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The article is of a theoretical pattern and summarizes the scientific statements and research of recent studies. The theoretical provisions and the program document, which substantiate the content and guide of the development of special preschool education are presented.

The relevance of the article consists in the analysis of modern preschool education for children with cerebral palsy. The article describes the mental and physical characteristics of children with cerebral palsy of preschool age, which indicate special educational needs and the need for special correctional and developmental work. The provisions on the psychodiagnostics of children with cerebral palsy are given; the principles for drawing up an individual educational route are shown. On the basis of materials of Russian studies and recommendations, the variants of educational programs that are prescribed for children with disorders of the musculoskeletal system of various severity are presented. The article also contains material on the international experience for organization of preschool education for children with cerebral palsy. Using the example of Polish preschool education, an approach is shown that includes general and special technologies and directions for teaching children. On the basis of the regulations on education in the United States, the organizational and pedagogical conditions for preschool children with cerebral palsy are shown. The author of the article considers individual educational plans that regulate the upbringing and education of children with special educational needs. The article presents a North American study that found a correlation between the mobility of children and their socialization. The results of this study and practical recommendations are presented: the overall social activity of a child in a group depends on his/her motor abilities and the development of interaction (as communication skills and interaction with other children). In conclusion, based on a comparative analysis, the similarity of the scientific positions in Russia and other countries regarding the content of preschool education for children with cerebral palsy is shown. The role of preschool institutions in the development and socialization of children with cerebral palsy has been substantiated.

Paper describes the main approaches to the social and personal development of children of preschool age. The main attention has been paid to the fact that a kindergarten group, as a genetically early stage of social organization, creates the necessary conditions for the development of children’s contacts in the process of an independent and joint activity, the acquisition of communication skills with peers “on equal terms” in a variety of educational situations necessary for the development of a child’s personality.

The methodological basis of the study is the concept of child development as a subject of a child activity and behavior (T.I. Babaeva, A.G. Gogoberidze). Theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of the social and personal development of a child, analysis of PhD dissertations, defended at the Early Childhood Education Department of the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia from the second half of the 20th century to the present was applied as an objective analytical tool.

The main directions of social and personal development of preschoolers, the personal characteristics in the interaction of preschool children with peers have been described. The indicators and conditions for the development and upbringing of the independence of preschool children have been revealed.

The paper is the second one in a series of articles dealing with issues of the development of character creativity in preschoolers, which we consider as a kind of play activity, when the figures of different characters engaging in the plots, are embodied using expressive movements and bodily plasticity. The article clarifies the similarity of character creativity with play (improvisation, performance of the role, etc.). The psychological and pedagogical conditions for the development of character creativity in children at age 3-4 are provided, which guarantee the development of basic visual-acting ideas about the simplest expressive opportunities of the language of movements for the embodiment of a character and “wordless” communication. The basic methodological principles of working with younger preschoolers are explained based on teaching them a language of expressive movements – through two main methods: the development of emotional-movement interaction and the development of the ability to embody different characters. Each stage of the work process in these directions is given: learning the simplest ways to embody different characters (from external acts and properties to internal qualities of the character) and communication by gestures with a game partner (a doll, an adult in the role of a character). The article gives a brief summary of the characteristics of additional methods helping to develop productive imagination, expressiveness of movement and elements of compositional creativity. The results of the development of character creativity in children at age of 3-4 are shown: different characters are embodied schematically through single movements indicating their actions; as well as through fragments providing a character’s emotions or a character’s plasticity through a complex combination of expressive movements of the hands, arms, legs, feet, head and body. The main result achieved by young preschoolers was the initial development of the ability to perform both meaningful and arbitrary expressive movements.

This article presents findings from theoretical research on the issues of studies with children conducted by educators in terms of applying psychological and pedagogical characterization as a strategy. The aim of this study is to uncover the specifics of applying this strategy and compare it with the strategy of observation. The methodological basis is activity and competency-based approaches, whereas the main method of study is a theoretical analysis of the psychological and pedagogical body of literature on this issue. As a result of the research, an understanding of the above mentioned strategy in the entirety of its aims, principles, milestones, and outcomes was achieved. The study shows that psychological and pedagogical characterization as a strategy for the study of children follows the general logic of scientific research in terms of the sequence of its stages (planning, content-organization, analytic-outcome, and prognostic) and that it is implemented through special diagnostic terms of reference. A diagram of the characterization, the structure of which reflects the complex of aims and stages in the study of a child, functions as guidance for the strategy. Part of the diagram describes the most significant markers and directions of psychological development (the level of achievement for different kinds of activity; cognitive, speech, social, and motor development; the particularities of a child’s personality and their individuality) as the basis for a psychological portrait of the child. The resulting part of the diagram includes conclusions drawn from the comparison and synthesis of the obtained facts according to the principles of scientific research and a tentative prediction of a child’s further development. The improvement of the algorithm for evaluating the text of the characterization according to the aims and principles of its composition is an important direction for the perfection of the strategy. The criteria of the characterization are the integrity of the child’s psychological portrait, the quality of conclusions and established pedagogical recommendations, and the position of the educator in their interaction with the child at the information gathering stage.

