Mental retardation. How to identify mental retardation in a child and help? Classes with a defectologist and speech therapist

In a broad sense, delay mental development in children is immaturity of the emotional-volitional sphere in children. With timely treatment this pathology can be cured completely or partially.

The key factors are the degree of progression of the disease and the reasons for its manifestation. Treatment of the disease includes taking certain medications, classes with specialized specialists and special medical procedures . We will talk about the symptoms and treatment of mental retardation in children in the article.

Concept and characteristics

IN medical practice the term ZPR denotes tempo development of mental processes lag The child has.

The occurring violations are reversible. In such children, gaming preferences have prevailed for a long time; their thinking is characterized by specific immaturity and lack of basic knowledge.

Compared to their peers, children with mental retardation have limited ideas and low level of intellectual activity.

What is it caused by?

The causes of mental retardation include numerous factors that pose a threat to the emotional and volitional development of the child. Such a danger may arise against the background of heredity, complications during pregnancy, difficult childbirth and individual characteristics of the child’s body.

External factors can provoke mental retardation in a child only if there are internal prerequisites.

Impact environment in this case, it becomes the cause of progression of the pathology and an increase in the intensity of its symptoms.

Causes of delayed neuropsychic development in a child the following factors may be involved:

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Classification and types

The classification of mental retardation in children is carried out depending on the reasons that provoked this pathology. In pediatrics, four types of the disease are most common.

Each of its forms has its own character traits And is a key factor for determining the complex of therapeutic actions. Forecasts at different forms ZPR are different.

In most cases, the disorders are reversible, but an exception may be a pathology that arises against the background of genetic prerequisites.

The main classification of mental retardation in children:

ZPRD with elements of autism

Delayed psycho- speech development in children may be accompanied elements of autism. This combination of pathologies is a complication of mental retardation and requires special treatment methods.

In this case, the danger of ZPRR becomes development. In medical practice effective ways There is no therapy for this pathology. It is impossible to completely cure autism.

The risk of developing autism is indicated by the following: additional symptoms with ZPRR:

• poor facial expressions;
• lack of interest in the outside world;
• constantly performing actions that have no meaning;
• partial or complete absence speeches;
• abnormal speech.

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Complications and consequences

With mental retardation, there is a risk of impaired speech development of the child.

The consequences of a combination of such pathologies can be dysgraphia or dyslexia.

The progression of these conditions can result in critical low level performance at school.

Adapt to society It is extremely difficult for children with mental retardation. Attempts by peers to find an approach to them will provoke not only the child’s isolation, but also attacks of aggression.

Complications The following conditions may occur:

• development of complex mental disorders;
• significant impairment of basic skills;
• serious problems with social adaptation;
• development of concomitant diseases (ZPRD, ZRR, etc.).

How to identify?

The symptoms of mental retardation in a child are clearly manifested by age five or six.

Such children differ significantly from their peers in terms of their skills and some behavioral traits.

For example, basic actions are difficult for them(tying shoelaces, dressing independently, eating, etc.). Complemented clinical picture deviations of psycho-emotional disorders.

Symptoms ZPR in most cases are the following factors:

Characteristic qualities

When mental development is delayed, the intellect in children is practically not impaired, but serious deviations in the process of perceiving certain information.

It is difficult for a child with this diagnosis to remember educational material and analyze it. Perception in such children is fragmentary.

Children with mental retardation are characterized by the following qualities:

Diagnostic methods

The diagnosis of mental retardation can be made in children who have reached the age of four. In most cases, this pathology is identified in preschool children.

An alarming signal is the child’s poor performance at school and difficulties in mastering educational material.

Diagnosis confirmed comprehensive examination children and the conclusion of a special commission (PMPC).

Diagnostics carried out using the following methods:

• examination by specialized specialists (speech therapist, child psychologist, neurologist, pediatrician, psychiatrist, etc.);
• neuropsychological testing;
• research of intellectual processes;
• MRI of the brain;
• CT and EEG;
• mandatory differential diagnosis with autism and mental retardation.

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Treatment and correction

Treatment methods for mental retardation are always prescribed in accordance with individual clinical picture child's health status.

Children with such a diagnosis should receive help not only from psychologists and teachers, but also from their parents.

Drug therapy is used only in the absence of results other techniques or a delayed tendency to recovery.

Microcurrent reflexology

The use of microcurrent reflexology in the treatment of mental retardation in children shows good results and an acceleration of the tendency towards recovery. The essence of this procedure is to influence certain areas of the brain ultra-small electrical impulses.

