PhD, Associate Professor N.A. Boyko¹
PhD, Associate Professor V.N. Boyko^1
1Surgut State Pedagogical University, Surgut

Keywords: psychophysical condition, correction, mentally retarded pupils, physical education tools.

Introduction. Mental retardation in children is the most pressing problem in the modern society, since the forms of this disease have a widespread mental pathology.

A good psychophysical condition is the basis for high efficiency standards of mentally retarded schoolchildren in all kinds of academic activities. The imbalance results in a mentally retarded student’s inability to keep up with the learning process at all times, which leads to worsening of his/her psychophysical condition. 

Various movements should be used with mentally retarded children at Physical Education lessons to step up their coordination abilities, since the latter play an important role in improving the psychophysical condition of mentally retarded children. Exercises should involve overcoming coordination difficulties that require precision, speed, rationality in performing coordination wise complex movements as well as resourcefulness in performing these movements under changing conditions [Lyakh V., Vitkovski Z., 2010, p.216].

Physical exercises that improve muscle tone, psychophysical characteristics along with all physical qualities serve as the main tools. They normalize motor activity, visual and auditory response and can also correct and compensate for impaired functions.  

It is proved that physical exercises are effective when they have a certain level of complexity, novelty and load in accordance with the state of the mentally retarded child.

The research objective was to substantiate theoretically and test experimentally the effect of physical education tools in correcting the psychophysical state of mentally retarded senior pupils.

Research methods and structure. The study involved forty adolescents aged 13-16 years diagnosed with mental retardation of the psychogenic origin going to municipal secondary school № 38 of Surgut, split into Study and Reference Groups. In the course of the experiment, the levels of psychophysical indices of the mentally retarded pupils were determined, and the physical education tools for their correction were developed.  

The study was conducted using “Human spatial and temporal characteristics analyser 2” software. The data are presented in Table 1.

Table 1. Comparison of the psychophysical condition absolute rates for the mentally retarded senior pupils from Study and Reference groups at the beginning of the research (n=40)   

As seen from Table 1 the rates in all the psychophysical tests are unreliable and do not differ significantly either in the Study or in the Reference group. The overall psychophysical condition of the mentally retarded children is poor, meaning that they have poorly developed coordination abilities that are manifested in motor coordination, space and time perception, balance, fine motor skills, rhythmical movements as well as simple and complex responses to light and sound.  

Based on the results of the study, we have selected some physical education tools and used them to correct the psychophysical condition of the mentally retarded children at physical education lessons (see Table 2).   

Table 2. Means of physical education for psychophysical condition correction in mentally retarded senior pupils 

The set of special exercises was designed in accordance with the following sections: gymnastics (body conditioning, breathing exercises), sport games (volleyball, basketball) and track and field (relay races, running elements, tennis ball long-distance throwing. At this stage all the exercises are meant to develop coordination abilities and can be used to correct motor coordination, space and time perception, balance, fine motor skills, rhythmical movements as well as simple and complex responses to light and sound.  

The efficiency of physical education tools geared to correct psychophysical condition in mentally retarded senior pupils and determine the significance of the obtained data was checked using the Student’s t-test.    

Results and discussion. Following the use of physical education tools there were improvements in the results of the Study Group members that were low at the beginning of the experiment (simple and complex sensorimotor response; individual minute duration, reproduction of auditory stimulus time interval; sections measurements) (Table 3).   

Table 3. Comparison of the psychophysical condition absolute rates for Study and Reference group pupils at the beginning of the experiment (n=40)   

The data given above show that with the help of special exercises that were performed along with the demonstration, explanation as well as using the game like method, mentally retarded senior pupils had the following characteristics improved: attention focus, sense of rhythm, motor coordination, balance, visual and auditory memory, response to visual and auditory stimuli as well as distance perception. This means that the schoolchildren mostly have a good volitional response as well as stable individual characteristics, which is of great importance at the starting signal. Proactive response, the intensity of which depends on the object’s velocity, significantly improved. The schoolchildren improved their ability to differentiate signals that depend on a variety of possible changes in the environment, which are essential in the situation anticipation factors and reaction not so much to the movement but to preparatory actions. Also, improvements were detected in time perception and orientation abilities.    

Conclusions. Psychophysical condition levels of mentally retarded senior pupils were determined in the course of the experiment. At the beginning of it, low simple and complex sensorimotor responses were observed when the schoolchildren needed to respond to sound and light signals as well as differentiate them. Negative results were observed in distance and time perception. At the prior fact-finding study stage, the psychophysical conditions in both the Study and Reference Groups were tested as low i.e. seriously retarded – that means that the subjects were tested with the poor attention focusing and perception rates.

Based on the prior fact-finding study data, we developed and implemented a special physical education model to correct the psychophysical conditions of the mentally retarded senior schoolchildren. The final psychophysical condition rating tests showed a significant progress of the Study Group children that was interpreted as indicative of the physical education model benefits.

References

1. Lyakh V., Vitkovski Z. Koordinatsionnaya trenirovka v futbole [Coordination training in football]. Moscow: Sovetskiy sport publ., 2010, 216 p.

Corresponding author: physical_science@surgpu.ru

Abstract

Subject to the study were the classified psychophysical conditions of the mentally retarded senior schoolchildren. The study overviewed the special physical education methods applied throughout a school year at physical education classes to correct the psychophysical conditions of the mentally retarded senior schoolchildren. The study team designed a set of exercises to correct motor coordination, space and time perception, balancing, fine motor and movement rhythm control skills, plus the subjects’ simple and complex reactions to light and sound.

Prior to the experiment, the subjects had been most retarded in the simple and complex sensorimotor reactions i.e. differentiated responses to visual and auditory stimuli, with some of the tests designed to rate the space and time perceptions of the subjects. In the prior fact-finding study stage, the psychophysical conditions in both the Study and Reference Groups were tested as low i.e. seriously retarded – that means that the subjects were tested with the poor attention focusing and perception rates.

Based on the prior fact-finding study data, we developed and implemented a special physical education model to correct the psychophysical conditions of the mentally retarded senior schoolchildren. The final psychophysical condition rating tests showed a significant progress of the Study Group children that was interpreted as indicative of the physical education model benefits.