Comparative study of mental activity of primary school students with different clinical forms of cerebral palsy

Abstract

© Medwell Journals, 2015. Changes in the system of education in Russia as well as orientation towards inclusive education made important the issue of creation of conditions for psychological and pedagogical support of challenged children. Successive inclusion of the primary school students with musculoskeletal disorders is possible given that the specific features of their mental activity are taken into account. The study offers a theoretical review devoted to the problem of cognitive disorders in children with cerebral palsy and a comparative study of peculiarities of mental activity of children with little's disease, hemiparetic and hyperkinetic forms of Infantile Cerebral Palsy (ICP). The study describes characteristics of the components of mental activity (motivational, operational, regulatory) of the primary school children with musculoskeletal disorders depending on sidedness and severity of a disorder, the degree of intellectual and speech development. It was stated that children with ICP (right-sided hemiparesis, Little's disease) combined with mental retardation are distinguished by difficulties with the operational and regulatory mental activity components. Children with ICP (hyperkinetic form, left-sided hemiparesis, little's disease) and normal rate of mental development demonstrate decrease of the motivational and operational component indices. The revealed qualitative characteristics place emphasis on disproportionality of the principal mental activity components and necessity of their consideration in the system of psychocorrective work under the conditions of inclusive education.