Correlation of motherly attitude to frequently-ill children and their fine motor skills development in early childhood

Problem and purpose. In the world the interest in the issues of proper development of frequently-ill children is steadily growing because statistic data sources point at a constant increase in the number of somatic illnesses among children, including the children of babyhood and preschool age. There is an urgent necessity to look for the determinants of the parents' attitude that designates the development of a frail child. The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of interrelations among various types of motherly attitude to sickly children and the development of fine motor skills in frequently-ill children of babyhood and preschool age. The methodology of the research is based on the activity approach (M.Ya. Basov, S.L. Rubinstein, A.N. Leontyev) and psychosomatic approach that presupposes the research of psychic and somatic interrelations, which are connected with micro and macro-social environment of a human being (M. Yacobi, F. Alexander, F. Danbar). Methods. The methods of the research consist in the analysis of empiric data, the analysis of medical charts of the children to assess their health condition. In order to diagnose the attitude of the parents to their child, a check-list suggested by A.Ya. Varga and V.V. Stolin was used. Specific features of fine motor skills formation were assessed using the methods developed by N.O. Ozeretskiy and N.I. Gurevich. Statistical processing of data was performed making use of U-criterion by Mann - Wittney and correlation coefficient by Spirman. 24 children of two -three years of age, as well as their mothers, participated in the experiment. 12 children were healthy and 12 - sickly. Results. The prevalence in motherly attitude of “symbiosis” and authoritarian “hypersocialization” towards a frequently-ill child was revealed. In this case the parent feels as if she is an integral whole with her child and is eager to control all the sphere of the child's activity. It was discovered that the indices of fine motor skills of a healthy child were equal to those of a frequently-ill child when they fulfill the following assignments: “Copy the position of the other arm”. “Perform the given motor repertoire”. “Position correctly your postural pose in space”. However, in the group of frequently-ill children a decrease of correctness in performing the tasks: “Switch over to the next pose”. “Copy this pose” was observed. Making use of motherly attitude of “cooperation” in the family with healthy children exerts positive influence on the development of fine motor skills, and in a group of frequently-ill children resorting to motherly attitude of “a little lame duck” negatively affects the development of their fine motor skills. Conclusion. Implementation of partnership relations with children, encouraging their independence positively influences the development of fine motor skills in healthy children of two - three years of age. And as for frequently-ill children, among them difficulties in the development of fine motor skills can be observed in cases of their infantilization, the absence of trust in them, the presence of the idea of their awkwardness and unsuccessfulness.