Speech therapy work to eliminate optical dysgraphia in visually impaired schoolchildren. Prevalence, symptoms and types of writing disorders in primary schoolchildren with visual impairments Methodology for developing generalized perception

1.2 Prevalence, symptoms and types of writing disorders in primary schoolchildren with visual impairments

A visual defect leaves a certain imprint on the process of mental development of children, as we discussed above, limiting their ability to perceive the objective world, orientation in it, communication with others, and generally affects the formation of personality and the development of various types of activities.

Thus, one of the important activities is the child’s mastery of writing. Younger schoolchildren with eye pathology experience difficulties with writing. In the written works of this category of children, there are specific writing errors called dysgraphic errors.

The results of observation of specialists from the school-kindergarten complex No. 14 for visually impaired children on the nature of dysgraphic errors in visually impaired primary schoolchildren indicate that this category of children is characterized by all types of this disorder, as well as various variants of mixed dysgraphia.

Table 1 clearly shows the ratio of the prevalence of dysgraphia in quantitative terms among students in the specified institution for two academic years (2002-2003, 2003-2004).

Table 1 - Prevalence of dysgraphia among students of the school-kindergarten complex No. 14

We consider it advisable to briefly consider the types of dysgraphia outlined above.

So, dysgraphia, as defined by R.I. Lalaeva is a partial violation of the writing process. The traditional classification of dysgraphia was developed by the staff of the Department of Speech Therapy of Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute named after. A.I. Herzen, according to which five types of dysgraphia are distinguished.

Errors associated with incorrect sound pronunciation (articulatory-acoustic dysgraphia). The child writes as he pronounces. At the initial stages of mastering writing, the child writes by pronouncing. Relying on defective pronunciation of sounds, he reflects his incorrect pronunciation in writing.

Articulatory-acoustic dysgraphia manifests itself in substitutions and omissions of letters corresponding to substitutions and omissions of sounds in oral speech. Sometimes letter replacements in writing remain even after they are eliminated in spoken speech. This can be explained by the fact that when speaking internally, the child does not yet have sufficient support for correct articulation, since clear kinesthetic images of sounds have not been formed.

Errors associated with impaired phoneme recognition (acoustic dysgraphia). They are based on a violation of the auditory differentiation of speech sounds, but there are no violations of the pronunciation of those speech sounds that are incorrectly indicated in writing. This group includes letter substitutions denoting close phonemes, as well as violations in the designation of soft consonants.

Substitutions based on acoustic and articulatory similarity of sounds in children with mental retardation were rare. Basically, children with mental retardation mix voiced and voiceless consonants, whistling and hissing consonants, especially affricates.

More numerous are errors in indicating the softness of consonants in writing. These errors reflect, on the one hand, the difficulties of differentiating hard and soft phonemes, on the other hand, they indicate a failure to master the methods of symbolization and designation of soft consonants in writing.

With dysgraphia due to a violation of language analysis and synthesis, different types of these complex operations may be defective: dividing a sentence into words and synthesizing a sentence from words, syllabic and phonemic analysis and synthesis. In writing, this dysgraphia manifests itself in distortions in the structure of words and sentences (omissions, rearrangements, addition of letters, syllables, words; merging or breaking words). Phonemic analysis is the most complex, therefore errors in the form of distortion of the sound-letter structure of words are the most common.

The bulk of specific errors at the level of phrases and sentences (agrammatic dysgraphia) are expressed in so-called agrammatisms, i.e. in violation of the connection of words: coordination and control. Changing words according to the categories of number, gender, case, and tense forms a complex system of codes that allows you to organize the designated phenomena, highlight features and classify them into certain categories.

According to the theory of N. Chomsky, a narrowing of the volume of RAM leads to coordination and control errors in the operation of composing messages from words.

The inability to highlight the leading word in a phrase leads to coordination errors even when writing from dictation, for example: “The forest covered with snow was fabulously beautiful” - instead of “the forest covered with snow.”

Errors in the use of management norms are especially numerous.

Significant difficulties are associated with the use of prepositions: they can be omitted, replaced, or, less often, doubled, for example: “called the board,” “we ran around with a ball,” “a bunny lived in a living corner.”

Mixing letters by kinesthetic similarity (so-called optical dysgraphia).

A high prevalence of mixing letters based on optical and kinesthetic similarity was revealed.

The ability to evaluate the correctness of letterforms based on kinesthesia allows the writer to make corrections to movements even before making mistakes. If the kinetic and dynamic side of the motor act is not formed in younger schoolchildren, kinesthesia cannot have a guiding meaning, and then a confusion of letters occurs, the outline of the first element of which requires identical movements. With the transition to the stage of coherent writing, there is a significant increase in the number of such errors, which is associated with an acceleration in the pace of writing and an increase in the volume of written work. While children with visual impairments have uncoordinated hand movements, inactivity, etc.

Thus, mixtures of letters based on kinetic similarity are natural and persistent, reduce the overall quality of writing, have a pronounced tendency to increase and inhibit the development of speech and mental activity of schoolchildren.

Particular attention should be paid to optical dysgraphia, as the most common of all its other types, among visually impaired primary schoolchildren. This type of dysgraphia is based on a defect in this category of children: insufficient formation of visual-spatial concepts and visual analysis and synthesis.

When visually impaired children enter school, due to their defect, the following secondary deviations often appear:

A lag in the development of visual perception processes, expressed in limited and fragmented knowledge of the surrounding world;

Slowing down the process of processing information received through the senses, which, in conditions of insufficient time for perception, leads to incomplete, unstable and not always correct recognition of the presented material;

Violation of the search function, slowness of recognition and examination of the surrounding space or a given object;

Inability to isolate elements from an object perceived as a whole;

Violation of the interaction of the visual, motor analyzers and touch;

Low cognitive activity;

Difficulty in mental operations;

Low performance, during which they are able to learn the material and complete the task.

The lack of development of spatial orientation skills, caused by these reasons, leads to the appearance of a number of errors in writing, which can be divided into several groups.

