Dissatisfied Behavior
Carroll 5 amp; Natalia N Tarasenko
1Faculty of Humanities, Ulyanovsk State University, Ulyanovsk, Russia.
2 Institute of Childhood, Department of psychological anthropology, Moscow State University of Education, Moscow, Russia.
3Department of management of nursing activities and social work, The Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University, Moscow, Russia.
4 Department of psychology, Historical and Sociological Institute, Mordovia State University N.P. Ogarev, Saransk, Russia.
5School of Health and Social Care, College of Social Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom.
6 State University of Humanities and Social Studies, Kolomna, Russia.
Abstract: This article is devoted to the problem of introduction and implementation of inclusive education. This work contains psychological aspects and conditions of forming parents’ personal position and attitudes who bring up children with limited abilities in relation to inclusive education. Main principles and approaches of their psychological support have been determined for the purpose of ensuring successful integration of children with limited abilities into the inclusive educational environment. The model of psychological and pedagogical support for the family under the conditions of inclusive education was presented. It has been grounded that psychological and pedagogical support at the stage of a child’s entry into the inclusive educational environment must be directed towards the search for the parents’ internal resources who bring up (foster) children with special needs for the purpose of harmonizing and improving their psychical state, raising the level of their resilience, an ability to overcome difficulties by means of building up personal resources. It has been proved that modern psychological support for parents under conditions of inclusive education will help to neutralize and reduce the extent of emotional stress expressiveness which will consequently lead to the child’s defect acceptance and hence, it will provide his further integration into society. The formation and raising social competence in the course of the parents’ interaction with their and other children contributes to the acceptance of stable tolerant attitudes and development of their readiness to cooperate with the participants of the educational process which is the factor of successful building the inclusive educational environment. The article can be of use to psychologists-practitioners, pedagogues, pedagogues- psychologists as well as staff members of educational institutions.
Keywords: inclusive education, children with limited health abilities, the system of psychological and pedagogical support for the parents.
Introduction
At the contemporary stage of our society’s development the purpose of the state policy is to form a tolerant and humanistic attitude to people with limited health abilities. As a result of this, the issue of organizing integrated education that allows a child with limited abilities to be involved in the education process together with healthy peers despite impairments in development is becoming especially important. As researchers note, in the history of the human society development a long way has been covered from the society’s dictate ordering to get rid of handicapped infants to understanding the necessity of rendering assistance to such people (Tarasenko, 2001; Lopatkova, 2011; Mikhaylovsky, 2017; Shukshina et.al., 2017; Gnedova et.al., 2015; Masalimova & Shaidullina, 2017; Kalinina et.al., 2016; Gorev et al., 2017). At present in the Russian system of education the issue of implementing integrated education is the most disputable. The term «integrated education» was replaced with «inclusive» in international practice. Т.V. Volosovets (2011) in her work gave the definition of the concept of inclusive
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods ISSN: 2251-6204
Vol. 8, Issue 1, January2018
Page 175
education as joint learning and upbringing under specially created conditions including the organization of joint classes, leisure activities, various types of additional education of people with limited abilities and people without such limitations. N.N. Malofeyev (1996) defines inclusive education as the process of joint upbringing and learning for people with limited health abilities together with their peers who do not have health impairments. The result of this process is progress in social development of people with abnormalities in their development. In our opinion, the UNESCO gave the most universal definition of the concept «inclusive education» that consists in interpreting it as the holistic phenomenon which presupposes equal access to education of all children without exception. Humanity and rights protection of people who have limited abilities underlies this concept. The introduction of inclusive education in our country is an innovative process owing to which a number of questions and problems arise (Lopatkova, 2015; Efimova et.al., 2015; Kalinina & Kalinin, 2016; Mitin, 2016).
