Claims on Younger Schoolchildren with Speech Disorders

Lautkina Svetlana Vladimirovna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Vitebsk State University. P.M. Masherova 210033, Belarus, Krasnoyarsk, Partizan Zheleznyak str., 1 region, Vitebsk, Chapaev str., 30 vikyse2007@ya.ru Bogomaz Sergei Leonidovich PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Vitebsk State University. P.M. Masherova 210033, Belarus, Vitebsk, ul. Chapaev, 30 vikyse2007@ya.ru Luk'yanova Elena Vladimirovna Master, Department of Psychology, Vitebsk State University P.M. Masherova 210033, Belarus, Vitebsk, Chapaev str., 30 vikyse2007@ya.ru Artyukhova Tatiana Yuryevna PhD in Psychology Associate Professor, Department of Developmental Psychology and Counseling, Siberian Federal University 660049, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Svobodny str., 82 igudovskiy@inbox.ru

Petrova Tatiana Ivanovna PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Pedagogy of Childhood, Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University named after V.P. Astafieva 660100, Russia, Krasnoyarsk, Lado Ketskhoveli str., 29 petrova10_2010@mail.ru

Introduction. The period of study in primary school occupies a special place in the life of a child. During this period, the younger student learns educational activities, which becomes one of the leading factors affecting his self-esteem and claims. The ability to reflect, self-control and arbitrariness of mental functions (thinking, memory, imagination, speech, etc.) are also formed.

The speech development of a younger student in accordance with ontogenetic standards is one of the most important conditions for the normal mental development of a child and the success of his education at school. Speech becomes the main means of forming consciousness, internal action plan, arbitrariness of activity, development of speech-thinking processes, auditory-speech memory. According to L.S. Vygotsky, the main function of speech is that it is a means to overcome an actual, momentary situation and connects the actions of the child in space and time. And therefore, in the process of development, a child can analyze, differentiate, generalize individual, disparate episodes and facts of the surrounding reality, and on the basis of this plan their actions. The expressive and impressive speech of the child is an active expression of this plan.

The problems of the formation of self-awareness, self-esteem, the level of claims in various speech disorders were studied by: T.A. Boldyreva, V.A. Kalyagin, T.S. Ovchinnikova, S. A. Ignatieva, Yu.A. Blinkov (stuttering); V.A. Kalyagin, T.S. Ovchinnikova (dysarthria), Yu.F. Garkusha, V.V. Korzhavina, O.N. Usanova, O.A. Slinko (alalia), J.M. Glozman, L.S. Tsvetkova, A.A. Tsyganok, N.G. Kalita (aphasia).

The research describes the influence of existing speech disorders on the formation of communication skills ^{[1; 2]}, self-esteem and the level of claims ^{[1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6]}, personal qualities ^{[2; 6; 7]} and interpersonal relationships ^{[1; 2]}. Thus, the study by S.V. Lautkina and I.N. Selezneva showed that children with speech disorders have an inflated self-esteem (80%), and communication indicators have reduced parameters on the scales: "interest in a peer", "sensitivity", "prosocial actions", "means of communication", "active speech" ^{[1, p.101]}. Sociometric statuses of children with speech disorders are characterized as "preferred" and "joined", only in this group there are "neglected" ^{[1, p.102]}.

It should also focus on the concept of "severe speech disorders" (TNR). As a rule, TNR includes a group of speech disorders (a number of medical and speech therapy diagnoses). TNR is all persistent deviations of the speech system in children with normal hearing and intelligence (alalia, dysarthria (all degrees except erased), aphasia, logoneurosis (stuttering), general underdevelopment of speech (I or II levels), rhinolalia. With early diagnosis, TNRS are detected, as a rule, at an early stage of speech ontogenesis. The child receives qualified assistance at an early and preschool age. However, TNR cannot always be completely eliminated in the early and preschool periods of childhood, and then work on speech, cognitive, emotional and personal development continues in primary school age. In some cases, students study according to the program of a comprehensive special school for children with TNR.