3.2 Results of the study of the characteristics of writing disorders in students of the 4th grade of a general education school The purpose of this stage of the study: to study the characteristics of writing disorders of students of the 4th grade of a general education school. The study with students was carried out in the morning. Having carried out an initial diagnosis to identify the characteristics of writing disorders in 4th grade students...

Analytical-synthetic method of teaching writing to primary schoolchildren with severe speech impairments. Chapter 3. The effectiveness of using the analytical-synthetic method of teaching writing to primary school students in a school for children with severe speech impairments (control experiment) To assess the effectiveness and efficiency of using the analytical-synthetic method of teaching writing...

While working with the literature, we also found out the symptoms of dysgraphia from the perspective of different authors. This knowledge will help us in studying children's written work. Chapter 2. Impaired written language in students of junior grades of general education schools The process of mastering literacy is most often understood as mastering a certain list of letter patterns and the ability to connect letters into syllables, words into...

“For literacy it is not enough that a person knows
grammar rules (and there are many of them),
but it is necessary that he gets used to carrying them out instantly.”
K. D. Ushinsky.

Why do some children write correctly from the first grade, while others make a huge number of mistakes in words where it is impossible to make a mistake? In the notebook we see, at first glance, incredible errors: omissions and rearrangements of letters and syllables, spelling and breaking of words together, children confuse sounds and letters that are similar in sound, pronunciation and spelling.

Russian language in primary school is the central subject, the basis of general education. The most important task of a teacher is to develop in children the ability to meaningfully and competently express thoughts orally and in writing.

School failure is caused by a number of internal and external factors, in particular, insufficient development of individual mental systems. This does not mean that the child has lower intelligence or that he is less capable than his peers. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the individual characteristics of brain development.

The specificity of brain maturation, and therefore the formation of the psyche, lies in the heterochronicity of development, i.e. in the difference in the rates of maturation of individual structures. This feature of brain development leads to the fact that children entering school may have different degrees of maturity of mental processes. Therefore, it is necessary to take into account the correspondence of the pedagogical requirements presented to the child with his capabilities.

Recently, the number of children with learning difficulties has increased. Most underperforming schoolchildren have neurological symptoms that indicate problems in the nervous system. Such symptoms may include: disinhibition, hyperactivity, inability to control one’s behavior, disobedience, lack of attention, lack of concentration, fatigue, distractibility, deficiencies in speech development, as well as motor clumsiness, especially in fine movements of the hand.

Such symptoms are known as minimal brain dysfunction. They appear only with increased stress on the nervous system, when the child begins to study at school.

Minimal brain dysfunctions are based on physiological disorders, which may include pinpoint hemorrhages or disturbances in the activity of individual groups of brain cells. The cause of such deviations may be various injuries, complications of pregnancy, disturbances during childbirth, genetic predisposition, and the influence of the environmental situation.

Speech disorders in primary schoolchildren are diverse in their manifestations. Some shortcomings concern only pronunciation, others affect the processes of phonemic development and are expressed in difficulties in sound analysis. There are disorders that cover both the phonetic-phonemic and lexical-grammatical systems, which is expressed in general speech underdevelopment. Children experience difficulties in producing coherent independent statements. The vocabulary is limited, there is underdevelopment of the lexico-grammatical structure of speech, the functions of word formation and inflection are not sufficiently formed.

Disadvantages of speech development in schoolchildren interfere with the assimilation of the semantic content of educational material and lead to the appearance of not only dysgraphic errors, but also to difficulties in mastering spelling.

Dysgraphic errors are expressed in omissions and rearrangements of letters and syllables in words, in the replacement of some letters by others, in the “mirror” spelling of letters.

All people make mistakes, but children with children make many mistakes; these mistakes are persistent and difficult to correct.

The child masters oral speech independently, by imitation. Written speech is formed on the basis of oral speech in the learning process.

The letter itself includes a number of special operations:

The written word must be heard correctly (good phonemic hearing is required). And, if a child, for example, during childbirth had even a slight hemorrhage in the temporal part of the brain, then it will be difficult for him to differentiate speech sounds (distinguish between voiced and voiceless consonants, soft and hard, whistling and hissing).

The letter (or syllable, or word) that is written must be pronounced by the child. To do this, the child’s oral speech should not have defects (violations in sound pronunciation). It is especially important to pronounce speech material in 1st grade, when the process of mastering written speech is underway.

Thus: “heard a word”, “spoken” - now the process of translating the phoneme into graphic signs - “letters”, taking into account the spatial arrangement of their elements. The child must remember and recognize the letter corresponding to the given sound. And all letters consist of a small number of identical elements. Children with disorders of optical-spatial gnosis, visual-spatial memory, and optical-spatial representations will have errors in writing similar letters (for example, “P” - “N”, “i” - “u”).

Now the letter must be written down, i.e. “motility” is activated - the movement of the hand and fingers. This process is very complicated, because... includes two more functions: - kinesthetic sensations (sensations in space); - kinetic sensations (sensations in time). When the activity of the parietal parts of the brain is disrupted, a wide variety of handwriting disorders and the placement of letters outside the line occur.

For the normal flow of the writing process, central language analysis and synthesis is necessary, i.e. it is necessary to determine the order of sounds or syllables in a word, the place of a sound (letter) in a word (positional analysis), and the number of sounds in a word. If this function is not formed in a child, then the following will be observed: types of errors:

Omitting vowels and consonants;
- rearrangement of syllables in a word;
- adding letters or syllables;
- missing word endings;
- continuous spelling of words, prepositions with words;

The child’s brain is very receptive and plastic, therefore, if a violation occurs somewhere, then compensatory capabilities must be developed. That is, to purposefully develop in a child those mental functions that are necessary for normal mastery of the writing process: differentiated auditory perception, spatial representations, visual analysis and synthesis, correct defects in oral speech, enrich vocabulary, and take care of the correct formation of the grammatical structure of speech.

Any pedagogical process is always a two-way process. His success depends equally on both the teacher and the student. At the same time, teaching and making him want to learn is the main concern of adults.

