Psychological Structure of the Defect as the Basis for Psychological Assistance to Children with Developmental Deviations

The concept of “psychological structure of a defect” is analyzed in the context of its use for designing psychological assistance for a child with developmental disabilities. The potential of this concept is revealed for identifying individual characteristics of abnormal mental development. The psychological structure of the defect is defined as a set of nuclear mental anomalies that serve as the basis for the emergence of the entire spectrum of particular manifestations of the child’s abnormal development, as well as the agent’s reaction to them. Two types of personality response are identified – objective and subjective. The first reveals changes in mental functions, the second reveals the subject’s experiences about the defect, including the attitude towards the defect, emotional-sensory and behavioral components. The agent's reaction to the defect reflects the cyclical nature of the formation of the structure of the defect. It can both support the existence of the nuclear defect, generate defects of a higher order (dysfunctional cycle) and facilitate overcoming them (evolutionary cycle).

Nuclear disorder in the structure of the defect

We understand the psychological structure of the defect as reflecting deviations in the formation of the psyche of an individual child. It allows us to select spe­cific ways of assistance taking into account the unique specifics of his/her development [8; 14]. For example, V.I. Lubovsky notes that in some cases a visually im­paired child can rely primarily on touch and a child, defined as blind, can use residual visual perception [5]. In this context, the author speaks of a special way of in­teracting with the environment. In a child with ADHD in one case behavioral problems are associated with immaturity of mechanisms of processing kinesthetic information, and in another case — with problems of formation of child-parent relations and immaturity of social motives. It is important for us to understand that the psychological characteristics of interaction with the world and the characteristics of mental develop­ment can be quite different in children and adolescents with the same clinical diagnosis. Undoubtedly, this is of fundamental importance for determining the strat­egy and tactics of psychological and pedagogical assis­tance to a particular child. In the future we will use the latter meaning of the term “psychological structure of the defect”, i.e., we will apply it to the analysis of the development of a particular child rather than a clini­cally defined type of development.

In this context, it is important to draw attention to another problem in defining the psychological structure of a defect. It concerns the term “primary defect”, which, as already noted, is directly related to organic impair­ment [1]. However, in practice, it is not always possible to determine the organic damage. This is especially true for mild, borderline, states and types of abnormal devel­opment. In addition, many variants of abnormal devel­opment are not based on organic damage at all, but are caused exclusively by social factors or are caused by their combined effect (e.g., learning disabilities of psychogen­ic or somatogenic origin). In these cases, we believe it is legitimate to speak not so much of a primary defect as of a nuclear disorder of the psyche underlying the whole variety of individual manifestations of abnormal devel­opment of a particular child [15]. It is often impossible to determine the relationship of a nuclear defect to organic or functional brain damage.

Identification of a nuclear defect during psychodi­agnostic examination involves qualitative analysis of the characteristics of the child’s interaction with other people and ways of solving various tasks. The nuclear defect reveals itself in most of the child’s actions or un­derlies them. For example, the weakness of analysis of sensually perceived characteristics of the object can be manifested in a child of 7 years old in the problems of mastering reading (slow reading in syllables), master­ing the image of the letter and difficulties in neat writ­ing, inability to put together a pattern of Koos cubes, to carry out phonemic analysis of a word, to identify the elements of a complex movement (insufficient dif­ferentiation of movements) or correct posture (for ex­ample, to hold a pen correctly), and many others. Sec­ondary to a nuclear defect, there may be difficulties in reading comprehension, problems of speech com­munication, interaction with peers in outdoor games, arbitrary regulation, etc. Determining in this case the initial organic disorder is extremely difficult, and does not make much sense. At the same time, the allocation of the nuclear defect allows us to organize psychologi­cal and pedagogical assistance in accordance with the peculiarities of the child’s development. It can be aimed either at overcoming the nuclear defect, or at bypass­ing it and using the preserved sides of the psyche, or at changing the attitude to it, or at the combined use of the first, second and third, depending on the specifics of the developmental abnormality. Such understanding of the structure of the defect once again emphasizes the importance of quality psychological diagnostics, based not so much on the specialist’s assessment of the speed and performance of test tasks, but on a meaningful anal­ysis of how the child acts and combining the results of such analysis into a holistic model.

