It is customary to include self-esteem (SO) and the level of claims (LE) among the main components of personality.
Claim level- is the desire to achieve goals of varying degrees of complexity. The basis is an assessment of their capabilities.
The self-esteem of a mentally retarded child under normal conditions of upbringing is subject to contrasting changes. When the child is small, when the intellectual defect is not noticeable, as a rule, a permanent situation of success is created. The child has an inadequate (not corresponding to the possibilities) overestimated level of claims, the habit of receiving only positive reinforcements. But when a child enters an educational institution or simply expands his social circle with peers in the yard, a serious blow can be dealt to high self-esteem. In addition, the family can be the source of the child's secondary neuroticism, if the parents are unable to hide their annoyance at the "unsuccessful child" or if the mentally developing brother or sister constantly emphasizes their superiority.
An experimental study of SD in mentally retarded children generally emphasizes its inadequacy towards overestimation.
So, in the work of De Greef, which is one of the first experimental studies of the SD of mentally retarded children, the subjects were presented with the following task: “Imagine that the three circles that you see drawn represent; the first is for yourself, the second is for your friend, and the third is for your teacher. From these circles, draw down lines of such length that the longest goes to the smartest, the second longest - a little less smart, etc. As a rule, mentally retarded children drew the longest line from the circle that denoted themselves. This symptom is called De Greef's symptom.
In general, agreeing with the researcher that the increased self-esteem of mentally retarded children is associated with their general intellectual underdevelopment, general immaturity of the personality, L.S. Vygotsky points out that another mechanism for the formation of a symptom of increased self-esteem is also possible. It can arise as a pseudo-compensatory characterological formation in response to a low assessment from others. L. S. Vygotsky believes that De Greef is deeply wrong when he writes that a mentally retarded child is self-satisfied, he cannot have a sense of his own low value and the desire for compensation that arises from this. L. S. Vygotsky’s point of view is the opposite: he believes that it is precisely on the basis of weakness, from a feeling of one’s own low value (often unconscious) that a pseudo-compensatory reassessment of one’s personality arises.
Thus, one can speak of a lesser dependence of mentally retarded children on the evaluation situation than is observed in their normally developing peers. However, the observed trend should not rule out a differentiated approach to the use of assessment in teaching children of this category, since some of them show low and very fragile self-esteem, which is completely dependent on external assessment. In others, especially in children with moderate and severe mental underdevelopment, the assessment is increased: such children react little to external assessment.
Features of the formation of motor skills in children with mental retardation.
The reason is the insufficient development of visual perception and memory, spatial representation, interanalyzer interaction, manual motor skills in children.
Movement disorders - is a consequence of early damage to the central nervous system.
· Insufficiency of motor development of children with mental retardation adversely affects the mastery of writing and complicates school adaptation.
Inferiority of manual motor skills of children with mental retardation is revealed during the behavior of test exercises, where it is necessary to reproduce a series of certain movements.
Tasks for dynamism:
1. Dynamic
2. Coordination
3. Switched movements
4. Differentiation and rhythmic movements of the hands and fingers
In children with ADHD:
1. It is difficult to control and regulate their movements
2. The kinetic organization of motor acts suffers
3. Violation of muscle tone (fatigue, muscles of the fingers and hands, inaccuracy and exhaustion of movements, impaired consistency and smoothness)
4. It is difficult to reproduce both rows with the same element, and with replacing each other elements of different sizes
5. Do not respect the linearity of the letter
6. Don't master calligraphy
7. Non-memorization and automation of the reproduction of motor formulas of letters
The level of development of fine motor skills is one of the indicators of the intellectual development of a preschooler. Usually a child with a high level of development of fine motor skills is able to reason logically, he has sufficiently developed memory and attention, coherent speech.
1. At preschool age, in children with mental retardation, a lag in the development of general and, especially, fine motor skills is revealed: the technique of movements and motor qualities (speed, dexterity, strength, accuracy, coordination) suffer, psychomotor deficiencies are revealed, self-service skills, technical skills are poorly formed in iso-activity, sculpting, appliqué, design, not being able to properly hold a pencil, brush, not regulating the force of pressure, difficulty using scissors.
