Neuropsychological correction in childhood: exercises, methods, principles, reviews

Neuropsychological diagnosis and correction of children occupy one of the leading places among the disciplines related to the field of normal and deviant development (ontogeny). The work is based on the concept of dynamic systemic localization of higher brain functions. Today neuropsychological diagnostics and correction extend to new practical spheres.

Goals and objectives

Neuropsychological diagnosis and correction in childhood is aimed at:

1. Determination of the level of unformatted higher functions, the identification of compensatory possibilities.
2. Formation and development of scarce psychological processes. This is achieved by relying on the strongest links and establishing the interaction between the functions.

Key provisions

In the work of the experts rely on certain principles of neuropsychological correction. First of all, it is necessary to understand that these methods do not act as training. They assume the formation of the basic functions and processes that are necessary for further development. Correction begins with an impact on the background elements. Thus, there is an indirect effect on the formation of deficit functions. The program should be built according to the degree of development of brain processes. The vector of the formation of functions - from the bottom up, from left to right, from the inside out. Regularities of the process of internalization - the basis of the program, which is carried out neuropsychological correction in childhood. Exercises should gradually become more complicated, and outside help in completing assignments should decrease. As a result, the child moves from joint activity to independent activity, guided first by an expanded and then collapsed instruction. Within the framework of the program, classes in a play form should be provided. This is necessary to eliminate tension, increase motivation, increase brain efficiency without compromising health.

Features of program development

Methods of neuropsychological correction are selected individually for each child. For this, a system analysis of the data is carried out. From the features of the structure of higher functions will depend on the direction of work on learning in disrupted development. Neuropsychological diagnostics and correction in childhood are carried out on the basis of ideas about three functional brain blocks (in accordance with the concept of AR Luria). Particular attention is paid to the establishment of interhemispheric interaction. It is necessary for the successful flow of all mental processes.

Development of the cognitive sphere

Its formation begins in the first days of the child's life. First of all, a small person is included in family (home) life. Here he receives a huge number of sensations: he sees the surrounding people, he is fed, he experiences different touches to the body, hears voices, noises, etc. As is known, in different age periods the development of the children's psyche is uneven. For example, the development of motor functions is most intense in 1.5-2 years. A child at this age learns to manage things, with his body. After 1.5 years, speech development is activated. The child begins to accumulate vocabulary, the development of a phrasal speech takes place, there come periods of questions and word-making. Each function corresponds to a sensitive age in which it develops most intensively. After its formation, it begins to act as the basis for the development of the following in terms of the complexity of mental processes.

The first brain block

It is considered energy. The first unit provides the necessary tone of the nervous system, helps maintain the optimal state of wakefulness. Normal activity of the organism is possible only if it is stable. The arising infringements in functions of the first cerebral block do not allow the child to carry out tasks, to carry out any activity, to play.

Decreased activity

This is one of the main symptoms of a violation of the energy block of the brain. In such cases, the child is passive, he is not interested in the environment. His cognitive and motor activity is minimal. In such situations, the neuropsychological correction in childhood will be of decisive importance. Exercises should be aimed at stimulating activity through the motor, emotional and sensory (tactile, auditory, visual) areas. Games that are offered to the child must contain rhythmic movements. At the same time, emotional reinforcement is necessary. For stimulation, aromatherapy, massage, and water procedures are also used. As the activity increases, the child can be offered not only individual sensations, but more complex ones. The main elements on which the stimulating neuropsychological correction is based in childhood is the exercises that require the child to maintain a certain rhythm. For example, it can be walking to a musical accompaniment at a given tempo, tapping a song on a drum, etc. After the child has learned to keep one rhythm, he is given tasks for their shift. As a result, he tries to catch the changes and act accordingly. The work should also use techniques that include a comprehensive neuropsychological correction (AV Semenovich's program). In particular, they include activities aimed at the formation of proper breathing. The enrichment of the child's energy background is positively influenced by art therapy.

Information brain block

He is responsible for receiving, processing and storing information. The activity of the body's analyzer structures allows a person to hear, see, remember and reproduce the information received, and compare it with the data already available. Violations of this block are manifested in poor identification of pictures or real objects. In neglected cases, a child may not even recognize familiar toys or household items. If the violations relate to the auditory perception, it is poorly oriented in space, can not establish the source of sound, compare with the subject that it publishes. With tactile disorders, the child develops a distorted image of the body, slowing down the development of small and large motor skills. There is also a failure in the coordination of movements.

