Socio-Psychological Characteristics And Behavior Of Deafblind Children

Abstract

The article describes the results of research on the socio-psychological characteristics and behavior of deafblind children. The study was conducted on the basis of leisure centers for deafblind people of the Dagestan branch of the All-Russian Society of the Blind. Experimental methods were used: a test of Leontiev's meaningful orientations, Dodonov's test "Emotional orientation of the personality", the technique "Unfinished sentences", the method of one-stage sections of the structure of groups, the methodology of "Personality quality", the method of observation, correlation experiment. The study involved the participation of 17 deafblind children. Experimental data made it possible to describe socio-psychological characteristics as meaningful orientations (the goal of life, the process of life, effectiveness, the locus of control "I" and the locus of control "Life", the general indicator of meaningfulness of life), as the system of attitudes (attitude toward the father, unrealized opportunities, fears and concerns, attitudes toward friends, attitudes toward the past, attitudes toward the mother, toward your future, etc.), as the emotional orientation of the person with the predominance of certain emotions and the desired socio-psychological qualities. The results of the study indicate a connection between the socio-psychological characteristics of deaf-blind children and their behavior. Depending on this connection, three groups of deafblind children were identified.

Keywords: Deafblindnesssocializationbehaviourdeviationsocio-psychological characteristics

Introduction

Deafblindness is an extreme multiple developmental disorder that creates difficulties for the child's normal socialization. This leads to the need to create special conditions for the adequate cognitive, emotional and behavioral development of a deafblind child. In this article, we investigated the socio-psychological characteristics of children with a dual sensory impairments and their effect on behavior. The study of the features of the socialization of children with deafblind was made by such scientists as Sokolyansky (1948), Skorokhodova (1972), Meshcheryakov (1974), Suvorov (1994), Salomatinа (2002), Soshnikova (2008), Mallaev, Omarova and Gadzhieva (2013), Omarova and Tselovalnik (2017), Zhigoreva (2009) and others. In their works various variants of classifications of deafblind are considered, the formation of social and physical skills are offered, and the methods of education are described. However, all these studies were conducted in the 20th century and we know almost nothing about the socio-psychological characteristics of modern deafblind children, how these characteristics influence behavior, how we should educate them in the current social situation, what corrective work should be done with them. In 2014, the Deaf-blind Support Foundation So-edinenie (Connection) was established in Russia. The fund has two areas of work: scientific and socio-humanitarian. The scientific direction of the Foundation's work includes research in the field of deafblindness. The Foundation supports the research of young scientists and provides an opportunity to widely approbate data obtained at the Russian and international conferences. The social and humanitarian direction allows providing both targeted and indirect support to deafblind people. In this direction, 37 leisure centers have been established in Russia, attended by more than 900 deafblind children and adults. Our study was supported by Deaf-blind Support Foundation So-edinenie (Connection). We received not only financial support, but also an opportunity to study the behavior of deaf-blind children coming to the leisure center of the city of Makhachkala and the city of Buinaksk. During the study, we encountered difficulties in collecting the experimental material: difficulties in communication with deafblind children; difficulties in perception of speech of deafblind children; difficulties in explaining diagnostic techniques. Deafblind children need the experimenter to possess a dactyl and gestural speech for communication, or a letter in the palm of his hand/ All the children with whom we worked had a verbal speech, however, the speech was inaccessible for understanding (fuzzy, blurry), the children did not pronounce all the sounds. Therefore, special preparation was necessary for the experimenter Despite the fact that we tried to choose such methods that were most accessible to deafblind children, the texts of diagnostic questionnaires presented difficulties for them. We had to spend a lot of time to explain the meaning of the questions, to find them an adequate understanding.

Problem Statement

The study of the socio-psychological characteristics of deafblind children and their impact on the behavior of such a child is necessary in the context of their subsequent socialization and the search for effective remedial methods

Research Questions

In the course of the research, we faced the following questions, to which we tried to find answers:

• What are the features of the attitude towards him and his defect?

• What is the attitude of a deaf-blind child to his parents and other people of the nearest social environment?

• What purposes in life has a deafblind child?

• What are the qualities of a person has a deafblind child?

• What personality qualities does he want to possess? How do the socio-psychological qualities of a deaf-blind child affect his behavior?

• What features of behavior are demonstrated by a deafblind child?