Different authors have identified in children with TNR: uncertainty in their actions, fear of self-expression, dissatisfaction with themselves and their actions, depression, low threshold of resistance to stress, violations of self-regulation and self-esteem characteristics (height, adequacy, reflexivity, distinction between real and ideal self-esteem), increased anxiety, expectation and predictability of internal experiences, dominance of negative emotions, reduced performance indicators ^{[1; 2; 3; 5; 6; 7]}. In primary school, in addition to violations of oral speech, there may be problems with written speech (reading and writing). According to R.E. Levina, on the basis of the system approach proposed by her, oral and written speech act in unity. Written speech, in comparison with oral, is a later and more complex education. It builds on the basis of oral speech. And therefore, preschoolers with TNR need to be specially prepared for entering school, for mastering literacy and writing, sound and syllabic analysis and synthesis, for understanding the differentiation of the concepts of "sound – syllable – word – sentence – text". At the same time, the external correctness and richness of oral speech does not always guarantee success in mastering written speech (writing and reading). It is more important to form the skills of language analysis, synthesis, comparisons, generalizations in a child with TNR.

Upon entering primary school, children with TNR are characterized by a slower rate of assimilation and understanding of educational information, a decrease in working capacity and cognitive activity, difficulties in establishing associative links between visual, auditory and speech motor analyzers; difficulty in implementing arbitrary actions, low self-control and motivation of educational activities, low indicators and characteristics of auditory-speech memory and verbal-logical thinking, weakness of spatial and temporal orientation, constructive processes, visual-motor and auditory-motor coordination, violations of general and minor praxis, etc. These violations in younger schoolchildren with TNR do not allow them to successfully assimilate educational program material in the disciplines of the language cycle (Russian, Belarusian, literary reading), the subject "Man and the World", and sometimes in mathematics ^{[2; 6]}. Moreover, students with TNR have difficulties in mastering these disciplines can be observed both at the second and third stages of education at school.

Since the study of the features of the level of claims of younger schoolchildren with TNR is the purpose of our study, we will focus on the key positions of the concept of "level of claims". Thus, the concept of "the level of claims" was proposed in the 1930s as part of the activities of K. Levin's psychological school. Representatives of this school defined the level of claims as a person's desire to achieve goals of such a level of complexity, which, in his opinion, correlates with his abilities. The level of claims is determined by two factors: the desire for achievements and the fear of failure. The level of claims determines the difference between the level of complexity of the goals chosen by an individual and the results of his actions that he performed to achieve this goal. The first and most significant work carried out in this direction was the study of F. Hoppe, who believed that the level of claims is "a set of expectations, goals and claims that shift with each achievement to future own results." Other definitions of this concept are known in science. So, H. Heckhausen understands by the level of claims "the criterion of the level of success"; A.Reber – "the level that a person strives to achieve, a set of samples of performing actions in the process of any activity"; B.S. Merlin - "the level of difficulty of tasks that an individual seeks to realize, motivated by motivation"; B.V. Zeigarnik – "habitual and established goal–setting tactics developed by a person's previous life"; A.D. Glotochkin and V.P. Kashirin - "attitudes, values, needs to achieve certain results in activity and communication, evaluation of the results obtained, their own qualities and properties" ^[11]. Many authors emphasize the connection between a person's self-esteem and his claims. Thus, B.V. Zeigarnik points out that with low self-esteem, a person has an understated level of claims. Scientists also note the relationship of the level of claims with the individual's past experience, with how a person understands and evaluates his abilities and, in this regard, the possibilities of achieving success.

