Correctional education classes are focused on the needs and capabilities of children, taking into account their physical and psychological health. In these classes, it is especially important to select working methods at each stage. Students are characterized by an unformed level of mental development required for a given age - this leads to the fact that the educational skills determined by the school curriculum cannot be properly mastered. Therefore, I think through tasks based on several analyzers (visual, auditory, motor), i.e. not only heard, but also saw and recorded. For this purpose, I use the method of step-by-step perception of ready-made samples of mental activity.
Since children of these classes, to varying degrees, have problems and impairments in perception, memory, logic - i.e. higher mental functions, then clarity plays a particularly important role when explaining new material, reference tables, cards - cheat sheets that students should have on their desks.
It is important to think through independent work. Independent work cannot be given in the same form as in regular classes. I make up tasks like: finish, finish, finish recording. To better perceive the material, it is important to set practical tasks that show the connection with life.
I also take into account medical aspects. When teaching children in KRO classes, for example, even such a nuance as the teacher’s use of a blackboard is of great importance, since it is connected with the work of the hemispheres of the students’ brain and is determined by the characteristics of the children’s psyche.
While working in class, the work of those brain centers that are blocked, i.e. do not act, they take over the cells of the nervous system. And since there is a large load on the nervous system, children need frequent changes in activities during the lesson.
I think through different forms of work at different stages of the lesson, suggesting the possibility of children moving (physical education minutes). Among other things, it is necessary to take care of creating a calm and friendly climate - all this contributes to the activation of students’ activities, as a result of which the motivation to learn increases.
Teaching formation based on basic didactic principles:
a) systematic;
b) sequence;
c) prospects;
d) continuity;
e) taking into account the individual abilities and physical condition of the child.
When teaching, it is necessary to take into account that the thinking of such children is concrete. Although elements of abstract thinking are characteristic of all children, these children have limited opportunities in this area, therefore the main task of language teaching is the development of speech.
To develop speech, I use live pronunciation of a word: the unit of pronunciation is a syllable, this allows you to both write and pronounce words correctly. I pay attention to spelling exercises, do not ignore pronunciation deficiencies, and pay attention to the sound form of the word.
I consider a notebook for copying to be a successful find in developing competent writing. Children rewrite sentences from any text. Visual memory and attentiveness are developed, the skill of competent writing and spelling vigilance are developed.
In every lesson I pay attention to vocabulary work, often conducting tests on cheating, various types of mini-dictations, and writing from memory.
Corrective work
ORGANIZATION AND MAIN DIRECTIONS OF INDIVIDUAL-GROUP CORRECTION CLASSES
Explanatory note
The goal of teaching mass school students is the comprehensive, harmonious development of the individual. The formation of a civic position, active, creative inclusion in the life of society also determines the work of schools for children with developmental problems. The general laws of development of such children and normally developing children also determine the general principles of their education. Thus, the basic didactic principles of teaching normal children are also valid in relation to a special school. However, these principles undergo changes, are refracted through the prism of the specific characteristics of the mental and physical development of children with developmental problems, forming their own system that reflects the specific conditions for the implementation of general didactic principles. ABOUTThe main principle of organizing the correctional orientation of the educational process involves an active influence on the sensory, mental and speech development of children. The direction and content of correctional work in school for children with developmental disorders is determined by a number of social factors. The basic principles of correctional work are based on an understanding of the relationship between the general and the specific in the development of a child, the relationship between biological and social learning and development, and the connection between primary and secondary defects. The multifactorial nature of the determination of the correctional educational process determines the complexity of the correctional work system and the diversity of its structure at various stages of a child’s education. The system of correctional work provides for individual and group correctional classes with students of a general developmental and subject orientation. They are included in the Standard Basic Curriculum of a General Education Institution.
Corrective work is carried out within the framework of a holistic approach to the upbringing and development of the child. Work during individual and group lessons should be aimed at general development, and not at training individual mental processes or abilities of students. The starting principle for determining the goals and objectives of correction, as well as methods for solving them, is the principle of unity of diagnostics and developmental correction. The tasks of correctional work can be correctly set only on the basis of a comprehensive diagnosis and assessment of the reserves of the child’s potential capabilities, based on the concept of “zone of proximal development.”
Tasks of correctional work:
Among the tasks of the correctional and developmental educational direction, the following stand out and have methodological support:
Development of children's cognitive activity (achieved by implementing the principle of accessibility of educational material, ensuring the “effect of novelty” when solving educational problems);
Development of general intellectual skills: techniques of analysis, comparison, generalization, grouping and classification skills;
Normalization of educational activities, formation of the ability to navigate a task, development of self-control and self-esteem;
Development of vocabulary, oral monologue speech of children in unity with the enrichment of knowledge and ideas about the surrounding reality;
Speech therapy correction of speech disorders;
Psychocorrection of child behavior;
Social prevention, development of communication skills, correct behavior.
The choice of optimal means and techniques of correctional pedagogical influence is impossible without a comprehensive and in-depth study of the causes of difficulties that children encounter when mastering educational programs. The most reliable diagnosis turns out to be one that is based on data from a clinical-physiological and psychological-pedagogical study of a child who is in adequate, most favorable learning conditions. Corrective classes are conducted with students as the teacher, psychologist and speech pathologist identify individual gaps in their development and learning.
When studying schoolchildren, the following indicators are taken into account:
1. Physical condition and development of the child:
Dynamics of physical development (history);
Condition of hearing, vision;
Features of the development of the motor sphere, disorders of general motor skills (general tension or lethargy, imprecision of movements, paralysis, paresis, the presence of their residual effects);
Coordination of movements (features of gait, gestures, difficulties when necessary to maintain balance, difficulties in regulating the pace of movements, the presence of hyperkinesis, synkinesis, obsessive movements);
Features of performance (fatigue, exhaustion, absent-mindedness, satiety, perseverance, pace of work; an increase in the number of errors towards the end of the lesson or during monotonous activities; complaints of headaches).
Features and level of development of the cognitive sphere:
Peculiarities of perception of size, shape, color, time, spatial arrangement of objects (depth of perception, its objectivity);
Features of attention: volume and stability, concentration, ability to distribute and switch attention from one type of activity to another, degree of development of voluntary attention;
Features of memory: accuracy, consistency, the possibility of long-term memorization, the ability to use memorization techniques, individual characteristics of memory; predominant type of memory (visual, auditory, motor, mixed); predominance of logical or mechanical memory;
Features of thinking: level of mastery of the operations of analysis, comparison, synthesis (the ability to isolate essential elements, parts, compare objects in order to identify similarities and differences; the ability to generalize and draw independent conclusions; the ability to establish cause-and-effect relationships);
Features of speech: defects in pronunciation, volume of vocabulary, development of phrasal speech, features of grammatical structure, level of formation of intonation, expressiveness, clarity, strength and pitch of voice);
Cognitive interests, curiosity.
Attitude to educational activities, features of motivation:
Features of the “teacher-student” relationship, the student’s reaction to comments, evaluation of his activities; awareness of one’s failures in studies, attitude towards failures (indifference, difficult experiences, desire to overcome difficulties, passivity or aggressiveness); attitude towards praise and blame;
The ability to monitor one’s own activities using a visual model, verbal instructions, or algorithm; features of self-control;
Ability to plan your activities.
Features of the emotional and personal sphere:
Emotional-volitional maturity, depth and stability of feelings;
Ability to exert volition;
Prevailing mood (gloominess, depression, anger, aggressiveness, isolation, negativism, euphoric cheerfulness);
Suggestibility;
The presence of affective outbursts, a tendency to refuse reactions;
The presence of phobic reactions (fear of the dark, closed space, loneliness, etc.);
Attitude towards oneself (disadvantages, opportunities); features of self-esteem;
Relationships with others (position in a team, independence, relationships with peers and elders);
Features of behavior at school and at home;
Behavioral disorders, bad habits.
Features of the acquisition of knowledge, skills and abilities provided for by the program:
General awareness of everyday concepts, knowledge about yourself and the world around you;
Formation of reading, counting, writing skills according to age and class;
The nature of errors in reading and writing, counting and problem solving.
Objectives of correctional classes:
promotionlevel of general development of students;
filling in the gaps of previous development and training, individual work on the formation of insufficient knowledgemilitary training skills;
correction of deviations in the development of cognitive sphere and speech;
targeted preparation for the perception of new educational material.
The content of individual lessons should exclude a formal mechanical approach, “coaching” in the formation of individual skills. The plan is not so much to achieve a separate result (for example, to learn the multiplication table), but to create conditions for improving the development opportunities of the child as a whole. Two forms of correctional influence can be distinguished: symptomatic, built in accordance with the identified symptoms of developmental deviations, and corrective, aimed at the sources and causes of developmental deviations. The second form of correction has absolute priority over the first.
Studying the individual characteristics of students allows us to plan the timing of correctional work. Individual and group correctional classes are conducted by the main teacher of the class. During individual lessons, a teacher, speech therapist, and psychologist work with free students.
The duration of classes with one student or group should not exceed 20 minutes. A group can include 3-4 students who have the same gaps in the development and assimilation of the school curriculum or similar difficulties in educational activities. Working with a whole class or large numbers of students is not permitted in these classes.
When organizing correctional classes, it is necessary to proceed from the child’s capabilities: the task should be in the zone of moderate difficulty, but be accessible, since in the first stages of correctional work it is necessary to ensure the student’s experience of success against the backdrop of a certain amount of effort. In the future, the difficulty of the task should be increased in proportion to the child’s increasing capabilities.
The goal and results should not be too distant in time from the beginning of the task, they should be significant for students, therefore, when organizing corrective action, it is necessary to create additional stimulation (teacher’s praise, competition, etc.).
At a time when a child cannot yet get a good grade in a lesson, it is important to create a situation for achieving success in an individual-group lesson. For this purpose, you can use a system of conditional qualitative and quantitative assessment of the child’s achievements. The system of rewarding each correct answer with “tokens” (chips, stars, stickers, stamps, etc.) has proven itself well at the initial level. At the end of the lesson, the number of chips earned by each student is counted, and the one with the most is declared the best.
When preparing and conducting correctional classes, it is also necessary to remember about the peculiarities of students’ perception of educational material and the specifics of their motivation for activity. It is effective to use various types of game situations, didactic games, game exercises, and tasks that can make learning activities more relevant and meaningful for the child.
The correctional work program is aimed at:
overcoming students' difficulties in learning activities;
mastering the skills of students’ adaptation to society;
psychological, medical and pedagogical support for schoolchildren with learning problems;
development of the creative potential of students (gifted children);
developing the potential of students with disabilities
Main directions of correctional work:
1. Improving movements and sensorimotor development:
Development of fine motor skills of the hand and fingers;
Development of calligraphy skills;
Development of articulatory motor skills.
2. Correction of certain aspects of mental activity:
Development of visual perception and recognition;
Development of visual memory and attention;
Formation of generalized ideas about the properties of objects (color, shape, size);
Development of spatial representations of orientation;
Development of ideas about time;
Development of auditory attention and memory;
Development of phonetic-phonemic concepts, formation of sound analysis.
3. Development of basic mental operations:
Correlative analysis skills;
Grouping and classification skills (based on mastering basic generic concepts);
Ability to work according to verbal and written instructions, algorithm;
Ability to plan activities;
Development of combinatorial abilities.
4. Development of different types of thinking:
Development of visual-figurative thinking;
Development of verbal-logical thinking (the ability to see and establish logical connections between objects, phenomena and events).