In conclusion... We are all different and everyone fits into this world in their own way. The child does not have our life experience; he is just beginning to learn to live in society. And therefore, happy is that child, the teachers whose mentors they are looking for trample for him the only path that will lead him to his goal. This is a difficult path for any teacher, but its result is the health, success of the child, his future.

Kuptsova Elina Anatolevna,
teacher speech therapist.
Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Rehabilitation
and corrections (GOU TsPPRiK),
Kolpinsky district, St. Petersburg

Features of writing disorders in visually impaired children with normal hearing and intelligence.

Teaching writing to visually impaired children is not only educational.

and educational, but also of great corrective value, since in the process of it visual analysis is improved, the eye and orientation in a small space are developed, and deficiencies in spatial representations are corrected.

Writing is not only a motor act, but a complex of operations. As already mentioned, hearing, vision, hand kinesthesia and speech motor apparatus are involved in its process. The difficulty in developing this skill lies in the fact that a child learning to write must simultaneously perform several tasks: hygienic, technical, graphic. Even with normal vision, remembering and solving all these problems at the same time is a great difficulty. For a visually impaired child, performing each of them is especially difficult due to impaired vision.

In this regard, in the writing of such children there are specific disturbances that are absent completely or observed much less frequently in normal sighted people (S. L. Korobko, N. A. Krylova, N. S. Kostyuchek).

There are four stages in mastering the skill of writing: elemental, letter, stage of coherent writing and stage of coherent cursive writing (E.V. Guryanov, M.K. Shcherbak). At the elemental and letter stages of the formation of graphic skills, the main attention of children is focused on the correct writing of elements, and then letters. At these stages, the leading factor is the visual perception of the shape of the letter, the formation of visual analysis, the eye, which is still very imperfect in children with impaired vision at this age.

Typically, children who start school have the weakest writing skills. Parents, protecting their eyesight, do not give them a pencil before school, and therefore the fine muscles of their hands are not developed.

Among these children there are children with a disinhibited nervous system. Their writing is illegible, elements are written out incompletely, the spaces between elements and letters are not respected, and letters overlap each other.

Writing impairments in visually impaired children with normal hearing and intelligence are determined mainly by two factors. In one case, they are caused by the direct influence of a visual defect on writing. In another, they are associated with speech underdevelopment.

The direct impact of visual perception disorders is expressed in substitutions and distortions of letters associated with an insufficiently clear and stable optical representation of their structure; it is reflected in the incorrect arrangement of material on the page, in unfinished filling of it, as well as in a low level of graphic skills, expressed in a violation of the arrangement of elements and letters in relation to each other and to the line.

Characteristics of writing disorders associated with speech underdevelopment are phonemic substitutions of letters and agrammatisms in combination with numerous other errors that children with normal speech development make. The conditionality of these writing disorders by insufficient readiness of sound and morphological generalizations is confirmed by phonemic and lexical and grammatical defects in their oral speech.

Speech disorders affect the basics of mastering writing and are the cause of academic failure and poor performance of a significant proportion of visually impaired children.

Graphic impairments characteristic of the writing of children with visual impairments are divided into graphic deficiencies and graphic errors. The first ones mainly concern the arrangement of elements and letters in relation to each other and the line, as well as the location of the material on the page and its completeness. The latter are expressed in substitutions and distortions of letters based on the underestimation of any of the essential features of their graphic structure.

Graphic deficiencies in writing are much more common in children with visual impairments than in children. having normal vision. This is due to the role of vision in the act of writing. Since visual representations act as the main support in beginners' writing, visual impairments in children are a significant inhibitor in mastering graphic skills. Visual representations of graphic norms in the visually impaired are not sufficiently differentiated and stable, as a result of which children do not notice their violations in their writing, and therefore cannot warn them.

The formation of graphic standards is complicated by deficiencies in visual perception, which also lead to violations of hygienic rules of writing. A visually impaired child is often forced to use techniques and methods of writing that interfere with the development of correct graphic skills; moreover, techniques independently developed by children do not always allow for optimal use of their existing capabilities.

As children develop visual representations of graphic norms and motor complexes, graphic deficiencies are smoothed out. However, for many they persist into a later period. This is explained by the inconsistency of established skills with the requirements of graphic writing standards, as well as weakened visual control during the writing process.

During the learning process, most children overcome writing deficiencies such as incorrect placement of material on the page. When they are saved, they are expressed mainly in insufficient filling of the right or, less often, the left side of the page.

Graphic errors, such as substitutions and distortions of letters based on underestimation of any of the essential features of their graphic image, are varied in nature. Errors in the spatial arrangement of letters or their individual elements are common, and a letter is either distorted or replaced by another. There are errors in which the facing of the letter from bottom to top and vice versa, as well as the right facing of the letter upwards (Ё as Ш) change.

A significant number of violations in the writing of letters is expressed in a distortion of their configuration, which occurs due to underestimation of the number of elements or their spatial arrangement.

A fairly large group consists of interchanges of letters due to difficulties in their differentiation (K - N, T - N, P - N, S - V - L).

The most common errors reflect a violation of the quantitative characteristics of the structure of letters due to the omission of a letter element or the writing of an unnecessary one. Omissions and additions are more common in letters that have similar elements (Ш – Т).

Substitutions of graphically similar letters are quite common in visually impaired children, but are not characteristic of this defect. A comparative study of the state of vision and oral speech of children in whose writing letters were found or, on the contrary, were absent, showed that there is no direct relationship between the presence of letter replacements and the state of vision. At the same time, a direct connection between the appearance of substitutions and the state of oral speech was discovered. The majority of children who allowed substitution of letters in writing had, to varying degrees, severe general underdevelopment of speech. However, an analysis of the origin and structure of abnormal speech development made it possible to establish that lack of visual perception is one of the factors determining various forms of speech disorders.

If speech disorders in children with normal vision are based primarily on inferiority of sound perception or articulation deficiencies that prevent mastery of the phonemic composition of a word, and defects in visual perception (in the form of optical agnosia) occur only in isolated cases, then among the visually impaired there are cases of speech disorders caused by defects in visual perception are observed much more often and form a specific form for them.

