Mental retardation in children

ZPR is not a diagnosis, but a generalized name for various developmental problems. In the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases), mental retardation is considered in paragraphs F80-F89 “Disorders of psychological development”, each of which describes very specific characteristics of the child – from stuttering, inattention to urinary incontinence and anxiety personality disorders.

Types of mental retardation

Constitutional

In such children, the central nervous system develops more slowly than their peers. It is likely that the child will also be delayed in physical development, and appear more clumsy and spontaneous than expected from a child of his age. It is difficult for him to concentrate, restrain emotions, remember something, and at school he will be more interested in games and running around than studying. “Well, how small are you?” – such children often hear from adults.

Somatogenic

This type of delay occurs in children who were seriously ill at an early age, which affected the development of the central nervous system. A particularly obvious delay can be in cases where the child had to lie in hospitals for a long time. The somatogenic type is accompanied by increased fatigue, absent-mindedness, memory problems, lethargy, or, conversely, excessive activity.

psychogenic

This type can be called the consequences of a difficult childhood. At the same time, psychogenic developmental delay can occur not only in children from dysfunctional families, to whom their parents did not pay attention or treated them cruelly, but also in “lovers”. Overprotection also hinders the development of the child. Such children are often weak-willed, suggestible, have no goals, do not show initiative and lag behind intellectually.

Cerebral Organic

In this case, the delay is due to mild brain damage, which is common. Only one or several parts of the brain responsible for different mental functions can be affected. In general, children with such problems are characterized by poverty of emotions, learning difficulties and poor imagination.

Symptoms of mental retardation

If we represent mental retardation in the form of a graph, then this is a flat line with small or large “peaks”. For example: did not understand how to assemble a pyramid, did not show any interest in the pot, but, in the end, and not without effort, remembered all the colors (slight rise) and learned a rhyme the first time or drew a favorite cartoon character from memory (peak) .

There should be no failures in this schedule if the child has a rollback of skills, for example, speech appeared and disappeared, or he stopped using the toilet and began to dirty his pants again, you should definitely tell the doctor about this.

Treatment for mental retardation

Psychiatrists, neurologists and defectologists can help to figure out why a child lags behind their peers, and in which areas of activity he has more problems.

Diagnostics

The doctor can analyze the child’s condition and understand if the child has mental retardation (mental retardation). At an early age, its criteria are rather vague, but there are some signs by which it can be understood that the child’s disorder is reversible.

Child psychiatrists point out that in the case of mental retardation, as in the case of any developmental delay, early diagnosis of this condition is extremely important. At an early age, the development of the psyche is inextricably linked with the development of speech, so parents need to monitor the stages of speech formation in their child. It should be formed by 5 years.

As practice shows, in most cases, mothers and fathers go to the doctor after they send the child to kindergarten and notice that he differs from other children in terms of speech activity and behavior.

Both neurologists and child psychiatrists are engaged in diagnosing the development of speech, but only a psychiatrist evaluates the delay in the psyche.

Therapies

After diagnosing the condition, depending on the indications, the specialist may prescribe drug therapy, but the most important thing is that he connects the child to the system of psychological and pedagogical assistance, which includes remedial classes, in most cases, with three specialists. This is a defectologist, speech therapist and psychologist.

Very often, one teacher has two specializations, for example, a speech pathologist. The help of these specialists can be obtained in correctional centers or within the framework of a preschool educational institution. In the latter case, the child, accompanied by their parents, must go through a psychological, medical and pedagogical commission.

Early detection and timely involvement of the child in psychological and pedagogical correction directly affect the further prognosis and the level of compensation for the identified developmental disorders. The sooner you identify and connect, the better the result!

Folk ways

ZPR should be treated only by specialists and necessarily comprehensively. No folk remedies will help in this case. To self-medicate means to miss important time.

Prevention of mental retardation in children

Prevention of mental retardation in a child should begin even before pregnancy: future parents should check their health and eliminate the negative impact on the body of the expectant mother after conception.

In infancy, it is important to try to prevent the occurrence of diseases that can lead to long-term treatment in the hospital, that is, the child should eat right, be in the fresh air, and parents should take care of his hygiene and make the house safe to avoid injury to the child, especially – heads.

Adults determine the type and frequency of developmental activities themselves, but it is necessary to strike a balance between games, learning and recreation, and also allow the child to be independent if this does not threaten his safety.

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