Special Psychology and special pedagogy. On the issue of terminology

In the article the definition of the concept “special psychology” is given, brief information concerning the history of this discipline formation and its connections with related spheres of knowledge is presented.

In the article the term “special pedagogics” is defined, achievements of correctional pedagogics of our country within the pre-revolutioonary and Soviet periods are given briefly, the priorities of development of modern special pedagogigs are presentеd.

The concepts “aberrations in psychophysical development” are defined; according to the tradition founded by Vigotskii primary and secondary defects of development are considered which require appropriate methods of impact (medical and psycho-pedagogical).

In the article the term “a child with learning difficulties” is defined and interpreted, which appeared in the Russian scientific literature 1990s and replaced the terms of the previous period of the society development and of the theory and practice of special pedagogy (“an abnormal child” and others). The term is correlated with the traditional for the domestic scientific school understanding of the child with the developmental peculiarities and with the Western conception of the children with “special needs”. “Special educational needs”, which are general for these children, are concretized in the article.

The present article contains the data concerning defectology as a complex field of the scientific knowledge, its place within the related sciences, its history, priorities of this science at the modern stage.