Mental retardation signs up to a year. Signs of mental retardation in newborns. Stages of early childhood development
Mental retardation in children, which begins to show symptoms around 3.5 years of age, can be caused by various reasons. The factors for the occurrence of the pathology of intellectual development are diverse, but most often these are:
- Organic brain damage during childbirth.
- Cerebral palsy.
- Genetic metabolic disorders.
- Down syndrome (translocation or trisomy of 21 pairs of chromosomes).
- Neuroinfection resulting in extensive damage to neurons (neurosyphilis, tuberculous meningitis, viral encephalitis).
- Intoxication with heavy metals and other foreign substances, especially in early age.
- Hydrocephalus.
- Endocrinopathy (dysfunction of the thyroid gland).
- Rubivirus infection during pregnancy (rubella).
- coma caused by prolonged hypoxia brain.
With microcephaly, defect prenatal development, the volume of the brain is reduced, and, accordingly, the number of neurons and connections between them is reduced. Hydrocephalus is a swelling of the brain, accompanied by an increase in pressure inside cranium. Hydrostatic pressure damages neurons and can also lead to mental retardation. Past infections of the central nervous system in some cases reflected in mental abilities child.
signs
Signs of mental retardation in children are a weak ability to learn, as well as the absence or weakening of the child's reaction to the words of parents, memory loss, logical thinking. Building connections between events in life is broken.
The perception of information is difficult, which is associated with a violation of the processes of memorization, short-term and long-term memory. Speech, behavioral and hygiene skills are underdeveloped. By school age, it is extremely difficult to master the skills of reading, counting, and writing.
There is a lag in mental development, the course of which can progress, regress or be stable. The emotional sphere in young patients, as a rule, is not affected, children are able to experience both negative and positive emotions. The ability to self-care depends on the degree of mental deficiency of the individual child. There are several degrees of mental disorders.
Mild degree of mental retardation
Light degree mental retardation (code F70 according to ICD-10). Such children are characterized by preserved learning ability, but reduced memory potential compared to healthy children. A child with mild mental retardation may misjudge the actions and feelings of others, making the illness similar to Asperger's.
Children experience problems in social skills (communication, games with other children) and feel inferior, they are dependent on their parents. The correct approach of the teacher in teaching such a child will improve the prognosis of the disease. Mild mental retardation, the symptoms of which do not interfere with self-service learning, can be corrected in special schools of the 8th type.
As a result, growing children, upon reaching adulthood, are able to work and master the simplest skills of conducting household, letters. Im available physical work and monotonous work without the need to make decisions. Upon reaching the age of 18, the state provides such patients with housing. 
moderate mental retardation
Moderate mental retardation (ICD-10 F71) is characterized by less independence from the help of other people than mild mental retardation. However, social skills, when appropriately adjusted, are also instilled, although children remain dependent on parents and guardians.
In adulthood, they are capable of work, mainly physical, which does not require complex coordination of actions. Signs of mental retardation in adult patients: some inhibition of thought processes, slowness in movements, lack of critical thinking.
Severe retardation
In severe cases (ICD code: F72), the patient's speech is limited to a couple of dozen words to express their own needs. There are also movement disorders, gait is discoordinated. The process of memorizing surrounding objects is difficult and requires repeated repetition. Counting skills are taught visible objects. Upon reaching adulthood, people are not able to fully take responsibility for themselves and need care provided by neuropsychiatric boarding schools.
Profound mental impairment (F73) may present with severe movement disorders. Patients are lagging behind physical development, their speech is not formed. Children often suffer from enuresis. In adulthood, care for such patients is carried out by psycho-neurological boarding schools.
Diagnostics
Mental retardation, the symptoms of which are similar to those of other diseases of the psycho-intellectual sphere, needs differential diagnosis with such diseases as:
- Asperger's syndrome;
- socio-pedagogical neglect (Mowgli's syndrome) and intense psychotrauma;
- hepatic encephalopathy.
How to determine mental retardation in a child? Psychoneurologists use various techniques to test the intellectual abilities of the child: assessment of household skills, social adaptation. The history of pregnancy (, rubella in the mother), past neuroinfections, traumatic brain injuries are being studied.