Objective type of response to the defect

The second aspect of the revision of the concept of the “psychological structure of the defect”, related to its use in the in-depth psychological diagnosis of abnor­mal child development, touches on possible ways of the formation of higher order defects. L.S. Vygotsky noted the importance of our understanding not only the ini­tial problem that the child faced in his development, but also how the personality reacts to it [1]. It is important that such a reaction is not predetermined by the primary defect itself, but is related to the nature of social interac­tion. L.S. Vygotsky uses the concept of hypercompensa­tion to describe the possible response of the personality to the defect. Later, for special psychology, the idea of the formation of defects of the second, third, etc. order became commonplace, their appearance began to be taken for granted and lost the character of a scientificproblem. However, do high-order defects really arise “automatically”? What are the possible reactions of an individual to a nuclear defect? Is it possible to construct some typology of such reactions? What are the condi­tions of formation and change of the reaction type? The answers to these questions are extremely important for the psychological and pedagogical support of children and adolescents with developmental disabilities, since the nuclear defect itself is only one of the characteristics of the personality, and its socialization and quality of life are ultimately determined by the way it reacts to this characteristic.

We believe that there are two types of personality re­sponse to the defect (developmental problem) — objec­tive and subjective.

The objective type of response is changes in the work of the psyche (functions, behavior, regulatory mecha­nisms, motivation, connections between components of the psyche) under the influence of a lower-order defect. We can distinguish three variants of such changes:

(a) strengthening of characteristics of some functions under the influence of others: increased motor activity with reduced kinesthetic sensitivity; development of hy­pertrophied interest in inanimate objects, fields (e.g., as­tronomy) with problems of social interaction; advanced development of formal-logical thinking with lack of abil­ity to empathize; strengthening of mechanical memory with difficulties of social adaptation, etc.;

(b) weakening of the characteristics of some functions under the influence of others: slowing down of the speed of recognition of objects in the process of visual percep­tion in hearing-impaired people; decreased learning mo­tivation in systemic speech disorders or difficulties in vi­sual analysis of objects; immaturity of arbitrary control of actions against a background of increased emotional arousal or distortion of relationships with other people in some behavioral disorders, etc.;

(c) changes in the ratio of mental functions (their hi­erarchical relations) that is not typical of age: strength­ening of the role of mechanical memory with inability to comprehend the studied material at school age; domi­nance of affective regulation of behavior over verbal regulation; dependence of emotions and behavior on the perceived field rather than on one’s own goals and semantic regulation, starting from the senior preschool age, etc.).

In general, the objective type of response to the de­fect determines changes in the person’s ways of acting. Such changes are designed to help socialize and adapt to the world around them. Thus, for example, difficulties in reading comprehension in dyslexia can lead to excessive concentration of the child on the external side of read­ing, on decoding graphemes into phonemes. Problems in mastering the motor side of speech may lead to the child’s refusal to use active speech in communicating with oth­ers and the predominance of nonverbal communication. At the same time, a change in the mode of action is not always negative in terms of mental development. For ex­ample, deficiencies of mechanical memory can provoke the use of methods of comprehension and logical organi­zation of information when solving tasks for memoriza­tion. Difficulties in the automation of actions and serial organization of movements can contribute to the emer­gence of a pronounced desire to arbitrarily control them. Thus, the objective type of response, changing the ways of action, can both generate new problems in the devel­opment, socialization and social adaptation (higher-or­der defects) of an individual, and contribute to overcom­ing the nuclear defect and previously formed limitations in the functioning of the psyche, the emergence of quali­tatively new ways of solving vital tasks.

Subjective type of response to the defect

The subjective type of response is a person’s experi­ence of a defect (developmental problem). It should be correlated with such a concept as the internal picture of the defect, which is now increasingly used by clinical and child abnormal psychologists [3; 14; 17]. This concept is compared with the concept of the internal picture of the disease, but it is not identical to it. For example, it is rather difficult (at least in some cases) to talk about the sensory component of the internal picture of the defect, since we are not talking about a disease, as a rule, which changes a person’s self-perception, but about the back­ground state with which a person lives constantly. The attitude to one’s own defect requires the child to reach a certain level of self-consciousness development. In this regard, based on our practical experience, we propose to distinguish three components in the structure of the subjective type of personal response to the defect (and possibly in the structure of the internal picture of the defect) — attitude to the defect, emotional-sensual and behavioral components. Let us consider them in detail.

1. Attitude to the defect can be represented through such categories as identification with the defect and awareness of the defect. Identification with the defect is its experience as an integral part or characteristic of one’s own Self. Identification with the defect is related to, but not equal to, acceptance of the defect, since ac­ceptance implies a conscious relationship to one’s own specificity. At the same time, identification can also take place at an unconscious level, just as it can in relation to normal human characteristics, which are expressed in our expectations, self-perception, habitual reactions to different situations, etc. These characteristics, however, are not the subject of reflection. At the same time, they are not the subject of reflexive attitude. Against this background, we may perceive some of our sensations, feelings, states, reactions, achievements (or inability to cope with something) as alien to us.