With the timely use of this technique, the damaged functions of the central nervous system are being restored. The procedure is allowed for children from six months of age.

Classes with a defectologist and speech therapist

Conducting classes with a speech therapist and a speech pathologist are among the mandatory methods of treating mental retardation in children. Exercises and educational material are selected for each child individually.

Speech therapists can additionally use acupressure techniques (on the tip of the nose, between the eyes, in the center of the chin, in the corners of the lips and under ears There is a slight effect of massage movements).

In most cases, the need for training with such specialists arises when the child reaches the age of five.

Target speech therapy and defectology classes:

• development of the child's memory;
• improvement of motor skills;
• normalization of articulation;
• improvement of adaptive qualities;
• elimination;
• improved thinking.

Drug therapy

Identify the need for use drug therapy with ZPR can only neurologist or neuropathologist.

Medicines are used primarily to restore certain functions of the child’s brain and nervous system.

You should never take such medications on your own.. For drug therapy there must be certain reasons identified by comprehensive inspection baby and carrying out special procedures for studying its central nervous system and parts of the brain.

For mental retardation in children, the following medications can be used:

• nootropics (Piracetam, Cortexin);
• vitamin complexes appropriate for the child’s age.

Family atmosphere plays a key role in the treatment of mental retardation The child has. Children with this diagnosis require a special approach.

The tendency towards recovery and the effectiveness of the correction methods being carried out largely depend on the behavior of the parents. Adults need to remember that they will have to constantly work with the child (even during games and communication).

When raising children with mental retardation, it is important to consider the following: recommendations:

1. Can speed up the child’s treatment process dolphin therapy and hippotherapy(horses and dolphins are believed to help children significantly normalize their mental state).
2. You always need a child praise for successes and encourage him (parental support will give him self-confidence and help him develop adaptive skills).
3. If it is difficult for your child to perform basic actions (for example, tying shoelaces, fastening buttons, etc.), in no case you can’t criticize him or punish him or left unattended (training must be carried out gradually).
4. Quarrels between family members, nervous breakdowns in children and other negative factors should be excluded.
5. With a child you need to do as much as possible communicate more(you should try to discuss with your baby everything that surrounds him).
6. During games or walks, the child should be given important information in a playful form (description of flora, fauna, surrounding objects, why they are needed, etc.).
7. Not worth it set challenging tasks for the child (parents should take into account that the reason for the child’s lack of certain skills is not laziness, but existing pathology).

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Where to get treatment in Russia?

If there are complications, lack of results of therapy or certain medical indications, the child may be prescribed specialized treatment delayed mental development.

In medical practice in last years became widely used surgical methods correction of the disease. In Russia, clinics offering a range of procedures to eliminate mental retardation are mainly located in Moscow.

Examples of metropolitan clinics treating mental retardation in children:

• Clinic of Restorative Neurology;
• Medicor Plus;
• Alexandria.

Forecasts

With timely and correct treatment, mental retardation in children is significantly reduces its intensity.

If the pathology is accompanied by complications, then it becomes necessary to place the child in a specialized school or correctional classes. The general curriculum will be too difficult for him.

In addition, you should not stop exercising even if there are trends towards improving your health. The disease has high risk regression.

At correct and timely treatment The following factors are likely:

• the child adapts well among his peers;
• the functions of the brain and nervous system are largely restored;
• certain talents develop (musical, choreographic, etc.);
• diagnosis does not interfere with getting higher education and achieve success in your professional activities.

Is it possible to prevent the disease?

It is recommended to engage in the prevention of mental retardation at the stage of pregnancy planning. If parents are diagnosed with pathologies that increase the risk of delayed mental development in the child, then first of all it is necessary to minimize their manifestation.

Doctors note that mental formation declines in children by the age of eight. If the disease is not diagnosed before this period, the risk of its development is minimal.

Preventive measures for mental retardation include the following: recommendations:

• attentive attitude of parents to the planning stage of the child;
• preventing exposure of the fetus to any adverse factors;
• prevention and timely treatment of somatic and infectious diseases in children from the very beginning early age;
• if a child is suspected of having a mental retardation, it is necessary to undergo examination as soon as possible;
• providing favorable conditions for raising a child.

If a child has any symptoms of mental retardation, it is necessary carry out his examination as soon as possible in a medical facility.

If the diagnosis is confirmed, then therapy should be started immediately. Early detection of pathology and the right approach to its treatment increases the chances of a favorable trend and good prognosis.

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We kindly ask you not to self-medicate. Make an appointment with a doctor!