2. In-depth diagnostic work is needed to determine the educational needs and opportunities of each child. The education and upbringing of this category of children will be effective only if it is based on the results of an in-depth psychological and pedagogical examination.
3. Diagnostic work should be based on the basic psychological and diagnostic principles recognized by domestic special psychology and correctional pedagogy. When examining, it is necessary to use proven methods and diagnostic techniques for studying preschool children, including children with developmental disabilities.
Features of sensation and perception in preschool children with mental retardation.
Sensation and perception create the basis for the formation of thinking, are necessary prerequisites for practical activity.
The absence of primary deficiencies in vision, hearing, and other types of sensitivity is noted in them:
1. slowness and fragmentation of perception (mistakes in copying text, reproduction of figures according to visually presented samples)
2. Difficulties in isolating a figure against the background and details of complex images
3. absence of primary insufficiency of sensory functions
When the object is rotated by 45 degrees, the time required for image recognition increases in normal children by 2.2%, in children with a delay by 31%. With a decrease in brightness and clarity - by 12% and 47%, respectively.
Well-known environmental objects may not be perceived by the child with a delay when they are seen from an unusual angle, dimly and indistinctly. With age, the perception of children with mental retardation improves, indicators of reaction time improve, reflecting the speed of perception.
1. The reaction time of choice in children with mental retardation is 477 ms (8 years), 64 ms more than in normal children
2. 320 ms - 13-14 years old, 22 ms more than normal children
The slowness of perception in children with a delay is associated with a slower processing of information (slow analytical and synthetic activity at the level of secondary and tertiary cortical zones).
1. Disadvantages of indicative activity
2. Low speed of perceptual operations
3. Insufficient formation of images-representations - fuzziness and incompleteness
4. Poverty and insufficient differentiation of visual images-representations in children with mental retardation of primary and secondary school age
5. Dependence of perception on the level of attention
Corrective classes:
Development of orientation activities
Formation of perceptual operations
Active verbiage of the process of perception
· Making sense of images
Preschool age can be called the period of the most intensive development of the meanings and goals of human activity. The main neoplasm is a new internal position, a new level of awareness of one's place in the system of social relations.
Gradually, the older preschooler learns moral assessments, begins to take into account the sequence of his actions from this point of view, anticipates the result and assessment from the adult. E.V. Subbotsky believes that, due to the internalization of the rules of behavior, the child begins to experience the violation of these rules even in the absence of an adult. Children of the age of six begin to realize the peculiarities of their behavior, and as they learn the generally accepted norms and rules, use them as standards for evaluating themselves and other people.
The basis of initial self-esteem is mastering the ability to compare yourself with other children. Six-year-old children are characterized mainly by undifferentiated overestimated self-esteem. By the age of seven, it differentiates and decreases somewhat. Appears missing earlier self-assessment in comparison with other peers. The non-differentiation of self-esteem leads to the fact that a child of 6-7 years old considers an adult's assessment of the results of a separate action as an assessment of his personality as a whole, therefore, the use of censures and remarks when teaching children of this age should be limited. Otherwise, they develop low self-esteem, disbelief in their own strength, and a negative attitude towards learning.
Important new formations in the development of self-consciousness, associated with the emergence of self-esteem, occur at the end of an early age. The child begins to realize his own desires, which differ from the desires of adults, moves from designating himself in the third person to the personal pronoun of the first person - "I". This leads to the birth of the need to act independently, to affirm, to realize one's "I". Based on the child's ideas about his "I", self-esteem begins to form.
In the preschool period, the self-esteem of a child with mental retardation develops intensively. Crucial in the genesis of self-esteem at the first stages of personality formation (the end of the early, the beginning of the preschool period) is the communication of the child with adults. Due to the lack (limitation) of adequate knowledge of his abilities, the child initially accepts his assessment, attitude and evaluates himself, as it were, through the prism of adults, is entirely guided by the opinion of the people raising him. Elements of an independent self-image begin to form somewhat later. For the first time they appear in the assessment not of personal, moral qualities, but of objective and external ones. This manifests the instability of ideas about the other and about oneself outside the situation of recognition.
