestations of this subject consist in how activities and communication are carried out, what lines of behavior are developed based on desires and real possibilities.
K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya identifies three structures of the life path: life position, life line and meaning of life. Life position
, which consists in the self-determination of the individual, is formed by its activity and is realized in time as
a life line.
The meaning of life determines the value position and life line. Particular importance is attached to the concept of “life position”, which is defined as “personal development potential”, “way of living” based on personal values. This is the main determinant of all life manifestations of personality.
Concept of life perspective
in the context of the concept of a person’s life path, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya defines it as the potential and capabilities of an individual, objectively developing in the present, which should manifest themselves in the future.
Following S. L. Rubinstein, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya emphasizes that a person is the subject of life and the individual nature of his life is manifested in the fact that the individual acts as its organizer. The individuality of life consists in the ability of an individual to organize it according to his own plan, in accordance with his inclinations and aspirations, which are reflected in the concept of lifestyle
.
As a criterion for the correct choice of a person’s life path, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya puts forward the main one - satisfaction or dissatisfaction with life.
Life strategy consists of ways of changing, transforming conditions and situations of life in accordance with the values of the individual, the ability to combine one’s individual characteristics, one’s status and age capabilities, one’s own aspirations with the demands of society and others.
The ability of an individual to foresee, organize, direct the events of his life or, on the contrary, to submit to the course of life events allows us to talk about the existence of various ways of organizing life. These methods are considered as the ability of different types of individuals to spontaneously or consciously build their life strategies. The very concept of life strategy
K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya defines it as a constant adjustment of the characteristics of one’s personality and the way of one’s life, building one’s life based on one’s individual capabilities.
The life strategy consists of ways of changing, transforming conditions and situations of life in accordance with the values of the individual, the ability to combine one’s individual characteristics, one’s status and age capabilities, one’s own aspirations with the demands of society and others.
In this case, a person as a subject of life integrates his characteristics as a subject of activity, a subject of communication and a subject of cognition and correlates his capabilities with his life goals and objectives.
Thus, a life strategy is a strategy for a person’s self-realization in life by correlating life’s requirements with personal activity, its values and method of self-affirmation.
The strategy of social adaptation is an individual way of adapting an individual to society and its requirements, for which the experience of early childhood experiences, unconscious decisions made in accordance with the subjective scheme of perception of situations, and a conscious choice of behavior made in accordance with goals, aspirations, and needs are decisive. , personal value system.
Thus, the strategy of social adaptation is a universal individual principle, a way of a person’s social adaptation to life in his environment, taking into account the direction of his aspirations, the goals he has set and how to achieve them.
Social adaptation strategies are individual and unique for each individual, however, it is possible to identify some features and characteristics that are common and characteristic of a number of strategies, and list the types
social adaptation strategies.
The variety of types and methods of socio-psychological adaptation can be considered both from the point of view of the types of activity orientation in the adaptation process (and then it is set by the leading motives of the individual), and from the point of view of specific types and methods of adaptation, which are set, on the one hand, by the hierarchy values and goals, depending on the general orientation, and on the other hand, the psychological and psychophysiological characteristics of the individual.
In the classification of A.R. Lazursky, three levels of relationships are distinguished. At the first level, personality is entirely dependent on the environment. The environment, external conditions suppress a person - thus, insufficient adaptation occurs. At the second level, adaptation occurs for the benefit of oneself and for society. People who are at the third level of relationships - a creative attitude towards the environment - are able not only to successfully adapt to the environment, but also to influence it, changing and transforming it in accordance with their own needs and drives.
Thus, A.R. Lazursky foresaw the possibility of directing the transformative effect as a result of socio-psychological adaptation of the individual both to the change and restructuring of the personal structure (first and second levels) and externally.
Similar ideas are expressed by J. Piaget, according to whom the optimal combination of two aspects of social adaptation can be considered a condition for successful adaptation: accommodation
as the assimilation of the rules of the environment and
assimilation
as a transformation of the environment.