A test for mental retardation (IQ) is carried out, which determines the intelligence quotient in points. The child's perception is assessed artistic images in pictures, learning abilities, incl. to counting and speech, the state of mental development of the child. The degree of coordination of movements is analyzed.
The child is not like his peers - his general development behind the norm, he can not cope with what is easily given to other children. It is now customary to talk about such children " special child". Of course, children with intellectual disabilities are a big test for parents. It is sad and painful to realize that the baby can be an outcast in society. However, quite often mental retardation can be corrected.
Is it lagging behind or developing differently?
Children develop in different ways. The norms according to which the diagnosis of the mental development of children is carried out are rather arbitrary and are average indicators. If a child develops at a different pace, this is not a reason to believe that the baby has gross violations of the development of the intellect. Cases when at an early age a person showed a discrepancy with the norms of mental and intellectual development, and at an older age he showed outstanding results in the field of knowledge are not uncommon. Even a speech delay is not evidence of a child lagging behind - many children do not speak at all until the age of two, but at this time they develop a passive vocabulary - after two, such children immediately begin to speak well and a lot. Therefore, if one or two deviations from age norms are observed, do not panic. It is necessary to sound the alarm when a complex of signs of mental retardation is observed.
Let's define what mental retardation is. First of all, the development of children with mental retardation occurs against the background of rather strong deviations in the conditioned reflex activity of the brain. They have an imbalance in the processes of inhibition and excitation, the signaling system of the brain also works with disturbances. This greatly affects cognitive abilities - children have no or poorly expressed attention, curiosity (craving for knowledge), there is an underdevelopment of cognitive interests, will.
It is worth distinguishing between mental retardation itself and mental retardation. Mental retardation implies more gross violations of the intellectual and psycho-emotional sphere. AT severe cases correction of such violations is practically impossible - we are talking about severe cases of cretinism, oligophrenia. But, I must say that in fact such cases are quite rare. Children with mental retardation are distinguished by a number of features, and at the same time, correction of their development is not only possible, but also quite successful: in some cases, children can catch up with their peers in their development.
Causes of mental retardation
Exists whole complex reasons that, individually or collectively, can lead to developmental delays. Often, children with intellectual disabilities suffer from birth defects in hearing, vision, speech apparatus. With such defects, initially the child's intellectual abilities could be within the normal range, but they did not develop from the first days of life due to reduced hearing and vision. Accordingly, there was a lag in mental development. Correction in this case is very successful.
Very often, the causes of mental retardation are the severe course of pregnancy, during which there was a long oxygen starvation fetus; birth trauma, asphyxia at birth; some infectious and somatic diseases a child at an early age, intoxication, genetic damage due to alcoholism or drug addiction of parents.
In a very large percentage of mild cases of mental retardation, upbringing, or rather its complete absence, is to blame. It is known that mental retardation occurs if parents do not deal with the child, do not talk to him; if for some reason the child at an early age was isolated from the mother. Here, too, the correction is successful in most cases.
Development of mentally retarded children
Mentally retarded children need more time to absorb the material. Difficulties with isolating the main thing, with the awareness of cause-and-effect relationships, the slow pace of recognizing the known affect the learning ability of the baby, slowing down and complicating the learning process.
But this does not mean that the development of mentally retarded children is impossible or unnecessary. On the contrary, such children must be approached in a special way and developmental classes should be very carefully planned, which should be more intense. But a different kind of intensity is required here.
First of all, parents need to stock up on patience and faith in their child. Most importantly, never compare your child to other children. Even for healthy child with intellectual development within the normal range, the comparison is harmful - for special children it is catastrophically dangerous! As a result, the child withdraws into himself, begins to consider himself hopeless, falls into a neurosis or becomes aggressive.
In order to successfully correct the backlog in intellectual development should be tested regularly. The so-called diagnostics of the mental development of children is a set of special tests-standards with which a child should normally cope upon reaching a certain age. Small deviations in one direction or another should not cause concern for parents. If the child clearly does not reach the norm, corrective exercises in this area are necessary. Remember that mental development is uneven and there is a chance to develop the intellect and psycho-emotional sphere to an adult state. But to overcome mental retardation, even in weak form It may take years and you have to be ready for it.