It has been established that even when visual impairments affect writing, letter substitutions are ultimately determined by the child’s immaturity of phonemic concepts.

The causes of writing impairment in the visually impaired have not yet been studied. They are widespread. The high prevalence of the considered deviations in conditions of impaired visual perception, compared with sighted children, raises the question of the connection between visual impairment and writing impairments.

Currently, there are different points of view on this issue: according to one, writing disorders are explained as a consequence of visual impairment, expressed in difficulty mastering the shape of letters and their spatial arrangement, according to another - as a result of insufficient preparedness of the early stages of speech development, expressed in defects in mastering phonemic and morphological generalizations.

The nature of the disease also affects the writing of a visually impaired child. Children with a narrow field of vision write very concisely, and children with nystagmus produce trembling lines.

Among the visually impaired there are children with motor diseases. It is especially difficult for such children to keep a line and maintain the necessary distances between letters and words. Successful teaching of writing to children with impaired coordination movements is possible only with a combination of therapeutic and pedagogical correction measures.

Visually impaired children make graphical errors significantly more than children with normal vision. They were mentioned above. And although graphic deficiencies are smoothed out during the learning process, in some children with visual impairments they become quite persistent and persist throughout all years of primary education. A relationship between these types of errors and visual acuity has been revealed: they are more often observed in children with the lowest visual acuity.

So, most of the errors described above are associated with the immaturity of the graphic structure of the letter and are, according to B. G. Ananyev, “figurative errors in ideas about the grapheme.” Reflecting a letter requires complex analytical-synthetic work, which is not always accessible to younger students. In visually impaired children, this process is complicated by visual impairments, which is reflected in the prevalence of graphic errors in writing and the most gross distortions of letters, such that are not found in the writing of children with normal vision.

List of used literature.

1. Ed. Voskresenskaya A.I. “Teaching literacy in kindergarten.”

Moscow, 1963

2. Gavrina S. E., Kutyavina N.L. , Toporkova I. G. , Shcherbinina S. V.

“We develop our hands so that we can learn to write and draw beautifully.”

Yaroslavl, "Academy of Development", 1998

3. Zhurova L. E., Fedosova N. A. “Teaching literacy.”

Literacy, mathematics, familiarization with the outside world in the first

School class or kindergarten preparatory group.”

Moscow, 1985

4. Korobko S. L. “Replacing letters in the writing of visually impaired students.”

"Defectology" 1971, No. 5

5. Korobko S. L. “Graphic impairments in writing by the visually impaired

Schoolchildren."

"Defectology" 1978, No. 2

6. Karule A. Ya. “Teaching six-year-old children at school:

From work experience

Preparatory classes in Latvian schools. S.S.R.”

Moscow, 1984

7. Krylova N. A. “Special techniques and methods of teaching Russian

Language of visually impaired children."

Moscow, VOS, 1990

8. Levina R. E. “Speech and writing disorders in children:

Selected Works"

Moscow, "Arkti", 2005

9. Morgailik L. I. “Methods of teaching the Russian language in schools

Visually impaired."

Leningrad, 1982

10. Russian E.N. “Methodology for the formation of independent

Written speech in children."

Moscow, “Iris – press”, 2005

11. Sadovnikova I. N. “Correctional education for schoolchildren with

Reading and writing disorders."

Moscow, "Arkti", 2005

KOROBKO Svetlana Lukinichna

WRITING IMPAIRMENTS IN VISUALLY IMPAIRED SCHOOLCHILDREN PROBLEM, TASKS, METHODS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE RESEARCH

Among low-achieving and underachieving visually impaired schoolchildren, there is a group of children who, despite having normal abilities, experience pronounced and persistent difficulties in mastering literacy. They either do not master literacy at all in school, or they write and read with characteristic errors that significantly distinguish their writing and reading from the writing and reading of their classmates. Difficulties in mastering literacy in some cases lead to poor performance in other subjects. Such children often create the false impression of being mentally retarded, although in reality they have normal intelligence.

Failure of visually impaired primary schoolchildren, characterized mainly by a sharp lag in reading and writing, is a fairly common phenomenon. Meanwhile, the practice of overcoming these impairments in schools for the visually impaired currently does not meet proper requirements.

The shortcomings of the practice of working with visually impaired children echo the concept of the “optical” theory of writing impairment, which at one time became widespread in science and practice (V. Morgan, D. Ginshelwood, P. Ranschburg, etc.). According to this theory, the most difficult thing in mastering literacy was considered to be mastering the shape of letters and their spatial arrangement; correctional work was aimed at memorizing the outlines of letters and was reduced to repeated exercises in copying them, cutting them out, shading, underlining, etc. Despite the fact that in one version or another this concept is defended in the literature to this day (K. Hermann, J. Eiaenson), in the theory and practice of speech therapy it has shown its inconsistency and has given way to a new theory, according to which writing disorders are considered as manifestations of immaturity of speech processes (R.M. Boskis, R.E. Levina, L.F. Spirova, N.A. Nikashina, G.V. Chirkina, G.A. Kashe, R.I. Shuifer, S.S Lyapidevsky, A.R. Luria, R. Becker, etc.). The foundations of this theory were laid in the works of R. E. Levina dating back to the 30s, and were further developed in her subsequent works, as well as in the studies of other scientists in the speech therapy sector of the NIID APN USSR.

Identification of the nature of writing impairments, expressed in letter substitutions (one of the main characteristics of the defect), was facilitated by the analysis of grapheme mastery, carried out in two levels - in terms of optical and in terms of language. It is this approach that corresponds to the phonological theory, according to which a letter is an optical form of sound generalization; a phoneme is fixed in a letter. The close connection discovered between deficiencies in phonemic perception and letter substitutions undermined the inconsistency of the “optical” theory and revealed the linguistic nature of the phenomena being studied. The discovery of the true origin of graphic letter substitutions served as another important piece of evidence in favor of the linguistic theory. The approach to understanding writing impairments as a manifestation of speech underdevelopment is also substantiated by rethinking other phenomena that, at first glance, seem to confirm the “optical” nature of the impairments. In his study, R.E. Levina showed that in the case of optical agnosia there is a violation of writing, but it is associated with a deviation of visual perception through complex developmental connections, and not just directly. In accordance with the systematic approach to speech pathology, developed in the work of the speech therapy sector, writing disorders are explained by the underdevelopment of all components of the speech system.