N. N. Miloslavova characterizes the types of adaptation in connection with the level of personality’s compliance with external conditions, “growing into the environment,” not including the process of transformation, the impact of the personality on the environment:
• balancing -
establishing a balance between the environment and the individual, who show mutual tolerance to each other’s value system and stereotypes;
• pseudo-adaptation -
a combination of external adaptation to the situation with a negative attitude towards its norms and requirements;
• adjustment -
recognition and acceptance of the basic value systems of the new situation, mutual concessions;
• assimilation -
psychological reorientation of the individual, transformation of previous views, orientations, attitudes in accordance with the new situation.
An individual can sequentially go through all these stages, gradually growing more and more into the social environment from the stage of balancing to the stage of assimilation, or he can stop at one of them. The degree of involvement in the adaptation process depends on a number of factors: on the degree of “tightness” of the individual, on the nature of the situation, on the individual’s attitude towards it and on the life experience of the adapter.
Differences in the way of individual life suggest the construction of different strategies, the leading parameter of which K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya considers activity as an internal criterion of the individual in the implementation of his life program. As a basis for describing various personality strategies, K. A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya proposes the distribution of initiative and responsibility as an individual way of implementing activity. A person whose structure is dominated by responsibility always strives to create the necessary conditions for himself, to foresee in advance what is needed to achieve the goal, to prepare to overcome difficulties and failures. Depending on the level of aspirations and orientation, people with developed responsibility can demonstrate different ways of self-expression. Thus, a person of the executive type has low activity of self-expression, is not confident in his abilities, needs the support of others, is situational, subject to external control, conditions, orders, advice; he is afraid of change, surprises, and strives to record and maintain what he has achieved.
Another type of personality, with high responsibility, receives satisfaction from the fulfilled duty, expresses himself through its implementation, his life can be planned to the smallest detail; daily, rhythmic fulfillment of the planned range of duties brings him a feeling of satisfaction at the end of the day; There are no long-term prospects in the lives of such people; they do not expect anything for themselves, but are always ready to fulfill other people's demands.
People with a different kind of life responsibility may have friends and acquaintances, but due to the feeling of being “alone” with life, they exclude both any orientation towards support and help from other people, and the opportunity to take responsibility for others, because , in their opinion, this increases their dependence and ties up their freedom of expression. The responsibility of such people is realized in a variety of roles.
A person with developed initiative is in a state of constant search, strives for something new, not being satisfied with the ready-made, given, is guided mainly only by what is desirable, interesting, “lights up” with ideas, willingly takes any risk, but when faced with something new, different from the imaginary, from plans and plans created by her, cannot clearly define goals and means, outline stages in the implementation of plans, and separate the achievable from the unattainable. For an initiative person, what is most often important is not the results, but the search process itself, its novelty, and breadth of prospects. This position subjectively creates diversity in life, its complexity and fascination.
We can distinguish different types of proactive people depending on their tendency to take responsibility. Some of them prefer to share their projects, proposals, ideas with others, intensively involve people in the circle of their creative searches, and take responsibility for their scientific and personal destiny. These people have a harmonious combination of initiative and responsibility. The initiative of other people may be limited by good intentions, and plans are not put into practice. The integrity or partiality of their activity depends on the nature of their claims and the degree of connection with responsibility.
A person whose life position is initiative constantly searches for new conditions, actively changes his life, expands the range of life activities, affairs, and communication; he always builds a personal perspective, not only thinks about something new, but also builds multi-stage plans, the realism and validity of which depend on the degree of responsibility and the level of personal development.
In people who combine initiative and responsibility, the desire for novelty and readiness for uncertainty associated with risk are balanced; They are constantly expanding their semantic and living space, but can confidently distribute it into the necessary and sufficient, the real and the desired. Responsibility for such a person implies not only the organization of activities, but also the opportunity not to live situationally, but to maintain autonomy and the opportunity to take initiative.
