Special Issue
MHGC Proceeding – 2021
Mental Health: Global Challenges Journal
https://mhgcj.org ISSN 2612-2138
INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES IN PRESCHOOLERS: MENTAL
HEALTH DETERMINANTS DURING THE PRENATAL, NATAL
AND POSTNATAL DEVELOPMENT STAGES
Oksana Boriak, Anna Chobanian, Oleksandr Kolyshkin, Yurij Kosenko,
Tetiana Dehtiarenko, Alla Kolyshkina
Sumy State Pedagogical University Named After A.S. Makarenko, Sumy, Ukraine
Abstract
Introduction. A person’s mental health is a successful performance of a mental function, the
result of which is a productive activity, establishing relationships with other people and an ability
to adapt to change and cope with adverse life circumstances. Particularly acute is the issue of
the potential negative impact of impaired development on the mental health and social
functioning of children with mental and physical disabilities.
Purpose. The purpose of the paper was to identify correlations between the mental health
indicators of mentally retarded preschoolers and the specifics of the prenatal, natal and
postnatal stages of their development.
Methodology. Analysis of special medical, psychological and pedagogical literature;
comparison and systematization of research material to determine the mental health indicators
of preschoolers of mild and moderate degrees of mental retardation; mathematical methods
of statistics.
Results and Discussion. These studies show that the events of the prenatal/natal period have a
significant impact on the further life of the child. It is a clear fact that close interaction between
the mother and the unborn child is confirmed (the child learns to perceive the world together
with the mother). However, for the relatively harmonious mental health and social functioning of
a child with mental retardation, the mother’s behavior after the birth of the child is of
paramount importance. This study does not reveal the entire specifics of mental health
indicators of MRP, because the article presents the results of a study covering senior preschool
age. School-age children were left out of consideration.
Conclusions. The obtained results confirm the conditionality of mental retardation by negative
factors of prenatal, natal and postnatal stages of development. It is important to correctly
diagnose the existing manifestations of mental health disorders exactly at the preschool age, in
order to implement appropriate measures for correction and development
Keywords
mental health, preschool age, mental retardation, psychophysical development disorders,
determinants.
Address for correspondence:
Dr. Oksana. V. Boriak, Sumy State Pedagogical University named after A.S. Makarenko, Sumy,
Ukraine.
e-mail: oksana_boriak@ukr.net
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-
Noncommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
©Copyright: Boriak, 2021
Licensee NDSAN (MFC- Coordinator of the NDSAN), Italy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32437/mhgcj.v4i2.112.