Lecture 20. Features of attention of children with developmental disabilities.

In accordance with the theory of LS Vygotsky (1976), in two lines interact ontogeny of attention: "the natural development of attention line and the line of cultural development of attention" (185.). "Natural growth" is associated with hereditary neural mechanisms, organizing focus on the principle of dominance. "The dominant nerve organic process laid the foundations of the process of behavior, which we call the attention" (LS Vygotsky, 1976, p. 184). In the early stages of ontogeny of attention due to the development of structural and functional maturation of the central nervous system.

In diseases of the central nervous system there are different forms of attention disorders. AR Luria (1973) and ED Khomskaya (1987) identified two main forms. Modal-non-specific form of attention disorders occurs in lesions of the pathological process of nonspecific median brain structures. In the presence of pathological changes in the level of the medulla and midbrain there is a rapid exhaustion of attention, concentration and weakening narrowing its scope.: When the relative safety of arbitrary regulation of attention increasingly disturbed involuntary attention. There the possibility of compensation for violations of attention through the organization of activities and the regulation of speech. When diencephalic lesions of the brain and limbic system extremely unstable attention, focusing his weakened. Mechanisms violated any regulation of attention, which greatly reduces the possibility of compensation. Pathological changes at the level of the frontal and temporal lobes mediobasal departments accompanied by a flagrant violation of voluntary attention. At the same time there are increased reactivity, disinhibition, "field behavior" pathologically increased involuntary attention. Speech regulation does not compensate for attention disorders.

Modal-specific forms of disorders of attention - difficulties in identifying the objects of a certain modality, not associated with impaired perception. Inattention to visual objects is often associated with impaired mechanisms of visual perceptual system, specificity of activity of the right hemisphere. Psychophysiological studies modal-specific disorders of attention (particularly visual) by analyzing the evoked potentials showed that the basis of such violations are changes in local activation of non-specific processes in the cortical areas analyzers due to pathology thalamo Corte-local relations (Problems of neuropsychology in 1977...; Khomskaya ED 1987).

Studies of cognitive functions in children with attention deficit disorder (ADD) without hyperactivity revealed violation of the integrity of visual perception, the backlog from the age norm in the development of memory, visual-figurative and verbal-logical thinking, poor performance and fatigue in the classroom. The behavior of children observed lethargy, slow integration into the work, especially the emotional sphere, is to increase the level of anxiety (Bryazgunov IP, Kasatikova EV 2002).

2. Features of attention of children with intellectual disabilities

The study of attention with intellectual disabilities of children engaged in many domestic experts. One of them is the LS Vygotsky. He criticized those scientists who have tried to bring mental retardation from a defect of any single function or ability. Soulier, for example, believed that "... the main cause of mental retardation is the lack of any attention."

In fact, the intellectual failure - the result of a combination of many conditions.

By violation of attention to understand the pathological changes of direction selectivity of mental activity, expressed during a state of fatigue, or organic lesions of the cerebral cortex, in the narrowing of attention object when both people can accept only a small number of objects in focus of instability, when disturbed concentration and observed distractibility his side on the stimuli.

The research and psychodiagnostics properties of attention AA Osipova and Leonid Malashynskoy were sent to study the features of disorders of attention in students with intellectual disabilities. One of the important conditions to obtain reliable results - is to establish emotional contact and mutual understanding between the psychologist and the child. Work with your child started with the game, including its gradually to the desired setting procedure. Lack of interest and motivation for the task can reduce all efforts to nothing psychologist. In order to identify violations of attention performed psycho-diagnostics, monitoring the students at a special school. In the process of investigating the properties of attention to the following violations were identified: the mentally retarded pupils are unable, maintain attention, they can not do the job until the end, is not collected when it is running; a decline of selective attention, rasseyannost- inability to focus on the subject; increased distractibility, children spontaneously move focus from one object to another, in the quest kids fuss, often switch from one class to another; there is a decrease of attention in unusual situations when it is necessary to act independently; as well as a big influence on the character of the attention pace of study. Slowdown dissipates attention, reduces the activity of the students. The accelerated rate as not conducive, students do not have time to follow the teacher's idea, quickly get tired, relax.