E.K. Zavyalova and S.T. Posokhova distinguish individual adaptation strategies in connection with search activity
, directed by a person to improve the system of interaction with the environment and himself.
The passive strategy
is most typical for people in a state of social or emotional shock, and is manifested in a person’s desire to preserve himself primarily as a biological unit, to leave his past lifestyle unchanged, to use well-established and previously effective stereotypes of interaction with the environment and himself. The core of the passive adaptation strategy is negative emotional experiences: anxiety, frustration, a feeling of loss, insurmountability of obstacles; the past seems beautiful regardless of reality, the present is perceived as dramatic, help is expected from the outside; aggressive reactions towards others and yourself become more frequent; a person is afraid to take responsibility for making risky decisions.
The passive adaptation strategy is determined by a number of personal properties and, in turn, forms a certain type of personality, the dominant position in the structure of which is occupied by hyper-caution, pedantry, rigidity, preference for regulation of any creative activity and freedom of decision, orientation towards making a collectively developed decision, craving for depersonalization, unconditional acceptance of social norms, responsible performance of usual duties.
In the event of the emergence of new forms of human interaction with nature, society, and oneself, an active strategy
adaptation is a strategy centered on intrapersonal and external social changes made by the person himself, on changing the previous way of life, on overcoming difficulties and destroying unsatisfactory relationships;
at the same time, a person focuses on his own internal reserves, is ready and able to be responsible for his actions and decisions. The basis of an active adaptation strategy is a realistic attitude towards life, the ability to see not only negative, but also positive aspects of reality; a person perceives obstacles as surmountable. His behavior and activities are characterized by purposefulness and organization; active, overcoming behavior is accompanied by predominantly positive emotional experiences. Centered on overcoming, the active strategy, as well as the passive one, forms a certain psychological portrait of the individual
: social orientation of actions and decisions, social confidence and self-confidence, high personal responsibility, independence, sociability, high level of aspirations and high self-esteem, emotional stability.
By comparing the approaches considered, we can generally define the strategy of social adaptation as the predominant way for a subject to build his relationships with the outside world, other people and himself in solving life problems and achieving life goals.
When assessing this strategy, it is necessary to consider the sphere of subjective relations of the individual:
a) attitude towards oneself, assessment of one’s success, self-acceptance;
b) interest in others and communication with them, attitude towards the environment and people in general, acceptance of other people, an idea of their personality assessment, position in communication (dominance or dominance) and in conflict situations;
c) a position towards the world as a whole, which can manifest itself in a preference for certain experiences, reflected in the level of a person’s aspirations, his way of assigning responsibility and his attitude towards the future (openness to the future or fear of the future, isolation in the present).
Concluding the above, within the framework of the psychoanalytic direction, social adaptation is interpreted as a homeostatic balance of the individual with the requirements of the external environment (environment). The socialization of the individual is determined by the repression of drive and the switching of energy to objects sanctioned by society (S. Freud), as well as as a result of the individual’s desire to compensate and overcompensate for his inferiority (A. Adler).
Within the framework of the humanistic direction of research on social adaptation, a position is put forward on the optimal interaction of the individual and the environment. The main criterion of adaptation here is the degree of integration of the individual and the environment. The goal of adaptation is to achieve positive spiritual health and compliance of personal values with the values of society. Moreover, the adaptation process is not a process of equilibrium between the organism and the environment.
Social adaptation
implies ways of adapting, regulating, and harmonizing the interaction of an individual with the environment. In the process of social adaptation, a person acts as an active subject who adapts to the environment in accordance with his needs, interests, aspirations and actively determines himself. The process of social adaptation involves the manifestation of various combinations of techniques and methods, strategies of social adaptation.
The strategy of social adaptation should be understood as the predominant way a subject builds his relationships with the outside world, other people and himself in solving life problems and achieving life goals.
Social adaptation strategy
represents an individual way of adapting a person to society and its requirements, for which the determining influences are the experience of early childhood experiences, unconscious decisions made in accordance with the subjective scheme of perception of situations, the conscious choice of behavior in accordance with the goals, aspirations, needs, and value system of the individual.