5. Correction of disturbances in the development of the emotional and personal sphere (relaxation exercises for facial expressions, dramatization, role reading, etc.).
6. Development of speech, mastery of speech technique.
7. Expanding ideas about the world around us and enriching the vocabulary.
8. Correction of individual knowledge gaps.
Psychological and didactic principles of correctional work include:
Introduction to the content of training sections that provide for filling the gaps of previous development, the formation of readiness to perceive the most complex sections of the program;
The use of teaching methods and techniques with a focus on the child’s “zone of proximal development”, i.e. creating optimal conditions for the realization of his potential;
Corrective focus of the educational process, ensuring the solution of problems of general development, education and correction of the child’s cognitive activity and speech, overcoming individual developmental deficiencies.
The corrective focus of training is provided by a set of basic educational subjects that make up the invariant part of the curriculum. In addition to mathematics and the Russian language, these include subjects such as familiarization with the outside world and speech development, rhythm, speech therapy, and labor training.
The introduction of these specially designed training courses makes it possible to ensure maximum immersion of the child in an active speech environment, increase his motor activity, correct his emotional tone, and makes it possible to form the main stages of educational activity, incl. indicative stage and stage of self-control and self-esteem, improve motivation for educational and cognitive activities.
Frontal correctional work carried out by the teacher in all lessons makes it possible to ensure the assimilation of educational material at the level of the requirements for knowledge and skills of the educational standard.
Methodological principles for constructing the content of educational material, aimed at ensuring the systematic assimilation of students’ knowledge, include:
Strengthening the practical orientation of the material being studied;
Identification of essential features of the phenomena being studied;
Reliance on the child’s life experience;
Reliance on objective internal connections in the content of the material being studied, both within one subject and between subjects;
Compliance with the principle of necessity and sufficiency in determining the volume of studied material;
Introduction of correctional sections into the content of educational programs, providing for the activation of cognitive activity, previously acquired knowledge and skills of children, the formation of school-significant functions necessary for solving educational problems.
An essential feature of the correctional and developmental educational pedagogical process is individual and group work aimed at correcting individual developmental deficiencies of students. Such classes may have general developmental goals, for example, increasing the level of general, sensory, intellectual development, memory, attention, correction of visual-motor and optical-spatial disorders, general and fine motor skills, but they may also be subject-oriented; preparation for the perception of difficult topics of the curriculum, filling in the gaps of previous training, etc. Speech therapy classes for children with speech disorders also occupy a significant place.
By specifying the general didactic principle of correctional orientation, we can formulate the following principles of correctional work in the lower grades:
Rdevelopment of sensory experience.
Andintellectualization of educational and cognitive activity.
fformation of correlative activities.
atstrengthening pedagogical guidance of students' educational and cognitive activities.
The correctional work program for grades 1 - 2 consists of 7 sections:
visual perception of color;
hvisual perception of form;
R
development of generalization, differentiation and comparison skills;
development of oral speech;
Rdevelopment of phonemic hearing and analysis
And for students in grades 3 - 4 from 5 sections:
visual perception of shape;
Rdevelopment of spatial concepts and orientation;
development of temporary concepts;
Rdevelopment of generalization, differentiation and comparison skills;
development of oral speech.
I . Visual perception of color
Students should be able to match colored strips to the assignment; differentiate the main colors of the spectrum, know the names of the main colors of the spectrum; be able to see and name colors and paints in nature; obtain tones of the primary colors of the spectrum.
II . Development of phonemic awareness and analysis
Students must be able to distinguish phonemes by ear; distinguish vowels and consonants by the method of sound formation and sound pronunciation; form words with a given sound from a split alphabet; Students should be able to write sentences diagrammatically; write down words using a diagram.
III . Visual perception of shape
Students develop ideas about geometric figures and their application in various fields of activity, as well as their construction.
IV . Development of spatial concepts and orientation
Children learn to determine the arrangement of elements and synthesize a whole from parts. Students develop the ability to find different directions of the path, navigate the terrain,draw a plan of the area, memory for spatial relationships develops.
V . Development of temporal representations
This program provides for the determinationtime by the clock, clarifying ideas about the changing seasons and months, and also involves the use of students’ personal experience in determining the sequence of events.
VI . Oral speech development
The main functions of speech are revealed to students in an accessible form:
Speech is the most important means of communication between people;
Speech is a means of transmitting and assimilating certain information.
Children comprehend the meaning of speech in human life and gradually begin to master skills that help them use speech in all its functions.
VII . Development of communication skills, differentiation, comparison
Enrichment and clarification of the dictionary. Naming objects, characterizing them according to their characteristics. Comparing objects, finding similar and distinctive features. Classification of objects according to pattern, display, verbal instructions.
The content of the correctional work program is determined by the following principles:
— Respect for the interests of the child. The principle defines the position of a specialist who is called upon to solve a child’s problem with maximum benefit and in the interests of the child.
— Systematicity. The principle ensures the unity of diagnosis, correction and development, i.e. a systematic approach to the analysis of the developmental characteristics and correction of disorders of children with disabilities, as well as a comprehensive multi-level approach of specialists in various fields, interaction and coordination of their actions in solving the child’s problems; participation in this process of all participants in the educational process.
— Continuity. The principle guarantees the child and his parents (legal representatives) continuity of assistance until the problem is completely resolved or an approach to solving it is determined.
— Variability. The principle involves the creation of variable conditions for receiving education by children with various disabilities in physical and (or) mental development.
The principle ensures compliance with the legally guaranteed rights of parents (legal representatives) of children with disabilities to choose forms of education for their children, educational institutions,
protect the legitimate rights and interests of children, including mandatory agreement with parents (legal representatives) on the issue of sending (transferring) children with disabilities to special (correctional) educational institutions (classes, groups).
Areas of work
The program of correctional work at the level of primary general education includes interrelated areas. These directions reflect its main content:
— diagnostic work ensures the timely identification of children with disabilities, carrying out a comprehensive examination of them and preparing recommendations for providing them with psychological, medical and pedagogical assistance in an educational institution;
— correctional and developmental work provides timely specialized assistance in mastering the content of education and correction of deficiencies in the physical and (or) mental development of children with disabilities in a general education institution; promotes the formation of universal educational actions in students (personal, regulatory, cognitive, communicative);
— advisory work ensures continuity of special support for children with disabilities and their families on the implementation of differentiated psychological and pedagogical conditions for training, education, correction, development and socialization of students;
— Information and educational work is aimed at explanatory activities on issues related to the characteristics of the educational process for this category of children, with all participants in the educational process - students (both with and without developmental disabilities), their parents (legal representatives), teaching staff .
Content characteristics
Diagnostic work includes:
— timely identification of children in need of specialized assistance;
— early (from the first days of a child’s stay in an educational institution) diagnosis of developmental disorders and analysis of the causes of adaptation difficulties;
— comprehensive collection of information about the child based on diagnostic information from specialists in various fields;
— determining the level of current and zone of proximal development of a student with disabilities, identifying his reserve capabilities;
— studying the development of the emotional-volitional sphere and personal characteristics of students;
— study of the social situation of development and conditions of family education of a child;
— studying the adaptive capabilities and level of socialization of a child with disabilities;
— systematic comprehensive monitoring of specialists over the level and dynamics of child development;
— analysis of the success of correctional and developmental work.
Corrective and developmental work includes:
— selection of correctional programs/techniques, methods and teaching techniques that are optimal for the development of a child with disabilities in accordance with his special educational needs;
— organization and conduct by specialists of individual and group correctional and developmental classes necessary to overcome developmental disorders and learning difficulties;
— systemic impact on the child’s educational and cognitive activity in the dynamics of the educational process, aimed at the formation of universal educational actions and correction of developmental deviations;
— correction and development of higher mental functions;
— development of the emotional-volitional and personal spheres of the child and psychocorrection of his behavior;
— social protection of the child in cases of unfavorable living conditions under traumatic circumstances.
Advisory work includes:
— development of joint, substantiated recommendations on the main areas of work with students with disabilities, common for all participants in the educational process;
— consultation by specialists of teachers on the choice of individually oriented methods and techniques for working with students with disabilities;
— advisory assistance to the family in choosing an upbringing strategy and methods of corrective education for a child with disabilities.
Information and educational work includes:
— various forms of educational activities (lectures, conversations, information stands, printed materials),aimed at explaining to participants in the educational process - students (both those with and without developmental disabilities), their parents (legal representatives), teaching staff - issues related to the peculiarities of the educational process and accompanying children with disabilities;
— conducting thematic presentations for teachers and parents to explain the individual typological characteristics of various categories of children with disabilities.
Stages of program implementation
Corrective work is being implemented in stages. The sequence of stages and their targeting create the necessary prerequisites for eliminating disorganizing factors.
Information collection and analysis stage (information and analytical activities). The result of this stage is an assessment of the student population to take into account the developmental characteristics of children, determine the specifics and their special educational needs; assessment of the educational environment in order to meet the requirements of software and methodological support, material, technical and personnel base of the institution.
Planning, organizing, coordinating stage (organizational and executive activities). The result of the work is a specially organized educational process that has a correctional and developmental orientation and a process of special support for children with disabilities under specially created (variable) conditions for training, education, development, and socialization of the category of children in question.
Stage of diagnosis of correctional and developmental educational environment (control and diagnostic activities). The result is a statement of compliance of the created conditions and the selected correctional, developmental and educational programs with the special educational needs of the child.
Regulation and adjustment stage (regulatory and adjustment activities). The result is the introduction of necessary changes into the educational process and the process of accompanying children with disabilities, adjusting the conditions and forms of training, methods and techniques of work.
Program implementation mechanism
One of the main mechanisms for implementing correctional work is the optimally structured interaction of specialists from an educational institution, which ensures systematic support for children with disabilities by specialists of various profiles in the educational process. Such interaction includes:
— comprehensiveness in identifying and solving the child’s problems, providing him with qualified assistance from specialists in various fields;
— multidimensional analysis of the child’s personal and cognitive development;
— drawing up complex individual programs for the general development and correction of individual aspects of the educational-cognitive, speech, emotional-volitional and personal spheres of the child.
Consolidating the efforts of various specialists in the field of psychology, pedagogy, medicine, and social work will make it possible to provide a system of comprehensive psychological, medical, and pedagogical support and effectively solve the child’s problems. The most common and effective forms of organized interaction between specialists at the present stage are councils and support services of educational institutions, which provide multidisciplinary assistance to the child and his parents (legal representatives), as well as the educational institution in resolving issues related to adaptation, training, education, development , socialization of children with disabilities.
As another mechanism for implementing correctional work, social partnership should be identified, which involves professional interaction of an educational institution with external resources (organizations of various departments, public organizations and other institutions of society). Social partnership includes:
— cooperation with educational institutions and other departments on issues of continuity of education, development and adaptation, socialization, and health protection of children with disabilities;
— cooperation with the media, as well as with non-state structures, primarily with public associations of people with disabilities, organizations of parents of children with disabilities;
— cooperation with the parent community.