Researchers who address the issue of the nature of writing impairments in visually impaired schoolchildren (M.I. Zemtsova, O.L. Zhiltsova, N.S. Kostyuchek, X. Surveyor) express the opinion that, with a certain uniqueness due to visual impairment, the patterns of writing impairments in the visually impaired are similar to these disorders in children with normal vision and their roots lie in previous speech development. A significant contribution to the development of this issue was made by the research of O. L. Zhiltsova and N. S. Kostyuchek.

However, to date there has been no special study of writing impairments in visually impaired schoolchildren, which would trace the connection of these impairments with general speech underdevelopment. The cause of speech errors in writing by optical impairments remains unnoticed to this day. This leads to the fact that teachers often find it difficult to interpret the reasons for a child’s sharp lag in mastering literacy; they often do not know how to distinguish a writing defect associated with speech underdevelopment from defects caused by other factors. In this regard, in correcting the writing of visually impaired children, methods are often used that do not correspond to the nature of the impairment, and therefore are ineffective. An unjustifiably large role is given to exercises designed to clarify lettering and develop visual control in the writing process.

The relevance of this problem determined the design of this study. Its purpose is to study writing impairments in visually impaired schoolchildren.

The task was accomplished by studying the writing and speech of 239 visually impaired students and, in comparison, 478 children with normal vision (all children examined had normal intelligence and hearing). The number of visually impaired students examined was 71 in first grade, 42 in second grade, 47 in third grade, 38 in fourth grade, and 40 in fifth grade. Children with normal vision were distributed among classes as follows: first class - 142, second class - 84, third class - 94, fourth class - 76, fifth class - 80 people.

Studying the writing impairments of visually impaired schoolchildren in different periods of education, from the first stage of literacy acquisition to the fifth grade, we analyzed the vast majority of homework and class work completed by first-grade students from September to December, as well as dictations of 239 visually impaired students students and 474 children with normal vision, conducted in the second half of the year. The study included dictations provided for in the school curriculum, as well as those specially composed and rich in frequently mixed sounds. For each first-grade student, 200 words were analyzed, and for students in grades 2-5, 500 words of text were analyzed, which amounted to 93,200 words of text for visually impaired children and 186,400 for children with normal vision.

We were also able to trace changes occurring in the writing of 33 students over several years of schooling. Of exceptional interest for the analysis was the observational material of children from 3-4 years of age to 2-3 years of school (3 people). A group of children (11 people) received special training aimed at overcoming their existing deviations in writing.

The study was conducted on the basis of boarding schools for visually impaired children No. 2 and No. 5 in Moscow, Marksa, Saratov region, a boarding school for blind children and mass secondary school No. 6 in Saratov in 1967/68, 1968/69, 1969/70 , 1970/71, 1971/72 academic years.

RESEARCH RESULTS

Analysis of the material obtained in the study shows a wide variety of errors and shortcomings in the writing of visually impaired schoolchildren. Among this diversity, 2 groups of disorders are distinguished, some of which are a reflection of the direct influence of visual impairments on writing in visually impaired children, others are associated with speech underdevelopment.

Graphic violations

in a letter from visually impaired schoolchildren

The most typical violations associated with the direct influence of deficiencies in visual perception on writing include violations of graphic writing standards and incorrect placement of material on the page. Among other violations of graphic standards, the most common are expressed in the incorrect arrangement of elements and letters in relation to each other and the line. The most characteristic shortcomings in the arrangement of material on the page relate to the unfinished filling of part of the page, most often the right one. Such deviations in writing are much more common among visually impaired students compared to children with normal vision; they especially affect the writing of visually impaired schoolchildren with the most profound visual impairments within the range of low vision.

This is primarily explained by the role of vision in the act of writing. At the stage of developing graphic skills, visual representations are the main support. Since visual representations of graphic norms do not have certainty and stability, visually impaired children often do not see shortcomings in their writing and cannot always warn them. In addition, difficulties in visual perception often confront a visually impaired child with the need to choose techniques and methods of writing that do not contribute to the development of correct graphic skills. In the process of learning with the formation of visual representations of graphic norms of writing and motor complexes, graphic deficiencies are smoothed out. Many children, under the guidance of a teacher, quite soon become accustomed to the full perception of the page, acquire the skills to navigate it and overcome the shortcomings associated with unfinished completion of it. However, the writing of a significant proportion of children suffers from these shortcomings in a later period. This is explained in the inconsistency of established skills with the requirements of graphic writing norms, as well as in the fact that weakened visual control and often, in addition, techniques in the act of writing do not contribute to the fulfillment of these norms.

An analysis of writing, carried out taking into account the state of vision and special training, revealed a connection between these writing disorders and certain visual functions. Thus, children who often did not complete lines had limited fields of visual afferentation.

The listed impairments in the writing of the visually impaired are associated, first of all, with difficulties in visual perception, but largely depend on the fact that teachers in the process of developing writing skills do not always take into account the individual characteristics of children. An important factor affecting the distortion of these norms is the difficulties of speech analysis, which weaken the child’s attention to the graphic side of the letter and the arrangement of the material on the page, as well as the fact that visually impaired schoolchildren do not always attach due importance to the external design of written work.

Of particular interest in terms of this research are the fairly common substitutions and distortions of letters in the writing of visually impaired children based on the underestimation of any of the essential features of their graphic representation. The dissertation provides an analysis of the qualitative characteristics of the violations. As shown in a number of studies (Ananyev B.G., Baranova L.A., Gorfunkel P.L., Guryanov E.V., etc.), the reflection of a letter as a complex stimulus is a complex analytical-synthetic process and causes certain difficulties even in children with normal vision. In visually impaired children, this process is complicated by visual impairments, which is reflected in the significant prevalence of graphic errors in their writing and the most gross distortions of letters, such that they are almost never found in the writing of children with normal vision.