Gradually changes the subject of self-esteem. A significant shift in the development of the personality of a preschooler is the transition from the subject assessment of another person to the assessment of his personal properties and internal states of himself. In all age groups, children show the ability to evaluate others more objectively than themselves. However, there are certain age-related changes. In older groups, you can see children who evaluate themselves positively in an indirect way. For example, to the question “What are you: good or bad?” they usually answer like this: I don’t know ... I also obey. A younger child will answer this question: “I am the best.”
Changes in the development of self-esteem of a preschooler with mental retardation are largely associated with the development of the child's motivational sphere. In the process of development of the child's personality, the hierarchy of motives changes. The child experiences a struggle of motives, makes a decision, then abandons it in the name of a higher motive. What kind of motives turn out to be leading in the system clearly characterize the personality of the child. Children at an early age do things on the direct instructions of adults. When performing objectively positive actions, children do not realize their objective benefit, do not realize their duty towards other people. A sense of duty is born under the influence of the assessment that adults give to an act committed by a child. Based on this assessment, children begin to develop a differentiation of what is good and what is bad. First of all, they learn to evaluate the actions of other children. Later, children are able to evaluate not only the actions of their peers, but also their own actions.
The ability to compare oneself with other children appears. From self-assessment of appearance and behavior, by the end of the preschool period, the child is increasingly moving to an assessment of his personal qualities, relationships with others, internal state and is able in a special form to realize his social "I", his place among people. Reaching senior preschool age, the child already learns moral assessments, begins to take into account, from this point of view, the sequence of his actions, to anticipate the result and assessment from the adult. Children of the age of six begin to realize the peculiarities of their behavior, and as they learn the generally accepted norms and rules, use them as yardsticks for assessing themselves and those around them.
This is of great importance for the further development of the personality, the conscious assimilation of norms of behavior, and the following of positive patterns. For children with mental retardation, mostly undifferentiated overestimated self-esteem is characteristic. By the age of seven, it differentiates and decreases somewhat. Appears previously absent assessment of comparing yourself with other peers.
The non-differentiation of self-esteem leads to the fact that a child of six to seven years old considers an adult's assessment of the results of a particular action as an assessment of his personality as a whole, so the use of censures and remarks when teaching children of this age should be limited. Otherwise, they develop low self-esteem, disbelief in their own abilities, and a negative attitude towards learning.
Inadequate low self-esteem can also form in a child with mental retardation as a result of frequent failure in some significant activity. A significant role in its formation is played by defiant emphasis on this failure by adults or other children. Special studies have established the following reasons for the appearance of low self-esteem in a child:
Children with low self-esteem experience a feeling of inferiority, as a rule, they do not realize their potential, that is, inadequate low self-esteem becomes a factor hindering the development of the child's personality.
A person with an increased level of anxiety, namely with personal anxiety, tends to perceive a threat to his self-esteem. As a rule, she develops inadequate low self-esteem. A typical manifestation of low self-esteem is increased anxiety, expressed in a tendency to experience anxiety in a variety of life situations, including those whose objective characteristics do not predispose to this. Obviously, children with such self-esteem are in constant mental overstrain, which is expressed in a state of intense expectation of trouble, growing, uncontrollable irritability, and emotional instability.
Thus, from the foregoing, the following conclusion can be drawn that the preschool period of childhood is sensitive for the formation in the child of the foundations of collectivist qualities, as well as a humane attitude towards other people. If the foundations of these qualities are not formed at preschool age, then the whole personality of the child may become flawed, and subsequently it will be extremely difficult to fill this gap.
Features of the social and personal development of preschool children with mental retardation. The ability to look at oneself from the outside, express attitudes towards one’s behavior and activities, evaluate them (self-assessment) and control them (self-control), change or maintain previous forms of behavior and activity (self-regulation) depending on external circumstances and internal attitudes, etc. - these are the components of self-consciousness and personality.