METHODS FOR ADAPTING CHILDREN TO SCHOOL
Diagnosis of adaptation of first-graders helps to identify problems with adaptation to school life. After this, specialists must take appropriate measures. Many different techniques have been created for this:
- observation;
- methodology for studying educational motivation;
- Luscher method;
- “Houses” technique;
- “Ladder” technique;
- methods for studying school anxiety;
- drawing technique “Drawing of a person”;
- questionnaire “Internal position of the student”;
- sociometry.
HOW IS THE PROCESS OF CHILDREN’S ADAPTATION: MY EXPERIENCE
As a primary school teacher, in my practice I notice that children’s adaptation to school is much easier if a favorable and friendly atmosphere is immediately created in the team. When working with 1st grade, I often use a collective game form during lessons, breaks and dynamic breaks.
But no matter how well the child’s relationships with classmates develop, if tension from constant control reigns in the family or, conversely, absolute indifference to the child, then peers and the teacher can do little to help in adaptation.
The only advantage in such a situation is that a competent and responsive teacher can identify this problem at the first stage. Then he can promptly connect a psychologist and conduct the necessary conversations with parents.
Many of them, unfortunately, do not realize how important the established communication style is for a child. Therefore, I think it is very important to convey to parents knowledge about the features of adaptation at the first parent meeting, and then sum up the first results in September.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS TO PARENTS
I will highlight some recommendations for parents on how to adapt first-graders to school:
- Follow your daily routine. Let him take into account his activities at school and at home so that he can alternate them with active activities. It is better to set up a routine before the start of the school year so as not to create unnecessary stress. It will also help instill independence skills, which are very important in learning.
- Walk more. Ideally, a child should walk every day for 2-3 hours.
- Provide your first grader with a quiet workplace. Don’t skimp on conditions: age-appropriate furniture, lighting and school supplies protect children’s health.
- Don't forget about vitamins. The child should eat a balanced diet and periodically take vitamin complexes.
- Take care of your children’s nervous system: exclude TV, computer and telephone before bedtime as much as possible.
- Praise your child for any successes, talk about impressions and failures. It is important that he feels your attention and love.
- Take into account the individual characteristics of the baby: character, temperament, etc. This determines what pace of work he will have and the speed of assimilation of information.
- Consider the first grader's environment. Encourage him to communicate with classmates, and also maintain the teacher’s authority in his eyes.
ADVICE FROM A PSYCHOLOGIST
Parents and teachers should take their child’s admission to grade 1 very seriously, because psychological adaptation is a complex and time-consuming process.
Let's consider general advice from a psychologist on how to adapt first-graders to school, which will help children who do not have specific health problems (physical and mental) get used to school.
- Praise. In mastering his new role as a student, a child can make many mistakes, which are very painful. Therefore, you cannot scold your child and show him your disappointment. At these moments, he needs support and approval more than ever. Praise your first grader even for the most modest successes and achievements.
- Uniqueness of personality. Under no circumstances should you compare your child with other children. Self-esteem in children at this age is unstable; any traumatic phrases can greatly reduce it. At the same time, motivation for further study is lost. If you need to point out mistakes and development opportunities to your child, it is better to compare him with himself, focusing on improved results.
- Conditionality of assessments. In the first year of study, it makes no sense to objectively evaluate the results of a student’s success; they can vary greatly under the influence of a number of factors. The main thing is to instill in him a cognitive interest and a positive attitude towards learning activities. Therefore, children can only be assessed verbally and for their successes.
- Development of hidden potential. The school allows the child to express himself in different areas, be it sports, dancing or creativity. The teacher, together with the parents, must see in him the potential and energy that he can direct in the right direction. It is important to combine this with studying so that you have enough time to prepare for lessons and relax.
- Encouragement. Children sense lies well, so sincere praise and confidential communication will be very valuable to them. Parents should not replace these things with toys and sweets in order to pay off their children and save their time.