Of course, the development of mentally retarded children is a daily painstaking work that requires Great love, patience, self-sacrifice. Parents need to constantly tell their child about the world, the interconnection of things, give food for thought, encourage them to use knowledge in practice. Scientists believe that a child with mental retardation should be surprised as much as possible - this awakens curiosity and a desire for knowledge. You should not even think about what the child will not understand - you need to talk to him about everything, tell him why it happens this way and not otherwise, show him.
Distracted attention, inability and inability to concentrate it on one thing is one of the main causes of mental retardation. Constantly training mindfulness, encouraging it by all means in physiological terms (when the process of brain formation is underway - up to 3-6 years), you can restore broken connections and bring them back to normal. The education of attention is so important that the rule applies here - if the child is busy with something, classes are being conducted with him, he has focused on the game - you can’t even distract him with food, sleep, and so on. For children with mental retardation, it is extremely important to protect the emerging focus and concentration.
In parallel with developing activities, it is useful to take drugs that strengthen the nervous system and stimulate its development. From this point of view, a decoction of dioica nettle, eleutherococcus extract, royal jelly, strawberries, blueberries, B vitamins.
Mental problems. Mental retardation in children. Approximately 3% of children do not have age-appropriate normal cognitive abilities. They are commonly referred to as "mentally retarded" or "developmentally delayed children". This definition refers to all children whose development, according to the standard intelligence index (IQ), is less than 70 (a result of 80 to 130 is normal intelligence, and 100 is average).
Mental retardation in children is defined as "a pronounced decrease in the level of all mental functions”, accompanied by a “deficit of adaptive behavior”. In other words, mental retardation is the inability of a child to learn, show independence and social competence in the appropriate age group.
The development of mentally retarded children is much slower than that of their peers in many areas, especially in relation to interest in the world around them and the ability to respond to external events. Such children later develop the ability to smile, stretch their hands towards what they see or hear, grab toys and play with them, with a lag, all kinds of reactions develop in general.
A large number of mentally retarded children suffer from a variety of problems - congenital diseases hearts, epileptic seizures, hearing impairment. Their life expectancy rarely exceeds average age partly because they don't get medical treatment.
Although each child develops at a different pace, they always go through the stages listed below. If the child's developmental indicators do not reach average values this stage development, it is a signal of the presence of difficulties in the child.
0 – 4 months
Shows interest in the environment and particular attention to caregivers and carers.
Reacts to light and sound, especially when communicating with others.
Smiles when spoken to, or reacts to a certain facial expression, hums.
He enjoys being gently and affectionately soothed and stroked.
Follows the eyes of a moving object or person, turns the head towards the sound source.
Can grasp and hold small objects.
Can hold his head when he sits on his knees.
Sleeps more than 4 hours at night.
5 – 8 months
Begins to learn how things work; responds to the request.
Communicates with the person caring for him: smiles, holds out his hands.
Reacts to the simplest games, such as "cuckoo".
Stretches out hands to toys and other items of interest to him.
Shows cautious interest when strangers appear.
Able to focus on toys and strangers for a long time.
Begins to explore and interact with his own environment.
Able to pick up and hold a small object.
Knows how to drink from a cup or glass held by adults.
Pronounces certain sounds and repeats them.
Able to sit without support and play in this position.
Able to crawl or climb.
Able to get up, holding on to the bars of the crib.
9 – 12 months
He begins to interact with the world around him in a complex way: he holds out toys to his parents, he begins to walk with support, roll a ball, use gestures in order to be understood.
Uses a specific pattern of behavior to get close to parents and climb onto their laps.
Reacts to the intonation of the speech of the parents.
Long enough to focus on the game.
Knows how to imitate simple gestures - waving a hand at parting, indicating a sign "yes" or "no" with a nod.
Uses eyesight and hands to explore new objects.
Knows how to toss or throw a ball.
Looks at simple pictures in books with outside help.
Knows how to put a small piece of food in his mouth.
Able to walk holding on to furniture.
understands simple words and directions.
Applies specific sounds to specific objects.
13 – 18 months
Shows conscious intentions and ways of exploring the situation during interactions and games.