Self-esteem of children with mental retardation is often inadequate and unstable. They may overestimate their individual successes. Meeting with difficulties leads to the formation of low self-esteem. Preschoolers with low self-esteem choose easier tasks to complete, rather than ones that they can actually solve. The level of claims is low. Self-esteem can be increased through a socially acceptable way of self-realization. It can be music, sports, etc.
Children with mental retardation show a significant lag in the formation of self-control and self-regulation actions in comparison with normally developing peers. When completing tasks, preschoolers make numerous mistakes due to inattention and because they do not remember the rules for completing the task. Mistakes made are not noticed and are not corrected. There is no desire to improve the quality of the work performed. The preschooler remains indifferent to the result obtained. Pupils are characterized by the following features: self-doubt, anxiety, anxiety, the presence of fear of failure and inadequate reactions to success, weak achievement motivation. In a situation of failure, the child has a desire to quit work. Children with mental retardation may have reactions to failure such as autonomic changes, affective reactions, crying, silence, desire to leave the room, refusal to answer or complete the task without having tried all means to obtain the correct result. A positive attitude to tasks that require strong-willed and intellectual efforts, adequate reactions to failure and difficulties in work are formed slowly. Preschoolers are more focused on the reaction of an adult. Thanks to the emotional support of the teacher, the creation of appropriate motivation for correcting mistakes and continuing to complete the task, children with mental retardation are able to overcome difficulties. Preschoolers are eager to cooperate with adults.
The motivational-need sphere of children with mental retardation is disharmonious in terms of the ratio of the real level of development and potential opportunities.
Work description
The purpose of the study: to study the characteristics of self-esteem and the level of aspirations in adolescents with mental retardation.
Research objectives. In accordance with the goal, the following research objectives are defined:
1) a comparative study of the features of the formation of self-esteem in adolescents with mental retardation and normal development;
2) a comparative study of the characteristics of the level of aspirations in adolescents with mental retardation and normal development;
3) study of the level of anxiety in adolescents with mental retardation.
Introduction.
Chapter 1. Theoretical issues of studying children with mental retardation and children with mental retardation of primary school age.
1. 1. Clinical characteristics of children with mental retardation of primary school age.
1. 2. Clinical characteristics of children with mental retardation.
Chapter 2. Features of the formation of self-assessment of the level of claims.
2. 1. Self-esteem and the level of claims as a structural component of personality.
2. 2. The relationship of self-esteem with the level of claims. Determining the level of claims, the criterion of its adequacy.
2. 3. Self-esteem in mentally retarded schoolchildren.
2. 4. Self-esteem in children and adolescents with mental retardation.
2. 5. Formation of self-esteem in children and adolescents with a deficient type of development in conditions of sensory deprivation.
2. 6. The ratio of the level of anxiety and the level of claims in preschool children.
Chapter 3. Practical part.
3. 1. Hypothesis.
Conclusion.
Bibliography.
Applications.
Files: 1 file
2. 4. Self-esteem and the level of claims in children and adolescents with mental retardation.
Research by A.I. Lipkina, E.I. Savonko, V.M. Sinelnikova, devoted to the study of self-esteem of children and adolescents with mental retardation (MPD), showed that for younger students with mental retardation, studying for some time before a special school in general education, low self-esteem and self-doubt are characteristic. Low self-esteem was explained by the authors by the fact that the children experienced long-term learning failures against the background of normally developing students.
Mental retardation (MPD) is a common form of childhood mental pathology and accounts for 2.0% of junior high school students. M. Shipitsyna points out that according to the results of the analysis of the number of children studying in correctional institutions in Russia for 1990-1993. there was an increase in their number by 34 thousand people. At the same time, the greatest changes were observed among children with mental retardation. So, if in 1990/91. the number of students with mental retardation was 16.8%, then already in 1992/93. it accounted for 32.6% among other pathologies of childhood development. According to K.S. Lebedinskaya 50% of the underachieving pupils of primary grades of public schools are children with mental retardation. Currently, there is an unfavorable trend towards an increase in the number of underachieving schoolchildren who cannot cope with the curriculum. Over the past 20-25 years, the number of such students in primary school alone has increased by 2-2.5 times (30% or more). The most numerous risk group is schoolchildren with the so-called mental retardation (MPD).
