Developmental delay is a symptom of a pathological process that leads to physiological or psychological disorders. It should be noted that the delay in psycho speech development may have a hereditary etiology. In some cases, depending on the etiological factor and general condition child health 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 common 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.

Delay mental development(ZPR) 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 drugs, frequent stress and severe nervous tension;
• infectious diseases (most often leads to such a 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 boys by the age of 14 and girls by the age of 13 have no age-related changes. 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;
• thyroid dysfunction;
• malnutrition.

In some cases, delayed puberty may occur in girls who are early age go in for sports - constant physical activity changes 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.

Constantly observing the behavior of their baby and comparing him with his peers, parents sometimes believe that the child is behind in development. There is no need to panic right away, because all children develop differently. It is necessary to determine the extent and causes of this trouble and how to try to change the situation.

Why does a child lag behind in development?

If the baby takes his first steps later or does not start speaking for a long time, this does not mean a problem has arisen. But if all the deadlines have already expired, and the child still does not develop new skills, measures need to be taken.

If a child is developmentally delayed, you need to try to determine the cause.

The reasons for the lag can be physiological and psychological. Most often, developmental disorders are influenced by the following factors:

• Disadvantages in upbringing cause difficulties in the child’s perception of the world. From birth, the baby needs to be occupied, helped to learn, encouraged to learn new information. If this does not happen, perfectly healthy children appear mentally and physically weak.
• The cause of disruptions in mental development is not necessarily a disorder of the brain. Rather, the child’s immature behavior and age-inappropriate reactions are the result of pathologies during pregnancy and childbirth or a previous illness.
• Family relationships influence a child's development. The delay is caused by an aggressive attitude or excessive severity of parents.
• Psychological trauma received in childhood may have an effect.

We need to think about everything probable reasons problem and tell a specialist in detail and honestly about your suspicions by seeking medical help.

What to do if a child is developmentally delayed

The sooner you start dealing with the problem, the greater the likelihood of a positive result. First of all, you need to visit a pediatrician or pediatric neurologist and follow his recommendations. But the correction of the child’s behavior largely depends on the mother’s actions:

• Depending on the type of developmental delay, the baby should be taken for a consultation with a speech therapist, psychiatrist, or orthopedist.
• Follow the regime, ensure adequate sleep and rest, and allocate regular time for exercise.
• You need to do corrective exercises with your child and attend physical therapy groups.

In this article:

Loving and responsible parents carefully monitor the growth and development of their child, rejoicing with him in successes and achievements, and empathizing with failures. They analyze the baby’s behavior, record the emergence of new skills, correlate them with the child’s age and make preliminary conclusions regarding the level of his development.

Despite the fact that every parent is proud of his child, if obvious signs of developmental delay appear, he is obliged to take action - to begin with, at least consult with doctors.

Of course, some parents are depressed by the understanding that their baby may not be able to keep up with their peers in development. Trying not to notice the obvious, they hope that the situation will resolve itself over time and try to avoid society, thus not exposing the child’s behavior to criticism or condemnation.

This way out of the situation is understandable, but not justified. Children whose parents turn a blind eye to the problem, trying to escape reality, will have less chance of finding their place in life. The sooner parents pay attention to some inconsistencies in the baby’s development and his age and contact doctors, the greater the chance of effective treatment for the baby.

Let's talk about in which areas developmental delays are most often recorded, what causes this problem and how to find the right way out of the situation.

Impaired mental function

Disruptions in the process of a child’s mental development are not at all rare. The problem manifests itself in different ways. But, one way or another, children with mental retardation have some behavioral characteristics.

Children with mental retardation
development are distinguished by special behavior that is uncharacteristic for their age. This usually manifests itself:

• infantilism;
• increased fatigue;
• reluctance to complete tasks to the end;
• quick change of activity.

The reasons that lead to disruptions in the process of a child’s mental development can be very different. For convenience, we will divide them into biological and social.

Biological reasons include:

Social reasons include:

• parental overprotection;
• pedagogical neglect;
• suppression of the child’s personality in the family;
• psychological trauma suffered in early childhood.