Explains his desires and feelings through gestures and words.
Uses one to two word sentences and understands simple phrases.
Establishes a balance between the need for independence and intimacy (for example, going to the other side of the room to play, and returning back to one of the relatives in order to cuddle).
Makes attempts to insist on his own; knows how to express dissatisfaction with his voice without crying, biting and beating with his hands.
Uses representations and roles in games (“cooks in a saucepan”, “rides in a toy car”); plays on his own.
Recognizes familiar objects in pictures, knows how to make a simple mosaic, draw a circle.
Able to run, jump, stand on one leg.
19 months – up to 3 – 3.5 years
Play in challenging games on the imagination, the connection of the motives of intimacy, nutrition or care with the need for self-affirmation, exploration and aggression.
Knows what is real and what is not.
Follows the rules.
Understands the relationship between behavior, thoughts, feelings and their consequences.
Interacts with adults and playmates in a socially acceptable manner.
He can draw quite complex drawings, for example, depict a woman with certain facial features.
Able to climb and descend stairs.
Able to purposefully throw a big ball and catch it.
Makes up complex sentences containing logically related words.
Begins to ask “why?”, although this is not necessarily accompanied by an interest in answers.
Classification of mental retardation
Mental retardation in children is a non-specific disease that is either present or absent in a child and represents a multilevel psychopathological condition manifested in a significant change in behavior and abilities. used to determine the degree of mental retardation big number classification systems. This kind of classification serves as a necessary tool for the selection of special educational and medical institutions. Parents, teachers and physicians should ensure that no single classification system interferes with the most full development residual potential of the child.
In most cases, four categories of mental retardation are used - from mild to deep degree. About 85% of mentally retarded children are mild with an IQ of 50 to 70. Although these children need special training, they are capable, even if classes start at adolescence learn to read and count. With appropriate support and assistance, they can eventually achieve independence to a large extent and lead an independent life. Children with an average (moderate) degree of mental retardation (intellectual index from 35 to 49) are able to learn how to serve themselves and, to a certain extent, work in protected and facilitated conditions. Children with severe mental retardation (IQ from 20 to 34) are able to master basic hygiene skills through training. However, in the motor and speech areas, they experience great difficulties and, as a rule, cannot acquire any professional skills. Children with severe mental retardation (IQ below 20) cannot express their condition and position in words, they cannot use the toilet. Throughout their lives, they need care and maintenance.
Other classification systems are based on the ability of children to reach a certain educational level. "Learning" children are those whose IQ is typically between 50 and 75. Their school success reaches the level of 3-6 grades. The learning ability of a child with an IQ of 30 to 50 reaches the level of 2nd grade and is usually limited to these results.
Recognition of mental retardation
Developmental delay in most cases is detected immediately after birth or somewhat later. Certain congenital forms of mental retardation, including the so-called Down's syndrome, are identified during prenatal examination. Children with Down syndrome and some other forms of mental retardation differ from the norm in their appearance and show obvious birth defects, which makes it easier early diagnosis.
Even if quite normal child slowly developing, many doctors have questions that require diagnostic efforts to exclude a mild degree of mental retardation. In the second or third year of life and before reaching school age mental retardation is established using psychological and physiological tests. Sometimes the examination reveals other causes of delayed development, such as hearing loss, which makes it difficult to communicate and learn.
It is important to mention that the threshold for mental retardation below 70 IQ is arbitrarily chosen. There are children with an IQ below 70 who are able to lead productive and independent lives. In fact, some studies show that children from poor or other cultural backgrounds whose test scores show IQs below 70 actually show significantly higher IQs when environmental conditions are equalized or improved. Conversely, there are children whose intellectual index is above 70, however, their school success does not correspond to the age level. Therefore, when diagnosing mental retardation, one should take into account not only indicators of behavior and academic performance, but also the cultural environment and socioeconomic data.