Requirements for the conditions of the program implementation
Psychological and pedagogical support:
— provision of differentiated conditions (optimal training load, variable forms of education and specialized assistance) in accordance with the recommendations of the psychological, medical and pedagogical commission;
— ensuring psychological and pedagogical conditions (corrective focus of the educational process; taking into account the individual characteristics of the child; maintaining a comfortable psycho-emotional regime; using modern pedagogical technologies, including information and computer technologies to optimize the educational process, increase its efficiency, accessibility);
— provision of specialized conditions (promotion of a set of special learning objectives focused on the special educational needs of students with disabilities; introduction of special sections into the content of education aimed at solving problems of child development that are absent in the content of education of a normally developing peer; use of special methods, techniques, means training, specialized educational and correctional programs focused on the special educational needs of children; differentiated and individualized education taking into account the specifics of a child’s developmental disorder; complex impact on the student, carried out in individual and group correctional classes);
— provision of health-preserving conditions (health and protective regime, strengthening of physical and mental health, prevention of physical, mental and psychological overload of students, compliance with sanitary and hygienic rules and norms);
— ensuring the participation of all children with disabilities, regardless of the severity of their developmental disorders, together with normally developing children in educational, cultural, entertainment, sports and other leisure activities;
— development of a system of education and upbringing of children with complex mental and (or) physical development disorders.
Software and methodological support.
When organizing work in thisdirection, it is advisable to be guided by methodological recommendations developed at the federal level, taking into account the specifics of the educational and rehabilitation process for such children. Special (correctional) educational institutions can perform the functions of educational and methodological centers that provide methodological assistance to teaching staff of general educational institutions, advisory and psychological-pedagogical assistance to students and their parents (legal representatives).
Aboutgrams, diagnostic and correctional-developmental tools necessary for the professional activities of a teacher, educational psychologist, social educator, speech therapist, etc.
In cases of teaching children with severe mental and (or) physical development disorders according to an individual curriculum, it is advisable to use special (correctional) educational programs, textbooks and teaching aids for special (correctional) educational institutions (of the appropriate type), including digital educational resources .
Staffing.
An important aspect of the implementation of the correctional work program is staffing. Corrective work should be carried out by appropriately qualified specialists with specialized education, and teachers who have completed mandatory coursework or other types of professional training within the framework of the designated topic.
In order to ensure that children with disabilities master the basic educational program of primary general education and correct deficiencies in their physical and (or) mental development, pedagogical rates (speech pathologists, speech therapists, educational psychologists, social pedagogues) should be introduced into the staffing schedule of general education institutions etc.) and medical workers. The level of qualifications of employees of an educational institution for each position held must correspond to the qualification characteristics for the corresponding position.
The specifics of organizing educational and correctional work with children with developmental disorders necessitate special training for the teaching staff of a general education institution. To achieve this, it is necessary to provide ongoing training, retraining and advanced training for employees of educational institutions dealing with issues of education for children with disabilities. Pedagogical workers of an educational institution must have a clear understanding of the characteristics of the mental and (or) physical development of children with disabilities, the methods and technologies of organizing the educational and rehabilitation process.
Logistics support.
Logistics support consists of creating an appropriate material and technical base that allows for adaptive and correctional developmentenvironment of the educational institution, including appropriate material and technical conditions that provide the opportunity for unimpeded access for children with disabilities of physical and (or) mental development to the buildings and premises of the educational institution and the organization of their stay and training in the institution (including ramps, special elevators, special equipped training places, specialized training, rehabilitation, medical equipment, as well as equipment and technical means of training for persons with disabilities for individual and collective use, for the organization of correctional and rehabilitation rooms, the organization of sports and public events, nutrition, provision of medical care, recreational and treatment and preventive measures, household and sanitary services).
Information Support.
A necessary condition for the implementation of the program is the creation of an information educational environment and, on this basis, the development of a distance learning form for children with mobility difficulties using modern information and communication technologies.
It is mandatory to create a system of wide access for children with disabilities, parents (legal representatives), teachers to online sources of information, to information and methodological funds that require the availability of methodological aids and recommendations in all areas and types of activities, visual aids, multimedia, audio and video materials.
WITH DELAYED CHILDREN
MENTAL DEVELOPMENT
The organization of education and upbringing of children with mental retardation is regulated by a number of regulatory state documents.
In accordance with the order of the USSR Ministry of Education dated July 3, 1981 (No. 103), special (correctional) educational institutions began to operate: boarding schools, schools, equalization classes at secondary schools. The features of working with this category of children were discussed in methodological and instructional letters from the Ministry of Education of the USSR and the Ministry of Education of the RSFSR. In 1997, an instructional letter from the Ministry of General and Professional Education “On the specifics of the activities of special (correctional) educational institutions of types I-VIII” was issued.
For children with mental retardation, a special (correctional) educational institution of type VII is being created.
Correctional institution of the VII type carries out the educational process in accordance with the levels of general education programs at two levels of general education:
1st stage - primary general education (normative period of development - 3-5 years);
2nd stage - basic general education (normative period of development - 5 years).
Admission of children to a correctional institution of the VII type is carried out according to the conclusion of the psychological-medical-pedagogical commission (PMPC consultation) with the consent of the parents or legal representatives of the child (guardians): in preparatory grades 1-11, in grade III - as an exception. At the same time, children who began studying in a general education institution at the age of 7 are admitted to the second grade of a correctional institution. Those who started studying at the age of 6 are promoted to first grade. Children who have not previously studied in a general education institution and who have shown insufficient readiness to master general education programs are accepted from the age of 7 into the first grade of a correctional institution (normative period of mastery is 4 years); from the age of 6 - to the preparatory class (normative period of development - 5 years).
The occupancy of a class and an extended day group in a correctional institution is 12 people. The transfer of pupils to a general education institution is carried out as deviations in their development are corrected after receiving primary general education. In order to clarify the diagnosis, the pupil can stay in a correctional institution of type VII for one year.
However, the majority of children with mental retardation are educated in classes of correctional and developmental education(in some regions they continue to be called “leveling classes”, “classes for children with mental retardation”) at general education schools. The mechanism for sending children to correctional and developmental education classes and the organization of training are the same as in type VII correctional institutions.
Children in these classes are taught according to textbooks from general education schools and follow special programs. Currently, the programs for first-stage correctional and developmental education classes have been largely fully developed. They ensure the assimilation of the content of primary education and the implementation of the standard requirements for the knowledge and skills of students.
Education at the second stage (grades V-IX) is carried out according to the programs of general education public schools with some changes (reduction of some educational topics and the volume of material in them).
After receiving basic general education, a school graduate receives a certificate of education and has the right, in accordance with the Law of the Russian Federation “On Education,” to continue studying at the third level and receive secondary (complete) general education.
The task of special correctional work is to help children with mental retardation acquire a variety of knowledge about the world around them, develop their powers of observation and practical learning experience, and develop the ability to independently obtain knowledge and use it.
Psychological and pedagogical correction throughout its entire period must be systematic, comprehensive, and individualized. At the same time, it is important to take into account the uneven manifestations of a student’s cognitive activity and rely on those types of mental activity in which this activity is most easily evoked, gradually spreading it to other types of activity. It is necessary to look for types of tasks that maximally stimulate the child’s activity and awaken his need for cognitive activity. It is advisable to offer tasks that require a variety of activities to complete.
The teacher must adapt the pace of learning educational material and teaching methods to the level of development of children with mental retardation.
Students in this category require a special individual approach to them, and their correctional education must be combined with therapeutic and recreational activities. In cases of severe mental retardation, special learning conditions should be created for them. It is necessary to provide individual assistance to each of these children: identify gaps in knowledge and fill them in one way or another; re-explain the training material and give additional exercises; much more often use visual teaching aids and a variety of cards that help the child concentrate on the main material of the lesson and free him from work that is not directly related to the topic being studied. Often the teacher has to resort to leading questions, analogies, and additional visual material. It is important to remember that children with mental retardation are often able to work in class for only 15-20 minutes, then fatigue sets in and interest in classes disappears.
These children develop even basic new skills extremely slowly. To consolidate them, repeated instructions and exercises are required. Working with children with mental retardation requires not only special methods, but also great tact on the part of the teacher. The teacher, using incentives in educational work, thereby changes the child’s self-esteem and strengthens his faith in his own abilities.
When teaching children with mental retardation, it is very important to bring them to a generalization not only based on the material of the entire lesson, but also on its individual stages. The need for a step-by-step generalization of the work done in the lesson is caused by the fact that it is difficult for such children to retain in memory all the lesson material and connect the previous one with the next one. In educational activities, a schoolchild with mental retardation is much more likely than a normal schoolchild to be given tasks based on examples: visual, verbally described, concrete, and to one degree or another abstract. When working with such children, it should be taken into account that reading the entire task at once does not allow them to correctly understand the meaning in principle, so it is advisable to give them accessible instructions on individual parts.
The system of correctional and developmental education is a form of differentiated education that allows you to solve the problems of timely active assistance to children with learning difficulties and adaptation to school. In classes of correctional developmental education, consistent interaction between diagnostic and advisory, correctional and developmental, treatment and preventive and social and labor areas of activity is possible.
An important point in organizing a system of correctional and developmental education is dynamic monitoring of the progress of each child. The results of observations are discussed at least once every quarter at small teacher councils or councils. A special role is given to protecting and strengthening the somatic and neuropsychic health of students. With successful correction and readiness for schooling, children are transferred to regular classes of the traditional education system or, if it is necessary to continue correctional work, to classes of correctional and developmental education.
The corrective focus of education is ensured by a set of basic educational subjects that form an invariant part of the curriculum. Frontal correctional and developmental training is carried out by the teacher in all lessons and makes it possible to ensure the assimilation of educational material at the level of the requirements for knowledge and skills of the educational standard of the school. Checking and evaluating the educational work of students in correctional and developmental education classes is carried out in accordance with the requirements specified in variable programs (Programs of special correctional institutions and correctional and developmental education classes. - M.: Prosveshchenie, 1996). Correction of individual developmental deficiencies is carried out in individual and group classes specially designated for this purpose. These can be general developmental classes that help correct deficiencies in memory and attention, develop mental activity, consolidate sounds given by a speech therapist in speech, enrich and systematize the vocabulary. But there can also be subject-oriented classes - preparation for the perception of difficult topics of the curriculum, eliminating gaps in previous training.
The teacher conducts correctional classes as students identify individual developmental problems and learning delays. When studying a child, attention is paid to the state of various aspects of his mental activity - memory, attention, thinking, speech; such personal characteristics are noted as his attitude to learning and other types of activities, efficiency, perseverance, pace of work, ability to overcome difficulties in solving assigned tasks, and use a variety of methods of mental and objective-practical actions to complete tasks. Students are identified who are characterized by states of excessive excitement or, conversely, passivity and lethargy. In the process of learning, the stock of knowledge and ideas, abilities and skills of students, gaps in their assimilation of program material in individual previously completed educational sections are revealed. Students are identified who, in comparison with their classmates, are characterized by a particular slowness in the perception of new material, a lack of ideas that are the basis for assimilation of new material, for example, unformed ideas and concepts associated with spatial and quantitative relationships, difficulties in establishing logical connections and interdependencies, etc. Students Those with mental retardation and specific speech disorders are referred to classes with a speech therapist, who works with them according to his own schedule. Studying the individual characteristics of students allows us to plan the prospects and timing of correctional work with them.
Individual and group correctional classes are conducted by the main teacher of the class. Since children with mental retardation studying in equalization classes and special schools are, as a rule, enrolled in extended day groups, a teacher works with the students during individual lessons.
In accordance with the curriculum in primary grades, 3 hours a week are allocated for correctional classes outside of the compulsory school hours (before or after school) according to the approved schedule. The duration of classes with one student (or group) should not exceed 15-20 minutes. Groups can include no more than three students who have the same gaps or similar difficulties in their learning activities. Working with a whole class or large numbers of students is not permitted in these classes.
Individual assistance is provided to students who have particular learning difficulties. From time to time, children who have not mastered the material due to missing lessons due to illness or due to “non-working” conditions (excessive excitability or lethargy) during lessons are brought into individual lessons.