All of the above reasons can affect the child’s mental development and cause delays.

Diagnosis of mental retardation

Experienced specialists will be able to detect delays in a child’s mental development in the first weeks of his life. Parents can understand that something went wrong in the younger preschool age, if they carefully observe how children behave at home, on the street, while communicating with other people.

We can talk about mental retardation when the basic reflexes develop incorrectly:

Older children with mental retardation will experience difficulties when the time comes to learn to pronounce and remember new letters; they will have difficulty learning to read, and literacy will become an incomprehensible science for them.

Typically, children with mental retardation suffer from dysgraphia, are unable to work with numbers in the required order, are inattentive, and cannot concentrate on one activity. Additionally, such children in preschool age have noticeable impairments in speech skills.

Children's lag in motor development - characteristics of the disease

Delay motor development implies a delay in relation to formation of posture and movements of children who do not have problems with the functioning of the nervous system. It is believed that the disease is provoked by:

• preservation of initial primitive reflexes;
• increased joint mobility;
• birth of a child ahead of schedule with serious underweight;
• history of movement disorders.

Diagnosing a delay in motor development in the first 6 months of a child’s life is very difficult, to say the least, almost impossible. A sick child, just like a healthy child, is able to hold his head up and uses his hands to grasp toys and objects. In most cases, children can crawl quite tolerably.

It is possible to talk about the presence of delayed motor development syndrome only in the second year of a baby’s life, if he has not mastered the skills of standing and at least primitive walking before this time. Children suffering from this syndrome begin to walk, as a rule, no earlier than the 20th month of life, and in some cases the first steps appear only by the 25th month of life.

To determine
If the problem exists before this time, experts use a number of time criteria:

• inability to sit at 10 months of age;
• crawling between 12 and 18 months;
• lack of walking skills at 14 months.

Children who start walking late are characterized by immature coordination of movements. Visually it looks like this: the baby puts his legs wide, without bending them at the knees. For the first six months after mastering the skill of walking, the child will practice its basics and only in the second half of the year will he feel more confident to walk and even run without adult support.

Features of the ZDR syndrome

Hypermobility of the joints, which acts in in this case as an inhibitory factor. Increased elasticity of the ligaments with increased joint mobility can also negatively affect the development of a child’s gross motor skills in the first 2 years.

The most serious
The disorder is excessive mobility in the ankle joint. The child will have difficulty keeping his body upright until at least two years of age.

The good news is that, against the background of a delay in general motor development, children can develop quite normally. fine motor skills. Moreover, the baby will catch up with other children by the middle of the third year of life, when the delay will disappear.

Is it necessary to treat DDS syndrome?

There is no recognized treatment for DDS yet. In relation to a child who has been given such a diagnosis, it is indeed
They use a number of measures to activate the ODS, but they are all of a general nature.

Most often, children are prescribed a massage of the limbs and back, and are offered a set of exercises for passive joint development. If the problem is associated with abnormalities in the structure of the foot, which leads to problems while walking, the child is recommended to wear special shoes with a stable back, arch support and hard soles to prevent the problem from worsening.

Signs of delays in social-emotional development

Delayed socio-emotional development is most often a consequence of delayed mental development. It is worth consulting a doctor if children:

If you observe most of the signs in a child in the first 6 months of life, it is worth consulting with a pediatrician and neurologist.

Delays in the development of visual perception

As in the previous case, it is worth paying attention to a number of behavioral factors in the child that may indicate that he has problems with the development of visual perception. These include:

All of the above features indicate some problems in the formation of visual perception in children. You will need to consult not only a pediatrician, but also an ophthalmologist.

Delay in the development of auditory perception

It is worth taking your child to the doctor if he or she exhibits the following signs:

A pediatrician and an otolaryngologist can help identify and solve the problem in such cases.

Delayed cognitive development of a child

It is worth contacting specialists for advice if children:

A pediatrician, as well as a neurologist and psychologist will be able to help in such cases after examining the child and making a diagnosis.