From a clinical and psychological standpoint, Mental Retardation is considered as one of the variants of mental dysontogenesis, in which the main manifestations are cognitive impairments, deficits in emotional, volitional, motivational spheres and personal immaturity.
I.V. Korotenko came to the conclusion that younger students with mental retardation who receive “positive marks in their address” show a clear desire to somewhat overestimate themselves. This situation is explained by the fact that the own low value of a child with mental retardation is compensated by an “artificial” reassessment of his personality, most likely unconscious by the child. Such psychoprotective tendencies in younger schoolchildren with mental retardation are due, according to I.V. Korotenko, to a certain extent, the pressure of children from significant adults, as well as the peculiarities of their personal development. Thus, according to the author, in children of primary school age with mental retardation, inadequate, often overestimated self-esteem is manifested.
In a study devoted to the study of self-esteem and its relationship with some personal qualities in younger students with mental retardation (studied in correctional classes), it can be concluded that the level of general self-esteem and the level of claims are lower in students with mental retardation than in peers with the norm of mental development, and the level of anxiety is higher. The immaturity of self-esteem in schoolchildren with mental retardation as a personal phenomenon was shown.
G.V. Gribanova, exploring the personality characteristics of adolescents with mental retardation, draws attention to the unstable, immature, uncritical self-esteem and insufficient level of awareness of their "I" by adolescents, which in turn leads to increased suggestibility, lack of independence, instability of the behavior of these children. Moreover, comparing adolescents with mental retardation studying in mass and special schools, we can conclude that in the conditions of special education, the internal criteria for self-esteem in adolescents are sufficiently formed and more stable. On average, self-esteem is lower in adolescents studying in a special school, which is an incentive to critically compare themselves with others, to develop introspection. E.G. comes to similar conclusions. Dzugkoeva, comparing adolescents with normal mental development and adolescents with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin. The researcher showed unstable and often low self-esteem in adolescents with mental retardation, increased suggestibility and naivety. According to I.A. Koneva, adolescents with mental retardation studying in a special school do not show a tendency to negative self-characteristics, in contrast to adolescents studying in correctional and developmental education classes.
Thus, the existing studies of self-esteem in children and adolescents with mental retardation show its certain originality, which, according to researchers, is due to the specifics of a mental defect and the negative influence of microsocial factors.
2. 5. The peculiarity of the formation of self-esteem in children and adolescents with a deficient type of development in conditions of sensory deprivation.
T.V. Rozanova, analyzing the work of D. Jervis, who studies the self-esteem of persons with visual impairments, writes that they tend to evaluate themselves either extremely high or extremely low on the self-esteem scale. That is, the blind consider themselves either incapable of fulfilling their life tasks, or, with overestimated self-esteem, ignore the fact of blindness. Analyzing the studies of T. Rupponen and T. Maevsky, T.V. Rozanova notes that changes in the self-esteem of the blind are associated with adaptation to their condition and with the fact that children with congenital blindness in the process of their development experience several psychological crises associated with the realization that they are not like their peers. And in adolescence, social relations are especially aggravated, as children begin to realize their defect.
The study of the features of the formation of self-esteem in persons with hearing impairments was carried out by: V.G. Petrova, V.L. Belinsky, M.M. Nudelman, A.P. Gozova, T.N. Prilepskaya, I.V. Krivonos et al. These studies have shown that in the development of self-awareness and self-esteem in children with hearing impairments, the same stages are observed as in those who hear, but the transition from one stage to another takes place two to three years later. For example, T.N. Prilepskaya showed that from younger to older school age, there is an increase in the stability of self-assessments and the adequacy of claims. At primary school age, there is a tendency to re-evaluate oneself, the situational nature of self-esteem, depending on the opinion of the teacher. By the eighth grade, there is a greater adequacy of self-assessments, schoolchildren with impaired hearing begin to evaluate their progress more correctly, and the stability of self-assessments also increases.