This article deals with issues connected with the development of character creativity in preschoolers. They give а short review of approaches to understanding the nature of expressive movement (in the field of psychology, psychophysiology, and art criticism). The definitions of key concepts are provided: (character, character creativity, performance and compositional creativity, etc.). Character movements are considered to be arbitrary expressive movements. For preschoolers, learning such movements supports the development of a wide range of abilities such as creative, communicative, and regulatory competence. The author explains the underlying principles of their methods for character creativity development in toddlers and preschoolers, which is based on teaching children the language of movements. This method is contrasted with the traditional approach to creativity development in preschools as exemplified by expressive (dance) movements.

The key actors in the normative interaction situations are a child and an adult. It is an adult, who is broadcasting rules to the child, and who can evaluate the degree of congruence of the child as a subject of culture (of the normative situation). The paper presents an analysis of the psychology of the child’s correspondence with the rules of culture – cultural congruence. Education of the individual in a culture is the formation of the creative potential of the child, based on the capacity of critical analysis and reflection. The authors emphasize that the education of the individual requires means that differ from those that are needed for raising the subject. The article describes a technique for identifying the cultural congruence among 5-6 years old children. The method is based on the identified range of human interaction in the social situations between the child and the adult. It allows to determine compliance of the child with the standards on the basis of indicators of five scales which together form integral indicator of cultural congruence.

Background. Achieving the quality of preschool education is a priority area of the state educational policy. In this regard, the problem of finding effective mechanisms for the innovative development of the preschool educational system, which guarantees high-quality education for children, is being actualized. The solution of this problem dictates the need to appeal to the creative heritage of scientists recognized in the scientific community, whose works lay the methodological and methodological foundations of children’s education, organized from the standpoint of preserving the self-worth of preschool childhood. One of these scientists is L.A. Paramonova, whose scientific work has largely determined the leading lines of development of preschool education since the 1970s, and has not lost its relevance at the present time.

Objective. Scientific understanding of L.A. Paramonova’s creative heritage and consideration of its potential in solving topical issues of modern preschool education.

Methods. A retrospective and contextual analysis of L.A. Paramonova’s scientific work in the aspects of its contribution both to the development of science about childhood and to the development of modern practice of preschool education.

Results. The analysis of L.A. Paramonova’s scientific heritage has revealed a completely new approach to understanding both the essence of child construction and the mechanisms of its formation as a creative activity. Firstly, L.A. Paramonova’s construction, unlike other scientists, is considered as an independent children’s activity, and not as a game or a means of labor education. Secondly, she interprets construction not only as a practical activity for making specific crafts, but also as a general thinking ability that manifests itself in the creative process of creating various entities (structures, drawings, poems, etc.) and endowing them with individual meanings. This mental ability is the basis for the development of not only design, but also other types of children’s activities. The undoubted merit of L.A. Paramonova is the definition of psychological mechanisms for the formation of creative construction, which she refers to the development of imaginative thinking, productive imagination, the organization of children’s experimentation with new material, the formation of generalized methods of construction. Taking into account these mechanisms, she created a system for the formation of creative design in children aged 2–7 years. Of great importance for the further development of the problem of development in preschool childhood are the highlighted L.A. Paramonova (co-authored) the basic qualities of a child’s personality, acting as a psychological guideline for the organization of the developing educational process.

Conclusion. The new strategy presented in L.A. Paramonova’s researches for the formation of creative design in preschool children, as well as the developed basic qualities of the child’s personality, contribute to solving such fundamental problems of pedagogical and psychological science as the problem of the ratio of learning and creativity; development of children’s activities and the child in it; consistency in learning; determining the principles and content of developmental education in preschool as a child. Scientific work of L.A. Paramonova, who made a significant contribution to enriching the idea of A.V. Zaporozhets’s statement about the role of “specifically children’s activities” in the full-fledged development of a child has not lost its relevance today, and is significant both for pedagogical science and for the practice of preschool education.