Delay in preverbal speech development: main signs

Parents should be wary and watch their baby if his behavior exhibits the following features:

Timely diagnosis of the problem will help you select adequate treatment and prevent its worsening. Doctors can help with this: speech therapist, otolaryngologist and neurologist.

In conclusion, we note that it is necessary to monitor the development of a child from the first days of his life, focusing on generally accepted norms. It is important to adequately evaluate the baby’s achievements, paying attention to the occurrence of failures in the process, and promptly consulting with the pediatrician. Parents must learn to observe the baby’s development process, not panic every time he doesn’t meet the schedule, and at the same time not trigger obvious problems.

“Your child is inadequate. He is clearly developmentally delayed. If you want him to learn at least something, hire tutors. Otherwise, he will graduate from school with a certificate,” the teacher stunned me with this statement when she called me to school.

Today my son came home from school very proud – he had an “A” in his diary. Moreover, he did not come alone - a school friend came to visit him. The boys played happily and fooled around, talking in their own language, which was not entirely clear to me. Some “bakugan” were discussed, their strength, something else...

Looking at the boys, I felt a single tear roll down my cheek...

A year ago…

“Your child is inadequate. He is clearly developmentally delayed. If you want him to learn at least something, hire tutors. Otherwise, he will graduate from school with a certificate.”, – the teacher stunned me with this statement when she called me to school. I was shocked; this is not a statement about why the child is stunted.

At that time, the boy managed to study in first grade two weeks.

“Your son doesn’t listen to me in class, he can get up at any moment and stare stupidly out the window instead of studying. He absolutely does not know how to communicate with peers, shy away from children, sits on the sidelines during breaks, and does not play with anyone. And yesterday he almost tore off the ruler: during the performance of the anthem, he covered his ears and began to yell in a wild voice. I couldn't do anything with him. And check his hearing - he constantly asks me again..."

To say that I was upset is to say nothing. The world was covered in a black veil of cold, sticky horror. It turns out that my child is abnormal?..

Why? After all, at the age of five he taught himself to read. And at the age of six, he already understood the computer better than me. And now – is he lagging behind in development?

As a mother with a medical education, I hoped that medicine would provide answers to the questions I had. Trying to find out why the child could not adapt to school, why he refused to work in class, I took him to neurologists, psychologists and other specialists.

After going through all possible examinations, I received a doctor’s report, which stated that the child had no physiological abnormalities, but “behavioral disorders” were observed. Hearing is normal. The doctor even joked that my son could hear too well. I didn't pay any attention to it.

It was then that I first heard the term “autism spectrum disorder.”

Naturally, I wondered why these disorders arose and what to do about them. I never received a clear answer to the first half of the question. The neurologist said that the child may have increased intracranial pressure, since the volume of his head exceeds the norm for his age. However, the examination did not reveal any pathology.

The psychologist noted that such behavioral deviations can be a consequence of birth trauma, but do not always appear immediately. She also asked me to draw a portrait of her son. Looking at the drawing (and I depicted my son in a suit and hat), she gently noticed that I wanted my child to become an adult as soon as possible, and I was putting unnecessary pressure on him.

As for the question of what to do, I received an impressive list of drugs to improve blood supply to the brain, which had to be taken in the form of tablets and injections. In addition, a massage of the collar area and several physical procedures were prescribed.

A problem arose with the massage: the child would shrink so much at the slightest touch that the entire effectiveness of the procedure was nullified.

The psychologist suggested taking a course of classes “to correct behavior.”

I conscientiously fulfilled all the assignments, while at the same time doing additional work with my son - I had to make up for what he had not mastered at school. To my great surprise, we mastered the program, designed for a month of classes at school, at home in a week. Without much effort...

However, the problems did not disappear. The teacher continued to complain that the boy refused to complete assignments, did not obey in class, and could not establish contact with his classmates. I realized that I needed to look for another solution on how to deal with a developmentally delayed child.

One day, when I came to pick up my son at school, I saw that the desk at which he was sitting alone had been moved away from the other children, “because it interfered with his studies.” My son was becoming an outcast...

