Psychological characteristics of mentally retarded children.

Causes of mild mental retardation in children

The cause of any mental retardation is damage to the brain. The most severe structural defects manifest themselves in underdevelopment of the brain.

The main reasons causing the development of mental retardation in children can be grouped into the following groups:

• Heredity (gene and chromosomal diseases). This group includes: various syndromes (for example, Down, Turner); forms associated with hereditary metabolic disorders, neurological diseases;
• Exposure to harmful factors during intrauterine development: intrauterine infections (for example, rubella, toxoplasmosis, etc.), intoxication (alcohol intake, substances toxic to the fetus), hemolytic disease of the fetus, etc.;
• Factors that were exposed during childbirth or at an early age (birth injuries, oxygen deprivation, trauma, infections);
• Pedagogical neglect , which occurs against the background of full-fledged brain function, but in the absence of full education and socialization;
• The presence of several causes at once, mixed states.

Alcoholism in pregnant women, according to a number of authors, is the most common cause of mild mental retardation in children.

Mental retardation in children under 3 years of age, symptoms and psychological characteristics of children with mental retardation

The diagnosis of mental retardation in children can be officially made no earlier than 7 years of age. However, it is important to understand that there are symptoms of mild mental retardation in children, which can be used to suspect its presence in early childhood, up to 3 years.

Mild mental retardation in children, signs:

• The child lags behind in motor development: he begins to hold his head up, sit down, stand up, and walk late. The baby's grasping reflex may be impaired, and at 1-1.5 years the child still does not hold objects (toys, spoon and fork);
• Speech is absent or appears very late; the child has difficulty constructing phrases and coherent speech. At 2-3 years old, the baby poorly understands speech addressed to him and cannot follow basic instructions;
• Mild mental retardation in children is characterized by an imbalance in the processes of nervous excitation and inhibition; This is expressed in excessive impulsiveness, lack of restraint, excitability, irritability or, conversely, lethargy and slowness;
• The child shows no interest in the world around him and seems withdrawn; His emotional-volitional sphere is “impoverished”;
• There is no story game. The games are primitive in content, the toys may not be of interest to the child or he may not use them for their intended purpose.

General condition of the child

Unexpressed mental retardation may have virtually no effect on physical development. Children with intellectual pathologies are able to achieve success in many sports disciplines. By directing their efforts in the right direction and not focusing on shortcomings, they will be able to take their place in society.

The emotional background in mental retardation is very unstable; it is difficult for a child to control his feelings, or rather, the transitions from one state to another. According to his age, he experiences different sensations:

• joy;
• delight;
• sadness;
• irritation;
• anger, etc.

Such children lack a sense of compassion and spiritual understanding of the emotions of others. They cannot think about events or their consequences in the future. The life of a child with mild mental retardation happens here and now. He doesn't worry about what will happen tomorrow.

Such a child has weak manifestations of volitional efforts. In other words, it is as if he agreed to some action, but cannot bring himself to do it, while he himself cannot explain the reason for his behavior.

Diagnosis of mild mental retardation in children

The diagnosis of mental retardation is based on the establishment of a mental defect, the main place in which is occupied by the underdevelopment of intellectual and higher mental functions, as well as the absence of signs of progression of underdevelopment.

In order to determine the severity of a mental defect and its leading link, special psychological methods for assessing intelligence are used. Neuropsychological diagnostics are also carried out, which helps not only to determine the level of development of higher mental functions of a child with mental retardation, but also to see his current and potential capabilities (those strengths that can be relied upon in the correction and treatment of mental retardation).

Mild mental retardation must be distinguished from diagnoses caused by mental illness (for example, schizophrenia) and severe pedagogical neglect.

Determining the level of development

Children diagnosed with retardation are able to adapt quite quickly to those around them. It is possible for them to attend kindergarten or primary school on general terms, without a special program. Of course, they are not able to achieve any special success, but mastering the necessary minimum of knowledge is quite possible.

However, psychiatrists still recommend training children with mild retardation in specialized educational institutions. Now they are called schools of the eighth type, and their program fully corresponds to this intellectual level.

A child with a slight mental retardation commits actions that lack any purpose or motivation. His behavior is dominated by:

• the desire to imitate, copy actions;
• lack of independence, naivety and suggestibility;
• depending on the situation or circumstances.

Many parents are afraid to send a child with such disabilities to a special school, explaining that the child will be better off in a calm family environment. By expressing such judgments, they reassure themselves, while depriving the child of a chance for a full existence in society.

Work with mentally retarded children should be carried out by specialists together with parents and be aimed at activating the main lines of intellectual development. To do this, parents need to thoroughly study the baby’s behavior in various situations, his habits and characteristics. Based on these observations, the level of development is established.

Features of mental development and thinking in children with mental retardation

Any child with mental retardation is different from another with the same diagnosis, due to the fact that each has its own characteristics of brain function, immaturity or deficiency of its structures and sections, as well as intact links.