Causes of the disease
Hundreds identified for mental retardation known causes and risk factors. These may be chromosomal abnormalities (such as Down syndrome), genetic diseases, birth trauma, low birth weight and extreme fetal immaturity, hormonal disorders, prenatal infection (eg, measles in the first third of pregnancy), prenatal malnutrition, and maternal drug or alcohol use. Postpartum mental retardation can be caused by the child's mental and physical isolation, severe malnutrition, accidental brain damage (such as a fall or nearly drowning), lead poisoning, and infection (meningitis). In most cases real reasons mental retardation remain unknown.
Down syndrome
A common form of mental retardation is Down syndrome, a chromosomal disorder that occurs in about one in 700 newborns. In most cases, mental development in these children proceeds normally up to 6 months, and then stops or even regresses. Along with a decrease in mental parameters, most children have a pronounced dysplasticity of the face and body, which includes weakness muscle tone, small flat skull, broad cheeks, protruding tongue and Asian form eyes (which in the past gave rise to the designation of this type of mental retardation as Mongoloidism). In total, there are about a hundred mental deficiencies associated with Down syndrome, some of which are rare and difficult to distinguish from the rest.
Stages of early child development
You found out that your child is mentally retarded. What to prepare for?
Keep in mind that your child, despite being mentally handicapped, is an individual with their own hopes, dreams, rights and dignity.
If your friends try to avoid meetings or seem insecure or embarrassed, know that most people simply do not know how to react to the news of your child's illness and how to help you. You must understand that some people find it difficult to express their empathy and compassion towards others.
Establish contact with self-help and patient care organizations. Try to get to know other parents of mentally retarded children, find out how they assess the situation and share your experiences with them.
Admit to yourself your feelings of guilt, anger, sadness, and frustration. These feelings are natural. Do not be ashamed of yourself and your child, in order to help him, you must comprehend and process your disappointment.
Even though your child has different requests and needs and requires an individual approach, do not ignore the vital interests of your spouse and other family members. This will make it difficult for them to participate in solving your problems.
You must anticipate that your immediate environment may not only be willing to understand your feelings and problems, but also to resist them. Overcoming this life situation is a difficult problem.
The reasons
The cause of this disease may be chromosomal aberrations. Individuals with trisomy 21 have 47 chromosomes in each cell instead of the normal 46 chromosomes. They are born with an extra 21 chromosomes. This form of Down syndrome is the most common (about 95% of all cases) and is not genetically transmitted. Some children with this syndrome, although they have an extra 21 chromosomes, are melted down by other chromosomes, so that 46 chromosomes remain despite this. This is defined as a congenital translocation in a certain form of Down syndrome. Parents of some children with this form of the syndrome may special study determine which of them is the carrier of the gene for this disease, which can provide information about possible consequences if they want to have another child. Children whose condition is due to mosaicism (about 1% of cases) have various cells, some of which are normal and some with an extra 21 chromosomes. They usually have less pronounced pathology and are more viable. As for others genetic reasons, it has not yet been studied what role they play in chromosomal abnormalities. Some studies show that for this syndrome, it matters late age mother (about 2/3 of all children with Down syndrome were born to mothers over 35), as well as the fact that she was exposed to increased X-ray exposure or lived in an area contaminated with toxic substances.
Development pace
As with other forms of mental retardation, children with Down syndrome develop with a great delay compared to age norm. In the first few months of their lives, children with this disorder are more calm and less excitable than their healthy peers. The reason for this is a decrease in muscle tone and underdevelopment of coordination. Most children with Down syndrome do not begin to respond to their environment until the second year of life. They smile at the caregivers, babble and learn to sit without support, while at the same time not being able to crawl and climb. In subsequent years, muscular coordination, speech and other abilities develop, however, the pace of development remains much slower than in other children. By the age of two, many children with Down syndrome are only able to say one or two words. The problem of muscular coordination is also reflected in speech abilities: children with Down syndrome often have great difficulty moving their tongue and coordinating the movements of the lips and jaw necessary for speech. By the age of five, they are usually able to name a few objects and speak short sentences with many articulatory and grammatical errors. Parents can contribute to speech development if they talk to their children regularly and actively help develop their articulation skills by exercising them in certain social situations.
Treatment
Although mentally retarded children rarely reach the level of development of their peers, it is necessary to try to ensure that they reach their maximum potential. The sooner the diagnosis is made, the sooner relatives and children can start a developmental program. At the same time, parents and educators should not express negative feelings. Kindness to the child will accelerate his development.