Currently, researchers do not yet have a diagnostic model of intellectual development. At the same time, it is firmly established that children with reading delays have impairments in verbal abilities, assessed using the Wechsler scales. These results coincide with a number of facts confirming the existence of a pronounced relationship between difficulties in acquiring speech and language, on the one hand, and reading delays, on the other.

Typical picture occurrence of defects is as follows.
The child has a delay in speech acquisition. Then he has difficulties in learning to read, and later only a serious disorder of sound-letter word analysis persists. The observed association with language delay appears to be major and likely reflects a cause-and-effect relationship. This conclusion is unlikely to seem strange, since reading is associated with the written form, and speech with the oral form of the language, and damage to one of the forms of the language is usually associated with damage to its other form.

Other delays in the development of mental functions also significantly correlate with reading delay. Among them, the most important is the function of verbal encoding and organizing information. Studies have found that poorly reading children also have difficulty completing tasks presented either auditorily or visually that contain a combination of dots and dashes as stimulus material. This may be because these children have difficulty verbally recoding similar stimuli (e.g., one dot, two dashes, and three dots), so they have to remember a picture of the entire sequence.

Many children have difficulty performing any type of task that involves establishing relationships of order or sequence between things. For example, these children have difficulty remembering the order of the months of the year. This problem of establishing ordinal relations is probably one of the general difficulties of language acquisition.

Another common disorder is the child's confusion about right and left. Research shows that specific delay reading has no significant correlation with a lack of right- or left-hand dominance, but does correlate with difficulty in distinguishing right from left, especially when identifying the right and left sides of the body in other people. Poor reading is often accompanied by poor handwriting and can also be associated with a wide range of other developmental problems, including clumsiness and difficulty differentiating shapes. However, although these phenomena are important in the analysis of individual cases, they are much less common than disorders of language development and the establishment of order relations.

In at least some children, these various developmental delays appear to be influenced by biological factors related to brain function. It has been suggested that the specific reading delay may be caused by relative damage to the normal process of growth and maturation of certain specific areas of its cortex. An important argument in favor of this view is that developmental disorders that correlate with reading delay are no longer found in children. younger age, and for children who do not read well, these impairments decrease as they grow older.

These considerations are preliminary because brain maturation in humans cannot be measured directly. The hypothesis that the brain develops unevenly seems very likely. Typically, some parts of the brain mature ahead of other parts of the brain, an observation that suggests that, by analogy, the development of any specific brain function may be abnormally delayed. Unfortunately, it is unknown how everything actually happens.

Developmental delay is a symptom of a pathological process that leads to physiological or psychological disorders. It should be noted that delayed psychospeech development may have a hereditary etiology. In some cases, depending on the etiological factor and the general health of the child, this is an irreversible pathological process. Early, and therefore timely, diagnosis of the disorder is quite difficult. Definitely, at the very first manifestations of a clinical picture in a child, you should urgently seek help. medical care rather than ignoring the symptom or trying to eliminate it yourself.

Etiology

As for this pathological process, there are no single etiological factors, since each type of developmental delay has its own provoking factors. However, it should be noted that for almost all cases there is one common cause— intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR).

Speech development delay (SDD) may be caused by the following etiological factors:

• head injuries or brain tumors;
• pathologies of the nervous system;
• infectious diseases that the mother suffered during pregnancy;
• hearing impairment or complete deafness;
• social maladjustment;
• If adults do not stimulate the development of speech in a child, they understand the meaning of what was said by sounds or incorrectly pronounced words and react to it. In such cases, the child simply will not try to speak correctly, since he achieves the desired result immediately.

As a rule, delayed speech development in children is determined before the age of three. If by this age the baby has not learned to pronounce correctly and does not have a certain vocabulary that is optimal for his age, then consultation with a psychologist, neurologist and speech therapist is required.

Mental retardation (MDD) can be caused by both pathological and social factors. The first should include:

• damage to the child’s central nervous system during the formation period. In this case, fetal development delay (FGR) is observed with all the ensuing consequences;
• bad habits mothers - smoking, drinking alcohol and narcotic drugs, frequent stress and strong nervous tension;
• infectious diseases(most often leads to this symptom);
• diseases with hereditary etiology;
• autoimmune pathological processes;
• dysfunction of sensory perception of information (vision and hearing).

Social provoking factors include the following:

• frequent psychological trauma;
• pedagogical neglect of the child;
• restriction of the child’s activities, which leads to social maladjustment.

As a rule, children with mental retardation are withdrawn and do not like to let strangers near them, including those of their own age. This diagnosis is made in early preschool and school age, when the child begins to communicate with other children.

