First-form children's health status and mental development
Nadezhdin, D.S.; Rapoport, I.K.
Gigiena i Sanitariia 2: 56-60
2009
ISSN/ISBN: 0016-9900 PMID: 19514288 Document Number: 629123
The task of the study was to comparatively analyze neuropsychic features in first-form children at the end of the first school year depending on the results of a medical examination and the opinions as to the appropriateness of each child's entering a school. The cognitive functions, psychomotor system, functional visual analyzer lability, that reflected nervous system fatigue in a schoolchild, and psychosocial adaptation measures were studied. The findings indicated that there were no differences between first-form children with debilitated health and their schoolmates in the performance of cognitive functions and schooling achievement. However, they showed decreased functional lability of the visual analyzer, difficulties in taking and carrying out rapid decisions, and lowered psychosocial adaptability. The specific features of mental development of first-form children with poor health set them under special conditions of an educational process, which are not conductive to better health.