There are few works devoted to the study of self-esteem in speech disorders (L.S. Volkova, L.E. Goncharuk, L.A. Zaitseva, V.I. Seliverstova, O.S. Orlova, O.N. Usanova, O.A. Slinko, L.M. Shipitsina and others). In them, the study of self-esteem is most often carried out indirectly, not systematically, and not in all categories of children with speech disorders.
In an experimental study by Zh.M. Glozman, N.G. Kalita, analyzing the level of claims in patients with aphasia (with vascular etiology) aged 7 to 60 years, the following data are given: there is a relationship between the level of claims (when performing speech and perceptual tasks) and the severity of the speech defect only in the group of patients with lesions of the anterior parts of the brain, their level of claims is 3 times lower than in patients with mild speech disorders. There was no dependence of the level of claims on the severity of speech defects in patients with lesions of the posterior sections of the speech zone, which is explained by insufficient awareness of one's defect, due to a violation of control and perception of one's own speech. With improved control over one's speech, the level of claims in this group of patients decreased.
2. 6. The ratio of the level of anxiety and the level of claims in preschool children
In a number of studies, indicators of the level of aspiration are directly compared with the anxiety index. So, in the study of M.S. Neimark, a connection was established between emotional reactions and the specifics of changes in the level of claims. N.V. Imedadze, considering the ratio of the level of anxiety and the level of claims in preschool children, established a significant correlation between the indicators of anxiety and the level of claims: in children with a low level of anxiety, the level of claims, as a rule, was close to the actual performance of tasks; with a high level of anxiety, the level of claims was higher than the real possibilities, and even a series of successive failures did not reduce it.
A.M. Prikhozhan in her research showed that the most important source of anxiety is often “an internal conflict, mainly related to self-esteem”. Anxiety as a tendency of a person to experience various situations as threatening, usually reduces the effectiveness of a person's activity, is accompanied by his contradictory behavior.
The following specific features are distinguished in the behavior of anxious children:
1. Inadequate attitude to the assessments of others. Anxious children, on the one hand, are hypersensitive to assessments, and on the other hand, they doubt that they will be assessed correctly.
2. They choose tasks or complex, honorable ones, the fulfillment of which can bring the respect of others, but at the first failures they try to abandon them; or choose tasks obviously below their abilities, but guaranteeing success.
3. Show an increased interest in comparing themselves with others, while avoiding situations where such a comparison can be explicit.
Recognizing the importance of the above data regarding the problem of self-esteem in psychology, as well as its connection with certain personal characteristics, it is worth noting the fact that no such studies have been conducted on children with mental retardation at primary school age. Therefore, the initial idea of our work was to study the height of self-esteem (SE) and its correlation with the level of aspirations (LE) and the level of general anxiety (UT) in younger schoolchildren with mental retardation in comparison with normally developing peers (NPD).
The triad of personal formations was studied: self-esteem, the level of claims and the level of anxiety.
The compared parameters were: the height of self-esteem, the level of claims and the level of anxiety.
Chapter 3. Practical part.
3. 1. Hypothesis.
The hypotheses of our study are the following:
Children with mental retardation are characterized by a qualitative originality of personal development, namely, a decrease in self-esteem and the level of claims, an increase in the level of anxiety (which is determined by the specifics of a mental defect and the negative influence of microsocial factors) in comparison with normally developing peers.
Self-esteem, the level of claims and the level of anxiety in children with mental retardation are interconnected. When one of these characteristics changes, the other two change.
The following methods were used to test the hypotheses:
The Dembo-Rubinstein method was used to determine the level of self-esteem.
The level of claims was studied on the basis of the Schwarzlander technique (Schwarzlander test) (the task was motivated as a test for motor coordination).
To study the level of anxiety, we used the Spielberg-Khanin method of diagnosing the anxiety level self-assessment, where we assessed the “Situational Anxiety” scale and the “General Anxiety” scale. This technique determines the general level of anxiety experienced by the child in recent times, associated with the peculiarities of his self-esteem, self-confidence and perspective assessment.
Table 1
Comparative data on the distribution of students with mental retardation and mental retardation by the level of self-esteem.