Attention children with intellectual disabilities mostly involuntary. It is characterized by small volume, volatility, difficult switchable, concentration disorder, stability and distribution.

2.1. Features of the basic properties of attention in children with intellectual disabilities

From the viewpoint VG Petrova and I.V.Belyakova, they are the following features of the basic properties of the attention of students of special schools 8 of the form. It was found that the amount of attention from first-graders with intellectual disabilities is low, since the limited 1-2 objects. At the third-graders, he is somewhat higher (2-3 projects). However, it may expand under certain favorable conditions. These conditions include: a preliminary statement, which increases the motivation of the students activities - oligophrenics; preliminary acquaintance with the students selected for the presentation of objects and active work with them; the optimum amount of visual information perceived simultaneously and its contents (letters, digits, images of objects). When the activation instruction that changes the motivation for the task and includes the elements of competition, the amount of attention in school increases significantly.

By school age attention span of students increases, but it does not reach the level that is observed in the mass of senior secondary school.

Sustainability refers to the duration of the attention focusing on the subject. Most of the younger students are relatively long-intensive to perform simple monotonous work. So, for 15 minutes, students - in the proof-samples Oligophrenic quite successfully crossed off 3 images. The productivity of work with an average does not decrease, and in some cases even increased. However, there is a large number of errors. From 1 to 3 class there is a noticeable attention to the development of resistance, with the pace of change of the assignment. Third-grader first-graders are faster, but the number of errors, which is permitted in the course of the assignment, remains very significant. This indicates that the stability of the attention indicators increased to class 3 is mainly due to the growth rate of the work, rather than its quality.

During the training there are situations when students with intellectual disabilities it is necessary to simultaneously perform two or more steps, that is, the ability to distribute their attention. It is known that the distribution of attention are inaccessible to students with intellectual disabilities. When they are asked to carry out the activities kakuyu- concurrently with another task, it can be difficult to cope with the problem, most children posed in front of them to perform one job, which is the most familiar to them.

During a special correctional training for third-graders with intellectual disabilities fulfill two tasks becomes more affordable. However, there is lowering of stability of attention in both age groups at its two distribution activity. By school age can clearly be seen a positive trend in the development of stability of attention. Students with intellectual disabilities 5 and 8 classes in the course of performing simple tasks reach almost the same with normally developing peers indicator stability of attention.

Features switching of attention from students with intellectual disabilities have been little studied, but available data allow us to make some conclusions. It was revealed that refocusing depends not only on the characteristics of cognitive activity and personality of students with intellectual disabilities, but also the nature of the imposed objects. It is noticed that the younger students to successfully perform tasks that require the switching of attention when working with a particular material (for example, image objects) than abstract.

Students with intellectual disabilities, especially of primary school age, experience great difficulties when switching focus from one object to another due to pathological inertia of excitation and inhibition. Excessive amounts of various types of activities used during the lesson the teacher leads to fatigue of students, which is a consequence of the unconscious shifting attention from the job in progress on something else caught up in their field of view, ie, there is a distraction from the task at hand.

The study SV Liepina found significant differences in the properties of attention at school - oligophrenics characterized by different defect structure. For example, students with uncomplicated form of mental retardation observed the smallest gap from the norm in terms of attention span, stability and distribution, as well as in the dynamics of the development of these properties. Displacement of attention in clinical group of pupils varies considerably compared with what occurs in other clinical groups dependent on the perception, prior knowledge of the objects and the quality of presented information. In third-graders with a simple form of mental retardation there is an increase volume of attention upon presentation of objects linked together in meaning. Many first-graders noted the inability of the distribution of attention in the performance of the two planned task, however, to the 3rd class, most of them to cope with such tasks.