Sound vector and autistic manifestations

I found answers to the questions swarming in my head where I didn’t expect them at all. Having accidentally come to a training system-vector psychology, I learned how to help my child.

During the training, the topic of which was sound vector, it dawned on me: my child is being described!

“About 5% of children are born with . Their erogenous zone is the hypersensitive ear. Species role: night guard of the flock...

The sound vector in childhood can manifest itself in different ways.

The little sound artist is distinguished from his peers by his look - serious and attentive beyond his age. You look at him like crazy, and the baby, sitting in his mother’s arms, responds with an attentive look that embarrasses him with adult seriousness...

As they grow up, these silent children often prefer the silence of their room rather than noisy company peers. They get tired quickly active games, but they play quietly alone. Such children love to hide in closets - they like to sit in silence and darkness...

Often sound people start speaking late, although another picture is also possible - they start speaking early and immediately in coherent phrases...

Children with a sound vector often experience a so-called sleep disorder - they confuse day with night. However, looking at the root of the problem, you can understand that this is not a violation at all - these children are programmed by nature to stay awake at night. This allows them to fulfill their specific role.

It should be borne in mind that such a child can sleep peacefully with loud music, but at the same time he will instantly wake up if the cat in the next room rustles a piece of paper.Such a reaction is easily explainable: music does not pose any danger, but an obscure rustle in the dark instantly awakens in the depths of the child’s subconscious the instincts of a night guard of the flock...

Children with a sound vector often ask almost philosophical questions: “Mom, where does all this come from? Why am I there? What are stars? Mom, what is life? From early childhood they are interested in the meaning of life..."

While listening to the lecture, I tried to get rid of the obsessive thought that the presenter was a clairvoyant. Otherwise, how can he so accurately describe a child he has never seen in his life?

We had problems with sleep almost from birth; God only knows how many kilometers I covered, walking around the room at night with the baby in my arms. It was not interesting for him to lie in the crib, but we studied the surrounding environment with curiosity. But getting up in the morning is still a big problem for us.

At some point, a new problem arose - in the evening we had a “screaming hour”. For an hour, the child started screaming, despite all my attempts to calm him down. I turned to specialists - but no abnormalities were found. The solution to the problem was found by chance: as soon as the lights were turned off and complete silence was created, the baby became quiet and calmed down.

When my son grew up, I noticed another strange thing: he expressed his emotions extremely sparingly. Where I would have already fought in hysterics or laughed, he best case scenario could wince or smile.

One day, walking home from kindergarten, we had a fight, and I said that “since he doesn’t listen to me, it means he’s no longer my son, and I’ll leave him.” I expected tears, apologies... But an oppressive silence hung behind me. After walking a dozen steps, I turned around - the boy was standing still and just looking after me. My heart sank painfully - what is it? He didn't even shed a tear...

If I knew how such “upbringing” would turn out for my little sound boy...

My child learned to read at the age of five, and this was discovered by accident. I noticed that he easily navigates computer games, requiring reading the rules. At the same time, he reads exclusively encyclopedias. He is simply not interested in other books. Killed the teacher in kindergarten statement that a brick can be made alive by adding carbon atoms to its composition. From a physics point of view, he is absolutely right.

And at school he lags behind in development...

During the training I realized what the reason is school problems my son. The ear is a particularly sensitive (erogenous) zone of the sound child. Quiet harmonious sounds bring pleasure to sound engineers. However, they can experience true pleasure only by listening to absolute silence.

Children with a sound vector are naturally endowed with the greatest intelligence. By concentrating in silence in search of disturbing sounds on the “sounds” of their inner world, little sound artists develop their minds so that in the future brilliant ideas arise in their heads.

School is for such a child. Noise, screams, loud music - all this forced him to narrow his auditory perception. This, in turn, led to his inability to absorb information. The more the teacher tried to get a reaction from him, the deeper the boy sank into his “shell.”