Methodological Framework
One of the serious problems is accepting the children with health impairments by a group of healthy peers as well as the presence of negative attitudes and social prejudices in relation to such children from the participants of the educational and foster process. The results of multiple studies serve as the confirmation of that. For instance, Е.R. Yarskaya-Smirnova and I.I. Loshakova (2002) point out that the opinions of teachers and parents regarding the organization of the integrated educational environment depend on the character of disorders in children’s development. For example, this study testifies that about 70 % of parents consider the learning of healthy children and children with the locomotive system disorders possible whereas only 40 % of teachers stick to the same opinion. Regarding the children who have other health impairments the opinions were divided in the following way: only 36 % of healthy children’s parents took a positive view of the joint learning of children with speech, hearing and eyesight disorders but the number of teachers was 20 %. Thus it is not difficult to trace the tendency that among teachers there is a predominantly negative attitude, then among the healthy children’s parents though the percentage of them is also great (Tarasenko, 2010; Shukshina et.al., 2017; Khammatova & Mikhaylovsky, 2013; Kalinina, 2017; Masalimova & Chibakov, 2016; Lipatova et.al., 2015). The cause of this can be the fact that teachers are unprepared for this situation, lack of required knowledge in the field of special training and lack of skills of working with such children. People’s insufficient awareness of the disability problem also can be the cause of forming the «wrong» attitude to such people. In our opinion, one of the conditions of successful integration of children with limited abilities into the educational environment is an adequate perception and assessment of one’s own abilities by these children, the formation of which depends on their parents’ life position and attitudes. In this connection psychological support of families that have a child with developmental impairments and who studies in the integrated educational environment becomes necessary. The family is the closest social environment of a child. The acceptance of a disabled child by the family is the key factor of accepting him by society. The process of forming the parents’ personal position and attitude to inclusive education, in our opinion, depends on personal peculiarities of people of this category. In this connection we would like to give some data of our study concerning the investigation of these people’s personal specific features. For instance, the mothers of children with developmental impairments are characterized by pessimism, a passive life position prevails, there is a deformation of life values, a low level of self-esteem. According to our ideas, these personal features exert influence on the attitude formation and personality orientation. In the course of our research with the help of the testing questionnaire «Lifestyle index» («Life Style Index» (LSI) by R. Plutchick, G. Kellerman, Ch. R. Chonte (1979) adapted by Е. S. Romanova & L. R. Grebennikov, 1996) we also studied the peculiarities of psychological protection mechanisms of people of this category. The results of research lead to some disputable reflections. The predominant type of psychological protection in the group of parents who bring up children with limited abilities is the negation. The negation in parents bringing up children with limited abilities manifests itself, more likely in the negation of those feelings and emotions that the child’s defect exists. Being aware of the fact that their child has limited abilities, developmental defects is the traumatizing fact for their psyche that leads to the activation of
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods ISSN: 2251-6204
Vol. 8, Issue 1, January2018
Page 176
protective mechanisms of the psyche. The results of the correlation analysis of the psychological protection types and self-esteem peculiarities arouse a special interest. For example, we have found that there is a positive correlation relationship between the activation of the psychological protection mechanism identical to the negation and elevated self-esteem on the scales «self-confidence», «stress resilience», «optimism». Owing to this we can conclude that through the activation of the psychological protection mechanism similar to the negation the emotional state optimization takes place and neutralization of a frustrating factor in people of this category. Long action of primitive psychological protection types embraces behavioral, affective and cognitive spheres and leads to lack of criticism, distorted perception of the reality. Internal emotional strain, emotional turmoil and unresolved intrapersonal conflict caused with the mismatch between public expectations and a constant sense of guilt increase the probability of developing neuroses and psychical disorders of various types in parents of this category. Distorted perception by the parents who bring up children with special needs of the reality and situation on the whole leads to «wrong» perception of these children which may have influence both on upbringing styles and on intra-family relationships and further life of the child in society. To successfully integrate children with disabilities into society, it is necessary that they be perceived adequately and accepted, first of all, by their parents. In the context of inclusive education, in addition to psychological support for participants in the educational process, it is required to provide comprehensive and systematic psychological and pedagogical support to families raising children with developmental disorders. In contemporary pedagogical psychology, there is a tendency to develop the issues related to psychological assistance to teachers and students in the context of inclusive education, of specific features of integration and success of their adaptation. The issues of psychological and pedagogical support in this situation for parents with disabled children, the issues increasing their social competence are not sufficiently developed (Tarasenko, 2011; Shukshina et.al., 2016; Kalinina et.al., 2017; Masalimova et.al., 2014; Mitin et.al., 2017; Salakhova et.al., 2017; Vasyakin et.al., 2015). With the introduction of inclusive education, the issue of creating favorable conditions for children with disabilities in order for them to live in a society of healthy children is becoming more important. Due to this, the issue of creating the model of psychological and pedagogical support for the family in the context of inclusive education is topical. In our opinion, the model must be built in accordance with the following principles: the humanistic orientation of psychological assistance, the harmonization of an intra-family atmosphere, the formation of a positive attitude toward the child with developmental disorders, the optimization of educational methods and the integrated use of psychological, pedagogical, psychotherapeutic methods, cooperation and interaction of all participants of the educational and upbringing process. Psychological and pedagogical support at the stage of the child’s entering the inclusive educational environment should be aimed at finding the internal resources of the individual parents who bring up children with developmental disorders, at harmonizing and optimizing their mental state, improving their resilience, and overcoming difficulties by building up personal resources. Timely psychological support of parents in the context of inclusive education will neutralize and reduce the impact degree of emotional stress, which subsequently leads to the adoption of a defect of the child and, therefore, ensures his successful further integration into society. The formation and enhancement of social competence in the course of parents' interaction with their own and other children promotes the adoption of sustainable tolerant attitudes and the development of readiness to cooperate with participants in the educational process, which is a factor in the successful creation of the inclusive educational environment (Salakhova et.al., 2016; Kalinina, 2015).
