Development of Motor Coordination Abilities in Children of Primary School Age with Mental Retardation: an Integrated Approach

Abstract

The article presents the methodology for the development of motor coordination abilities of primary school age children with a mild mental retardation based on an integrated approach implying the gradual development of motor coordination abilities. The relevance of this study is attributable to the growth of the number of the children with mental retardation, which, in addition to the defective development of cognitive abilities, is characterized by the underdevelopment in the formation of motor abilities, and especially coordination ones. At the same time, it is these abilities that are leading not only in physical culture and sports activities, but also in the social and everyday activities. Their timely correction and directional development ensures the relevant formation of skills and abilities, the expansion of motor abilities and an improvement of the vitality of a child with intellectual disabilities in general. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to develop and justify the content and direction of the methodology for the development of the coordination abilities of children of primary school age with mental retardation on the basis of an integrated approach. As an object of study, the process of adaptive physical education of children of primary school age with mental retardation was determined. To achieve this goal, it was necessary to solve a number of tasks: to consider the features of coordination abilities expression of the children with mental retardation, to determine the stages of the development of types of coordination abilities in children with mental retardation of primary school age and to develop means for the directed development of these types of coordination skills, to evaluate the effectiveness of an integrated approach to the coordination abilities development. In the course of the study the following research methods were used: analysis of literature and documentary sources; pedagogical experiment; testing of the coordination abilities. We conducted a pedagogical experiment. For this, we developed the content and focus of the methodology for development of the coordination abilities based on an integrated approach to their formation. The method is based on the gradual serial-parallel development of the coordination abilities, with the obligatory control of their development at each stage and the corresponding corrective actions. The duration of the experimental part is 6 months. In order to assess the effectiveness of the developed methodology, we conducted an ascertaining pedagogical experiment, which included the conduction of diagnostic tests identifying the indicators of the development of different kinds of coordination abilities in children of primary school age with mental retardation. The results of a comparative analysis of the initial stage and the intermediate results suggest that in comparison with the indicators obtained at the beginning of the formative pedagogical experiment, and ones at intermediate experiment, there is a positive trend in all the tests conducted. Thus, it may be said that there is the effectiveness in the application of specially developed content and orientation of the methodology for development of motor coordination abilities in children of primary school age with mental retardation.

Keywords

• motor coordination abilities
• children of primary school age with mental retardation
• development of coordination abilities in children with mental retardation
• an integrated approach.