In 1999, the Republic of Belarus began to educate children with severe multiple disorders (SMD). For this purpose, new special educational institutions – correction and development training centres (CDTC) – were opened across the country. Curricula for preschoolers with SMD appeared only in 2011, and curricula approved by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus appeared in 2014. Before 2011, teachers were more engaged in the care and supervision of preschoolers with SMD than in the actual educational process. Currently, changes are taking place in preschool education. The education of children with SMD should be built on a competency basis where the formation of their life competencies should play the leading role. The need to assess the quality of such education has emerged, and, consequently, the issue of professional training of specialists of CDTC in this direction. The aim of the article is to determine the possibilities of the system of professional development of teachers of specialized institutions on the issues of quality assessment of education of pupils with severe multiple disorders at the present stage in the Republic of Belarus. The basic methods in the study of this problem were questioning and content analysis. The experimental base of the study is represented by 63 state educational institutions “Centre for Corrective and Developmental Education” (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Mogilev, Minsk regions and the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus), as well as 8 institutions providing professional development of CDTC personnel (Brest, Vitebsk, Gomel, Grodno, Minsk regions, the city of Minsk, Republic of Belarus). The study involved 345 respondents: 334 teachers of CDTC and 11 employees of professional development institutions. The study was conducted in 2020. The article presents the author’s view on assessing the quality of education of preschool children with SMD, highlights the results of the empirical study, and substantiates the possibility of changing the training of teachers of CDTC in the context of professional development institutions. The obtained data allow us to see a holistic picture of the modern system of professional development for special teachers on the problems of assessing the quality of education of preschool children with SMD, which further allows to adjust the training programs of professional development in specialized institutions (Academy of Postgraduate Education, Institutes of Education Development), to include the most popular topics in their content.
Author : Elena A. Lemekh
Characteristics of prediction in preschool children with speech impairment
The ability to predict is one of the important aspects of human mental development. There is a
relationship between prognostic competence and the process of socialization. Psychological
studies show that children with special educational needs, including children with general
speech underdevelopment, when compared with their peers without speech pathology, are more
susceptible to impaired socialization and the occurrence of school maladjustment. This affects the
success of their schooling. Such children experience difficulties in complying with social norms
in the implementation of their goals, since they cannot anticipate the consequences of a certain
situation. This can lead to deviant behavior and failure at school. This article examines the features
of the structural and functional characteristics of forecasting in preschoolers with general speech
underdevelopment. It analyzes the research results given in the scientific literature, presents the
results of the authors’ own experimental research conducted using the “Prognostic stories” technique
developed by the teachers of the Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Special Education of
the Kazan (Volga region) Federal University, and a comparative analysis of the data obtained during
the experiment. The study showed that preschool children with general speech underdevelopment
have lower indicators in all predictive characteristics in comparison with normative peers, and
also have specific prognosis features due to speech pathology and deficiencies in higher mental
functions. The most important of these are the lack of cognitive predictive function and prediction
of utterance. The disadvantages of the prognostic ability of preschoolers with speech pathology
determine the risk of social maladjustment, which requires the attention of specialists in the field
of special education. The results obtained expand the understanding of the state of development of the prognostic competence of preschoolers with general speech underdevelopment. They present a
more complete picture of its specific features, and highlight the most significant disadvantages of
the forecasting process for this category of children. This indicates the directions of work on the
development of prognostic processes in preschoolers with general speech underdevelopment, as
well as the prevention or minimization of the outcomes of school maladjustment.