The content of individual lessons does not allow for “coaching”, a formal, mechanical approach, and should be maximally aimed at the development of the student. In the classroom it is necessary to use various types of practical activities. Actions with real objects, counting material, use of conditional graphic diagrams, etc. create opportunities for broad preparation of students to solve various types of problems:
the formation of spatial representations, the ability to compare and generalize objects and phenomena, analyze words and sentences of various structures; comprehension of educational and literary texts; development of skills in planning one’s own activities, control and verbal reporting. Concepts formed through subject-based practical activity will be based on clear and vivid images of real objects, presented in various connections with each other (relations of generality, sequence, dependence, etc.).
Special work in the classroom is devoted to the correction of insufficiently or incorrectly developed individual skills and abilities, for example, correction of calligraphy (the ability to see a line, maintain the size of letters, connect them correctly), reading techniques (smoothness, fluency, expressiveness), cursive writing, correct copying, the ability to draw up a plan and retelling what you read, etc.
In some cases, individual lessons are necessary for learning how to use certain teaching aids, diagrams, graphs, a geographical map, as well as algorithms for action according to certain rules and patterns. Equally important is individual training in how to memorize certain rules or laws, poems, multiplication tables, etc. .
In high schools, 1 hour per week is currently allocated for individual and group correctional classes. The main attention is paid to filling emerging gaps in knowledge in basic academic subjects, propaedeutics of studying the most complex sections of the curriculum.
Responsibilities for managing the organization and conduct of correctional classes are assigned to the deputy director for educational work. He also monitors these activities. Experience has shown that the effectiveness of individual and group classes increases where school psychologists, as well as school and district methodological associations of teachers and speech therapists, are involved in the work.
The organization of the educational process in the system of correctional and developmental education should be carried out on the basis of the principles of correctional pedagogy and requires on the part of specialists a deep understanding of the main causes and characteristics of deviations in the mental activity of the child, the ability to determine the conditions for the intellectual development of the child and ensure the creation of a personal development environment, allowing to realize the cognitive reserves of students.
In the conditions of specially organized education, children with delays in mental development are able to provide significant dynamics in development and acquire many of the knowledge, skills and abilities that normally developing peers gain on their own.
FEATURES OF THE ORGANIZATION
In order to consider the stages, the structural sequence of correctional pedagogical work in an educational institution for children with developmental disorders, it is necessary to clarify the essence of the concepts of “correction” and “compensation”, their relationship and interdependence.
Correction (from the Latin correctus - corrected, improved) in correctional pedagogy is defined as a system of pedagogical measures aimed at overcoming the shortcomings of the mental and physical development of people with special educational needs.
Compensation (from the Latin sotrepsatio - compensation) is the replacement, compensation of a lost or damaged organ (organs) in the human body through the use of intact sensory systems, technical devices and, as a result, neurodynamic restructuring of the analyzers.
Corrective action helps to overcome the shortcomings of mental development associated with a particular disease of the child, with sensory deprivation (deficiencies in sensations, perceptions, ideas, thinking, speech, memory, etc.), as well as shortcomings in the physical development of children (in orientation in space, posture , coordination of movements, etc.).
As a result of corrective action, new temporary connections arise and deepen in the human cerebral cortex (according to I. P. Pavlov) or bypass pathways are formed (according to L. S. Vygodsky), along which information is sent to bypass the affected analyzers or their individual sections. New intra- and inter-analyzer connections are formed, i.e., a compensatory restructuring occurs, information arrives through intact sensory systems (in the absence of hearing through the visual analyzer, in the absence of vision through hearing and touch, etc.)
As a rule, the correction process is related to a secondary defect, to functional disorders, and compensation to a primary defect, to structural disorders in the human body.
In the theory and practice of teaching children with psychophysical disorders, one can often come across an opinion when correction is defined as a way to compensate for the defect. In our opinion, from the standpoint of correctional pedagogy, these concepts should have been approached more broadly. Since we are talking about the formation of personality as a result of general and special education, correctional pedagogical work should be considered with priority to the result (compensation), because the entire pedagogical essence in quantitative and qualitative volumes lies precisely in it. Correction (in pedagogical terms) is a broader concept, since it is it that determines the degree of compensation for disturbances in the development of an anomalous child, and is the basis, the organic core of all teaching and educational work in the special education system (which we showed in Diagram 2). Correction is primary, and compensation is secondary, but these are not adjacent concepts, but closely linked processes that determine each other and cannot (in a broad sense) be considered without the other. The goal of correctional work is directly related to the result (compensation), pedagogical shortcomings during the correctional process will not provide the proper degree of compensation for the defect and it will be necessary (possibly more than once) to return to the original target positions, analyze the progress of the correctional process in order to obtain the maximum effect of special pedagogical influence on development of an abnormal child.
When determining the primacy of correction and the secondary nature of compensation (in correctional and pedagogical terms), one should remember one exception: there is the concept of “biological compensation”. This is a person’s innate adaptation to various disturbances in the functioning of the body (an innate unconditioned reflex), when one system compensates for the deficiency in the functioning of another. Naturally, it will be primary and should be taken into account in the organized correctional pedagogical process.
The first is based on the research of I. S. Morgulis (1982,1983,1984) and lies in the fact that correctional influence is carried out in the process of general education by strengthening the leadership function of the teacher and its specific focus.
The second is that the content of general education subjects in special schools should also be corrective and not copy the content of the material studied in a mainstream school.
Each academic subject contains correctional material and it must be isolated. It is necessary to analyze the topic of each lesson and determine what types of correctional work can be methodically linked to the program material being studied. Such an analysis will help to identify the most rational types of correction of both mental and physical development of children with sensory-physical deprivation.
Such a corrective approach to the curriculum and subject from the standpoint of accessibility of material in the content of a general education subject determines the effectiveness of its assimilation by students with developmental disorders.
Corrective work is aimed at overcoming and weakening secondary functional deviations in the development of the child (this does not exclude the influence on the primary somatic defect). Of the secondary deviations in the development of children, almost all defectologist researchers identify disturbances in the mental and physical development of children determined by the primary defect. Naturally, the correction of these deficiencies in the development of abnormal children should be reflected in the structural components of the content of this work (Diagram 3).
The system of secondary deviations in the development of schoolchildren is interconnected and interdependent. Corrective work is based on taking into account the interrelations of various types of developmental disorders, on integrated and systematic approaches in the development of targeted pedagogical measures to correct defects in the development of children.
The goals and content of correctional work are realized with the help of correction means, methods and organizational forms; they form the basis of the entire system of actions to implement the principle of correctional orientation in the education, upbringing and development of children. As a result of implementing the content of correctional pedagogical work and the program for studying the academic subject, we must come to the replacement of impaired or lost functions in an abnormal child, i.e., compensation for the defect.
The expected effect of compensation for the defect will be expressed in the formation in children of adequate ideas about the objects and phenomena being studied, as well as concepts in terms of the degree of generalization at the level of the norm (normally developing peers) or close to it.
If the expected compensatory effect does not occur, then it is necessary to return to the goals and content of correction, analyze the methodology by stages of activity, and adjust them to those elements of the system that did not work qualitatively in the process of correctional pedagogical work.
Scheme 3. Stages of correctional pedagogical work
When implementing the content of the correctional pedagogical process, we singled out, based on the research of I. S. Morgulis (1984,1989), the formation of sensory experience and the formation of techniques and methods of mental activity of schoolchildren with developmental disorders. These two processes form the basis for guiding students’ educational and cognitive activities and are closely linked to each other (shown by arrows in the diagram). Moreover, they cannot exist and manifest themselves separately, in isolation from each other. It is impossible to consider sensory knowledge separately from logical one.
In the practice of work of teachers-defectologists, it is very common that in lesson planning, the tasks and methods of forming sensory experience in children are first determined, and then the transition to the formation of cognitive operations in students is planned. Such planning is implemented during classes. That is, the formation of sensory experience is carried out without proper reflection and is based on exercises using intact sensitivity.
Sensations, perceptions and ideas that underlie the formation of sensory experience also appear interconnected. And that conventional order, which speaks of the sequence of these mental processes: first sensations, then perceptions and then ideas, has not been confirmed by science. Moreover, the formation of sensory experience cannot be carried out without mental operations. Therefore, the management of students’ educational and cognitive activities is carried out not in two independent stages, but in the course of a single process. The conditional division was introduced in order to achieve a more accessible understanding of the ways to implement the content of correctional work, in order to highlight the determining components of the process and take them into account in the special focus of educational activities. This is very important when students master the basics of science in a subject with sensory-physical disabilities.
Given the close connection of all elements of the correctional system, it is impossible to pick out its individual stages when analyzing the failed effect of achieving goals and the content of correctional work; it is necessary to trace all the work in organizational and methodological terms, identifying weak links. Only in this case will the analysis of correctional work be fair and reliable.
Corrective-compensatory work is not carried out in isolation, but in interaction with the environment, with specific conditions of the surrounding reality, and this is important and influences the content of correctional training and education. The proposed scheme of stages of correctional pedagogical work is implemented in all forms of organizing educational work in a special school or preschool educational institution for children with developmental disabilities (lesson, group lesson, excursion, educational activities, special correctional classes, etc.). Naturally, when carrying out the listed classes, the goals of correctional work, its content, means of correction, etc. will change, but the general plan of the system remains the same, it should be organically linked to the themes and content of the general educational process.
Above, we examined the connection between the content of correctional pedagogical work and the content of the general educational process, and this interdependence should be carried out at all stages of correction and in the forms of organization of this activity.
An indispensable condition for carrying out correctional pedagogical work is the connection and interdependence of the processes of overcoming deficiencies in the mental and physical development of children determined by the primary defect, as well as the establishment of interdependence in the formation of the child’s sensory experience and the methods of his mental activity.
This understanding allows us to formulate and define the content of correctional work based on the provisions considered. On this path, we would like to note that the correctional pedagogical process acts as a type of activity not only for the teacher, but also for the student, to emphasize the active position in this process of the anomalous child in self-education and mastering correctional knowledge, skills and abilities.
Correctional pedagogical work should also include certain elements related to medical correction, which is aimed at overcoming primary defects in children. It contains the necessary hygiene recommendations and contributes to the formation of the personality of a pupil with special educational needs.
Based on the foregoing, we can determine the content of correctional work in accordance with the final goal, namely, the formation of a comprehensively developed harmonious personality, capable of participating in the social and labor life of the country on an equal basis with normally developing people.
Having determined the essence of correctional work from the standpoint of its general content, it is necessary to consider the forms of its implementation in special schools and preschool institutions for children with developmental disorders. A systematic and integrated approach to this problem allows us to identify four most important forms of organizing activities to overcome deficiencies in the psychophysical development of children. The classification is based on: place, conditions and goals of correctional pedagogical work:
1. Corrective orientation of the general educational process.
2. Special correctional classes.
3. Corrective activities in the family.
4. Self-correction.
I will briefly explain each form of organization of correctional pedagogical work in a special educational institution for children with developmental disorders (Diagram 4).
The correctional orientation of the general educational process is carried out in all forms of classes in special schools and preschool educational institutions. General educational goals and objectives of lessons, group classes, educational activities are necessarily combined with the goals of correction, and this unification is carried out in all content and methodological links of the classes conducted, linked to the means and methods of their carrying out, the specifics of structural construction.
It is especially important, as we recalled above, to organically combine the studied material in various subjects with correctional pedagogical work, to determine what types and techniques of pedagogical correction can be most rationally and effectively used when studying a particular program topic.