The treatment is mainly of a promotional nature and its purpose is to help children achieve their maximum possible activity and independence. In the USA, such children are united in groups where they study surrounded by people close and familiar to them. Such institutions combine the tasks of upbringing and education.
Physicians must make a rather difficult prediction of how far a given child may advance. Although mentally retarded children can increase their IQ when properly stimulated, they can never reach the IQ level of normal children. And yet they are able to make progress in their studies, and in some cases they show a clear improvement.
Parents are offered many training and support programs for children. Ways needed medical intervention depend on a qualified expert assessment of their developmental disorders and the needs of each individual child. Teaching speech, neatness, dressing and eating independently is necessary in all cases. Parents are required to be consulted. It is also necessary to coordinate the work of doctors who treat somatic difficulties and disorders, and psychotherapists who are competent in dealing with mental and behavioral problems.
Stages of early childhood development
Love me!
An elementary and essential first step in helping children with developmental delays is the need to give them love and attention. People with mental and somatic retardation are subject to social discrimination, which makes it difficult for them to develop. Their backwardness does not protect them from the painful realization that they are different from others, and then they experience unpleasant feelings. The knowledge that they are loved and desired helps to accelerate the development of children and gives them a positive internal image of themselves, which is necessary for fulfilling the difficult demands that life places on them.
Help with mental and behavioral problems
There is not a single mental and behavioral problem that is unique to children with mental retardation. However, each child with mental retardation has their own personal difficulties and problems. For example, he has behavioral problems, mentally retarded children often become restless and restless due to the inability to concentrate for a long time, their behavior is disturbed, which is especially reflected during classes at home or in educational institution.
Such children have low resistance to stress factors, which is often combined with a lack of control over their urges and desires. It is known that a sick child needs much more time to calm down after excitement and arousal than a child with normal cognitive abilities.
Changes in the routine order, comments on the rules of eating or handling objects in the absence of inhibitory moments in the psyche can easily cause an irritation reaction up to destructive actions or self-harm. Coping with this kind of behavior, even in normal children, is quite difficult. Communication with the moderately retarded is especially difficult due to the fact that they need especially much effort in order to control their behavior. The box on page 338 shows how parents can help. Psychotherapists use techniques to do this. behavioral psychotherapy with which children can learn new patterns of behavior and control their condition. This is especially important for children with mental retardation.
Already at a very young age, mentally retarded children often suffer from self-esteem. Children with mild developmental disorders often know that they are different from others. They learn about this by comparing themselves to their siblings or by the judgments and comments of those around them—family members, neighborhood children, teachers, and other authority figures. The consequence of this is that mentally retarded children feel unhappy and suffer from depression. It can also lead to social regression or aggressive behavior. Such disorders, even if they are severe, require psychotherapeutic assistance with the use of play techniques, which is also used in the treatment of children with normal development.
Those who help children with mental retardation can achieve success and great satisfaction, but this requires a lot of patience and cooperation from all family members. Parents often react to the fact that their child is sick with guilt, sadness and anger. Some of them find it difficult to feel their connection with the child. Other siblings may feel ashamed, guilty, annoyed, or annoyed that a mentally retarded child demands special attention and different from other children. A family with a mentally retarded child may benefit from the advice or support of another family in the same situation.
Psychotherapy of families with mentally retarded children contains a number of explanatory components. Parents are taught how to assess the developmental status of their children and, based on this knowledge, help their children develop and learn.
My eldest daughter has mild mental retardation. This diagnosis was given to us, and three years later it was repeated, in the sixth psychiatric hospital in Moscow (now it has somehow changed its name, such as the mental health center for children and adolescents). Prior to this, there was a pronounced delay in speech development - the child did not actually speak until 4 years of age. This delay, in turn, was accompanied by delayed psychomotor development. The daughter sat down on her own only at 9 months old, began to crawl by the age of one, went completely on her own only at a year and four months.