Pupils with intellectual disabilities with a predominance of excitation processes ascertained a significant gap in the quality of performance and stability of the distribution of attention in comparison with students with mental retardation uncomplicated form. The disciples of this clinical group has a relatively fast pace of work, accompanied by the largest number of errors, not being able to divide their attention, the students 1 class often switch from one task to another. General characteristics of excitable oligophrenics attention in creating optimal conditions for them is the same as that of students with intellectual disabilities with uncomplicated structure of the defect, however, upon presentation of objects linked in meaning, the scope of their narrower focus. They also noted the low dynamics of attention.

Students with intellectual disabilities with a predominance of inhibitory processes have the lowest stability of attention, most of the students of this clinical group are not able to focus distribution. Compared with other groups oligophrenics have the narrowest scope of attention. Pre-stimulation, as well as active introduction to impose several objects allows to increase their attention. In first grade, a fairly high growth rate of all major properties of attention. However, a class 3 have retained most of their low performance.

From the viewpoint VG Petrova have children with intellectual disabilities in more suffering voluntary attention.

Random note - one of the most important characteristics of the cognitive activity of children. Focusing on chem- any desire can be achieved by the man himself, his force of will. It occurs when a person has to overcome what - the difficulties, external or internal, to be attentive to something desired. At its core, it is the mental action control. It can be formed.

Students with intellectual disabilities are looking at objects or images without noticing it, inherent essential elements. Due to the low level of attention they do not catch much of what he says the teacher. For the same reason children do wrongly any part of the proposed them the same type of work.

The acquisition of knowledge by students of school requires a certain Maturity of voluntary attention. They have students with intellectual disabilities is characterized by a number of disorders: small volume, low resistance, and are switchable, low arbitrariness. So, looking at and analyzing teacher-led subject that will sketch, students - Oligophrenic little focus their attention on this subject, have been a distraction to other objects in the environment. From the perception of the subject and their analysis can easily divert any extraneous sound effects.

From the above it can be concluded that children with intellectual disabilities have problems with learning in school, because unformed processes of attention. Since one of the conditions of knowledge, is the ability of a child to be careful when performing tasks and any activities.

3. Features of attention in children with complex sensory impairments

Of particular importance is the development of attention in children with sensory-perceptual deficits, as it promotes the activation of the processes of perception, memory, thinking, establishing the necessary learning skills, the acquisition of knowledge.

The Russian physiology of sensory afferent great importance to maintain the central nervous system tone and defined, the level of activity of the brain has been understood for a long time. Another IM Sechenov (1878) suggested that for the normal functioning of the central nervous system requires a certain minimum of external influences. On the basis of experimental research and clinical observation IP Pavlov came to the conclusion that the influx of a variety of stimuli from the outside is necessary to maintain the vigorous activity of the brain condition. Several studies have shown that light exposure on the eye not only affect the visual system, but also significantly alter the functional state of the CNS. For example, in laboratory experiments VM Spondylitis (1910) neuro-psychological processes slowing rate was found at the account number during the term of violet light and acceleration during the term of the red light.

For the normal functioning of the brain is very important interaction of sensory systems, based on a broad convergence in many of its departments afferent signals of different modality. It is found that the ascending neural pathways analyzers send multiple branches, which sensor signals are received in the subcortical structures, brainstem, diencephalon, basal ganglia. Neurons association areas of the cerebral cortex to respond to stimuli of different modalities. The implementation processes of attention is carried out in a unit of interaction analysis and processing of information, motivation and activation units. In simplified terms focused attention sensory analysis of external influences. The functionality of the analyzers determine the features to attract and maintain the attention.

Partial or complete shutdown afferentation one or two analyzers violates mechanisms to ensure the normal functioning of the brain. In these circumstances, there is a deprivation, which is seen as the natural limit of normal brain activation (irrelevance of its systems and mechanisms). In a number of psychophysiological studies have shown that deprivation has a negative impact on the formation and functioning of the mechanisms of attention.