Scheme 4. Structural components of the correctional process in special (correctional) educational institutions
Special correctional classes are focused on a specific defect and a specific functional disorder in a child. The methodology of these classes, correctional techniques and methods are aimed at overcoming psychophysical deficiencies associated with a specific anomaly.
In the curricula of many special schools, beyond the general education subjects, there is a list of special correctional classes that are conducted in addition to subject lessons. This is the development of the sense of touch, residual vision and hearing, exercise therapy, rhythm, spatial orientation, speech therapy, social and everyday orientation, etc.
In preschool institutions, special education teachers and educators also conduct similar classes. Here, a differentiated approach to children is carried out: they are combined into groups based on the sameness and similarity of the clinical picture of the pathology, etiology of the disease, structural and functional disorders of an organ or system, etc. This allows for better and more targeted pedagogical and psychological correction.
Corrective classes in the family are carried out by parents who have children with developmental disabilities or their relatives.
It is important that the corrective knowledge and skills of children, instilled in a special school or preschool educational institution, are consolidated at home in their cognitive, work, play and other activities. The task of special educational institutions, administration, teachers and educators is to organize extensive educational and advisory work for parents, during which they show the necessary techniques, methods, means of correction, normative physical, visual, auditory and tactile stress associated with the type and form of the child’s pathology.
A simple pedagogical correction, feasible for parents and relatives of a child with sensory-physical deprivation, must necessarily be carried out in the family, controlled and directed by specialists from the school and preschool educational institution
Self-correction is carried out by the children themselves. The knowledge, skills and abilities to overcome developmental deficiencies, which pupils receive in training sessions during educational and other activities, must be consolidated and improved in the course of independent cognitive, work, play, communication and other activities. Children should be targeted at this process by teachers and parents; its elements are included in the children’s collective forms of activity, in social and everyday practices, and in everyday life.
A special education teacher observes and controls the self-correction process, promotes its improvement, and correlates the child’s overall development with his age period.
The results of self-correction can be quite high and effective if this activity is carried out in a system with the proper persistence and strong-willed attitude. For example, there are cases where, as a result of persistent independent work, blind people mastered the process of reading with the help of the touch of raised dot font according to speed parameters at the normal level. That is, they read raised text at the same speed as sighted people read flat print. Moreover, there are examples where blind people read faster with the help of touch than sighted people with full vision. V.D. Korneeva, Honored School Teacher of the Russian Federation, being completely blind, was not inferior to her sighted colleagues in reading speed, and surpassed many.
In special educational institutions for children with developmental disorders, the effectiveness of correctional and pedagogical work depends on how well this process is linked to medical correction. These two processes are interconnected and, despite their existing peculiarities and professional orientation, they carry out a common task to overcome deficiencies in the development of children.
In the course of psychological and pedagogical analysis and practice of teaching and raising children with developmental anomalies, certain recommendations are created that are implemented in all four forms of the correctional process.
Medical workers in special schools and preschool educational institutions develop hygienic and medical-ergonomic recommendations that determine the optimal conditions for organizing pedagogical correction. Namely, these recommendations contain instructions on physical, visual, tactile, auditory stress, on the use of correction means, instruments, special equipment, etc. during classes.
Pedagogical and medical workers jointly solve the problems of children’s fatigue, lighting of classrooms, special visibility and teaching aids.
Modern positions of cooperation pedagogy require that correctional activities in special educational institutions for children with developmental disorders be carried out in a system of clear interaction between teachers, educators, parents, medical workers and children, subject to detailed consideration of the clinical picture of the pathology of the latter and the principle of natural conformity of child development.
Questions and tasks
1. What is the trinity of correctional pedagogical work? Determine the essence and focus of each component in this trinity.
2. What are the main factors that determine the dynamics of correctional pedagogical work? Determine the primary and secondary objectives for the lesson in which students perform laboratory work.
3. Try, using diagram 3 (stages of correctional pedagogical work), to develop a lesson methodology (group lesson in a preschool educational institution) on a specific lesson topic chosen by you.
4. How to check, based on the results of a particular lesson, whether the expected effect of compensation for the defect was obtained and to what extent?
5. What is the purpose of conducting special correctional classes with children with developmental disabilities?
6. How and in what forms is the connection between psychological and pedagogical correction and medical correction carried out?
SECTION III. SPECIAL DIDACTICS OF CORRECTIONAL PEDAGOGY
In order to determine the corrective direction of teaching children with developmental defects, the content, methods and means of this process, it is necessary to analyze the established areas of theoretical research and the practice of educational work in special educational institutions.
In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The education system for children in special schools was rather utilitarian in nature. In most cases, this was primary education with a primitive set of disciplines studied; their content and methods were developed “to suit the defects”, for the limited capabilities of students with developmental anomalies. Disbelief in the potential capabilities of blind, deaf, mentally retarded and other abnormal children led to the fact that the scientific nature of teaching was considered inaccessible for complete assimilation by students and unnecessary for their practical activities. Children with developmental defects were offered stripped-down program material that was accessible to perception by intact senses.
At the beginning of the 20th century. classes in schools for children with psychophysical disabilities were conducted in the form of conversations with the inclusion of primitive didactic and visual material. At the beginning of the century and the Soviet period, special teaching aids were almost never produced; teaching methods were ineffective in their correctional and compensatory nature.
Promoted in the 30s of the XX century. the principle of “compensatory advantages of disabled people” largely slowed down pedagogical work towards determining the specifics of subject teaching and influenced the methods and organizational forms of the educational process in special schools.
Only after the end of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In our country, activities begin to analyze the experience of special educational institutions, its generalization, systematization, scientific problems are posed, and research work is carried out in the field of special didactics.
In the 50-60s of the XX century. Quite targeted research activities of speech pathologists and practitioners are being developed to improve the education and upbringing of children with developmental defects, and children with profound disabilities (blind, deaf, mentally retarded). In this work, the main efforts were aimed at the final result, at compensating for the defect, and insufficient attention was paid to correctional and pedagogical work. The term “correction” itself is quite rare in scientific and methodological publications before the 70s of the 20th century.
Much attention was paid to the creation and development of technical and other means of compensating for the defect rather than to the problems of correctional and pedagogical influence on the development of abnormal children. But since compensation for a defect (in the pedagogical aspect of understanding) is a consequence of multifaceted correctional work, incorrectly placed emphasis on significance leads to a violation of the integrity of scientific research and practical activity. That is, it was not the causes that were considered as a priority, but the investigative processes, which resulted in a disproportion in the content and methods of correctional pedagogical work. The success of compensating for a defect in many cases was made dependent on the means of correction and the content of this work, and the methods of correctional pedagogical activity were either left out of sight or were taken into account incompletely and fragmentarily.
Based on the position put forward by L. S. Vygotsky about the need to create symbolism and signaling when teaching handicapped children, many defectologists tried to identify those signal signs in objects that are accessible to their perception by students with psychophysical disorders. Special conditioned signals were created using coloring, contrast, increasing the scale of images, sound statements, etc., and intact sensory systems were connected to the perception of these signals. Often in this work the content of learning was not taken into account, another position defined by L. S. Vygotsky was forgotten: the difference in signal signs with the obligatory identity of the content of any educational process (1983, 74).
The increased attention of teachers to identifying and stating the signal signs of the objects and processes being studied sometimes led away from scientific classification and led to violations of the strict scientific inductiveness of the presentation of program material.
For example, when studying plants with blind students, in a number of cases the signs of their structure, accessible to tactile perception, were transferred from the rank of secondary to the main indicators (from the category of species to generic). Thus, the strict scientific taxonomy of plants was violated.
When teaching children with developmental anomalies, first of all, special technical means, equipment, original didactic material and the final result were considered - how well they correspond to the process of compensating for the defect. The methodology for using technical means and special visual aids was either not taken into account, or it was done fragmentarily, not systematically, in isolation from the context of the program material, methods and general tasks of teaching and raising children with psychophysical developmental defects.
Corrective work was not organically linked to the content and methods of teaching.
If we examine the problem dialectically, then the philosophical interpretation of the leading role of content in relation to form also provides for the fact that form, in turn, has relative independence and has a reverse effect on content.
If we consider the relationship between the content of training and methods (as forms), then we should note their relationship and the influence of methods on the content. This dialectical pattern allows us to consider methods as a form of movement of content (G. Hegel).
By considering the specifics of the correctional process, the content and methods of teaching outside of this dialectical unity, we thereby violate internal pedagogical connections, from which the entire education system of children with special educational needs suffers.
Over the past 25 years, the efforts of educational authorities, researchers and teachers have been aimed mainly at improving the content of education. New programs, textbooks, curricula, general and special educational standards were developed, and unforgivably little attention was paid to improving teaching methods (and correction). As a result, a disproportion has arisen: in the content of training and correctional pedagogical work, certain successes have been achieved, but in the development of new techniques and methods of teaching, we are noticeably behind.
Today, correctional pedagogy faces a big problem: to harmonize the content and methods of teaching children with disabilities in psychophysical development.
Reform, democratic restructuring and humanization of the general education school with particular urgency required pedagogical science to solve the problem of the content of education in a special school. To reveal to students with health problems a modern scientific picture of the world by synthesizing specific, scientific and dialectical knowledge, explaining the complex relationships between them using integrative theories that combine specific knowledge with philosophical positions.
The problem of maintaining school education, among other pedagogical problems, has always been one of the first places. At all stages of its development, humanity has prioritized issues related to education and preparation for the life and work of the younger generation. Under the conditions of perestroika, we can no longer limit ourselves to private methodological studies of individual aspects of the content of education and consider the content of correctional work in a special school without connection with the components of education and its global tasks at the present stage. As is known, the educational and cognitive process is an integral part of the holistic formation of a young person’s personality. The depth, strength, effectiveness and scientific nature of students’ knowledge, their ideological orientation, and the degree to which they can overcome the consequences of a developmental defect ultimately depend on its content, forms and methods.
At present, when the concerns of society are aimed at the needs of man, his well-being and comprehensive development, when great attention is paid to the training, education and development of sick and physically handicapped children, correctional pedagogy should pay special attention to the processes of (re)habilitation and social labor adaptation of students in special schools, reconsider the possibilities of correctional education for such children.
In connection with the revision and emergence of new curricula, programs and regulations on a special (correctional) general education institution for students with developmental disabilities, new trends have emerged in improving special schools and correctional pedagogy. Particularly evident were tendencies to revise the content of education for children with visual impairments, hearing impairments, intellect, speech impairments, etc., and a certain radicalism regarding the volume of program material in subjects and the order of its study in schools of these types.
The rights and opportunities that are currently given to special schools regarding the independence of decision and choice of the volume and content of education in academic subjects are not always implemented correctly and justifiably. Very often, instructional time for studying so-called “unpromising” subjects for schoolchildren with developmental disabilities is sharply reduced. The list of such disciplines includes primarily chemistry, astronomy, drawing, and partly physics. Often, the study of these subjects is transferred entirely to electives. This opinion is not always put forward only by practical workers of special schools; it can also be heard among scientists, defectologists, and education officials.
The reason for such judgments and the current situation is that the listed subjects are viewed negatively in light of their accessibility to the blind, deaf, schoolchildren with mental retardation and others, and the prospects for their professional training and employment. “Our graduates will never be able to work as chemists, astronomers, draftsmen, etc.,” many teachers claim. Yes, in some cases this is true, but at the same time one cannot help but think about the decline in the overall level of education of children with developmental disabilities.