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study - to explore the social and psychological characteristics of deaf-blind children and to identify their influence on behavior. In accordance with the purpose, research objectives were defined: suggest a methodology for an experimental research; determine the features of the socio-psychological development of deafblind children; determine the impact of socio-psychological development on the behavior of a deafblind child. We have identified diagnostic techniques, a sample of the study and the research base. The experiment allowed us to determine the features: orientations to the meaning of life, attitude towards oneself, people of the nearest social environment, to the present and the future, to their defect, fears and concerns, emotional orientation of personality. During the experiment, correlation studies were conducted aimed at studying the relation between the socio-psychological characteristics and the behavior of the deaf-blind child.

Research Methods

The study involved 17 deafblind children. We used testing and observation. The results were compared with the data of children with normotypic development. We used the following research methods:

Findings

In the study, we received data that show that deafblind have a small circle of communication. Deafblind people have a need for emotional communication and increasing the breadth of the circle of communication.

The results of the method of "Unfinished sentences" and the methodology "Emotional orientation of the personality" demonstrated a large number of individual reactions. We use, as an example, the results of Amina K. in Tables 01 and 02 .

All deafblind participants were divided into three groups in relation to their future. The first group negatively assesses its future and possibilities. They believe that deafblindness will not allow them to achieve significant results in the future. For example, we take a totally deaf-blind participant. Communication for this respondent is understated, he does not have a strong need for knowledge of the new, despite the fact that he can communicate in dactyl language. There is a depressive state and unwillingness to do anything. The circle of communication is limited by the mother, father and brother. The dactyl language is known only by mother. He often sits at home, does not visit the city, does not know anything new, which led him to reluctance to do anything at all.

The second group of participants is neutral about their future, although it has no idea of who they will become when they become adults.

The third group positively assesses its future prospects, has an idea of the algorithm of its actions to achieve its goals. They have developed an interest in everything new, they love to explore the world. They are very disciplined and pedantic. Each of them realizes his place in the world, and wants to be important to him. Emotional-motivational preferences are developed. They assign a special role to the family, friends and people around them. They appreciate friendship and fellowship. Love and work and what they do at home. They have a hobby.

However, we can distinguish the following features that are characteristic of all participants:

• The high need for communication with individuals as the closest social environment, and outside this circle.

• Significant expression of Gnostic emotions aimed at realizing the need for new knowledge.

• The need to accumulate (collect) things that go beyond the practical needs in them.

The results of the Leontiev test are shown in Figure 1 .

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All participants have a decrease in the indices of meaningfulness of life both in terms of the overall indicator and in individual indicators (goal in life, process, effectiveness, control locus).

The dependence of the indicators of the meaningfulness of life on the age of onset of deafness is marked. The earlier deafblindness came, the higher the parameters in terms of: the general meaning of life, the purpose of life, the process of life, the locus of control "Life" and lower indicators on the parameters of the effectiveness of life and the locus of control "I".

Most participants have a high need for social activity. They want to travel, explore the world, go for a walk, go fishing, work.

Social-psychological features of deafblind children are manifested in their behavior. A correlation study revealed the following connections between the socio-psychological characteristics of deafblind children and their behavior:

• Children of the first group who negatively assess their future and their defect have low social activity in behavior. They are less likely to interact with other children, try to limit their social circle only to people of a close social environment, and have difficulties in their behavior. They often cry, offended, capricious.

• Children of the second group (with a neutral attitude to the future) come into contact with other children. Their behavior is situational, depends on the behavior of others.

• Children of the third group (with a positive attitude towards the future and others) actively come into contact, require the attention of the teacher, want to learn and communicate with other children.

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For each group of children, we have made a program for the correction of behavior and development, which will be described in subsequent publications.

Conclusion

The study was aimed at analysing the social and psychological characteristics and behaviour of deafblind children. As a result, the specific features of meaningful orientations, emotional orientation of the personality, characteristics of communication and behavior of deafblind children were determined. This made it possible to distinguish three groups of children, depending on the correlation between socio-psychological characteristics and behavior.

Acknowledgments

Our special thanks to the Deaf-blind Support Foundation So-edinenie (Connection), to the head of the "Science and Education" program of Yulia Mayorova and to the program consultant Irina Salomatina, to the head of the leisure center for the deaf-blind of the Dagestan branch of the Blind Society Khadizhat Isakova, to the head of the Department of Correctional Pedagogics and Special Psychology of the Dagestan State Pedagogical University Jafar Mallaev for assistance in the research.

References

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