In Western psychological science, the level of claims was investigated in the aspect of studying human motivation and was used to explain individual personality traits in behavior and in a situation of success. In Soviet and Russian psychology there are many different approaches to understanding the level of claims. However, it should be noted that most of them are not complete and exhaustive. Therefore, in this study, we adhere to the definition of the level of claim, in which this construct is defined as the level of difficulty of the goals chosen by the subject. The main determinants of the formation of the level of claims are two factors – self-assessment of abilities and group standards.

Other determinants also include reflection, the level of productive thinking, volitional activity ^{[8, p. 30]}. The main condition for the formation of the level of claims is the solution of problems in a certain zone of difficulty. If the tasks turn out to be too easy or too heavy, the goal is replaced.

It is also important to note that the level of claims is always based on self-esteem.  In order for a person to develop adequately, it is necessary that the level of claims be higher than self-esteem. With this ratio, conditions are created for personal growth and human development. The relationship between self-esteem and the level of claims is quite fully represented in the formula of the American psychologist W. James (Self-esteem = Success / Level of claims). The level of claims is also related to the "locus of control" construct. According to J. Rotter, who introduced this concept into psychology, locus of control is an individual's stable ideas about the extent to which the results of his activities depend on himself or on external situations and circumstances.

The level of claims embodies a certain average target setting of a person to achieve significant goals. The level of a person's claims is influenced by success or failure in a particular activity (for example, in a game, educational, professional, etc.), as well as the dynamics of successes and failures in the course of the entire life path. Hence, the level of claims is directly related to the motivation of a person's achievements and the entire motivational-need sphere of the individual. An adequately high and stable level of claims is largely associated with success in fulfilling the individual's goals and objectives, and an understated and unstable level is associated with failure to succeed, failure to fulfill planned tasks, and low performance results ^{[8, p. 31]}.

The level of claims as a psychological construct performs the following functions: an individual's assessment of his potential capabilities and abilities, determining the attitude towards them; changing actions if necessary or impossible to implement them; evaluation of the results achieved and their delayed consequences; the claim to achieve ideal goals; motivation for self-development, self-improvement, etc.

Researchers distinguish the following types of the level of claims: adequate and inadequate (overstated, understated). With an adequate level of claims, the goals and objectives set by a person correspond to his real capabilities and abilities. At this level of claims, a person is persistent in fulfilling the tasks set, successful in his activities, confident in himself and his capabilities, and according to the results has high productivity indicators. The adequacy of the level of claims affects a person's relationship with society, determines not only high indicators of his productivity, but also successful indicators of his socialization at different stages of ontogenesis.This level can be described as optimal for the development of personality, since the vital activity of such a person takes place in a harmonious state.

The inadequate level of claims is represented by: an overestimated level of claims (the goals that a person chooses do not correspond to his real level of capabilities, i.e. these goals significantly exceed the real resources of the individual; a person most often faces failure and failures) and an underestimated level of claims (the individual has the opposite process – underestimation and underestimation of his capabilities; a person sets he has easy, understated goals in front of him, such tactics of behavior interfere with the formation and development of his personality) ^{[8, p. 30]}.

In psychological science, there are particular and general types of the level of claims. The private level of claims characterizes success in certain fields of activity, for example, such as sports, music, science, art or human relations (friendly, family or industrial, etc.). The general level of claims relates to many areas of human reality. These are most often the areas in which the intellectual and moral traits of an individual manifest themselves. This level of claims is based on a person's assessment of himself as a person.

The level of claims has important properties: characterization of the level of difficulty of the goal being achieved; expression of adequacy or inadequacy of the choice of goals; adequacy of response to the dynamics of achievements; determination of the composition of the motivational component of activity; explanation of the nature of human control over the situation; designation of the desired level of self-esteem ^{[10, p. 3]}.

Thus, the study of the level of claims allows us to identify how a person evaluates himself, his self-esteem and his potential goals when performing any tasks. The relationship between these two psychological phenomena (self-esteem and the level of claims) is noted by many scientists and practitioners ^{[4; 8; 9; 10; 11]}.