To understand what a child with a sound vector experiences, who is daily bombarded with the cacophony typical of school, try for a moment to imagine that you have a child who needs clothes made of the finest silk. But instead of silk, you are offered to dress in thorny sackcloth, tearing your skin until it bleeds. Unpleasant sensations - you want to immediately throw off the sackcloth.

Cacophony, screams, scandals - all this plunges the sound engineer into the same super-stress that a person with delicate skin, dressed in prickly rags, experiences.

However, the sound engineer is unable to get rid of the “rags” - his ultra-sensitive hearing is always on guard. Loud screams, scandals in the family, sounds of repairs coming from a neighboring construction site - the constant noise bites into the sensitive ear of the sound engineer like a hot nail.

A child, trying to protect himself from sounds that traumatize his psyche, unconsciously reduces his sensitivity to external stimuli, gradually withdrawing into himself and losing the ability to contact the outside world. If a small sound player is constantly in such an environment, the worst thing begins: the body turns on the self-defense system and the neural connections of the brain gradually die off. As a result, psychologists have the opportunity to once again record the diagnosis of autism.

But loud sounds and screams are only one of the reasons that can lead to the development of such deviations in a sound child. Do not forget that its sensor sensitively captures not only the sound itself, but also its intonation.

Some words, even spoken in a whisper, have a detrimental effect on the child’s psyche.

Children with a sound vector are distinguished by some detachment from the world. They are thoughtful, sometimes seem slow and even inhibited. The mother, not understanding the reasons for this behavior, gets irritated and begins to urge the child. In such a state, words that are terrible for the sound engineer’s psyche may sound: “Brake! Idiot! Why did I give birth to you..."

And the child, trying to hide from them, begins to go “outside” less and less, hiding on the other side of the eardrum - the outside world becomes more and more illusory for him. It’s not for nothing that they say that there is nothing worse than a mother’s curse. It is mothers who, with the best intentions, sometimes destroy their own children.

Not consciously, no. Unknowingly

The numbers are even worse: over the last decade, the number of autistic people has increased 4 times...

Listening to Yuri Burlan, I internally went cold: when problems started at school, I took a very tough position and constantly put pressure on the child. Sometimes I broke down and screamed...

Mom’s impatience, the change from the home environment to the noisy hubbub of school, the activity of classmates, the peremptory nature of the teacher, loud music on the lines - all this forced my son to hide deep within himself.

And instead of creating a quiet, calm environment for the child in which he could develop beautifully, I hovered over him like a helicopter and impatiently urged: “Why are you frozen? This is a simple task - solve it quickly! How do you write? What, you can't hold a straight stick? Rewrite!

Today…

I was able to rid my child of the “developmentally delayed” label.

Understanding that many manifestations of my son’s character are not symptoms of a disease or pathology, as modern psychology claims, but specific properties that are unique to him and are absent in children with a different set of vectors, helped me solve many problems.

I am firmly convinced of one thing, no matter how you wonder why a child is stunted or what causes adjustment problems, knowledge about human nature can shed light on any problem.

Yuri Burlan makes one strict demand of his listeners: “Don’t believe it! Don't believe a single word said during the training. Double-check everything in life!”

I double checked

I began to talk to the child in a benevolent whisper - and he heard me! But not so long ago I could not shout to him, and the world was covered in a black veil from the awareness of my own powerlessness. I turn on quiet music at night - and my son sleeps peacefully, without jumping up in the middle of the night.

We do our homework in silence with barely audible classical music in the background - and the teacher is amazed to note that my child is confidently catching up with the best students in the class, and sometimes even surpassing them.

I explained to the household what our little sound boy experiences when there are loud sounds and how he reacts to disagreements between his parents - and now we clearly respect the ecology of sound, and all showdowns are postponed to the time when my son is not at home.

This rule turned out to be quite funny by-effect: It turned out that controversial issues can be resolved without raising your voice at all. Gradually, the disagreements practically disappeared.

I talked to the teacher and explained to her that the child has extremely sensitive hearing, and loud sounds traumatize him. In addition, I conveyed to her the idea that his inhibition can be explained very simply - he needs time to come out of his inner world into our reality. Now the son sits on the first desk and is friends with the girl Lisa, and the teacher treats him completely differently. There is no more talk about any tutors.

