The object of the analysis is the main challenges affecting the processes of modernization and transformation of special education. The author focuses on the consideration of groups of meaningfully interrelated challenges: "learners", "meanings", "educational objectives and content", "institutionalization", "forms of organization of the educational process", "resources". The author emphasizes that the concept of special educational needs is of particular importance as a starting point in understanding the difficulties that a child experiences. The special educational needs of a child determine the quality of the necessary support. The author points out the need to create a typology of special educational needs of children with disabilities in the logic of meeting the need to support the development of personal potentials and functional capabilities; the use of digital tools in the formation of necessary competencies; the development and use of mechanisms and tools that return the child to the path of normal development; the creation of a flexible variable model of education of persons with disabilities; development of new modular curricula and tools congruent with such variability. The author assigns a special role to the development of teacher training: special educational needs and their interrelation should be understood as the basis for determining the repertoire and quality of special conditions of the educational environment.

The article presents an analysis of modern trends in the change of special psychology as scientific knowledge and practice-oriented branch of science in relation to its initial attitudes, given by cultural-historical psychology. The text is based on a comparison of modern representations about the ideals of studying children with developmental disabilities and psychological assistance to them, on the one hand, and the original position of special psychology, on the other. The analysis touches upon the main categories of research and practice of a psychologist who helps children with developmental disabilities: the subject, the methods used, the concept of mental development, understanding the dichotomy "normal – abnormal development", psychological practice. The authors express concern over the growing tendency to reduce the representation of normal and abnormal mental development of a child as a complex and multilevel process of qualitative transformation of functional organs (systems), that are of social origin, to their external manifestations (behavior) or physiological activity of the body (brain).

The article reflects the methodology for analyzing the evolution of the terminology of special psychology and pedagogy, the main approaches to the development of an international vocabulary of terms for special and inclusive education. The relevance of the work is due to the need to revise the concepts existing in the scientific field of defectology and educational practice of persons with special educational needs, as well as formal and semantic systematization of the newly appeared terminological units. The creation of the nominated dictionary is the result of a significant scientific and practical project of higher education institutions and scientific organizations of the CIS countries. The focus of the research was a system of terms, concepts, dictionary entries characterizing social and educational paradigm changes in the education and upbringing of children with special educational needs.The prepared dictionary is the first attempt for the countries of the post-Soviet space to see and generalize a new terminology for the national education systems of these states, to consider other accents of established and traditionally used concepts. This will allow practitioners and researchers to develop common semantic positions.

The article deals with the problem of the subject of special psychology. It’s actualized that the collective definitions of its subject by listing the categories of persons studied or types of abnormal development is not sufficient. The necessity of referring to the theoretical frame of special psychology – the cultural-historical psychology by L.S. Vygotsky. Special psychology is understood as a branch that studies the laws, patterns and dynamics of abnormal mental development, as well as the conditions for its correction. It indicates the presence of its own method – experimental-genetical method, which is both research and practical. The understanding of special psychology as a psychological practice is substantiated.

The article is devoted to the problems of psychological diagnosis of developmental disorders in children. It is emphasized that the main task of psychological diagnostics is to develop the way of practical assistance to a particular child, taking into account the unique picture of his development. The concept and levels of psychological diagnosis are analyzed from the standpoint of the cultural-historical approach – symptomatic, functional and systemic. The importance of relying in the process of psychological diagnosis of abnormal development on ideas about age norms and the psychological structure of the defect is noted. Approaches to the dichotomy "normal – abnormal development" are analyzed. The concept of the age norm as a socio-cultural model is defined. The concept "psychological structure of the defect" is revealed. The stages of psychological diagnostics of abnormal development and the use of assistance in the process of its implementation are described.

In this article, in the historical aspect, the formation of assistance to preschool children with severe multiple disorders is considered in conditions of correction-and development training centre in the Republic of Belarus. The regulatory documents reflecting the content of work in this area since 1999 are analyzed. The substantiation of the curriculum and curricula for this type of educational institutions in the educational areas "Self-service", "Communication", "Sensory stimulation", "Subject activity", "I and the world", "Visual activity", "Musical and rhythmic classes" , "The game". One of the promising directions is the creation of a system for assessing the quality of preschool education for persons with severe multiple disorders in conditions of correction-and development training centre.

The article discusses the problems of social adaptation typical for schoolchildren with learning disabilities. Their occurrence is associated with disturbance of building of agent-agent relations and interaction with other people. A symbol is considered as a basic cultural form, mediating the devel-opment of agent-agent relations and interaction of the individual. The development of symbolic forms mediating and the developing of symbolic function of consciousness by schoolchildren with a learning disabilities contributes to the development of psychological mechanisms for overcoming the agent-agent interaction problems and preventing various types of social maladjustment. The article describes a program of psychological correction of the symbolic function of consciousness develop-ment in schoolchildren with learning disabilities and shows its effectiveness for overcoming the dif-ficulties of agent-agent interaction. The correctional program includes principles, purpose, age-oriented tasks, forms and methods of assistance. The results of a forming experiment (n = 24), prov-ing the effectiveness of the correction program, are presented.

This paper dwells on the scientific and instructional foundations of the corrective educational work on general labor skills formation in junior schoolchildren with mild mental deficiency (intellectual disabilities). In this regard, the perspectives on the corrective orientation of labor education of these children has been evolving. The relationship between development of general labor skills and the correction of cognitive development is disclosed. This paper also characterizes the method of general labor skills formation. As a result of shaping their intellectual components the goal orientation is ensured which increases schoolchildren’s independence in educational and labor activities. Further development of issues in relation to this method is determined as a promising area of scientific research in the field of oligophrenopedagogics.