Dr. Sci. (Psychology), Professor at the Faculty of Psychology, Meritorious Autonomous University of Puebla, Mexico; Faculty of Sciences for Human Development, Autonomous University of Tlaxcala, Mexico, Federal Center for Psychological and Multidisciplinary Research, Moscow, Russian Federation
Background. Preschool age is a period of great importance for psychological development and preparation for school. One of the activities that must be formed in preschool age is visual activity, which is of great importance for the overall development of a preschooler. Involving children in visual activity is a step necessary for forming a solid neuropsychological foundation that will determine their success not only at school, but also in life in general.
Objective. The purpose of this study was to apply a program for gradual formation of drawing skills and determine its impact on development in preschool age.
Sample. This study involved 9 preschool children - third-grade students of a preschool institution. A qualitative assessment of visual activity was applied to all participants before and after inclusion in the experimental program.
Methods. To achieve this goal, an intervention program was implemented, which consists in gradually teaching drawing to children in their third year of preschool attendance (Solovieva, Quintanar, 2016). All children were given the same qualitative assessment tool for the development of drawing skills before and after the application of the program (Solovieva, Quintanar, 2016).
Results. The data obtained allow us to state an improvement in the results of the final assessment, which revealed qualitative and quantitative changes.
Conclusions. It was shown that the program for the gradual formation of drawing skills had a positive effect on the acquisition of visual activity.
Background. The process of intellectual ontogenetic development and the ways for its evaluation have been studied by many prominent psychologists Piaget (1973), Wallon (1942), Zaporozhets (1986), Galperin (1998). However, there are few works which consider the zone of proximate development (Vygotsky, 1983) during evaluation of intellectual development in children.
Objective. The present study is an attempt of elaboration and application of such procedure to children who live in different social and economic conditions.
Sampling. The study took place in Mexico. 1120 school children of both sexes from different levels of living (rural, suburban, lower urban and higher urban) were selected. The age of children was from 6 to 12 years. Each socio-economic group consisted of 280 children: 20 children from each school grade (10 girls and 10 boys). The school grades comprehend the last grade of kinder garden and 6 grades of elementary school according to educational system in Mexico.
Methods. The Scheme of Evaluation of Intellectual Development was elaborated and applied to all children. The Scheme represents the evaluation of the zone of proximate development as the plan of fulfilment of the experimental task (verbal, images or actions) after presentation of orientation base of action (Galperin, 1976; Talyzina, 1984; Karpov, 1983; Talyzina, Karpov, 1987). The Scheme consists of two intellectual tasks, which are presented in different plans of intellectual development: verbal, images or actions.
Results. At first, the possibility of initial execution without helping has been verified. The results showed impossibility of execution of the initial task: 82% in rural group; 74.64% in suburban group; 64.64% in lower urban group and 71. 42% in higher urban group for the first task and 65.35% in rural group; 62.50% for suburban group; 52.85% for lower urban and 46.42% for higher urban group. The analyses of variance pointed out significant difference between the groups. However, that, after the orientation base of action has been provided, the majority of children who had failed in the initial task was able to realize it on different levels. The execution on verbal level was very high: 62.17 % in rural group; 61.27% in suburban group; 75.30% in lower urban group and 77.95% in higher urban group for the first task and 48.00% in rural group; 56.80% for suburban group; 59.58% for lower urban group and 66.14% in higher urban group for the second task. Significant difference was found only for levels of helping during presentation of orientation base of action.
Conclusions. These results show the ability of children from all groups to work in the zone of proximate development and realize the intellectual task after previous orientation. According to our study children are able to achieve verbal level which indicates the existence of broad zone of proximate development. The discussion is based on the paper of the zone of proximate development (Vygotsky, 1991) and of the orientation base of action given by adult (Galperin, 1996; Talizina, 2000) in the formation of intellectual activity in pre-scholars and scholars from different social and economic groups.
Creative imagination is studied at the materialized, perceptual and verbal levels in school-age children. Fifty children from a private school in Puebla, Mexico participated. An evaluation protocol was applied in a collaborative and interactive way under the concept of the zone of proximal development that involves the participation of the evaluator and the use of various types of support: dialogic conversation, repetition of instruction and orientation questions. The results reveal that children access materialized and perceptual action tasks more easily than verbal ones. These results are discussed in terms of the possible implications of the development of creative imagination for school age.
Child neuropsychology studies brain functional causes of learning disabilities. Such causes might be conformed as types or neuropsychological profiles, each of which might be commonly established during neuropsychological clinical assessment.
The aim of the article is to show the possibilities of historical and cultural approach in neuropsychology for conformation and study of such qualitative profiles. The authors, basing on own experience during more them two decades of direction of neuropsychological assessment, present types of neuropsychological profiles, which are common in Russia and Mexico in cases of learning disabilities, according to diversity of different errors and mistakes found in each particular case.
It’s interesting to notice that there are both coincidence and difference within the process of identification of neuropsychological profiles by specialists. The article discusses the necessity of continuation of clinical analysis of syndromes as typical and atypical qualitative profiles in order to understand and provide optimal assessment and treatment in cases of learning disabilities.