Today my son came home from school very proud – he had an “A” in his diary. Moreover, he did not come alone - a school friend came to visit him. The boys played happily and fooled around, talking in their own language, which was not entirely clear to me. Some “bakugan” were discussed, their strength, something else...

Looking at them, I felt my breath take away from happiness.

The happiness of my child is my result from the training. And I think that for every mother this is the greatest thing that can happen in life... And I'm not alone. More than 600 parents share their unique . Therefore, I invite you to free online lectures by Yuri Burlan - a conscious approach is immeasurably better than blind education. You can register

The article was written using training materials on system-vector psychology by Yuri Burlan.

The article was written based on training materials “ System-vector psychology»

Parents are sometimes discouraged when their child is diagnosed with mental development delay (MDD). Most often, this disorder is well corrected with the right approach parents and teachers. But to do this, it is necessary to identify this deviation from the norm early in the child. The tests in the article will help you do this, and a unique table will help you determine the type of mental retardation in a child. This material also provides advice to parents of children with delayed psychological development.

What does the diagnosis of mental retardation mean? Who is diagnosed with delayed psychological development and when?

Mental retardation (MDD) is a disorder of the normal development of the psyche, which is characterized by a lag in the development of certain mental functions(thinking, memory, attention).

The diagnosis of mental retardation is usually made in children under 8 years of age. In newborn children, mental retardation cannot be detected because it is normal. When a child grows up, parents do not always pay attention to limiting his mental abilities or attribute it to being young. But some children may be diagnosed in infancy. He points to some disorders in the functioning of the brain, which in adulthood can manifest themselves in the form of mental retardation.

Visiting kindergarten It is not always possible to diagnose mental retardation in a child, since there is no intensive mental activity required from the child. But When entering school, a child with mental retardation will clearly stand out from other children because he:

• hard to sit in class;
• hard to obey the teacher;
• concentrate your attention on mental activity;
• is not easy to learn as he strives to play and have fun.

Children with mental retardation are physically healthy; the main difficulty for them is social adaptation. In children with mental retardation, developmental delay may predominate or emotional sphere, or intelligence.

• With delayed development of the emotional sphere Children's mental abilities are relatively normal. Emotional development of such children does not correspond to their age and corresponds to the psyche of a younger child. These children can play tirelessly, they are not independent and any mental activity is very tiring for them. Thus, while attending school, it is difficult for them to concentrate on their studies, obey the teacher and obey discipline in the classroom.

• If the child has hslow development of the intellectual sphere , then, on the contrary, he will sit calmly and patiently in class, listen to the teacher and obey his elders. Such children are very timid, shy and take any difficulties to heart. They are referred to a psychologist not because of disciplinary violations, but because of learning difficulties.

Tests to identify mental retardation - 6 ways to determine mental retardation in a child

If parents have doubts about the mental development of their child, then there are some tests that will help determine mental development disorders.

You should not interpret the results of these tests yourself, since this should only be done by a specialist.

Test No. 1 (up to 1 year)

The physical and psychological development of a child must correspond to his age. He should begin to hold his head no later than 1.5 months, roll over from back to stomach - at 3-5 months, sit and stand up - at 8-10 months. It is also worth paying attention to. A child should babble at 6-8 months and pronounce the word “mom” by 1 year.

KID-R scale for assessing child development from 2 to 16 months - and

Test No. 2 (9-12 months)

At this age, the child begins to develop simple thinking skills. For example, you can hide a toy under a box in front of a child and ask in surprise, “Where is the toy?” The child should respond by removing the box and showing with delight that he found the toy. The child must understand that a toy cannot disappear without a trace.

Test No. 3 (1-1.5 years)

At this age, the baby shows interest in the world around him. He is interested in learning something new, trying new toys by touch, and showing joy when he sees his mother. If such activity is not observed in the baby, this should raise suspicion.