L.S. Vygotsky believed that the primary defect of mental retardation is inertia, stiffness of the main nervous processes, as well as weakness of orienting activity, which underlies the child’s reduced activity and lack of interest in the world around him. A secondary defect is underdevelopment of higher mental functions. In turn, when a child finds himself in conditions of an inadequate teaching and educational environment, opportunities arise for the development of a tertiary level defect, namely, behavioral disorders and characteristics of the emotional-volitional sphere. In addition, the following features can be highlighted:

• Most authors prove that cognitive disorders in such children consist of difficulties in forming concepts and generalizations, difficulty in abstract thinking;
• A child with mental retardation is poorly taught; it is difficult for him to perceive any new information;
• As the child grows up, all of the above is accompanied by a poverty of outlook and superficiality of thinking.

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Mental retardation is not a painful process, but a pathological condition, the result of harmfulness that once acted and has no tendency to progress.

Previously, three degrees of severity of mental retardation were distinguished:

• Idiocy (from Greek - idiotea, ignorance).
• Imbecility (from Latin - im - without + baculus - stick, crutch, i.e. inability to do without intellectual support).
• Debility (from Latin - debilis - crippled, infirm, weak).

In the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (1994), mental retardation is divided by severity into four degrees: mild, moderate, severe and profound (i.e., imbecility is divided into two levels - moderate and severe mental retardation).

1. Profound mental retardation (idiocy)

Idiocy is the most severe violation of the development of cognitive abilities. People suffering from profound mental retardation are unable to master even the simplest self-care skills (get dressed, wash, use cutlery, etc.), their speech is either not formed at all, or consists of a small number of simple words, they understand little speech addressed to them, and may not recognize people caring for them (for example, a mother) cannot distinguish edible from inedible (they swallow inedible objects), often have no idea about spatial relationships (for example, about height: falling from a great height), rarely form ideas about hot, spicy, etc. (can be damaged or burned). In most cases, underdevelopment of intelligence is accompanied by motor disorders and severe somatic abnormalities. The life of such patients, who need constant care and supervision from others, is determined by the satisfaction of the simplest needs of life. The IQ of persons with severe mental retardation is below 20.

2. Severe mental retardation (severe variants of imbecility)

Cognitive activity is limited by the ability to form only the simplest ideas; abstract thinking, generalizations are not available. Patients acquire only basic self-care skills; their training is impossible. Vocabulary is limited to one to two dozen words, sufficient to communicate your basic needs. Neurological disorders are often present. Patients require constant supervision and care. The IQ of these patients ranges from 20–34.

3. Moderate mental retardation (milder variants of imbecility)

People with mild mental retardation are able to form more and more complex ideas than people with severe mental retardation. They master self-service skills and can master the simplest labor operations by training in imitative actions. Their vocabulary is richer, they are able to express themselves in simple phrases and maintain a simple conversation. Relative adaptation of these individuals is possible only in conditions that are well known to them; any change in the situation can put them in a difficult position due to the impossibility of moving from specific (obtained through direct experience) ideas to generalizations that allow them to transfer existing experience to new situations. Such people cannot live independently and need constant guidance and control. Some of them can perform simple work in specially created conditions (for example, in occupational therapy workshops). The IQ of these patients ranges from 35–49.

4. Mild degree of mental retardation (moronicity)

Cognitive disorders in these cases consist in the difficulty of forming complex concepts and generalizations, the impossibility or difficulty of abstract thinking. Thinking is predominantly visual and figurative, everyday speech is often quite well developed (sometimes complex abstract concepts are used in it, but their meaning is not always well understood). In many cases, people with mild mental retardation can successfully perform everyday household tasks and demonstrate good practical awareness (“their skills are greater than their knowledge” - E. Kraepelin). They are capable of mastering special training programs and mastering simple work skills. Many of them graduate from specialized schools and vocational schools, work in low-skilled jobs, start families, and run their own households. However, they often experience difficulties when faced with non-standard situations and the need to change the existing stereotype of behavior. They have difficulty forming their own judgments, are often not independent in making decisions, are suggestible, and therefore easily adopt other people’s views, sometimes falling under the unhealthy influence of others (for example, they can be involved in the delusional experiences of mentally ill people with the formation of induced delusions or become a tool in the hands of attackers who manipulate them for your own benefit). When interpreting proverbs and solving logical thinking problems, they tend to give specific interpretations or random answers. IQ in cases of retardation is in the range of 50–69, which corresponds to the mental development of approximately a 9–12 year old child.

Since intelligence reflects the formation of a whole complex of cognitive functions, disruption of its development can affect various functions unevenly. For example, with Down syndrome (trisomy on chromosome 21), verbal functions suffer to the greatest extent, and with Williams syndrome (deletion of a section of chromosome 7), on the contrary, verbal intelligence suffers to a lesser extent.

As noted above, biological and social factors are involved in the formation of intelligence. In cases where it can be assumed that a child’s developmental delay is primarily associated with social factors (family and social ill-being, homelessness, forced limited social contacts, inaccessibility of education, “pedagogical neglect,” somatic diseases, etc.), they often say about “mental retardation,” thereby implying that if the impact of unfavorable factors is reduced and with appropriate training and correction, compensation for mental retardation can be observed.

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