Level of general self-esteem |
Children with mental retardation |
Children with the norm of mental development |
||
1. high 2. medium high 3. medium 4. medium low 6. unstable |
||||
As can be seen from Table 1, children with mental retardation were divided into 3 levels of SD: high (17.5%), medium-high (36.8%) and medium (45.6%), and the percentage of children with mental retardation with a high level of total SD per 21.7 less than in children with APD, and with an average level of CO 40.8% more than with APD. An analysis of this phenomenon in both samples using the Mann-Whitney test shows a difference in the level of self-esteem; in children with mental retardation, self-esteem is higher (Uemp Research by A.I. Lipkina, E.I. Savonko, V.M. Sinelnikova, devoted to the study of self-esteem of children with mental retardation (MPD), showed that for younger students with mental retardation, studying for some time before a special school in general education, low self-esteem and self-doubt are characteristic. Low self-esteem was explained by the authors by the fact that the children experienced long-term learning failures against the background of normally developing students. I.V. Korotenko came to the conclusion that preschoolers with mental retardation who receive “positive marks in their address” show a clear desire to somewhat overestimate themselves. This situation is explained by the fact that the own low value of a child with mental retardation is compensated by an “artificial” reassessment of his personality, most likely unconscious by the child. Such psychoprotective tendencies in preschool children with mental retardation are due, according to I.V. Korotenko, to a certain extent, the pressure of children from significant adults, as well as the peculiarities of their personal development. Thus, according to the author, in preschool children with mental retardation, inadequate, often overestimated self-esteem is manifested. In a study devoted to the study of self-esteem and its relationship with some personal qualities in preschoolers with mental retardation, it can be concluded that the level of general self-esteem and the level of claims are lower in preschoolers with mental retardation than in peers with the norm of mental development, and the level of anxiety is higher. The immaturity of self-esteem in preschoolers with mental retardation as a personal phenomenon was shown. G.V. Gribanova, exploring the personality characteristics of children with mental retardation, draws attention to the unstable, immature, uncritical self-esteem and insufficient level of awareness of the child of his "I", which in turn leads to increased suggestibility, lack of independence, instability of the behavior of these children. Moreover, comparing children with mental retardation, we can conclude that in the conditions of special education, the internal criteria for self-esteem in children are sufficiently formed and more stable. E.G. comes to similar conclusions. Dzugkoeva, comparing children with normal mental development and children with mental retardation of cerebral-organic origin. The researcher showed unstable and often low self-esteem in children with mental retardation, increased suggestibility and naivety. According to I.A. Koneva, in children with mental retardation, there is no tendency to negative self-characteristics, in contrast to children studying in classes of correctional and developmental education. Thus, the existing studies of self-esteem in children with mental retardation show its certain originality, which, according to researchers, is due to the specifics of a mental defect and the negative influence of microsocial factors. In a number of studies, indicators of the level of aspiration are directly compared with the anxiety index. So, in the study of M.S. Neimark, a connection was established between emotional reactions and the specifics of changes in the level of claims. N.V. Imedadze, considering the ratio of the level of anxiety and the level of claims in preschool children, established a significant correlation between the indicators of anxiety and the level of claims: in children with a low level of anxiety, the level of claims, as a rule, was close to the actual performance of tasks; with a high level of anxiety, the level of aspirations was higher than the real possibilities, and even a series of successive failures did not reduce it (31, 110). A.M. Prikhozhan in her research showed that the most important source of anxiety is often “an internal conflict, mainly related to self-esteem”. Anxiety as a tendency of a person to experience various situations as threatening, usually reduces the effectiveness of a person's activity, is accompanied by his contradictory behavior (29, 870. The following specific features are distinguished in the behavior of anxious children: 1. Inadequate attitude to the assessments of others. Anxious children, on the one hand, are hypersensitive to assessments, and on the other hand, they doubt that they will be assessed correctly. 2. They choose tasks or complex, honorable ones, the fulfillment of which can bring the respect of others, but at the first failures they try to abandon them; or choose tasks obviously below their abilities, but guaranteeing success. 3. Show an increased interest in comparing themselves with others, while avoiding situations where such a comparison can be explicit.