The second characteristic of the attitude to the de­fect is its awareness, i.e. the representation of the char­acteristics or manifestations of abnormal development for the person himself in a sign and symbolic (not neces­sarily verbal) form, expressing their connection with his Self and life. The latter aspect is most clearly manifested in the intertwining of representations of the defect in the symbolism of autobiographical memories and narratives, as well as expectations about the future. Working with them, we can change the individual’s attitude to his or her own defect in the course of psychological help [11; 13; 20; 21]. Awareness of one’s own defect allows him or her to connect it with one’s own Self and to realize how it affects the agent’s actions and changes his or her life.

Combining two characteristics of attitude towards the defect — identification with it and its awareness, we get four possible types of attitude (presented in the table).

The first type is naive or natural, in which there is no identification with the defect and its awareness. In this case, subjectively the defect of mental work does not ex­ist for the child or adolescent. It is not represented in his experience. The second type is the avoidant type. In this case, identification with the defect is observed, but it is presented in the experience only as a difficulty in any kind of activity (speech communication, solving some learning tasks, etc.). There is no realization of the content of these difficulties. The problem is not verbal­ized by the child. Its existence in subjective terms can be judged only on the basis of tacit avoidance of those types of activity in the construction of which defective mental functions play a significant role. Thus, for example, very often children who have difficulties in constructing a speech utterance begin to avoid speech communication. The third type — defensive — represents the awareness of the problem (a defect in the work of the psyche) against the background of experiencing it as something alien. For example, a child (adolescent) may realize that he or she occasionally experiences uncontrollable rage, but views it as an external force in relation to his or her Self. The child may realize the uncontrollable and chaotic nature of his/her external activity (difficulties in arbitrary con­trol), but not consider it possible to somehow cope with this problem, as it is caused by some external reasons. In this type of attitude to the defect, there may be a variety of defensive reactions associated with the experience of one’s own otherness or failure — withdrawal into one­self, auto-aggression, blaming others and experiencing the injustice of their actions in one’s address, attempts to hide the problem. They can be accompanied by emotions of shame, anxiety, anger, despair, etc. The fourth type — constructive — involves realizing the peculiarities in the work of the psyche and accepting them as one’s own. The defect is experienced as part of one’s own personality and is included in the structure of identity. At the same time, it is no longer perceived as a defect, but rather realized as a feature of the personality. This type of attitude al­lows one to recognize the existence of certain problems and learn to intentionally use constructive ways of cop­ing with them. This may include seeking help from other people, accepting one’s own limitations, discovering and using available ways of solving life’s problems by relying on one’s abilities (compensation), turning one’s “weak­nesses” into “strengths” by rethinking them (e.g., anxi­ety may motivate one to be attentive), and so on. We believe that the change in the types of attitude to the de­fect is related to the level of mental development of the child and can occur in the direction from the first type to the fourth in the process of psychological assistance.

2. The second component in the structure of response to the defect — emotional-sensual — is changes in the subjective significance of elements of experience and, ac­cordingly, emotional sensitivity and reactions under the influence of the defect. Such changes can be expressed in the experience of emotional discomfort or fears about the sounds of other people’s voices, emotional tension in the process of communication, perceived as excessive and unbearable, intolerance of one’s own tension when solving difficult tasks, exclusion from the realized rep­ertoire of emotions of weak in intensity experiences and the discovery of only strong ones approaching the state of affect (because of which they acquire an explosive character), the experience of the usual requirements of an adult as insulting and humiliating. In the context of psychological practice of work with children and adoles­cents, their rethinking of their sensual-emotional experi­ence through its awareness and expression by means of sign and symbolic forms (for example, verbalization of shades and degree of expression of emotions, establish­ing the connection of their own experiences with certain actions and situations) acquires special value.

3. The third component — behavioral — represents changes in the direction of behavior and actions in con­nection with the agent’s experience of his own defect (problem). The behavioral component is a reaction to the inability to perform some action or difficulties aris­ing in this case. It can be expressed in avoidance of a difficult action, situations (communication with other people, visiting places where subjectively experienced problems may arise (e.g., school)); compensatory im­mersion in activities in which the child feels well-off, in order not to be involved in uncomfortable situations; hy­percompensatory manifestation of efforts aimed at cop­ing with the problem (cannot agree with another person and tries to force him/her; chronically lacks attention from an adult and shows excessive and indiscriminate “clinginess”; cannot memorize material and repeats it many times, etc.); dependent behavior, in which the oth­er is perceived as a source of solving the child’s problems and satisfying his or her needs, etc.). It is important to note that the child’s behavior and actions, due to their orientation, can both support the existing nuclear defect and contribute to its overcoming through the formation of insufficiently mature functions, the use of compensa­tory mechanisms or coping strategies. It is extremely im­portant to take this point into account when providing psychological help to a child and to promote the forma­tion of an adequate orientation of actions that will help to cope with the existing difficulties.