Special boarding schools are designed to provide students with a qualified education, at the level of a similar secondary education that graduates of public schools receive. Artificially restricting children with developmental disabilities in the volume and content of knowledge in some subjects will lead to a decrease in their level of education, general preparation for life and the integrity of their worldview.
In this process, it is necessary to note another “shadow” side of the organization of educational work in special schools. Those subjects that are traditionally weak in relation to the arsenal of correctional pedagogical work, content, methods and means of special education are subject to certain discrimination in relation to the volume and content of the study of the fundamentals of science.
When determining the content of education in special schools for children with developmental disabilities, it is necessary to make allowances for tomorrow, for the future. The subject matter of studying the fundamentals of science in school, the volume and content of the material, the correctional focus of education must be determined and correlated with the progress of the development of society, with the successes and achievements of science and technology, with the results of work on the (re)habilitation of the disabled. Many of the achievements listed above open the doors to new professions for people with developmental disabilities, experience in this regard appears and accumulates, and barriers to the inaccessibility of certain types of work for people with disabilities are crumbling. Now, for example, in our country there are blind people who have managed to master astromathematics, and at the level of a candidate of sciences, and at the same time in a special school for blind children they are trying to classify astronomy only as an elective, or even completely exclude it from the curriculum.
This approach will also limit the content of correctional work in relation to individual subjects, give rise to a narrow focus in vocational guidance, and reduce the overall level of education and intellectual preparedness of people with developmental disabilities.
Of course, special schools educate students who, due to their capabilities (and primarily intellectual ones), are able to master various levels of education. Mentally retarded schoolchildren, over the course of 9 years of education, only master the elementary school course, while those with deep intellectual pathology (imbeciles) are enrolled in special (individual) educational programs.
Therefore, there should be a differentiated approach to the development of educational content, taking into account structural and functional deviations in development, special conditions of training and education, specific sociocultural conditions, etc.
If we monitor changes in the content of education in special schools for children with developmental disabilities, we should note the differentiation of this system. With the development of science and technology, the improvement of the socio-economic sphere, and the accumulation of experience in remedial work in subject teaching in the second half of the 20th century, new subjects were introduced and highlighted in the school curriculum, topics and entire program sections were differentiated in traditional disciplines, new subjects appeared in programs for correctional pedagogical work, etc.
This process was facilitated by the transition of special schools to incomplete and complete secondary education, the deployment of work to provide correctional support for subject teaching and all educational activities.
The restructuring and reform of the general education school also affected the development of the special education system. The transition from a strictly disciplinary and unified model of education to a personality-oriented and variable one gave certain freedoms in relation to the formation of the content of the educational process and the determination of individual goals in a person’s life.
Currently, the reverse process is observed - integration. It is due to the fact that the number of courses at school has grown to its limit, and therefore the introduction of new courses into the curriculum requires a reduction in existing disciplines. This does not mean that some disciplines should be excluded from the curriculum, “... the introduction of a new course (differentiation) should be combined with the reduction of others, but not by removing them from education (unless, of course, these are false subjects), but by unification of previous components on the basis of their content integration,” says the well-known expert on problems of the content of education V. S. Lednev (1989, 83).
Further, V. S. Lednev explains his idea: “At the same time, integration cannot be carried out artificially. It, figuratively speaking, must “ripe”, the subject and educational commonality of the relevant components must be understood and proven” (ibid., p. 83).
In the modern version of the curriculum for special (correctional) general education schools, the tendency towards integration of educational content is clearly visible. This is the command of today.
Thus, the content of education is improved both from the standpoint of differentiation and integration; new disciplines are being introduced, reflecting the level of development of science, technology, and social relations, and at the same time the volume and level of study of traditional subjects is changing.
In order for the content of education to be successfully implemented in a special school, it is necessary to improve the correction process, which will help children with developmental disorders to master program material on the basics of science.
Therefore, the development of the school education process for children with learning difficulties should go in two ways:
1. By differentiating and integrating the content of education in subjects without excluding them from the curriculum.
2. By accumulating experience in correctional work, improving this activity, developing special techniques and methods of subject teaching for children with developmental disorders.
To create a unified educational space in the country, a state standard is being developed. In accordance with the “Law of the Russian Federation on Education”, it is a federal regulatory document that determines the mandatory minimum content of the main compulsory programs, the maximum volume of academic workload and the requirements for the level of training of a school graduate. As a state standard of education, the standard reflects the social goals of education and takes into account the individual capabilities of schoolchildren.
The development and improvement of a special standard is based on the implementation of general, specific and special goals for the education of persons with developmental disabilities. It is these goals that determine the allocation of specific areas (correctional), which can be implemented in a variety of subject programs, curricula, textbooks and, in general, in methodological systems.
The state educational standard contains three components: federal, national-regional and school.
The federal component ensures the unity of school education in the country and includes that part of the educational content that highlights training courses of national and general cultural significance that allow the individual to integrate into society (Russian (as the state language), mathematics, computer science, physics and astronomy, chemistry ...).
The national-regional component provides for ensuring the special needs and interests in the field of education of the people of the country represented by the subjects of the Federation. It takes into account national and regional cultural characteristics in the field of native language and literature, history, geography, etc.
At the same time, a number of educational areas are represented by both federal and national-regional components (history and social disciplines, art, Earth, biology, physical education, labor training).
The school component reflects the specifics of a particular educational institution and allows it to independently develop and implement educational programs and curricula.
Based on the “Law on Education”, “Law on Special Education” of the Russian Federation and the state educational standard, a basic curriculum is being developed - the general level of presentation of the standard.
The basic curriculum of a comprehensive school is the main state regulatory document and is approved by the State Duma in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. Serves as the basis for the preparation of regional curricula and the source document for the financing of an educational institution.
The regional curriculum basic plan is developed by regional educational authorities on the basis of the federal basic curriculum and approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, carries a regulatory burden at the regional level and is the basis for the development of the curriculum of an educational institution.
The structure of this curriculum includes invariant and variable parts.
The invariant part (core) ensures familiarization with general cultural and nationally significant values, the formation of personal qualities that correspond to social ideals.
The variable part ensures the individual development of schoolchildren, takes into account their personal characteristics, developmental disorders, interests and inclinations of children.
These two parts in the curriculum of any general education institution are represented by three main types of training sessions:
· compulsory classes that form the basic core of general secondary education;
· compulsory classes of students' choice;
· extracurricular activities.
The curriculum of a school (educational institution) is developed on the basis of state and regional curricula. It reflects the features and specifics of the work of this school.
In special schools there are special correctional classes that are conducted to correct and overcome developmental deficiencies in children associated with the loss or partial impairment of vision, hearing, speech, musculoskeletal system, etc. These classes include: the development of tactile and auditory perception, handicapped visual functions, spatial orientation, social and everyday orientation, exercise therapy, rhythm, speech therapy, motor development, etc.
The school curriculum is drawn up taking into account those proposals (sample curricula) that are given in the appendices to the basic curriculum.
In addition, schools are given the right, and this is enshrined in law, to draw up individual educational plans, subject to compliance with the mandatory requirements of state educational standards.
Based on the educational standard and basic curriculum, curricula, textbooks and teaching aids are developed.
A curriculum is a standardized content and activity plan for studying a subject, defining the scope of basic knowledge, skills and abilities. The program reflects: the content of the subject being studied, the sequence of presentation of the material indicating topics and sections, its breakdown by year of study.
There are two types of curricula: standard and working school curricula.
A typical curriculum includes a general (basic) range of knowledge, skills and abilities in the subject, which contain leading ideas, basic ideological positions, directions, general methodological recommendations, basic technologies and tools used to study this course. This program is advisory in nature and is approved by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation.
Based on the standard curriculum, a working school program is drawn up, which provides for the peculiarities of studying the material in the region, i.e. national-regional and school components are implemented, local conditions and opportunities for studying the subject are taken into account (availability of teaching aids, qualified specialists, level of training of students and etc.)
Working school programs most fully take into account the uniqueness of the cognitive activity of abnormal schoolchildren, depending on the structural and functional disorders of an organ or organ system. This program defines the specific conditions for the implementation of the correctional orientation of teaching the subject, which was laid down in the standard program. Here it is possible to replace some objects with others that are more accessible to perception with the help of preserved organs and which, in terms of standard and qualification indicators, are similar to the objects declared in the standard program.
Currently, it is possible to create individual author's programs in schools, which provide for a more in-depth study of individual topics and sections of the course, different methodological approaches, logic and sequence of presentation of the material, which are more consistent with the specifics of teaching children with developmental disorders and the tempo characteristics of the perception of the program material
The current practice in the country of teaching children with developmental disabilities provides that for special schools standard adapted programs for primary and other grades, original programs in the basics of science, labor training, physical education, and special subjects (typhlography, speech therapy, etc.) are developed.
The indicated programs and special distribution of the studied material by class provide for an increase in the duration of education in special schools; mentally retarded children study the primary school curriculum for 9 years; for the blind and visually impaired, the school curriculum is increased by a year; for children with musculoskeletal disorders - by 2 years; with hearing impairment – for 1-3 years, etc.
All this is taken into account and specified in working school programs, linked to local conditions and the characteristics of the implementation of educational programs in each specific school.
Recently, the experience of creating integrated programs that combine the practice of subject teaching and the experience of conducting special correctional classes in schools has become widespread. This innovation was most widely developed in elementary school. For example, the study of a subject such as “Familiarization with the surrounding world” is combined with classes in spatial orientation or with classes in social and everyday orientation, labor training is combined with the study of the surrounding world, etc.
For these integrative courses, working school programs are developed taking into account the educational standard, the basic curriculum and the accumulated experience of correctional and pedagogical work with students with sensory and physical deprivation.
The national concept for the development of education in our country provides for the transition of mass schools to twelve-year education. In this regard, there will be progress in the education system of children with developmental disabilities. This additional year, which will serve for better assimilation of the ever-increasing flow of educational information and unloading of students, should be allocated not at the final school stage, but transferred to the elementary school, where the basic vital correctional skills of abnormal schoolchildren are laid. During this sensitive period of their development, we will get the greatest effect in the results of correctional pedagogical work, we will better prepare children with developmental defects for mastering a systematic course in the fundamentals of science, and we will achieve a greater compensatory effect.
All of the above regulatory documents and materials are used to develop textbooks and teaching aids. Adapted manuals and textbooks are created for special schools, in which the introduced methodological apparatus takes into account the peculiarities of the cognitive activity of children with mental and physical disabilities and helps them in mastering academic subjects.
Questions and tasks
1. How is the connection between the concepts of “correction”, “compensation” of a defect and the content of education in schools for children with mental and physical disabilities?
2. How do the concepts of “content” and “methods” of teaching relate to each other, what are the correctional and pedagogical specifics of this relationship?
3. Try to identify so-called “unpromising” subjects for blind and deaf students. Should they be studied in a special school?
4. What is the essence of differentiation and integration of educational content in schools for children with sensory and physical developmental disabilities?
5. What components does the state educational standard include, how are they linked to each other?
6. What is the essence and specificity of the development of a regional basic curriculum, how are its invariant and variable parts determined?
7. What regulatory documents are used to develop a working school curriculum in the subject?
8. What are the specifics of textbooks and teaching aids for students with special educational needs?
CHAPTER 2. PERCEPTUAL METHODS OF TRAINING AND THEIR CORRECTIONAL ORIENTATION
During the period of restructuring the system of general and special education, further improving the content, methods, organizational forms of teaching and upbringing of schoolchildren, a deep and comprehensive analysis of all components of the pedagogical process is necessary.
