THE STUDY OF ANTICIPATION PROCESSES IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH ATYPICAL DEVELOPMENT

A comparative study the formation of anticipation processes in children with typical and atypical development makes it possible to more fully understand the development of the representation processes and identify key points that lead to a deficit of anticipation function. Despite studies that indicate a impairments of anticipatory activity in children with autism spectrum disorders, there has been practically no detailed study of the characteristics of "anticipatory attention" in this category of children. In order to solve this problem, a comparison of anticipatory activity in children with typical development (30 children, including 11 girls, age - 5.8-6.6 years) and children with autistic spectrum disorder (50 children, 6 girls and 44 boys, age - 6.1-7.6 years) were made. Children with typical development were tested on the level of intellectual development according to the Wechsler method for preschool children (WHHSI), it was found that the level of their verbal and non-verbal intelligence corresponds to the age norm. Additional tests were conducted to determine the level of development of children with ASD. The severity of ASD was established according to the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the level of speech development was determined using analysis of speech cards, and the level of nonverbal intelligence was assessed using the Leiter International Performance Scale. As a result of the assessment, three groups of children with ASD were identified: ASD I (6 children) had a mild ASD, their speech corresponded to level II, and nonverbal IQ was 57-69 points. Children of the ASD2 group (18 children) had a moderate form of ASD, speech at the level II-I and nonverbal IQ within 49-59 points. Children of the ASD3 group (20 children) had severe ASD, their speech corresponded to level I, and nonverbal IQ ranged from 39 to 47 points. With the help of priming paradigms, the effect of anticipating visual stimulation on the recognition rate of test images was investigated depending on the interval between the test and prime stimuli. As test stimuli, animal figures and blot drawings were used. As prime points, embedded figures were presented, including test stimuli as global and local elements. The obtained results allowed to establish that in children with a typical development, the a priori global information has a facilitating effect on the recognition time. In contrast, in children with an autism spectrum disorders, local elements of pre-stimulation have a facilitating effect on the reaction time. The effectiveness of the influences depends on the type of stimuli and the neurological disorder level. In children with an autism spectrum disorders, who could construct simple phrases, in the discernment of animal shapes, the facilitation effect was observed from the global element of prime stimulus, as in children with typical development. In general, on the basis of the obtained results, it can be argued that anticipation processes in children with atypical development depends on the type of a priori information and the level of developmental disability.