PECULIARITIES OF PHYSICAL FITNESS OF 5–6 YEARS OLD CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION WITH DIFFERENT TYPES OF POSTURE

Abstract

The relevance of the problem. The fundamental changes taking place in the modern cultural and educational space, social demands and needs affirm the idea of the priority of childhood as the most crucial period of personality development. The problem of preschool children with mental retardation (MR) has long been an acute issue for psychological and pedagogical science. It is in preschool age that a child's personality is formed, his or her physical and spiritual culture is shaped – the basis for harmonious development as the beauty of the human soul and healthy body. The purpose of the study – to determine peculiarities of physical fitness of 5–6 years old children with ASD. Research methods: analysis and synthesis of professional scientific literature, pedagogical observation, posture photography, pedagogical testing of physical fitness, methods of mathematical statistics. The study was conducted on the basis of the preschool education institution (nursery – kindergarten) in Brovary. Brovary "Golden Fish". The study involved 15 children (aged 5–6 years, including 7 girls and 8 boys). It was found that the average group value when performing the test exercise for static body balance with closed eyes was 2.7 s, and it was within the interval between the extremes of 2.1 s and 3.5 s. With the eyes open, the arithmetic center was noted at 7.31 s, and in general, the individual data ranged from 7 s to 7.5 s. If these data are compared with the age norms for the test, it can be argued that none of the subjects reaches the expected values from the standpoint of norms, which for children of 6 years old are 4 s with closed eyes and 9 s with open eyes. The study also made it possible to determine that the children generally had an average level of flexibility during the flexibility exercise, as evidenced by the distribution limits (from 3 to 5 cm) and the average value in the group ( =4,07). Consideration of these indicators separately for boys and girls allows us to establish that the average values of body balance indicators in boys were lower (by 19.4% with closed and 2.83% with open eyes) than in girls. Similarly, in terms of flexibility, girls had an advantage, as they were capable of a deeper (10.2%) spinal bend. The analysis of the results of pedagogical testing of the level of physical fitness of 5–6 year old children with ASD showed that the development of coordination abilities and spinal flexibility does not reach the norms for their age. This conclusion is equally true for both boys and girls in this category, although girls were much more able to maintain body balance than boys.