Speaking about methods of teaching children with developmental defects, about the problems of correctional work in relation to the substantive study of the fundamentals of science in special schools, it is necessary to determine the variety of teaching methods that exist in pedagogy, to find out the specifics of using the methodological arsenal in working with abnormal children.
From a conceptual standpoint, a method can be defined as a way of achieving a goal, solving a specific problem, a set of techniques and ways of understanding reality. The method cannot be considered as a subjective phenomenon, as a product of the consciousness of the individual (individual). Yes, this is a method of practical and theoretical action of a person, aimed at mastering an object, but the dialectical method characterizes this activity not in the framework of the absolutization of the laws of individual forms of motion of matter and their extension to all other forms of motion, but from the standpoint of knowledge of the universal laws of all development (nature, society, human thinking). And only didactics provides a method of explanation for the development processes occurring in nature and society, for interpreting the universal connections along the path of this development, since only dialectics is the most important form of thinking for modern science. But it does not reflect the importance of special methods that are used in various fields of science. Some of them are applicable to all areas of knowledge and become general scientific, others find more narrow application and are designed for the study of a strictly defined subject.
The process of cognition is a dialectical process, that is, the method of cognition is dialectics as the only true and scientific method. This process underlies the development of knowledge of all mankind, but, in addition, is reflected in the development of knowledge of each individual person, in his movement from ignorance to knowledge, from incomplete knowledge to more complete knowledge. The process of teaching students at school comes down to a similar movement; the stages of cognition are largely inherent in the learning process. However, these two processes, while many provisions are common, also have significant differences. When the content is identical (acquiring knowledge about the reality around us), the task of learning is reduced to the assimilation of already accumulated human experience; when studying this or that material, the student does not need to repeat the entire complex path of knowledge that humanity has gone through. Mixing the processes of cognition and learning can lead to a misunderstanding of the role and significance of the teacher, to an underestimation of educational material and the role of the word in teaching, to a superficial understanding of the role of personal and indirect experience as a criterion of truth.
In relation to today, the tasks of the school are expanding; they include not only the assimilation of accumulated human experience, but also the comprehensive development of the student’s personality.
The modern social order of society, the new requirements for school, determine the need to develop appropriate ways of teaching children. As a result, didactics distinguish the target side of the method (subjective) and the content side (objective).
Since the time of G. Hegel (1816) and with his guidance, we have considered the teaching method as a form of movement of content. In this regard, the structure of the teaching method is also clarified, which should consist of two interrelated parts. The first component contains the learning objectives, the second contains the content side - information on the subjects being studied.
If a teacher limits himself to imparting knowledge to students on a subject, then this will be a one-sided, superficial approach to teaching. The teacher is obliged to include cognitive operations and logical techniques in the structure of methods: analysis and synthesis, comparison and generalization, abstraction and concretization, induction and deduction, etc.
Since we classify teaching methods as a purposeful activity with all the variety of techniques and methods of action, it is necessary to dwell on the roles of the teacher and student, which are directly related to this activity. In pedagogical science, the role of the teacher is defined as leading and guiding, but it cannot be considered in isolation from the student’s activities. The methods of activity of the teacher and students in the educational process are interconnected; it is an orderly system that operates naturally. A departure from this pattern or a one-sided consideration of it can lead to an impoverishment of the pedagogical and correctional processes, a decrease in the methodological value of the techniques and methods used for teaching and correcting the development of schoolchildren.
Teaching methods cannot be considered in isolation from teaching tools, which largely determine new directions in improving and updating methods (programmed training, computerization, etc.). The means and methods of cognitive activity are to some extent interconnected; the variety and renewal of means leads to the correction of educational activities in terms of techniques and methods of teaching.
Improving the content of education in a special school, changing targets, enriching the technical and methodological arsenal, etc. leads to updating methods and the emergence of new teaching techniques. A continuously developing system of methods is a necessary methodological basis in pedagogical science, which ensures the continuity of the cognitive process, its development and improvement. This condition creates certain difficulties in classifying teaching methods, but at the same time it develops a system-forming theory on this problem, emphasizing its multidimensionality and versatility.
The external form of methods acts as a way of interaction between teacher and student using words, objects of study and actions. But in addition to the external side of the process, there is also an internal, managerial function of this method of interaction: direction of the cognitive process, organization and implementation of logical and mental operations, motivation, stimulation, control, correction, etc. A combination of perceptual (Yu. K. Baransky’s term) methods teaching (verbal, visual, practical), covering the external side of the process, with logical, psychological and managerial methods that characterize the internal activities of the teacher and student, ensures the implementation of all procedural functions. However, this functioning within the method is carried out purposefully with varying degrees of participation in the cognitive activity of students.
An integrated multifunctional approach to teaching methods ensures optimal implementation of the goals of training, education and development of the student’s personality. This triune task is contained in the definition of teaching methods, which is given in the studies of most didactics with one interpretation or another (Yu. K. Babansky, 1985; I. D. Zverev, 1985; D. M. Kiryushin, 1970; I. Ya. Lerner , 1981; N. M. Skatkin, 1971, etc.).
Thus, we formulate teaching methods as a system of methods of interconnected activities of the teacher and students, aimed at achieving the goals of teaching, education and development of the student’s personality.
The variety of teaching methods requires some kind of classification, that is, grouping on some common basis.
The oldest, established classification of teaching methods arose on the basis of techniques and methods of sensory perception of educational information. Previously, methods were used to generalize methods. The classification was based on the sources of knowledge and the nature of their assimilation by students. Depending on this, teaching methods were divided into verbal, visual and practical. This grouping took shape in the works of Ya. A. Komensky.
As didactics develops, the classification is based on various characteristics that reflect both external and internal aspects of teaching methods.
In our country, in the 40s and 50s of the last century, a great discussion took place on the problems of methods: creative approaches predominated, a move away from the universalization of methods, and the recognition of various combined characteristics when classifying teaching methods.
B. P. Esipov and M. A. Danilov (1957, 1967) grouped methods depending on the nature of educational tasks: 1) acquisition of new knowledge by students, 2) development of skills in students, 3) practice of students in applying knowledge, 4 ) practice of students in creative activities, 5) consolidation of knowledge through repetition, 6) testing of knowledge, skills and abilities of students.
I. Ya. Lerner (1981) in the system of general didactic teaching methods distinguishes the following: 1) information-receptive, 2) reproductive, 3) problem presentation, 4) heuristic, 5) research. What is presented here is not a classification of methods, but the didactic methods themselves in their system, which thus become the object of classification. They, in turn, are divided into reproductive (1st and 2nd) and productive methods (3 - 5th). The nature of the 3rd, i.e., problematic presentation is dual, has a transitional meaning. Thus, this system can also be considered as a classification of the totality of the student’s techniques for mastering the content of education and the totality of the teacher’s techniques that organize this assimilation.
Similar approaches to the problems of classifying teaching methods are expressed by M.N. Skatkin (1971) in his research.
Yu. K. Babansky (1985, 1988) proclaimed a holistic approach to the problem under consideration and identified three large groups of teaching methods: 1) methods of organizing and implementing educational and cognitive activities, 2) methods of stimulating and motivating educational and cognitive activities, 3) methods of control and self-control of educational and cognitive activities. The presented main groups of teaching methods are divided into subgroups, and these, in turn, are divided into separate teaching methods.
In didactics, there are studies by A. N. Aleksyuk, M. I. Makhmutov, E. I. Perovsky, S. G. Shapovalenko and a number of other scientists, which present their own versions of the classification of teaching methods and which largely overlap with already developed systems .
The noted differences in points of view on the problem of methods reflect an objective picture of the development of didactics, emphasizing complex and systematic approaches to solving the issues of teaching schoolchildren and using the accumulated methodological arsenal.
The demonstrated multidimensionality of the problem of teaching methods becomes even more complicated when analyzing the issues raised from the perspective of special didactics.
The principle of correctional orientation in teaching abnormal children presupposes a certain content of correctional work. This defining position was pointed out in their studies by T.V. Vlasova, 1972; L. S. Vygotsky, 1983; A. P. Rozova, 1965; V. P. Ermakov, 1990; I. S. Morgulis, 1984; L. I. Solntseva, 1990; V. A. Feoktistova, 1983, etc.
The form of movement of specific content should be a method, therefore, correctional work should have its own methods, which largely determine the paths and directions of education for schoolchildren with developmental disabilities.
Theoretical analysis of teaching children with developmental defects requires consideration of the problem of the relationship between general didactic teaching methods and methods of correctional work, determining the pedagogical status of the latter.
If we are talking about the right to the existence of methods of correctional work, then it is necessary to show the level of existence and implementation of these methods, the possibility of their scientific classification and the conditions of use in a special school.
I. Ya. Lerner (1981, 4), based on a historical approach to the problem of teaching methods, identifies four levels of consideration and existence of methods:
1. Level of techniques. Initial classification of external techniques carried out by the teacher and student (students).
2. Subject level of consideration of methods (methods at the level of techniques).
This level was formed as teaching methods for individual academic subjects were developed, differing both in teaching methods and their combinations.
3. Private didactic level.
This level is formed as a result of identifying general patterns for individual stages of learning (repetition, consolidation, testing...).
4. General didactic level.
Any training and, accordingly, methods at all levels of their consideration are characterized by common features that characterize the conceptual provisions of the methods and their classifications.
The fundamental principles of the theory of methods are built taking into account the variety of methods of activity of the teacher, students and the arsenal of developed subject-based methods for teaching schoolchildren. The path to generalizing teaching methods at the initial stage should have a direction: from techniques and methods to didactics (particular and general), and then from the general didactic level to rethinking and understanding individual methods.
Methods of correctional work must also go through the indicated stages and, in addition, be determined in the system of general didactic methods.
In defectological science (T. A. Vlasova, 1970; V. P. Ermakov, 1990; N. F. Zasenko, 1989; M. I. Zemtsova, 1973; V. P. Kashchenko, 1994; V. I. Kovalenko, 1962; N. B. Kovalenko, 1975; M. I. Nikitina, 1989; L. I. Plaksina, 1998; V. A. Feoktistova, 1977; K. Becker, M. Sovak, 1981, etc.) methods of teaching anomalous children are mainly divided into general and special (specific), and the classification of the latter is either absent or presented at the level of techniques and techniques.
In the branches of correctional pedagogy (signless, typho-, oligophrenopedagogy, speech therapy), classification groups of special methods of teaching children with special educational needs have not yet been formed. At present, the accumulated volume of the range of methods of correctional work and the poverty of special correction means do not allow us to consider them in a broad aspect by combining them into special methods. Logically, we can imagine a method as a set of methodological techniques, each of which does not have its own clear pedagogical goal, but is subject to the target setting of the method. For example, the method of independent step-by-step examination of educational material will relate to a practical method of teaching mentally retarded schoolchildren.
Thus, it is premature to talk about a special classification of correctional teaching methods (in a broad sense). Moreover, the study of the basics of science with children with developmental disabilities should be organized in such a way that the content of correctional work is organically intertwined with the content of the material in the subjects. This will be the correct methodological approach to the peculiarities of teaching children with special educational needs.
The integrity of the learning process in a special school requires not the separation of correction lessons and lessons for studying program material in subjects, but a single purposeful process. Autonomous correctional classes aimed at developing special skills (without a close connection with the fundamentals of science) were rejected by both science and advanced pedagogical practice. Although certain elements of this utilitarian direction are still found today in the work of teachers of special schools (exercise lessons on identifying fruits and seeds, chemical and physical glassware and laboratory equipment, working tools in labor lessons, etc.).