Delayed psychomotor development has the following etiology:

• endocrine pathologies of congenital and acquired nature;
• household or chemical (typical for children in the first year of life);
• IUGR, which are of chromosomal nature -,;
• infectious diseases;
• consequences of perinatal and postnatal pathology (delayed fetal development);
• illnesses of a genetic nature.

Social reasons are no exception in this case - lack of care and nutrition, frequent and pedagogical neglect of the child.

We can talk about delayed puberty when there are no age-related changes in boys by the age of 14 and in girls by the age of 13. The onset of symptoms is preceded by the following factors:

• chromosomal disorders;
• oncological processes that lead to improper production of hormones;
• suffered severe infectious diseases;
• dysfunction thyroid gland;
• malnutrition.

In some cases, delayed sexual development can be observed in girls who play sports from an early age - constant physical exercise change natural physiological processes.

Symptoms

Each form of developmental delay has its own clinical picture. Delayed speech development is characterized by the following symptoms:

• in the first months of life the baby does not roar;
• children as young as one year old do not respond to their name;
• the child does not recognize pictures in books, cannot carry out the simplest instructions from adults;
• at the age of 2-3 years the child does not pronounce simple sentences and meaningful phrases;
• The child asks questions less often than other children.

Disturbances in psychomotor development manifest themselves as follows:

• lack of concentration on bright objects or sounds (children from two months of age);
• there is no emotional interest in new subjects, no motor activity;
• the formation of babbling speech lags sharply behind;
• by 12 months the child does not understand speech addressed to him;
• after 15 months, aimless activity is observed;
• after two years there is no vocabulary.

Pathological processes in mental development have the following clinical picture:

• slow, often inaccurate perception;
• superficial, unstable attention;
• violation of figurative and abstract thinking - the child cannot express his thoughts;
• limited vocabulary, speech impairment.

Disturbances in the development of puberty appear only at the age of 13-15 and have the following symptoms:

• girls by the age of 14 do not have periods and there is no enlargement of the mammary glands;
• By the age of 14, boys have not developed their genitals;
• No pubic hair by age 15.

The manifestation of any type of developmental delay requires consultation with a specialized medical specialist.

Diagnostics

The diagnostic program may include the following methods:

• standard laboratory research(blood and urine collection);
• determination of blood hormone levels;
• immunological studies;
• CT and MRI of the brain;
• psychological tests;
• consultations with related specialists (depending on the type of developmental delay and the current clinical picture).

Treatment should only be prescribed by a doctor; you should not do anything on your own in such cases, as this can only worsen the condition.

Treatment

As for drug therapy, it will be purely individual, as it will depend on the underlying factor. Almost always, treatment involves the child and parents working with or. If we are talking about speech development disorders, then consultations and classes with. In more complex cases, doctors recommend continuous education of the child in specialized educational institutions, where the program is adapted for them.

In this article:

Mental retardation is not a mental illness. It would be correct to call it special mental state, which is characterized by a low level of development of the central nervous system.

It is believed that children diagnosed with mental retardation have no chance of fully catching up with ordinary children. Babies can develop, but only up to a certain limit of biological capabilities. It is extremely difficult for the relatives of children with a similar diagnosis to accept the fact that their child has been diagnosed with mental retardation.

It is very important for them to do everything possible so that the child becomes the same as everyone else. This is actually the wrong way. You can help your child adapt to a social environment only by accepting him as he is. Only in this case is there a chance that he will be accepted in society in the same way.

Signs of mental retardation

In children, mental retardation can be either congenital or acquired before the age of three. Main sign, indicating
disease is a disorder of the intellect. As a rule, these disorders are associated with pathologies of the brain and nervous system.

In addition to disturbances in the functioning of the intellect, mental retardation can lead children to social maladjustment. Such children suffer from impaired speech and psychomotor functions and underdevelopment of the emotional-volitional sphere.

Oligophrenia: what you need to know?

Mental retardation is also commonly called one in a simple word- “oligophrenia”, which translated from ancient Greek means “little mind.” This is what a disease is called if the cause of its occurrence is identified. If the cause is unclear, then the term “mental disability” is considered more appropriate.

This concept is broader, since it includes not only developmental delay caused by organic disorders, but also pedagogical or social neglect. In psychiatry, a person with mental retardation is characterized as a person who is unable to learn to live independently in a social environment.

Congenital mental retardation, also known as oligophrenia, imposes certain restrictions on the development of a child who cannot reach the same level as healthy children. When it comes to acquired dementia - dementia, it means a decrease in the level of intelligence compared to age-related norms.

