Children With Developmental Disabilities

2024 Author: Rachel Wainwright | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 07:39

Children with developmental disabilities

The number of children with developmental disabilities is growing steadily. Currently, approximately 4.5% of the total number of children living in Russia are persons with disabilities. There are a number of reasons for this: the destabilization of individual families and society as a whole, in a number of cases the absence of normal conditions for expectant mothers and their children. Of ten babies, only two have indicators of physical and mental health that are normal.

Categories of children with developmental disabilities

In children with developmental disorders, there is a deviation from the norm of mental functions due to congenital or acquired lesions of the musculoskeletal system, speech, hearing and vision organs, or due to insufficiency of the central nervous system.

There are several categories of children with such developmental disabilities:

• With visual impairment;
• Hearing impaired;
• With speech disorders;
• With disorders of the musculoskeletal system;
• Conduct disorders;
• With violations of the emotional and volitional sphere;
• Mentally retarded children;
• With mental retardation;
• With complex developmental disorders.

Disorders in mental development in children are caused by two groups of factors - biological and social. Biological factors are: various pathologies of pregnancy and childbirth, infectious diseases, craniocerebral trauma, metabolic disorders, neurosurgical diseases, intoxication in the first years of life. Social factors include psychological trauma, aggression towards the child, and insufficient communication with him.

Any deviations, especially in children with complex developmental disorders, require correction and timely prevention, since the child's further social adaptation depends on these actions.

Prevention of developmental disorders in children

The main role in preventing developmental disorders in children of different ages is played by a comprehensive system of preventive measures. Regular consultations and examinations with a pediatrician are in the first place. On the second - the attentiveness of the parents themselves, who are obliged to learn how to check the basic psychomotor reactions in the child so that the first possible deviations in his psyche are not left without close attention.

Pediatricians, child psychologists, speech therapists and speech therapists can determine the state of the child's mental development. The exact diagnosis and category of the disorder is established through diagnostic examinations. Prevention of developmental disorders consists in the use of special medical, social, psychological and pedagogical methods of checking the child.

In order for the child's mental development to proceed correctly and without deviations, parents should use a positive correctional space in which the child can develop logic, thinking, learn and acquire new skills.

An important factor in the prevention of developmental disorders is the provision of medical and pedagogical consultations to the expectant mother during pregnancy and safety.

So, effective prevention includes:

• Lack of physical and mental trauma to the mother during pregnancy;
• Favorable environment for the development of the baby;
• Lack of family conflicts.

Correction of mental disorders

Specialists of various profiles are involved in the correction of developmental disorders in children: neurologists, pediatricians, psychologists, speech therapists, psychiatrists and defectologists. The effectiveness of the treatment of children with mental development disorders depends on the interaction of these specialists, as well as on the methods chosen by them. Before choosing a specific technique, the doctor diagnoses the cause of the developmental disorder and its type.

Medical treatment is based on immunostimulating, anti-inflammatory, anticonvulsant, nootropic and vascular agents. In addition, vitamins can be used.

Children with complex developmental disorders are prescribed the following types of rehabilitation: sensory exercises, psychological correction, speech therapy type correction, relaxation exercises, remedial gymnastics and physical education, physiotherapy.

One of the important stages in the correction of developmental disorders is an individual educational program for a child. It is developed by educators and psychologists and is based on art, choreography and music lessons. It also contains special intellectual exercises.

For a full and effective correction of mental disorders, it is necessary to combine all aspects of treatment - drugs, rehabilitation and individual training programs.

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