Already at the beginning of school, children with TNR demonstrate the following types of claims: 1) the formed (adequate) level of claims; 2) inflated claims related to the conflicting need to act in accordance with an inadequately inflated self-esteem; 3) underestimated claims based on the need to fulfill the requests of adults and not the ability to fulfill them. However, scientific research on the level of claims is still quite fragmentary, especially on a group of younger schoolchildren with TNR. The solution of this problem is the purpose of this study.

Materials and methods. The empirical study was conducted on the basis of the GUO "Secondary School No. 38 of Vitebsk". The study involved 40 students (18 girls and 22 boys). The students were divided into 2 groups. The experimental group (EG) consisted of 20 students of grades 3-4 with TNR, the control group (KG) consisted of 20 students with normotypic development. The main diagnosis according to the conclusions of the PMPK GUO "Vitebsk City Center for Correctional and Developmental Training and Rehabilitation" in the EG is: "General underdevelopment of speech" (grade II or III). In some cases, "General underdevelopment of speech level" acted as a concomitant speech disorder in motor alalia, dysarthria, rhinolalia. The subjects of EG mastered the school program for children with TNR, KG – the program of a comprehensive school. The sample of EG and KG is homogeneous in age (range – 9 years 8 months – 10 years 11 months), socio-psychological indicators (10 subjects are brought up in single–parent families, 5 - in full large families, 25 – in full families with 1-2 children). The interests of students of both groups are also approximately the same and are typical for this age: study, sports, computer games.

The level of students' claims was determined using the "Schwarzlander Motor Test" technique (a method for assessing the level of claims). The study was conducted with small groups of students, and individually. In this methodology, the level of claims is studied according to the differences between what an individual has planned to do in a certain time period and what he was able to actually accomplish. Diagnostics carried out with the help of this test allows us to identify the level and adequacy, i.e. realism, of the claims of the subject. The level of claims is related to the process of setting goals and represents the degree of localization of the goal in the range of difficulties. The adequacy of claims shows the conformity of the goals that a person sets and the possibilities of achieving them.

All the subjects performed four motor tests. The study of the level of claims was preceded by the study of self-esteem in the subjects.

Results and their discussion. Since the main speech disorder in the EG was "General underdevelopment of speech" (ONR), let's focus on the characteristics of this speech defect.

Thus, according to the periodization of R.E. Levina, three manifestations of ONR are distinguished (I, II, III level (ur.)). I, II, III levels of speech development are represented by speech disorders from a more pronounced and severe disorder to a less pronounced and severe one. Levels I and II of speech development characterize deep, severe degrees of speech disorders. At the III level of speech development (higher), children do not have pronounced speech difficulties. At the same time, the lag in the development of language tools (vocabulary, grammar, phonetic and phonemic processes) affect the formation of speech functions, the processes of oral (listening, speaking) and written (reading, writing) speech.

The obtained values of the level of claims according to the "Schwarzlander Motor Test" method are compared with a special psychodiagnostic scale. Target deviation standards: ? 5 – unrealistically high level of claims; 3-4.99 – high level of claims (within the norm); 1-2.99 – moderate level of claims (within the norm); 1.49–0.99 – low level of claims; ? -1.50 – unrealistically low level of claims.

Unrealistically high level of claims, often accompanied by high dissatisfaction, demanding of oneself and others. People with this level of pretensions are prone to manifestations of hypochondria, have difficulties implementing their life plans.

An adequate level of claims (adequately high and moderate), differs in the correspondence of self-esteem to the current state. At the same time, a person is persistent, productive, confident in himself and his capabilities. The adequacy of the level of claims strongly affects a person's relationship with society, and also has an impact on the formation of his personality in the process of development.

A low level of claims is often associated with attitudes of failure, uncertainty of plans for the future. People with this level of pretension are often guided by submission and often show the so-called "learned helplessness". They also have problems with planning their actions for the near future, their problems with the time perspective are revealed.

