The Study on School Adaptation in Children with Speech Disorders ²⁸³⁴

The study is on characteristics of adaptation to the new social conditions in 6-7 year-old children. The experiment involved 43 children enrolled in the two first-year classes in progymnasium number 1811 in Moscow. Pursuing the overall goal of the research the study was divided into three parts: study of speech development level in first graders; the study of school adaptation specifics in 6-7 year-old children; the comparison of diagnostic data on speech development with the results of the adaptation process study. To test our hypothesis of a relationship between adaptation characteristics and level of speech development the experimental data were subjected to statistical analysis including analysis of the differences of the quantitative characteristics and their correlations. The results indicate that successful adaptation is connected to speech development. The characteristics of school adaptation in first graders with different levels of speech development were studied using a variety of methods: interviews, observations, sociometry, “School Drawing” and “Two Schools” techniques (a modified technique “A Talk about School” by Nezhnova T.A.). The study results allow identifying the types of adaptation reflecting the process result, the normal adaptation types and the disadaptation types.

Keywords: adaptation, adaptation types, disadaptation types, speech disorders.

Column: Clinical Psychology