Optical confusion and distortion of letters occur in the writing of many visually impaired students, especially at the stage of familiarization with the letter and short exercises. However, the severity of difficulties in the formation of letter representations in different children, even at the same level of education, is not the same. The most difficult picture of the manifestations of these deviations is typical for the writing of students with extremely low visual acuity within the limits of low vision and disorders of other eye functions. However, we had a number of cases where, with low objective ophthalmological data, children either did not experience any difficulties at all in mastering the outline of letters, or these difficulties were insignificant, while children who had a better visual state within the limits of low vision allowed a large number of confusions and distortions letters The determining factor was the formation of visual analysis at the time of training; the methods used in teaching letters were also of significant importance (typical cases are described in the dissertation).

During the learning process, difficulties associated with mastering the outline of letters are gradually overcome. By the end of the alphabetic period, the number of letter distortions is significantly reduced. However, for some schoolchildren they turn out to be more persistent, appearing in writing over the next six years of study (older ages were not subject to study). There is no strict dependence of the prevalence of letter distortions on the year of study, starting from the 2nd grade (correlation coefficient - 0.47). The decisive factor in overcoming these violations is control on the part of the teacher, since children rarely read handwritten texts due to the difficulty of understanding them.

Overcoming letter substitutions occurs somewhat differently. As a rule, by the end of the alphabetic period, the vast majority of children have formed differentiated representations of the graphic structures of letters. The discrimination of graphically similar letters is facilitated by the activation of the child’s attention on the graphic side of the letter when correlating different graphic images with the same sound. However, in a later period - in grades 2-5, substitutions of letters similar in style were found in the writing of a significant number of students (64.7% of those surveyed). Moreover, there is no dependence of the prevalence of letter substitutions on the year of study, starting from the 2nd grade (correlation coefficient - 0.3).

Observations of the writing process of visually impaired children, carried out taking into account the state of their vision, show that during this period, in a number of cases, errors in writing letters are explained by weak visual control during the writing process and most often consist of a violation of the number of similar elements (m - n). In the writing of students in grades 2-5 (approximately 6.6%), substitutions based on insufficient discrimination of letter orientation remain. The vast majority of graphic substitutions among visually impaired students in grades 2-5 are associated with insufficient concentration of attention on the graphic side of writing.

Graphic replacements, as shown by previous studies by R.E. Levina, L.F. Spirova, A.V. Yastrebova, have the same conditioning in children with normal vision.

The conclusion concerning the nature of these substitutions in visually impaired students was obtained as a result of long-term observation of their writing and specially designed experiments. Thus, a comparative analysis of the writing of visually impaired students and children with normal vision revealed slight differences in the number of graphic substitutions. The dissertation provides digital material comparing the number of children who allow substitutions and the prevalence of these errors in their writing. He also revealed the common patterns of overcoming mistakes. The correlation coefficient, indicating the distribution of errors across classes, in both cases did not exceed 0.4. The nature of graphic substitutions in the writing of visually impaired students in grades 2-5 was discovered in the process of special training aimed at cultivating attention to the graphic side of writing in children and creating conditions that allow them to free up attention during the writing process to focus it on the graphic side of writing, and was confirmed in the results of this training.

Writing disorders associated with speech underdevelopment

Among the writing disorders associated with deviations in speech development, we primarily included phonemic substitutions of letters. Phonemic substitutions are described in detail in the speech therapy literature (Levina R.E., Lyapidevsky S.S., Nikashin N.A., Spirova L.F., etc.). The sound nature of these errors was confirmed in studies of typhlopedagogues (O. L. Zhiltsova, N. S. Kostyuchek). However, in the practice of working with the visually impaired, this understanding of the nature of these errors has not been adequately reflected.

The analysis of phonemic substitutions carried out in this study found that errors of this type were made by 54.3% of visually impaired students in the 1st grade, 44.1% of students in the 2nd grade, 34.7% of students in the 3rd grade, and 26.6 % of 4th grade students. In public schools, such violations are less common. Research conducted in the speech therapy sector of the Scientific Research Institute of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR, they were found in 23.4% of 1st grade students, 24.9% of 2nd grade students, 28.8% of 3rd grade students, 21.3% 4th grade students. The high prevalence of phonemic substitutions in the writing of children suffering from visual impairments is, at first glance, perceived as a result of optical insufficiency in letter acquisition. However, as the study showed, these replacements are caused by insufficiently clear phonemic representations, and if there is a connection with visual perception, they are mediated by speech development.

Children who allow substitutions of this type have clear and stable representations of the graphic image of mixed letters. Tracing the relationship between substitutions and the state of perception in a number of students showed that the moments of greatest severity of visual impairment and the substitutions under consideration do not coincide. These replacements are not directly related to visual acuity. Thus, of those who made phonemic substitutions, 25% of students had vision from 0.05 to 0.08, 44.6% - from 0.09 to 0.2, and 38.4% had visual acuity exceeding 0.2. In students who made this type of error, phonemic representations were insufficiently clear and stable. The mixing of sounds was determined by their acoustic-articulatory similarity. The dissertation provides a qualitative description of phonemic substitutions found in the writing of visually impaired schoolchildren. Insufficient differentiation of sounds is revealed even when performing oral tasks on their differentiation. The lack of formation of phonemic concepts in a significant number of students is reflected in defects in the pronunciation of sounds. The study provides a description of pronunciation disorders in children that allow phonemic substitutions, and also traces the relationship between pronunciation and writing disorders through analysis of specific cases.

The prevalence of phonemic substitutions varies from student to student, even at the same grade level. The magnitude of error varies widely (from 0.002 to 0.04 and above).

For a significant proportion of schoolchildren, 26 of those examined, letter substitutions act as a sign of partial phonemic underdevelopment, which is easily overcome and very soon ceases to be reflected in writing. 29 students who made phonemic substitutions in writing had a large number of errors associated with general underdevelopment of speech.