RCDI-2000 scale for assessing the development of children aged 14 months to 3.5 years - download the questionnaire form in PDF format and instructions for parents on how to fill it out

Test No. 4 (2-3 years)

There is a children's game where you need to insert figures into their corresponding holes. At the age of two or three years, the baby should be able to do this without problems.

Test No. 5 (3-5 years)

At this age, a child’s horizons begin to form. He calls a spade a spade. A child can explain what a machine is or what kind of robot a doctor makes. At this age, you shouldn’t demand a lot of information from your child, but nevertheless, a narrow vocabulary and limited horizons should raise suspicions.

Test No. 6 (5-7 years old)

At this age, the baby can freely count to 10 and perform computational operations within these numbers. He names names fluently geometric shapes and understands where there is one object and where there are many. Also, the child must clearly know and name the primary colors. It is very important to pay attention to his creative activity: children at this age should draw, sculpt or design something.

Factors causing PVD

There may be several reasons for delayed mental development in children. Sometimes these are social factors, and in other situations the cause of mental retardation is congenital brain pathologies, which are determined using various examinations (for example,).

• To the social factors of ZPR include inappropriate conditions for raising a child. Such children often do not have parental or mother's love and worries. Their families may be antisocial, dysfunctional, or these children are raised in orphanages. This leaves a heavy mark on the child’s psyche and often affects his mental health in the future.
• To the physiological causes of mental retardation include heredity, congenital diseases, severe pregnancy of the mother, or illnesses suffered in early childhood that affected normal development brain. In this case, due to brain damage, the mental health baby.

Four types of psychological development delay in children

Table 1. Types of mental retardation in children

ZPR type	Causes	How does it manifest?
ZPR of constitutional origin	Heredity.	Simultaneous immaturity of physique and psyche.
ZPR of somatogenic origin	Previously suffered dangerous diseases that affect brain development.	In most cases, intelligence does not suffer, but the functions of the emotional-volitional sphere lag significantly behind in development.
ZPR of psychogenic origin	Inappropriate upbringing conditions (orphans, children with disabilities) single-parent families and etc.).	Decreased intellectual motivation, lack of independence.
Cerebral-organic origin	Severe disorders of brain maturation due to pathologies of pregnancy or after pregnancy serious illnesses in the first year of life.	The most severe form of mental retardation, there are obvious delays in the development of the emotional-volitional and intellectual spheres.

In most situations, parents perceive the diagnosis of mental retardation very painfully, often not understanding its meaning. It is important to realize that mental retardation does not mean that the child is mentally ill. ZPR means that the child is developing normally, only slightly behind his peers.

With the right approach to this diagnosis, by the age of 10, all manifestations of mental retardation can be eliminated.

• Study this disease with scientific point vision. Read medical articles, consult a psychiatrist or psychologist. Parents will find the articles useful: O.A. Vinogradova “Development of speech communication in preschool children with mental retardation”, N.Yu. Boryakova “Clinical and psychological-pedagogical characteristics of children with mental retardation”, D.V. Zaitsev “Development of communication skills in children with intellectual disabilities in the family.”
• Contact the specialists. Children with mental retardation need consultation with a neurologist, psychoneurologist, as well as the help of a speech pathologist, educational psychologist, and speech therapist.
• It will be useful to use in training didactic games . Such games should be selected based on the child’s age and mental abilities; they should not be difficult or incomprehensible for the child.
• Children of senior preschool or junior school age must attend FEMP classes(formation of elementary mathematical representations). This will help them prepare for mastering mathematics and science, improve logical thinking and memory.
• Highlight a specific time (20-30 min) to complete lessons and sit down with your child for homework every day at this time. Initially, help him, and then gradually teach him to be independent.
• Find like-minded people. For example, on thematic forums you can find parents with the same problem and maintain communication with them, exchanging your experiences and advice.

It is important for parents to understand that a child with mental retardation is not considered mentally retarded, since he perfectly understands the essence of the events taking place and consciously performs assigned tasks. With the right approach, in most cases, the child’s intellectual and social functions return to normal over time.