Herzen University: new research in defectology

The article presents findings of a study that was aimed to study the specifics of assessment of the importance of inclusive professional competencies of a teacher by various categories of teachers working in general education schools.

According to the results of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results of a survey of 416 primary school teachers, secondary school teachers of various profiles, it is stated that in assessing the importance of inclusive competencies of a teacher for achieving educational results of different types by a student with disabilities (SwD), there are significant differences in the subject factor of the area of pedagogical agenda of the teachers. Also, a significant mediating effect of this factor on the assessment of generalized parameters of the competence of a teacher of inclusive education was revealed. The factors associated with the length of service, experience of work in conditions of inclusion, do not have a significant effect on the corresponding parameters, either independently or in joint action.

The results obtained indicate the need for a differentiated approach both to determining the range of professional competencies of an inclusive teacher, and to their formation in the system of retraining and advanced training of teachers of inclusive educational organizations.

The article presents the results of a pilot study of the interaction between participants (specialist, child, parent) of correctional and developmental classes in the conditions of the early aid service. The reasons that have a low impact on the establishment of contacts between parents and children with hearing impairments have been identified. One of the variants of the activity of an early care specialist is described, which helps to establish a developing interaction of a family with their child.

The subject of the study was the specific features and violations of time perceptions in preschoolers with severe speech impairments (TSP) in the context of their influence on the predisposition of these children to dyscalculia.

The article presents and analyzes the results of a comparative search-ascertaining experiment, which assumed that children perform tasks of a diagnostic technique aimed at identifying in preschoolers with speech impairments the specific features of time perceptions concerning individual time intervals and the reflection of generally accepted time standards in speech. It is stated that children with TNR of senior preschool age are at the initial stage of the formation of their time perceptions, they hardly master the ability to coordinate and subordinate their movements to speech, rhythmic and visual instructions, experience significant difficulties in identifying cause-effect relationships and time perceptions in the process of composing a story on a series of plot pictures.

These negative features are one of the essential factors that determine the predisposition to dyscalculia, taking into account the need to search for and implement such forms of work to prevent this disorder, which should be correlated with the psychological structure of the process of mastering mathematics and the type of dysontogenesis of students.

This article describes issues of the specificity of social interaction between children with visual impairment and their peers during the period of admission to the school. The relevance, significance of this problem and its insufficient development in typhlopedagogy are proved. The phenomenological characteristic is presented and the necessity of studying the state of its structural components is determined. The main results of a comparative analysis of the level of readiness for social interaction of children with visual impairments in comparison with normally seeing peers are reflected. The presence of a statistically significant lag in the level of development of readiness for social interaction with peers in first-graders with visual impairments has been proved; the differentiated influence of an abnormal factor on the level of development of this phenomenon in children with different degrees and nature of visual impairments has been determined; the uniqueness of its components in children under visual deprivation has been revealed. The necessity of typhlopedagogical support for the development of readiness of visually impaired children for social interaction with peers in preschool age is proved.

The article presents the results of an experimental study of the educational motivation of first-graders with intellectual disabilities, discusses the age characteristics of attitudes towards school and learning, determines the dominant motives of learning, the specificity of attitudes towards the content of learning, participants in the educational process (teachers, parents and classmates), emphasizes the differences in motivational readiness for learning of children with mental retardation and mental insufficiency in comparison with poorly performing normally developing first graders. The obtained results of the study indicate a positive attitude towards school among the majority of first-graders and about significant differences in the motivation for learning among subjects of all groups, about the dominance of game motives for learning. Educational motivation of normally developing children is characterized by more conscious motivation, they understand their difficulties in educational activities. The positive attitude towards school among first-graders with intellectual disabilities often hides a lack of understanding of the essence of educational activity; school breaks, vacations and games with classmates turn out to be attractive for them at school. Game motives of educational activity remain the leading ones for children with intellectual disabilities beyond preschool age, which is important to take into account when working with them during educational activities in school.

The article discusses the results of studying the speech and language components of textual competence when writing an essay by students with dysgraphy. The analysis and generalization of the research data made it possible to identify the shortcomings of their textual competence due to the difficulty of generating a coherent written statement. The components of the generation of a coherent text were evaluated: the presentation of the content in accordance with the plan, the construction of a sequence of microtemes, the division of the text into para-graphs, the expression of the text subject and text predicate, the inclusion of independent, non-independent, necessary and unnecessary sentences, the selection of lexical means, the operation of grammatical forms, syntactic constructions and other components during the creation of texts of essays. The qualitative and quantitative heterogeneous nature of the components of textual competence was revealed in students with different types of dysgraphy.

The article is devoted to the problem of understanding difficult life situations by adolescents with mental retardation: the theoretical aspects of the problem are analyzed, the experimental data obtained are presented and discussed. Understanding is considered as a complex analytical and synthetic process that undergoes changes in the course of its development, becomes more complicated with age, allowing deeper insight into the essence of the object being studied, revealing the essential aspects, connections and relationships of this object with the surrounding. The experimental study of the understanding of difficult life situations by adolescents with mental retardation presupposed the identification of both the specifics of understanding and the possibility of relying on life experience in the perception, understanding and comprehension of problematic life situations, attitudes to the problem situation, as well as the influence of personal characteristics of adolescents on the attitude to the problem, understanding and choosing a strategy for its solution. The results of the experimental study indicate significant shortcomings in the understanding of difficult life situations by adolescents with mental retardation, associated with fragmentation and incompleteness of perception of pictorial and verbal material, violation of analytical and synthetic activity, the dominance of negative experience in overcoming difficulties. Negative emotional reactions of adolescents to difficulties, low self-esteem and an increased level of anxiety can be considered additional factors complicating the process of understanding.

The article is devoted to a comparative study of psychological characteristics that determine the orientation of the personality of persons with congenital and acquired visual pathology in conjunction with the indicators of their social rehabilitation. The article presents the results of an empirical study revealing the differences in personal attitudes in communication and the locus of control of thebornblind and late-onset blind, men and women with deep visual pathology. The main characteristics of life-meaning orientations and locus of control, mediating the level of social rehabilitation of the visually impaired, and acting as personal resources for increasing their rehabilitation potential, have been revealed. It is shown that the authoritarian orientation of the personality and the desire to dominate in communication, which reduce the possibilities of their social interaction and emotional stability, are the personal barriers to social rehabilitation of the bornblind and late-onset blind.