After analyzing the data of the Schwarzlander motor test, the results obtained are presented in the figure.

Figure - Levels of aspirations (LE) among students of primary school ageFrom the data of the figure, it can be concluded that 40% of students (8 people) have a high level of claims in an unrealistic EG.

Such students, in addition to a high unrealistic level of claims, may experience frustration, high demands on others, extrapunitiveness, hypochondriacal, difficulties in organizing and planning any activity.

35% of students (7 people) have a high level of claims. For schoolchildren with such a level of pretensions are characterized by: responsibility in actions and deeds, confidence in the significance of their actions, the desire for self-affirmation, the ability to adjust their actions, make efforts to achieve goals, the presence of stable life plans.

A moderate level of claims was found in 15% of EG students (3 people). A moderate (realistic) level of claims is characteristic of self-confident and sociable schoolchildren. They are not looking for self-affirmation, they are determined to succeed, and also calculate the measure of their strength and measure their efforts with the value of the result achieved.

Among EG students, 10% of students (2 people) have a low level of claims. They are characterized by a negative attitude when planning their activities, and they often do not have plans for the future or these plans are not very clear. One of the problems of such children may be planning their actions in the near future and correlating them with a time perspective. An inadequately low level of claims often leads to maladaptation, inefficiency of any activity, difficulties in relationships with others, low social status. Underestimated indicators of the level of claims are due to a lack of social recognition and success. All this can lead to a decrease in motivation, including educational and cognitive, self-doubt, increased fear of difficulties.

No students with unrealistically high level of claims were identified in the group of KG subjects. 45% (9 students each) have high and moderate levels of claims. Finally, 10% of KG students (2 people) have a low level of claims.

Thus, an inadequately high level of claims prevails among primary school age students with speech disorders (unrealistically high and high). Whereas students with normotypic development have moderate and high.

Conclusion. The level of claims is one of the leading components in the personality structure. The concept of "the level of claims" in psychology is considered together with such concepts as "self-esteem", "achievement motivation", "locus of control". The study of the level of claims contributes to a better understanding of the motivation of human behavior, the possibility of helping and supporting him through the development and implementation of special programs.

The level of claims is a fairly stable individual quality of personality. This psychological phenomenon is characterized as: the level of complexity of the intended goals and objectives; the individual's choice of the goal of the next action, depending on the experiences of success or failure of previous actions; the desired level of self-esteem of the individual.

The level of claims, as a psychological phenomenon, has a general and private character. The private level of claims characterizes success in certain fields of activity (science, sports, art, music, etc.) or human relations (the desire to have leadership positions in a team, in friendly, family or industrial relations, etc.). The basis of this level of human claims is self-esteem in the relevant field of reality. The general level of claims relates to many areas of reality and human activity. Most often, these are areas in which the intellectual and moral traits of an individual manifest themselves.

In the course of the study, it was revealed that an unrealistically high level of claims prevails among primary school-age students with speech disorders. The results obtained coincide with the data of M.Y. Oreshkina on the presence of unrealistically high claims among primary school students with TNR, which leads them to frustration, difficulties in implementing their own plans, excessive demands on others [cit. po 6, p. 82]. However, the data of L.M. Shipitsina and L.S. Volkova suggest that the reactions of students with TNR to failure are different compared to children with normotypic development (for example, after completing a task correctly, they then choose not a more difficult task, but move on to an easier one). The authors explain these results by the formation of a protective reaction in children (the desire to maintain success at an understated level) ^[7].

The results obtained allow us to build the work of a teacher – psychologist, a teacher – defectologist on the development of programs, methodological recommendations for the support of students with speech disorders in preschool institutions, schools, including the necessary measures not only to improve oral and written speech, communication skills, but also to normalize the level of claims, the formation of adequate self-esteem, reflection on experience, management the development of social relations in the team, the mastery of constructive forms of behavior in the process of various activities.