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Relevance. The article is devoted to the search for opportunities that are provided to a child in modern childhood. Modern childhood, on the one hand, provides children with extraordinary opportunities for development, such as the use of digital devices to implement various ideas, mastering various aspects of culture not only from books, but also through direct acquaintance with the original cultural samples in various museums in different countries. But on the other hand, the wide opportunities associated with travel and acquaintance with modern achievements of science and technology simultaneously generate situations of uncertainty in which children find themselves: for example, such as a pandemic. Society faces the task of realizing the changes that humanity is facing. Flights into space, robotization processes, the emergence of artificial intelligence, etc. poses a new problem of learning. Children and adults are increasingly in a situation of uncertainty.

The aim of the study. To show the possibilities of developmental therapy from the perspective of developmental psychology and psychotherapy on different groups of children.

Description of the research progress. The study was conducted on a group of children who survived the terrorist attack in preschool and primary school age (Beslan, 2004 – 40 children) and children who found themselves in a situation of emotional distress and stress during the pandemic (2020–2021 – 20 children). Group and individual classes were held in offline and online format.

Results. There is a very special task of restoring the normal course of mental development of those children who have experienced unusual situations associated with existential experiences. The possibilities of meeting with negative situations gives rise to fear of the future, which slows down children’s development and limits the horizon of the formation of the personality of a modern person. Studies show that methods aimed at the development of children in certain conditions can achieve a stable psychotherapeutic effect and emotional harmonization, and can be used to work, including with fears. It was shown that such tools as visual models and the author’s symbol can be used for development and psychotherapy, which is developmental therapy in conditions of unpredictable future and uncertainty.

Conclusion. Adaptation to the challenges of the time is becoming one of the important tasks of supporting the development of a modern child. One of the forms of such support is developmental psychotherapy, the theoretical foundations of which are set out in the proposed article.

Vygotsky theory of higher mental functions formed the basis of understanding of the abilities and means of development. Abilities develop in childhood, providing “entry” in the culture and successful acquisition of different activities throughout life. Development of Vygotsky’s ideas formed understanding of the mechanisms leading to the formation of abilities in preschool childhood through the mastery and use of child preschool imagery tools. The following mental abilities and tools that promote development were identified: sensory (means – sensory etalons), intellectual (means – graphic-shaped models), creative (means – images) and symbolic (means – symbols). The use of imagery means for development of these types of abilities helps the child to deal with complex cognitive and creative tasks with a little help from an adult, i.e. extends the zone of proximal development. Adult acts as both a carrier of culture and as a partner of the child in various activities (educational, play, graphic etc.). Such approach to education and training not only provides intellectual and creative, but also personal and social development of preschool child.

Background. In recent years, preschoolers have increasingly become using digital devices, which undoubtedly has an impact on their development, including the development of executive functions. Direct involvement of parents in children’s digital activities can have both positive and negative effects on preschoolers’ executive functions development, as well as on the parental burnout.

Objectives. To investigate the relationship between children’s use of digital devices and their level of executive functions, considering the level of parental burnout and parental involvement in their children’s digital use.

Sample. The study involved 115 children (61.7% boys, 38.3% girls) aged 5–6 years (M = 5.8 years; SD = 3.628). They were all attending preparatory groups in kindergartens in Moscow. Their parents also participated in the study.

Methods. To diagnose the development of executive functions (working memory, inhibition and cognitive flexibility), the NEPSY-II battery (subtests “Sentences Repetition”; “Memory for Designs”; “Inhibition” and “Statue”) (Korkman et al., 2007) and the “Dimensional Change Card Sort” (Zelazo, 2006) technique were used. To study the use of digital devices among preschoolers, we developed a questionnaire for parents that asked about frequency of use and rules regarding digital device use. The Parental Burnout Assessment (Roskam et al., 2018, adapted by Egorova & Starchenkova, 2019) was used to assess parental burnout.

Results. Children who have rules in their family about limiting the time they use digital devices have better visual working memory. Parental burnout does not contribute to any of the links between sharing digital devices with adults and executive functions, or between screen time and executive functions.

Conclusions. It has been shown rules regarding practice of digital device usage correspond to higher level of executive functions of children.