Actually, until the age of 3, the child almost did not differ from his peers, except that he was somewhat slower. The daughter was not hysterical, did not do something extra-inadequate, she simply did not speak. I was stupid and believed when they told me - do not worry, he will speak. She panicked at only three years old. A neurologist advised by friends prescribed Encifabol and /pharmacy/30155-pantogam. Later - /pharmacy/2477-cortexin . As a result of the treatment, syllables appeared, but there were no words.
At the age of four, they began to study with a defectologist, and here the effect was already very noticeable - words appeared in the active stock, the daughter began to repeat new words and phrases. At the age of five, my daughter lived with her father (my ex-husband) in another city, went to the garden. There was no defectologist there - they were engaged with a kindergarten speech therapist. There was no effect as such, the year was lost.
From six to seven years old, they studied in Moscow at the Green Branch. The defectologist there was wonderful, but we were not lucky with the speech therapist - there was practically no effect from the classes. In the same year, we were sent to the PMPK, whose specialists, after talking with the child, did not want to give a referral to a speech therapy school. They asked for a psychiatric report.
The conclusion of the psychiatrist, or rather the commission of the sixth psychiatric hospital, was - mental mild retardation degree without indications of behavioral disturbance due to other specified causes. As I understand it, this is the reason for the OHP. Previously, they wrote us an OHR of some degree (I think the 1st), now these are elements of an OHR. Also in the history of erased dysarthria, violation of the formation writing.
Like many parents, when I heard the diagnosis of UO, I didn’t believe it at first, and then I got upset. Here, too, the prospects of getting into a school of the 8th type began to clearly emerge. Disorder again. But one way or another, we went to such a school.
Separately, I will say about the school. Then it seemed to me very good - a small number of classes, good equipment, the presence of an extended day group, etc. There was only one thing - in the class there were children with very different diagnoses: Down syndrome, autism, MR of varying degrees. In the end, and I realized it much later, educational process was aimed at the weakest children. My child was an excellent student, and this despite the fact that she wrote (and writes)
she is with the grossest mistakes, she cannot solve problems AT ALL. The only thing that reads quite well even for a regular school.
But it was at this school that we were incredibly lucky with a speech therapist - in two years she managed to put the sounds “k”, “l”, “sh”, “zh”, “ts”, “h”, “u”, partially “r” ... Yes, we didn't actually have half of the alphabet. For the first school year her daughter's vocabulary had grown very, very much, but the speech itself was terribly agrammatic. The speech therapist even said that, most likely, she would still have agrammatism. But luckily after summer holidays daughter somehow sharply correctly incline words, change them according to gender, numbers, etc.
The third grade, we also additionally studied with a speech therapist, I can’t note anything significant, we automated all hissing.
Now we have a new school (we moved to live in the village) and a new speech therapist. From one meeting it became clear that she was an extra-class specialist - she drew attention to what no previous specialist had properly paid attention to. The child's facial muscles are clamped, which, as I understand it, is the cause of the erased dysarthria. It was a discovery for me that my daughter has practically no facial expressions. No, of course, she smiles and frowns, but the emotions on her face are not visible as brightly as in most people. And, for example, my child cannot fake surprise with the help of eyebrows.
Our new speech therapist said that the first thing to do would be to remove this clip, and only then refine the sounds. What made me very happy was her confidence that our speech would Full order. With regular practice, fuzzy pronunciation will go away !!! Now every day we do special exercises to relax the muscles.
As far as education is concerned, new school we went not to the fourth, but to the third grade. The focus in the Moscow school on the least strong children, as well as the fact that our teacher directly stated that "SUCH" children are not able to master mathematics, had an effect. But after all, the program for schools of the 8th type is compiled for such children, which means they can ... Grades in the Russian language and in mathematics, mainly 3 or 4, according to literary reading, oral speech, the living world - mostly 5. Now we are learning the multiplication table for 2 and 3, while we just pronounce, and then we will prescribe, difficult words from the spelling dictionary.
In social terms, the daughter is well developed: she knows how to keep up a conversation, including with strangers, she easily uses a cell phone, Skype, finds what she needs in search engines. She is not in conflict with other children, supports games (rarely offers her own), seeks to invite everyone to visit. What is frustrating is the obstinacy and the spirit of contradiction in relation to me. Well, this is probably typical for many children of her age. As they say, in your own country...