The correctional focus of subject teaching should not be confused with the conduct of special correctional classes. The latter are aimed at overcoming a specific defect and are carried out autonomously. However, even when conducting them, purely exercise methods, in isolation from the content of education, should be used extremely limitedly.
In the history of the development of special education, many researchers noted purely exercise classes on recognizing various objects and developing sensorimotor culture in children with physical and mental disabilities (I. Klein, I. Kni, M. Montessori, O. Decroli, F. Frebel, F. I Shoev, etc.). These classes, based on “sharply visual signs” (A. I. Skrebitsky) of objects and objects, had specific disadvantages. Yu. A. Kulagin (1969.67) wrote about this: “The disadvantage of such “visual activities” and collecting “all sorts of things” is the isolation from general education subjects, the lack of systematization of visual material and its correspondence to the knowledge acquired by children.”
By combining the content of the fundamentals of science with the content of correctional work in subjects, we must thereby find commonality in the forms of movement of this content, that is, in methods. Without creating a specific classification of correctional teaching methods and without artificially delving into the specifics of the problem, it is necessary in the structure of general teaching methods, in the set of methodological techniques, to provide for specific methods of correctional work that determine the correctional orientation of the educational process.
Special techniques used in teaching children with developmental disorders can be systematized according to functional characteristics and divided into four groups.
1. Techniques to ensure accessibility of educational information for children with developmental disorders.
Features of correctional work with children,
having mental development disorders
Municipal educational institution secondary school No. 4 is located at the address: Belgorod region, Alekseevka, st. Komsomolskaya, 51. It is located in a standard building built in 1976.
Today the school has 23 classrooms, 2 laboratories, 1 specially equipped classroom for classes with children with developmental disabilities, a medical office, an office for a psychologist, speech therapist, social teacher, a sensory room, 2 workshops, 2 gyms, and a dining room.
The school has the necessary set of technical means and educational equipment for organizing the educational process, a computer science and ICT room is equipped, and there is a local network.
Central heating, water supply, energy supply meet the standards.
The school is located in a favorable socio-cultural environment. Founders of the school: Department of Education and Science of the Administration of the Municipal District “Alekseevsky District and the City of Alekseevka” of the Belgorod Region.
42 teachers work in Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 4, 38 teachers have higher education.
The number of students is 438 people. In Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 4, among the students of healthy children, there are 8 children with limited health capabilities, therefore work is being carried out with them on psychological correction,which represents a set of influences aimed at correcting and compensating for shortcomings and deviations in the mental development of the child.
Psychological correction is a targeted impact on certain psychological structures in order to ensure the full development and functioning of the child. This is a reasonable impact on a person’s inner world, in which the psychologist deals with specific manifestations of the child’s desires, experiences, cognitive processes and actions.
The age of schoolchildren with mental disabilities ranges from 7 to 14 years.
To begin with, we note that the diagnosis of mental disabilities in children begins in kindergarten, where a psychologist, interacting with teachers, identifies children with mental disabilities and informs parents about this.
When determining the main goals and objectives of psychological correction, the social teacher first of all takes into account the provision on the creation of a zone of proximal development of the child’s personality and activity as the main content of correctional work. In this regard, psychological and pedagogical correction is constructed by her as the purposeful formation of psychological new formations that constitute the essential characteristics of age. Exercises and training of the child’s existing psychological abilities do not make correctional work effective, since training in this case follows development, improving abilities only in a quantitative direction.
During the psychological correction of children with mental disabilities, the following types of work are carried out:
1. Game therapy is used not only for correctional purposes, but also for preventive and psychohygienic purposes. There are two forms of play therapy: individual and group. If a child has communication problems, then group therapy is more beneficial than individual therapy. In play therapy, various play materials are used:
Family games;
Games with puppets;
Construction;
Exercise games.
2. Art therapy is a specialized form of psychotherapy based on art - visual and creative activity. Its goal is the development of self-expression and self-knowledge of the child through art.
Art therapy is used as a means of communication between a social teacher and children on a symbolic level. Images of artistic creativity reflect all types of subconscious processes, including fears, internal conflicts, memories, dreams. The art therapy technique is based on the inner conviction - “I”, which is reflected in visual images when a person draws, sculpts (spontaneously). The place of art therapy classes is a specially equipped classroom, where children can make noise, move freely, and the social teacher does not interfere with their activity.
3.Group psychotherapy is based on the conditions under which children will be active. The room should be equipped with various tools, materials, and items that stimulate individual activity. Therefore, a social teacher conducts group psychotherapy in a specially equipped class, during classes in which each child is given the opportunity to do what he wants, but at the same time he should not limit the activities of other children. All children - members of the group are not bound by any rules or conditions for performing activities and control. The practice of group psychotherapy determines that the emergence of group dynamics in a children's group is a negative phenomenon that prevents everyone from self-disclosure. Each child must achieve results at the cost of his own efforts, his own means and capabilities.
Correction of the intellectual development of a child in primary school age, Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 4, includes the tasks of developing the perception of sensory abilities, visual-figurative thinking and sign-symbolic function, initial forms of voluntary attention and memory. Children with mental retardation need complete correction and compensation for their developmental defects, bringing their entire mental development as close as possible to a normal state. A decisive role in the prevention of mental development disorders is played by the earlier start of correctional work, which will prevent secondary deviations in the development of the child.
Due to their developmental characteristics, mentally retarded children need the targeted teaching influence of a social teacher, because spontaneous assimilation of social experience, especially at the age of 7-10 years, practically does not occur in them. To organize training and education, it is necessary to develop interest in the environment in such children. Therefore, didactic games are conducted with children that attract attention and interest, during which children create a positive emotional attitude towards the activity.
Games and exercises in which children act by trial and error develop their attention to the properties and relationships of objects and form a holistic perception. For the correct and timely inclusion of speech in the communication process, it is necessary at first to become familiar with the object, its quality, and properties, to teach the child to distinguish these properties from other objects, to recognize and perceive them, and only then to give the word as a model.
For correction, the development of tactile-motor perception is important, which also begins with recognition and ends with the formation of ideas. Equally important is the development of auditory perception, which helps a mentally retarded child navigate the space around him, creates the ability to act on a sound signal, distinguish many important objects, etc. The correct development of holistic perception also prepares some aspects of causal thinking. When a child correctly imagines an object with its parts, he can understand the reason for the violation of the whole. The path from perception to thinking influences the development of visual-figurative and logical thinking. The correct and timely organization of work on the formation of all types of thinking acquires special importance, since intellectual impairment is the main defect in the development of such children.
The main directions and tasks of correction of mentally retarded children within the framework of the individual development program of Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 4:
1. Formation of emotional contact with an adult and a peer, teaching a child how to assimilate social experience, forming emotional communication with an adult and following basic instructions, developing attention, developing imitation, mastering actions according to a model.
2. Development of visual-motor coordination of the hands to prepare for writing, performing work tasks, development of grasping, development of correlative actions, imitation of hand movements, development of finger movements, development of hand movements.
3.Sensory development. Formation of visual correlation, perception of shape, size, color, formation of a holistic image of an object, perception of space and orientation in it, development of tactile-motor perception, development of auditory perception, development of non-speech hearing, speech hearing.
4. Development of thinking, transition from perception to thinking, to generalization, transition from perception to visual-figurative and elements of logical thinking, development of elements of causal thinking, visual-figurative thinking.
5.Speech development. Development of speech communication (basic business communication), development of the cognitive function of speech (expansion, clarification and generalization of the meaning of words).
At primary school age, the personal sphere begins to actively form. The main directions of correction of the personal sphere in preschool age are the correction and prevention of negative behavioral traits, the occurrence of which is due to critical periods of ontogenesis.
Prevention of negative behavior during periods of age-related crises:
Crises of age-related development - the emergence of negative behavioral traits;
Correction of emotional development, correction of existing disorders of emotional and mental development;
Prevention of neurotic development, emotional distress;
Correction of the motivational-need sphere - through the development of the required motives and needs;
Behavior correction;
Correction and development of individual typological properties and personality traits.
Along with corrective tasks, it is also necessary to allocate preventive tasks for parents. Experience shows that in advisory practice, in a number of cases, setting corrective tasks itself turns out to be inappropriate due to the absence of significant deviations from typical options for normative development. Therefore, in this case, the social teacher is faced with the task of determining preventive measures to prevent possible deviations in the development of the child. The active involvement of parents in participation in correctional work is dictated by two circumstances:
1. The system of relationships of a child with close adults, features of communication, methods and forms of joint activities constitute the most important component of the social situation of the child’s development, and largely determine the zone of his proximal development. Full implementation of correction goals is achieved only if the child’s life relationships change, which requires targeted and conscious efforts from adults as active “builders” of these relationships.
2. The widespread involvement of parents, educators and teachers in the implementation of targeted corrective action on deviations in the mental development of the child is due to the still clearly insufficient level of development of the psychological service system in our country.
An important component of working with parents in the work of a social teacher is informing them about the characteristics of the child’s development, about the probabilistic prognosis of development and the development of specific recommendations. Providing parents with complete and objective information about the characteristics of the child’s development, taking into account parental attitudes and the characteristics of the social situation, is a mandatory stage in providing psychological assistance in the counseling process.
The formulation of a conditionally variable forecast of child development in the form of possible forecasts for the near future performs a number of functions:
Reveals a problematic alternative field to parents;
Provides motivational readiness of parents to participate in joint work with a social teacher to develop specific recommendations and their implementation;
Makes the search for goals and means of correction more reasonable and “conscious”;
Allows us to extend some recommendations to the area of prevention of developmental disorders.
The practical result of correctional work should be the development of recommendations for overcoming and preventing deviations and negative trends in the development of the child. It is important that parents themselves become active participants and authors of the recommendations formulated. Only in this case can you count on making the right choice in raising children. At the same time, the leading activity here belongs to the social educator, who has the necessary professional competence to make the right decision and choose the path for its implementation.
When a child enters the primary grades of Municipal Educational Institution Secondary School No. 4:
Firstly, he must have intact motor skills or a state of the musculoskeletal system in which basic motor functions could be performed relatively easily (grasp and hold an object, manipulate it, move freely, sit, lie down, stand up, chew, swallow), in - secondly, children should have access to everyday activities carried out together with an adult and with his help;
Children should not be dangerous to others. This is a specific requirement. The child must understand the words “no”, “don’t”;
Children must have the necessary stock of elementary ideas about the environment. The emphasis of the requirement is determined by the fact that the entire process of primary school education is based on the knowledge that children have;
Children must understand spoken speech and have their own. Firstly, teaching and upbringing are “oral”, and secondly, children must understand the simplest verbal instructions, such as: bring, close, eat, give, etc., without which it is impossible to organize a successful educational process in a local secondary school No. 4;
Children must be somatically healthy, since the productivity of the educational process is largely determined by the level of physical health.
The main goal of school correctional education is to create conditions for the development of the emotional, social and intellectual potential of the child, the formation of his positive personal qualities. One of the important conditions that determine the adequate organization of correctional educational work is relatively easy adaptability in the children's team, both educationally and socially. The team is considered as one of the most important means of pedagogical influence, but only if the psychophysical development of the child is in accordance with the level of development of the team. Otherwise, one can observe the manifestation of negativism in the child, his isolation, decreased self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and the consolidation of negative character traits and behavior. In addition, the child must be able to take care of himself socially and at an elementary level, since there is simply not enough time to provide assistance to every child.
