International Journal of Pedagogics
112
https://theusajournals.com/index.php/ijp
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue04 2025
PAGE NO.
112-115
10.37547/ijp/Volume05Issue04-30
Features of Developing Reading Skills in Students with Mental
Delays in Inclusive Education
Khamrayeva Iroda Sayfullayevna
Associate Professor of the Department of Oligophrenopedagogy, Tashkent State Pedagogical University, PhD., Uzbekistan
Khurramova Sevinch
4th year student, Tashkent State Pedagogical University, Uzbekistan
Received:
18 February 2025;
Accepted:
16 March 2025;
Published:
17 April 2025
Abstract:
The article partially covers the features of developing reading skills in students with mental retardation
in inclusive education through research and analysis of literature.
Keywords:
Inclusive education, children with mental retardation, developmental delay, reading skills, reading
process, stages, ways to form reading skills, technical and semantic foundations of reading.
Introduction:
The current stage of development of the
education system for children with special educational
needs, characterized by the integration of general
secondary and special education (the introduction of
inclusive education), includes rational methods and
effective forms of education for such children together
with their normally developing peers.
By 2025, Uzbekistan has set a goal of achieving
inclusiveness in at least 51 percent of schools. In
addition, creating a safe and inclusive educational
environment for children is one of the priority areas of
the republic's development. For these purposes, it is
planned to attract more than 600 million US dollars
over 3 years.
This task is being implemented within the framework of
the concept for the development of inclusive education
in 2020
–
2025. For example, in the 2022 academic year,
225 secondary schools in all regions of Uzbekistan
opened their doors to children with special educational
needs.
First of all, if we clarify the concept of inclusive
education, then “inclusion” itself is the process of fully
including absolutely all children and people, regardless
of their characteristics, in social life.
Inclusive education is an educational process in which
all children are included in the general education
system. It is important to clearly emphasize that “all
children” here, that is, regardless of their
physical,
mental, intellectual, cultural, ethnic, linguistic and
other characteristics.
This means that children have equal opportunities to
receive education in their places of residence. General
education schools take into account special educational
needs and provide students with the necessary special
assistance. And finally, all children can learn, develop,
socialize and teach tolerance to each other on an equal
basis with their peers.
As is known, in inclusive education, children with
special educational needs are grouped together with all
children for a specific purpose according to different
abilities. While special education is carried out
according to mental, physical appearance, inclusive
education is determined according to the abilities and
capabilities of the child. While special education is
taught through special and alternative education
programs, inclusive education is taught on the basis of
a child-centered and adapted, guided, universal
curriculum. A distinctive feature of inclusive education
is that children and teachers learn from each other and
solve problems together.
It is worth noting that in inclusive education, all
children, including children with mental retardation,
study in the same class, not in a specially separated
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International Journal of Pedagogics (ISSN: 2771-2281)
group. Special groups and institutions remain, they are
not abolished, but parents have the right to choose an
institution for their child. A distinctive feature of
inclusive education is that it is focused not on the
curriculum, but on children. This is achieved through
pedagogy that meets the needs of each child, including
children with mental retardation.
One of the most common problems at the current stage
of development of the primary education system is the
disruption of the learning process. Modern scientific
research has shown that the development of reading
skills is a complex psychophysiological process, having
a multi-stage structure.
When defining the term "reading skills", it is necessary
to study how it is interpreted. According to the
definition given by V.I. Seliverstov, the process of
developing reading skills is defined as "skills -
automated components of conscious activity,
established methods of action, which have arisen as a
result of training."
According to the definition of V.G. Goretsky and L.I.
Tikunova, this process covers the entire complex of
skills and mental abilities. We consider it necessary to
shed more light on the term “skill”, which sheds light
on the essence of this analysis.
A skill is the implementation of an action mastered as a
result of knowledge and experience, that is, an action
that leads to automatism as a result of repeated
repetitions (K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavsky, A.I. Arnoldova,
E.A. Orlova).
So, the skill of reading is a form of speech activity,
which is the conversion of graphic signs of a letter into
sound and understanding of the perceived information.