Table. Types of agent’s attitude to his/her own developmental defect

The principle of cyclicality 

Generalizing the ideas about objective and subjective types of response to the defect, it is necessary to intro­duce the principle of cyclicality formation of the defect structure. This principle suggests that the very reaction to a nuclear defect is fundamentally important for fixing and possibly even strengthening the original problem or for overcoming it in the broader context of mental devel­opment and socialization of an individual by changing the ways and direction of the agent’s actions. Reaction to a defect can form cycles of two types. The first, the dysfunctional cycle, triggers a mechanism for maintain­ing or reinforcing the nuclear defect and generating new defects of higher-order mental functioning. Such chang­es create and aggravate problems of interaction with the surrounding world and the development of the psyche as a whole, eventually leading to the aggravation of the original problem. Similarly, maintenance processes or cycles are described in cognitive behavioral therapy (see, for example: [18; 19]). The difference is that the latter reflect processes of maintaining mainly the sub­jectively experienced problem rather than abnormalities of mental functioning and development. The second — evolutionary cycle — provides the mechanism of normal mental development, using the nuclear defect as an in­dividual feature, a characteristic that must be reckoned with, that can be used in designing ways of interacting with the world, that can be changed and compensated for by available means and methods. Productive use of the nuclear defect or its compensation, successes in the processes of socialization and social adaptation in turn contribute to a change in the agent’s attitude to the nuclear defect, its better understanding and discovery of new opportunities to cope with it.

In general, it can be stated that when providing psy­chological assistance to a child with developmental dis­abilities, one should work on changing the attitude to the nuclear defect, rethinking the emotional and sensory component of subjective response and developing con­structive forms of meaningful activity that contribute to overcoming the existing difficulties, taking into account the objective changes in the psyche that occur under the influence of the nuclear defect. Attention should be paid both to the ways of reacting to the defect and to its orientation, expressed in the actions of the agent. It is important to distinguish changes in the child’s activity as manifestations of the nuclear defect from manifesta­tions of the personality’s reaction to it. Thus, a lag in de­velopment or the absence of expressive movements and expressive gestures in the child’s repertoire of social in­teraction can be both a manifestation of the initial dam­age to the mechanism of movement construction (for example, in mental retardation) and a secondary reac­tion to difficulties in communication and the associated experience of anxiety.

For clarity, we have presented the described psycho­logical structure of the defect in application to the analy­sis of abnormal development of a particular child in the form of a scheme (Fig.).

Conclusion

Thus, analyzing the concept of psychological struc­ture of the defect, its applicability to the disclosure of individual features of abnormal development of the child is revealed. Its application allows us to determine the di­rection and strategy of psychological help, as well as to identify specific educational needs. This concept forces not just to discover the symptoms of abnormal develop­ment, but to investigate the dynamics of their formation and hierarchical relations between them.

Under the psychological structure of the defect in this article it is proposed to understand the totality of nuclear violations of the psyche, setting the whole range of private manifestations of abnormal development of an individual, as well as the agent’s reaction to them.

The formation of higher-order defects is associated with the peculiarities of the child’s social interaction, which allows us to talk about different types of personal­ity response to defects in the work of their own psyche. Objective and subjective types of response are singled  out. The first reveals objective changes in the psyche un­der the influence of lower-order defects and determines changes in the individual’s ways of action. The subjec­tive type of reaction reveals the experiences of the indi­vidual about the defect and sets the direction of actions and behavior in relation to it. It determines the psycho­logical content of the experience related to the problems of functioning of the child’s psyche.

The agent’s reaction to the defect can trigger cycles of two types: a dysfunctional cycle, which supports the existence of the nuclear defect and generates higher-order defects, and an evolutionary cycle, which pro­vides the mechanism of coping with the original viola­tion. Working on changing the ways and direction of response to the nuclear defect is one of the key tasks of psychological assistance to a child with developmental disabilities, allowing to take into account its individual specificity.

Fig. Psychological structure of the defect

When providing psychological help, in some cases it is advisable to focus on overcoming the nuclear defect, in other cases — on working with the reaction of the per­sonality to it, in third cases — on the first and the second. This depends on whether the nuclear defect is amenable to psychological correction, the age of its occurrence and the age at which help is provided, the specific ways in which the personality responds to it. In addition, the psychological structure of the defect, unique for a par­ticular child, determines the logic of interaction between the psychologist and related specialists in the design and implementation of the correctional program.

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