Along with phonemic substitutions, agrammatism is a clear expression of speech underdevelopment. It manifests itself in incorrect management and coordination of words, in the inability to separate sentences into words, to isolate sentences from the text and to construct them correctly. Characteristic of such a letter is the merging of two or more words (“onotdalsumku” - he gave the bag), separate writing of elements of one word (“u ran” - ran away), distortion of audible endings (“navetvyav” - on the branches), omission of prepositions, incorrect their use, etc. In the writing of children with normal speech development, such errors are rare, mainly at the initial stage of learning, and are very quickly overcome. The dissertation extensively presents materials on a comparative analysis of the prevalence of these disorders in both groups of children.

Phonemic substitutions of letters and agrammatism are specific violations in the writing of children suffering from speech underdevelopment. These students show a significant number of other errors that coincide with the errors of visually impaired children with normal speech, but they occur in children with speech underdevelopment much more often. The most numerous are omissions and rearrangements of letters and syllables associated with unformed sound analysis, as well as errors in spelling rules. Omissions and rearrangements of letters and syllables were noted in the writing of all children with speech underdevelopment and in 45.4% of children with normal speech. In 20.7% of children with speech underdevelopment, the error value reaches 0.0-4, and sometimes exceeds this limit, while in children with correct speech it ranges from 0.002 to 0.015.

Significant differences were found in the prevalence of the most typical spelling errors in both groups of children, as reflected in the following table.

The writing of both groups of children differs sharply in the frequency of errors encountered in their work. The prevalence rates of all types of errors for the majority of children with normal speech range from 0 to 0.015, for students with speech underdevelopment - in the range from 0.011 to 0.035.

In children with speech underdevelopment, gaps in the lexico-grammatical structure were found to be of varying degrees. Their vocabulary was limited and insufficiently specific. Errors in the verbal designation of objects and phenomena were often generated by ignorance of the semantic content of words and the inability to distinguish them by sound characteristics. The assimilation of rules, each of which formalizes the child’s practical knowledge acquired through speech experience, is based on a certain level of sound and morphological generalizations. The difficulties that arise in the process of mastering rules in children with speech underdevelopment are explained by the immaturity of these generalizations.

In the letters of all visually impaired students in grades 1-5 with speech underdevelopment, substitutions of graphically similar letters were found. Moreover, for most students the error value is significant and exceeds 0.016. It is significant that, in general, the prevalence of graphic substitutions in these children is much higher than in children with normal speech. The materials presented in the dissertation show that the smallest error value (0.002) was noted in 17.2% of children with speech underdevelopment and 42.5% of children with normal speech, the highest (up to 0.04 and higher), respectively, in 54.9 % and 9.1%. The prevalence of graphic substitutions in visually impaired children with speech underdevelopment, as well as in sighted children (according to research materials from the speech therapy sector of the NIID), is associated with the distribution of attention in the writing process: difficulties in speech analysis distract the attention of a visually impaired child from the graphic side of writing, resulting in the appearance of mistakes,

The identified difficulties in writing, as well as the deviations in speech development that cause them, have varying degrees of severity. Speech underdevelopment is mobile. The ratio of different types of errors at different stages of learning is largely determined by which part of the speech system is most impaired.

An individual study of visually impaired students with writing impairments showed that their speech defects are not the same in structure. In some cases, the factors that disrupted the normal course of mastering speech activity in the visually impaired were similar to the causes of speech impairment in children with normal vision. In this case, the basis of speech disorders was either a defect in phonemic perception or deficiencies in the speech motor apparatus. In others, speech impairments were associated with visual defects. Among children with normal visual acuity, only in isolated cases are there children with underdevelopment of speech and writing, in whom deviations in visual perception act as the main primary defect. This phenomenon is observed with optical agnosia.

Our study describes the unique manifestations of speech and writing impairments in visually impaired schoolchildren associated with visual impairment.

The limited capabilities of visual perception, which manifest themselves in the pre-speech period, make it difficult to accumulate subject generalizations. In cases where the conditions for raising a visually impaired child are unfavorable for compensating for the defect, an obstacle to normal speech development is created. Disadvantages of subject generalizations, being included in the chain of speech development, determined by the systemic interaction of speech components, influence the formation of its subsequent links through the transition from one formation to another and often covering all components of speech.

It should be noted, however, that such an influence of visual perception impairments on the formation of speech and writing in visually impaired students occurs only under certain conditions. Based on the material of individual cases that we had, it was possible to trace a variety of circumstances leading to the successful formation of speech and writing, even in the presence of a deeper visual defect and, conversely, with a relatively milder visual impairment, speech and writing were impaired. The formation of speech in the children studied depended not only on the degree of the visual defect and the time of its occurrence, but also on the relationship of the visual defect with other abilities, with the state of the analyzers, acting as compensatory ones, and with the personal characteristics of the child, while the conditions of upbringing were of paramount importance. For children with speech underdevelopment caused by visual defects, preschool education was not sufficiently correct.

The dissertation provides materials from observations of two children with this form of speech impairment during special education.

The peculiarity of writing impairments in this form of speech underdevelopment is that the difficulties in sound analysis turn out to be less pronounced and persistent. This is explained by the primary preservation of auditory and speech motor analysis. The most pronounced and persistent are violations of the lexical and grammatical structure, which characterize the picture of writing impairment as a whole. Mastering the graphic design of letters even with this form of impairment is not, as might be expected, the main obstacle to mastering writing.

FEATURES OF OVERCOMING WRITING DISORDERS IN VISUALLY IMPAIRED CHILDREN WITH SPEECH IMPORTANCE

The essence of correctional work on writing with visually impaired schoolchildren is that, according to the nature of the impairments, overcoming them is associated with the elimination of speech underdevelopment and optical-graphic difficulties in mastering writing. The basic principles and methods used in the work to overcome optical disturbances are described in the thesis through the analysis of specific cases. In this chapter of the dissertation, we discussed in more detail the correction of those writing disorders that are associated with underdevelopment of speech.