The formation of reading skills involves the connection
and adaptation of the visual image of a speech unit
(words, phrases, sentences) with its auditory-speech-
motor-motor image and its meaning-content. The
strong connection of this process is preserved in any
form of reading (reading with or without a sound). In
the first case, the speech-motor component is carried
out in externally expressed speech, and in the second
case, in internal speech. [9.15]
If we take as the initial definition of the term "skill" the
ability to consciously perform a certain action with the
participation of the control system of consciousness,
and as the definition of the term "skill" - a skill that has
reached the level of automatism and is performed
without special mental-control difficulties, then we can
see the close connection and interdependence of the
aspects (components of the skill) covered by the term
"reading skill" (A.K. Aksenova, R.I. Lalayeva, M.R. Lvov,
D.B. Elkonin, etc.).
In the implementation of the reading process, a clear
interaction and cooperation of the visual (optical),
acoustic, speech-motor, kinesthetic and speech-
auditory analyzers, which form the psychophysiological
basis of the reading process, is necessary. The reading
process includes higher mental functions: semantic
perception, attention, memory, thinking, speech and
reasoning.
The reading process begins with visual perception,
differentiation and recognition of letters. Based on
visual processes, letters are correlated with the
corresponding sounds, and the visual image of the
word is reproduced and read. Then, based on the
correlation of the sound form of the word with its
meaning, reading comprehension occurs. In the
reading process, two aspects can be conditionally
distinguished: technical (correlation of the written
visual image of the word with its pronunciation) and
semantic reading (reading with understanding its
content), in which the main goal of reading is to read.
There is a close, continuous connection between these
aspects of the reading process (T.G. Yegorov, 1953;
Trigger, 2000).
Before transitioning to an automated state, the reading
process goes through several stages. These stages
differ qualitatively from each other, but they do not
have strict boundaries, they are formed gradually,
merging into each other, moving from one to another.
The stages or levels of the formation of reading skills
(according to T.G. Yegorov) are as follows: mastering
sound-letter
signs;
syllabic-analytical
reading;
formation of synthetic reading techniques; synthetic
reading.
In children, the mastery of sound-letter signs occurs in
the pre-alphabet and alphabetic periods, including the
development of phonemic representations, syllables
and words, including the lengthening of sounds in
sounds. The element of visual perception at this stage
is not a syllable, but a letter (D.B. Elkonin), while the
perception and differentiation of letters is only an
external aspect of the reading process. Behind this
external aspect of the reading process lies the most
important actions, namely - actions with language
sounds (Luria, Svetkova, 1966; Sipina, 1974).
Having mastered a letter, a child reads syllables and
words with this letter. However, in the process of
reading a syllable, the unit of visual perception at this
stage is a letter. The child first perceives the first letter
of the word, associates it with a sound, then the second
letter, and then synthesizes them into one syllable
(Trigger, 2000). At the stage of syllabic - analytical
(syllabic) reading, the process of combining sounds into
syllables does not cause difficulties. If at the previous
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International Journal of Pedagogics (ISSN: 2771-2281)
stage the reading of syllables as an independent
operation weakened the process of combining them
into words, then this process loses its independence,
since syllables are considered parts of a word.
At the stage of mastering sound-letter signs, the optical
unit is a letter.
At the stage of syllabic reading, the optical unit of
perception is a syllable.
Semantic-semantic guessing begins to develop, which
is manifested not only in guessing the next syllable, but
also after reading whole words - in reconstructing the
meaning of the sentence. Here, the processes of
perception become of primary importance. The
external appearance of the word has a certain influence
on its rhythmic-syllabic structure. Understanding in the
reading process is carried out by perceiving words. In
the reading process, rereading of the read word is also
observed.
The formation of a holistic perception technique -
recognizing simple words not by syllables, but by
certain signs of the word is achieved by moving from
analytical reading to synthetic reading techniques. The
child reads words with a complex structure, unfamiliar
to them, in a coherent way. The mastery of reading
skills depends not on the letter composition of the
word, but on the content of the previously read words.
Mastering the reading technique is not difficult. There
is
no
difference
between
perception
and
understanding. Perception is determined by knowing
and understanding the words read. Mastering the
automated stage of the reading process allows the
student to follow the text and carry out its logical
analysis.