Visual disorders

How in such cases is neuropsychological correction performed in childhood? Exercises should be aimed at identifying:

1. Real objects. If the child has difficulties in recognizing them.
2. Realistic images. The child learns to determine the correspondence between the picture and the subject.
3. Noisy images. After the child has learned to establish the relationship between objects and their illustrations, the task is complicated. He is offered schematic, outline, black-and-white or noisy pictures.
4. Designing images. In this case, the child learns to recognize the picture from its fragment.

Disorders of auditory perception

In this case, the neuropsychological correction of children with CRD includes tasks for discrimination:

1. Sounds of a non-speech character. The teacher during the game introduces the child to the noise of water, the creak of the door, the impact of the falling object, etc. All these sounds the kid can create independently and establish, therefore, the relationship between action and noise. After that, the spectrum of auditory perception should be expanded. The child is offered musical instruments or toys, etc.
2. Speech contrasting sounds. A child who has learned to distinguish between different noises may be interested in speech. He still can not fully understand the words and phrases, but is already able to distinguish sounds that are different from each other. For example, in the adult speech - vowels and consonants. The child can guess, the snake (by the sound "sh-sh-sh") or the airplane ("u-u-u") is approaching him. After that, the task becomes more complicated. The child learns to distinguish sounds approximated to each other. Then games are introduced into the classroom, where he begins to pronounce simple syllables ("ay", "bi-bi", etc.). More difficult is the task in which the child learns to understand words that differ in one sound. For example, he is asked to give "miKu" and "mishka", etc.

Understanding Speech

Neuropsychological correction in childhood is from simple to complex. First, the child is taught to understand simple single words. At the request of an adult, he gives a picture or an object. Then the child learns to perceive and execute instructions (also from simple to complex, two- or three-step). In the process of work, it is necessary to include exercises in the game context. In this case, the child does not perform any task, but commits an action.

Tactile disorders

Let us consider how a neuropsychological correction is performed in this case. In exercises, in the first place, there must be assignments for sensory development, within which the child will receive different sensations from his own body. The result is a holistic view of it. The child should clearly understand where what part of the body, what it does, what sensations arise from the touch.

Development of memory

Neuropsychological correction of learning difficulties in childhood is aimed at focusing the child's attention on a particular subject. Observations show that if the memory of a material received with a single perception channel is broken, it is noted that it is able to reproduce data taken in a different way. Simply put, a child who badly memorizes information by ear, can easily draw from memory 5-6 pictures. However, often children do not know how to use these abilities. Neuropsychological correction is performed taking into account the chronology of memory development. Initially, it appears on people and events that have emotional significance for the child. So, first of all among people, he singles out his mother, then those with whom certain experiences are associated (with someone he likes to play, someone is afraid of). Gaming sessions should fix information in memory - at first simple, then complex. Here you can use a variety of poems, tongue twisters, songs, etc.

Violation of attention

It manifests itself in all spheres of activity. The child is not able to concentrate even on interesting games, he is distracted by any noise (wind outside the window, a fallen object, etc.). Neuropsychological correction is also performed during the course of the game. First, the specialist observes the child, determines the objects and toys that are of interest to him. They can attract the attention of the baby. Then the child learns to focus on some interesting game for a short time. The task here is to keep attention for several minutes. The teacher uses additional stimuli for this. Further neuropsychological correction of children includes classes on the distribution of attention. So, the child is offered not one, but several toys. He learns to interact with them at the same time. As a result, the game becomes more interesting. Further, the task can be complicated: put a few toys not directly in front of him, but on different sides, thus increasing the playing space.

Neuropsychological correction: reviews

For a child to be able to navigate in the environment, to perceive new information, interact with other people, he must determine the difference and similarity between phenomena and objects, be able to classify them, trace the connection of events. The development of visual-efficient thinking is the first task posed by neuropsychological correction. Feedback from specialists and parents indicate that during the practical classes the child is:

1. Awareness of the functional purpose of various subjects.
2. Formation of ideas about the differences and similarities of objects, their sizes.
3. Understanding of cause-effect relationships between events.