Severity of mental retardation

The degree of mental retardation in children varies. There are several degrees of mental retardation:

• light;
• moderate;
• deep.

Each degree is characterized by a certain IQ level. If children with mild degree The IQ indicator ranges from 50-69 points, but for children with the fourth degree, the IQ is no more than 20 points.

The easiest one is first stage. Children diagnosed with mental retardation of the first stage have basic self-care and homework skills, can study in specialized institutions under a special program, and will be able to learn a simple craft to earn money over time.

The average (moderate) degree of oligophrenia is characterized by children’s difficulty mastering self-care skills and delayed speech development. Such children often cannot cope with mastering even the simplest movements, do not always understand speech addressed to them, and demand increased attention both in childhood and in adulthood.

The last stage is deep retardation, or idiocy. Children diagnosed with “profound mental retardation” remain at the child level
three years. They do not understand rules, do not follow instructions, are unable to listen and remember, and have problems with motor activity suffer from fecal and urinary incontinence. Neurological disorders cannot be excluded. As a rule, such a severe degree of illness of an organic and genetic nature is caused, not so often - brain injuries.

It is believed that it is impossible to permanently cure mental retardation in children. Yes, in some cases stimulant medications are used, but the effect will be exactly the same as is possible within the child’s biological capabilities.

That is why how successful a child’s integration into society will be largely depends on the system of treatment, training, and upbringing chosen for his case.

In children, mental retardation can be caused by a number of reasons, both genetic and related to the characteristics of the surrounding social environment. Children of parents whose relatives had a similar diagnosis are at risk. It is at the genetic level that the problem is transmitted in 50 percent of cases. It is also very common to identify the cause mental retardation in a child is not possible.

The following are the main causes of children's retardation in intellectual development:

• genetic diseases;
• intrauterine lesions;
• intoxication;
• fetal alcohol poisoning;
• exposure to medications;
• radiation and chemotherapy;
• hypoxia;
• last degree prematurity;
• birth injuries;
• infections affecting the central nervous system;
• social neglect against the backdrop of poor nutrition and pedagogical inattention.

A diagnosis is not a death sentence!

As mentioned above, mental retardation in children cannot be treated. However, this is not the case for all children with this diagnosis. Only those who cannot be treated
guys whose retardation is caused by severe genetic inheritance or social reasons. And in fact there are only about 30% of them. All the rest, and this is the vast majority, received such a diagnosis as a result of somatic reasons, so they can and should be treated.

Unfortunately, most often doctors make a diagnosis of “mental retardation” and with it the death of a small patient, believing that the best solution The problem for him will be studying in a special school for underdeveloped children. This approach is fundamentally wrong and has already ruined the lives of many families.

In fact, for most children suffering from mental retardation, this problem is temporary. It will be enough to identify the cause of the delay in order to understand how effective treatment and the introduction of a correction program can be.

But if mental retardation is the consequences chronic infection, allergies, heart disease and so on, then the matter can be corrected. A child’s body, weakened by disease, actually reduces the activity of its development process. The result is mental retardation, a diagnosis that deprives one of the right to a normal life. If we provide such children with the right approach, first of all strengthening the immune system, creating comfortable conditions in the family, at school, in kindergarten, then it will be possible to achieve positive dynamics.

Mental retardation can also be a consequence of unfavorable social conditions, as a result of which the psyche of children is traumatized. For example, they may lack adult control and attention.

Approximately the same effect, often without realizing it, is achieved by parents whose method of education is excessive care and guardianship of the child. Infantile children grow up unadapted to life, selfish and dependent on others. In such cases, it will be possible to change the situation only by changing the conditions of upbringing.

There will be less chance of affecting the process of mental development in cases of children who have suffered brain diseases, birth injuries, or were poisoned in the womb by toxins, suffered as a result of infections or suffocation.

Timely diagnosis is the key to success

Regardless of the type of mental retardation in children, it is extremely important to carry out timely diagnosis to identify its underlying cause. Treatment must be carried out in combination, with the involvement of parents, teachers, and the use of medicines and modern techniques.

It is not recommended to apply incompletely proven methods to children, for example fetal therapy, manual therapy, as well as electrical procedures.

As for the task of parents, their main mission is to monitor the development of their children and, in case of suspicion of developmental delay, do not hesitate to contact an experienced doctor. And, of course, if the diagnosis is confirmed, do not lose hope and do everything to help the children cope with the problem as far as possible.