Based on the above information, the main conditions
for the successful acquisition of reading skills depend
on the formation of oral speech, the sufficient
development
of
the
phonetic-phonemic
(pronunciation, phoneme differentiation, phonemic
analysis and synthesis) and lexical-grammatical aspects
of speech, visual analysis and synthesis, visual memory,
and spatial imagination.
According to many researchers (M.S. Pevzner, T.V.
Yegorova, V.I. Lubovsky, R.D. Trigger, H.A. Sipina, S.G.
Shevchenko and others), children with mental
retardation experience various difficulties in learning,
in particular, in mastering reading skills.
The psychophysiological basis of the difficulties is the
slow rate of visual perception and processing of
information, the difficulty of establishing associative
connections between the visual, auditory and speech-
motor centers involved in the act of reading, the low
level of thought processes based on understanding the
perceived information, and the weakness of self-
control and awareness (Shevchenko, 2005).
Psychological and pedagogical factors include the
unpreparedness of children to begin systematic
education, including the development of reading skills,
and at the same time, one of the negative
consequences is the lack of motivation for this type of
activity. It is observed that children with delayed
mental development can master reading techniques
for a long time and with great difficulty, they do not
fully understand the meaning of the text read, which is
an important component of reading skills.
In the first year of school, mentally retarded children
master all the letters and are able to combine them into
syllables. As a rule, 50% of children first master the
syllabic method of reading and move on to reading
whole words, while the rest of the children read only by
letters, using various methods to facilitate reading: for
example, in a combination of consonants, the first
consonant is highlighted using a long pause (“n
-
on”, “p
-
ax-
ta”, “s
-ab-
zi” are read with a stretch), or an
additional vowel is added to the consonant, usually by
repeating one of the neighboring vowels in the word
(“bod
-
ring” is read as “bodi
-
ring” instead of “yomg‘ir”),
or one of the consonants is omitted (“yomg‘ir” is read
as “yog‘ir” instead of “yomg‘ir”). In one
- and two-
syllable words, syllables that combine consonants are
usually read correctly, but when reading multi-syllable
words, children almost do not read the same syllabic
structures or can read them with difficulty.
In the second school year, there is no significant
difference in the formation of reading skills among
children. The difference in the speed of reading works
of art of various genres according to the plan is not very
large. The reason for the slow development of reading
skills is that children want to understand what they
have read immediately after reading, but initially
mechanical reading is not typical for children with slow
mental development. In the second year of the school
year, children begin to overcome the stage of forming
synthetic reading techniques.
In the third year of education, about 50% of children
master the synthetic reading stage. The remaining
children begin to read only whole words. Reading
syllables instead of reading words as a whole is carried
out by reading words printed on different lines.
Children experience additional stress and pay more
attention to placing parts of the same word on opposite
sides of the page, as a result of which the process of
combining words slows down and significantly
complicates the understanding of its meaning. Children
experience additional stress and pay more attention to
placing parts of the same word on opposite sides of the
International Journal of Pedagogics
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International Journal of Pedagogics (ISSN: 2771-2281)
page, as a result of which the process of combining
words slows down and significantly complicates the
understanding of its meaning.
The slowness of reading multi-syllable words is also
associated with the narrowness of children's
perception. Children with mental retardation need to
master each new syllable structure gradually, since the
process of reading letters in syllables is mastered
gradually. In all children, the transition from the initial
analytical stage of mastering reading skills to the
synthetic and automated stage can be achieved
through individual work at different times, but in
children with mental retardation this process is
especially slow.
The increase in reading speed is associated with the
development of synthetic reading processes, although
by the end of the third year of education, more than
half of children do not master the program
requirements for reading words. As the semantic
structure of the text becomes more complex, many
children may still be mastering the stage of syllabic
reading. They often read difficult, multi-syllable words
syllabically. There is a clear relationship between the
method and pace of reading, on the one hand, and the
accuracy of reading, on the other.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the development of reading skills in
children with mental retardation has its own
characteristics and is directly related to the occurrence
and manifestation of basic disorders of psychological,
intellectual development.
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