Based on the system of speech therapy work developed by the speech therapy sector of the Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR, we combined overcoming writing impairments in visually impaired students with correction of pronunciation, with the development of auditory perception, the development of skills in sound and morphological analysis, and with the development of coherent speech.

In accordance with the individual characteristics of underdevelopment of speech and writing, caused by various factors underlying speech disorders, remedial education was aimed primarily at overcoming the central defect. The principles and guidelines that form the basis of remedial education for children with normal vision and suffering from speech underdevelopment turned out to be quite acceptable in working with visually impaired schoolchildren who experience significant difficulties in mastering writing. However, there is also some originality here. It is determined by the characteristics of speech disorders caused by a visual defect, as well as difficulties in visual perception during the learning process.

The uniqueness of speech disorders in visually impaired schoolchildren primarily concerns the lexico-grammatical structure, the formation of which in children with speech impairment caused by a visual defect is the main direction in correction and is very productive in correcting speech in other forms of speech underdevelopment. The basis of work on the lexico-grammatical structure is the compensation of gaps in the sensory perception of the external world, which arise from defective vision. Learning begins with the restoration of the base that ensures the formation of speech in ontogenesis and its further development.

Teaching visually impaired students required a particularly careful selection of visual material. During the learning process, all children used vision as the main method of perception (with the exception of some students who, at the beginning of their education, were mainly guided by hearing and touch). However, many of the children did not use the functional capabilities of vision, and to mobilize them, special work on organizing visual perception was necessary. Under training conditions, the mental processes that ensure visual perception of reality (identification of basic information features) were also normalized.

In compensating for the lack of visual perception, the word played a fundamental role in its cognitive and organizing function. At the same time, intact analyzers were widely used as support.

As a result of speech therapy work, students' level of speech development noticeably increased, sound analysis skills were developed, and writing impairments associated with speech underdevelopment were overcome. With the overcoming of speech underdevelopment, it became possible to distribute attention during the writing process in such a way that it provides the necessary control over the graphic side of the letter, which helped to overcome the replacement of graphically similar letters in students in grades 2-5.

The study showed that writing impairments in visually impaired schoolchildren with normal hearing and intelligence are determined mainly by two factors. In some cases, they are caused by the direct influence of a visual defect on writing. In others, they are associated with speech underdevelopment. Each type of disorder can occur independently or in combination with another.

The direct impact of visual perception disorders is expressed in substitutions and distortions of letters associated with an insufficiently clear and stable optical representation of their structure; it is reflected in the incorrect arrangement of material on the page, in unfinished filling of it, as well as in a low level of graphic skills, expressed mainly in violation arrangement of elements and letters in relation to each other and the line.

Numerous replacements of graphically similar letters in the writing of visually impaired students in grades 2-5, when the difficulties of mastering the structure of letters have largely been overcome, are overwhelmingly due to insufficient concentration of attention on the graphic side of the letter. These mistakes are typical for children with unstable activity. In “children with speech underdevelopment, insufficient concentration of attention on the graphic side of writing is created by difficulties in speech analysis.

Characteristics of writing disorders associated with speech underdevelopment are phonemic substitutions and agrammatism in combination with numerous other errors that students with normal speech development make. The conditionality of these writing disorders by insufficient readiness of sound and morphological generalizations is confirmed by phonemic and lexico-grammatical defects in their oral speech.

Speech underdevelopment in different children has varying degrees of severity, even at the same level of education, and generally corresponds to the depth of the writing impairment.

Under the influence of schooling, the process of phoneme formation is improved, a vocabulary is accumulated, and a more differentiated use of grammatical forms is formed, however, the gap between the language level and educational material, as a rule, is not eliminated without special correctional work. The ratio of different types of errors at different stages of learning largely depends on the structure of the speech defect.

Speech underdevelopment in visually impaired schoolchildren with writing impairments has a different origin and, accordingly, a different structure of the defect. In some cases, the factors that disrupted the normal course of mastering speech activity in visually impaired children and children with normal vision were similar, while the speech disorders were based on either a defect in auditory perception or deficiencies in the speech motor analyzer. In others, speech impairments were associated with visual defects. Visual impairments that manifest themselves in the pre-speech period make it difficult to accumulate subject generalizations. In conditions of insufficient compensation, this creates an obstacle to normal speech development. Being included in the chain of speech development, deficiencies in subject generalizations influence the formation of subsequent links, as a result covering all its components.

Both types of impairments, optical and speech, create far different obstacles in mastering writing. Optical deficiencies affect the acquisition of literacy only at the initial stage of learning, and they mainly concern the external aspect of writing. Speech - affect the basics of mastering writing and are the cause of academic failure and poor performance of a significant part of visually impaired schoolchildren.

The essence of correctional work on writing with visually impaired students is that, according to the nature of the impairments, overcoming them is associated with the elimination of speech underdevelopment and optical difficulties in writing. When working with visually impaired schoolchildren with speech underdevelopment, the principles and methodological techniques that form the basis of remedial education for children with full vision and speech underdevelopment are acceptable. The uniqueness of working with the visually impaired is determined by the characteristics of speech impairments caused by visual defects, as well as difficulties of visual perception during the learning process.

The study showed that the influence of visual impairments on writing in visually impaired schoolchildren is not only direct. A significant number of disorders, and precisely those that create the main difficulty in mastering writing, are associated with deficiencies in visual perception through speech development. To determine an appropriate method for overcoming writing impairments in each case, a thorough examination is necessary, which helps to discover the nature and structure of the defect.

1. Features of pronunciation, reading and writing in blind and visually impaired schoolchildren. Fourth scientific conference of graduate students and young specialists on defectology. Abstracts of reports. Moscow, 1970.

2. Replacement of letters in the writing of visually impaired students. "Defectology", No. 5, 1971.

3. Graphic errors in the writing of visually impaired schoolchildren. Third All-Union Pedagogical Readings of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of the USSR NIID. Abstracts of reports. Moscow, 1973.