Delayed development of a child is a condition when the anatomical and physiological parameters of his body do not correspond to age norms. Causes of delayed motor development, factors contributing to mental retardation of children, methods of treatment and special programs, prospects of such children in the future – these and other questions have worried parents and teachers for many years. But since they have a medical aspect, doctors also take an active part in observing such children and correcting violations.
Development delay is most often observed:
- mental – the child reacts inappropriately to the events around him;
- mental – the child's intelligence does not meet age norms;
- motor – the child is unable to perform some actions or performs them poorly;
- language – the child's language is poor, he reproduces sounds, syllables and words poorly.
Combined forms of such pathology (for example, delayed psychomotor development of a child) are observed approximately as often as isolated forms.
The problem of this condition is as follows. Children with developmental delay, on the one hand, need a special environment and conditions, on the other hand – communication with peers with normal development. Adaptation of such children in society depends on a competent balance of these conditions. In connection with this, the creation and development of such a medical and pedagogical direction as inclusion was initiated. In a broad sense, inclusion means the inclusion of children with developmental delays in the normal life of a normal environment – for example, schools create inclusive classes in which children without disabilities and children with developmental delays study.
All causes of a child's developmental delay can generally be divided into groups such as:
- medical;
- social;
- pedagogical.
The main medical causes – it is:
- violations of intrauterine development of the future child due to improper conditions in which the pregnancy of the future mother took place, or diseases suffered by the pregnant woman (treatment of delayed development of preschool children should begin with finding out the conditions in which the pregnancy of the mother took place);
- diseases suffered by the child (tumor, infectious impression, endocrine failure, pathologies of the central nervous system, internal organs, etc.);
- lack of proper nutrition – the child lacks proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, microelements (due to diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or financial incapacity of the family) or is generally starving;
- harmful habits – alcoholism and smoking of minors.
Social causes of developmental delay are most often:
- lack of proper living conditions (poor lighting, insufficient ventilation, violation of the temperature regime);
- bad social environment (the child constantly sees drunk, homeless, conflicted people, etc.);
- improper material conditions of the family for the child's development. So, delay in the language development of children 2-3 years old can occur due to a lack of money on the part of parents, which does not allow them to buy games for development, in older children – if it is not possible to pay for their visits to the interest sections, and so on.
Pedagogical reasons – it is primarily:
- lack of proper attention to the child from adults at home, in kindergarten or at school;
- wrong upbringing in the family.
All reasons are closely intertwined – yes, very often a child living in a poor family eats worse (medical aspect) and receives less attention (pedagogical aspect) than his peers from prosperous families.
Social and pedagogical rehabilitation, training programs for children with mental retardation (and not only mental retardation) will be ineffective if the causes of this delay are not eliminated.
Tactics for a child with developmental delay is quite complex: it requires coordinated efforts of teachers, doctors, social workers and family members of the child. Rehabilitation of such children should be comprehensive. Thus, the education of children with mental retardation should be accompanied by regular examinations by a pediatrician (many diseases occur as syndromes, when somatic failures are observed along with intellectual and mental disorders – in other words, anatomical-physiological disorders).
In addition to the fact that a child with developmental delay must be constantly adapted to environmental conditions for which he is not physically and psychologically ready, there is another problem. Eliminating the medical causes of such a condition (treatment of a severe infectious process, rehabilitation after fasting, etc.) takes some time – at the same time, the educational process continues continuously, and there are no breaks for any measures aimed at the rehabilitation of children with developmental delays. So that such children do not "fall out" from the educational process, the learning conditions are adapted to them (without loss for other students) – for example, by introducing an adapted program at school for students with mental retardation.
You can read more about measures aimed at the treatment, education and rehabilitation of children with developmental delays on the pages of our site.
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