When performing tasks for the development of visual-shaped thinking, as observations show, the child develops an understanding of the correspondence between the picture, the subject and the word that designates it. On a more complex level, he establishes a link between the illustration and the event. Those children who do not use speech, learn to express their desires with pictures. For example, if a child wants to drink, he shows an adult the image of a cup, if you walk - an illustration of clothes and so on. This way of organizing life and communication is used when interacting with autistic children. In addition, the child begins to understand the meaning of the plot pictures and their series.

The third cerebral block

He is responsible for programming, regulation and control of complex activities. Thanks to this unit, the organization of active conscious mental behavior, the development of a program and action plan, as well as monitoring of their implementation are provided. When working with children who have these functions violated, it is important to take into account that the lessons should be held only in the form of a game. The child will not sit at the table for a long time, listen and perform tasks that he does not want to do.

Interhemispheric interaction

It is of decisive importance in mental activity. In case of communication failure, coordination of movement (interaction of legs and hands, walking, etc.) may become difficult or inaccessible. At the next level, there are no connections between non-verbal and verbal functions, and the process of analyzing incoming information becomes more difficult. First of all, it is necessary to develop general motor coordination. For this, various exercise programs, mobile games are used. On their basis, further work is being done to develop the interaction of different parts of the body. In parallel with the child, classes are conducted using soft materials. He sculpts simple figures from clay or plasticine, kneads the dough with both hands.

Finger gymnastics

Dependence of the formation of the child's speech on the level of development of general motor skills is proved experimentally. Studies show that if the volume of movements corresponds to the age period, then the children's ability to express their thoughts aloud will also be within the norm. Due to the development of general and feline motility, the working capacity of the cerebral cortex increases. The teacher can use the exercises, accompanied by the speech of children, included in the main program of speech therapy sessions as physical exercises.

Relaxation

Exercises for relaxation are carried out at all stages of correction. Their performance can be accompanied by music. Children are offered in their place (at the table) to put their heads on their hands and close their eyes. They can also lie on the carpet on their backs, stretch their hands palms down along the trunk. At the same time they are invited to submit some story with their participation. For example, they fly on a cloud, feel the warm breeze on their cheeks. The exercise can be ended with the words: "Well, the wind became cool, and we felt like back to earth."

Class on logorithmics

In the course of practical work, a certain structure was formed. It includes:

1. Movement without musical accompaniment, suggesting different types of walking.
2. Dance.
3. Finger gymnastics, suggesting the observance of a certain intonation.
4. Breathing exercises that emphasize the strength of exhalation, with elements of relaxation.
5. A song accompanied by gestures.
6. Articulatory gymnastics, which includes elements of mimic exercises.
7. Learning quatrains using movements.
8. Logopedic gymnastics.

Features

All exercises are performed by imitation. During the training sessions, the teacher should choose a place so that his face is visible to each child so that it is possible to repeat the articulation and mimic movements. It is desirable that everyone sit in a circle or settle in a semicircle. In this case, the children will see the teacher well, synchronize with him and repeat the material.

Importance of lessons

As the long experience of observation shows, children who have a general speech underdevelopment in preschool age become more active and confident during joint games. They quickly learn the rules, which are later transferred to independent activity. Game exercises prevent overfatigue of children, act as a means of emotional discharge and allow you to achieve the maximum corrective-learning effect. Thus, the lessons for preschool children must be diverse.

Conclusion

The above program is considered universal. It is based on neuropsychological prophylaxis and correction of a wide range of disorders: from fairly severe combinations of speech disorders, apparent mental retardation to isolated failures of individual processes. The elements that are included in the program are successfully used in work with schoolchildren who have difficulty in mastering the educational program.

Before the beginning of a corrective-developing session it is necessary to establish the initial level of development of brain functions in a child. In accordance with this, it is necessary to choose the stage from which it is necessary to conduct work. For example, in the presence of gross speech disorders, it is advisable to start with musical and sensory exercises to increase the activity of the child. With severe disorders, when development is very slow, work can take several years. In these cases, not stopping the training on the formation of basic functions, you need to pay attention to the application of the acquired skills in life.

If the violations are not very rude, it is necessary to determine the stages that were passed by the child on their own. Work begins with the last of them. If you follow the sequence of the program, you can achieve obvious positive results.