Results
Thus the model of psychological and pedagogical support of the family in the context of inclusive education should comprise the system of interrelated directions and activity types:
1. Diagnostics is aimed at identifying the characteristics of child-parent relationships, personal characteristics, emotional state, self-esteem, mechanisms of psychological protection, terminal values of the parents who bring up children with disabilities. As a diagnostic tool questionnaires, forms, projective
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods ISSN: 2251-6204
Vol. 8, Issue 1, January2018
Page 177
techniques are used. The results are discussed with the parents individually, which allows them to recognize achievements and problems, formulate requests for psychological help, and set the points of personal growth.
2. Psychological education is the introduction of the parents of children with limited abilities to psychological knowledge. The main purpose of psychological education of parents who bring up children with disabilities is to introduce them to the basic laws and conditions of a child's favorable mental development; to form a need for psychological knowledge, a desire to use them to build constructive interaction with children and the educational environment. Forms of psychological education can be various and sundry: lectures, talks, seminars, exhibitions, the selection of relevant literature.
3. Counseling. One of the important steps in helping the parents is the individual counseling work - psychological counseling. The first stage of psychological counseling is the establishment of contact with the parent, "adjustment" to work together. The central task is to hear the parent, to understand how he perceives the problem, the child and takes the current situation. A hypothetical psychological problem is formulated on the basis of the parents’ complaints. Most of all, parents ask for help on the following issues: problems that arise in the learning process, education or treatment of a child; the mother-child relationship (his naughtiness, aggression); the relationship of the child with other children in the family; the relationship of the child with the teacher at school or in the union of additional education (parents complain that the teacher underestimates, understates the capabilities of their child); relationships between the mother and the father of the child. It should be noted that in our experience about one third of the families that bring up children with developmental disorders are incomplete which leads to the formulation of yet another consultative problem - fatigue, dissatisfaction with their marital status by mothers, which leads to subconscious rejection of the child, anger and compensatory overprotection mechanisms. To solve these problems, the techniques, based on parents' self-analysis of their behavior, on the development of resources for overcoming negative emotional states, are used.
4. Psychological correction, in our opinion, should be directed to changing the cognitive, emotional, behavioral spheres of the parent’s personality. The main objectives of psycho-correctional work are: to help parents accept themselves and their children as they are; to reveal their own creative possibilities; to change the view of their own problem - to perceive it not as "suffering," but as a "special destiny"; to provide parents with various means of communication; to teach constructively to help and support each other; to help get rid of feelings of isolation and loneliness; to help in the formation of an adequate assessment of the psychological state of children; to remove anxiety and fear of rejection; to form an adequate idea of social processes and the place of "special" people in the structure of society; to help get rid of the complex guilt and inferiority of yourself and your family. The main result of the change in the parent’s personality with psycho-correction at the cognitive level is the recognition of the connection between psychogenic factors and the emergence and preservation of neurotic disorders (parents are aware of the problems that arise); at the emotional level - cultivating feelings and emotions, getting emotional support, forming empathy; at the behavioral level - the acquisition of skills of constructive interaction. An important role in the system of psychological support for parents who bring up children with disabilities is the involvement of parents in living through success situations, in sharing with their child’s success with a positive assessment of his achievements. Under conditions of instituting additional education, taking into account new pedagogical technologies, it is possible to implement many interesting projects where will help to achieve positive results. We consider it important to reflect all the successes of a child with disabilities on specially created boards of success and to involve parents in participating in the presentation of their child's successful projects.
Conclusion
The experience of psychological and pedagogical support of participants in inclusive education in the context of the additional education establishment for children allowed us to identify the most significant components of the system of psychological work with parents who bring up children with disabilities.
Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods ISSN: 2251-6204
Vol. 8, Issue 1, January2018
Page 178
Effective solution of socialization problems of a child with limited abilities is facilitated by the work of a psychologist aimed at building cooperation with the family in achieving the child's success in the activities that are of interest to him, helping parents use psychological knowledge and skills in the interaction with their children at home and accepting a child as he/she is - in all its manifestations. An important area of the psychologist's efforts is to harmonize family relationships; to establish child-parent relations; to train parents to adequately assess the child's capabilities (both physical and psychological); to address personal problems of parents (feelings of inferiority, guilt). The training of parents who bring up children with disabilities in elementary methods of psychological correction (autogenic training, game therapy elements, fairy-tale therapy, etc.) is significant for the achievement of effectiveness and the development of readiness to help children in understanding their interests and abilities, in choosing an activity profile of the child leading to socialization.
References
Efimova, О.I., Salakhova, V.B., Mikhaylova I.V., Gnedova, S.B., Chertushkina, T.A. & Agadzhanova, E.R. (2015). Theoretical review of scientific approaches to understanding crisis psychology. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2, 3-11.
Gnedova, S.B., Emelyanenkova A.V., Mikhailova I.V., Sedunova A.S., Enyashina N.G., Salakhova, V.B (2015). Individual Characteristics of Students in the Course of Professional Development (as Exemplified by the Ulyanovsk Region of Russia). Asian Social Science, 11(3), 168-176.
Gorev, P.M., Masalimova, A.R., Mukhametzyanova, F.Sh. & Makarova, E.V. (2017). Developing