Low level of adaptation of first graders. School adaptation levels

Children are far from “getting used” to the new conditions of life with the same success. The study of G.M. Chutkina revealed three levels of adaptation of children to school.

Talllevel of adaptation. The student has a positive attitude towards the school, perceives the requirements presented adequately; educational material learns easily; diligent, attentively listening to instructions, explanations of the teacher; executes orders without external control; occupies a favorable status position in the class.

Middle level of adaptation. The student has a positive attitude to school, visiting it does not cause negative experiences; understands the educational material if the teacher presents it in detail and clearly; focused and attentive when performing tasks, assignments, instructions from an adult, but under his control; is concentrated only when he is busy with something interesting for him; carries out assignments in good faith, is friends with many classmates.

Low level of adaptation. The student has a negative or indifferent attitude towards the school; complaints of ill health are frequent; depressed mood dominates; there are violations of discipline, the material explained by the teacher learns fragmentarily, independent work difficult, he needs constant monitoring; maintains efficiency and attention during extended rest pauses; passive; has no close friends.

The factors that determine high level adaptations: a complete family, a high level of education of the father and mother, the correct methods of upbringing in the family, the absence of a conflict situation due to alcoholism (father) in the family, a positive style of attitude towards the teacher's children, functional readiness for school, the favorable status of the child in the group before entering the first grade, satisfaction in communicating with adults, adequate awareness of their position in the peer group.

The influence of unfavorable factors on a child's adaptation to school, according to the same study, has the following sequence: improper methods of upbringing in the family, functional unwillingness to study at school, dissatisfaction in communicating with adults, inadequate awareness of one's position in a peer group, low level education of the father, mother, conflict situation in the family due to alcoholism, negative status of the child before entering the first grade, negative attitude towards children of the teacher, incomplete family.

Admission to school is associated with the emergence of the most important personal neoplasm - the inner position of the student.

The internal position is a motivational center that ensures the child's focus on learning, his emotionally positive attitude towards school, the desire to conform to the model of a “good student”.

In cases where the most important needs of the child, reflecting the position of the student, are not satisfied, he may experience persistent emotional distress, a state of maladjustment. It manifests itself in the expectation of constant failure at school, bad attitude towards oneself on the part of teachers and classmates, in fear of school, unwillingness to attend it. Thus, school maladjustment is the formation of inadequate mechanisms for the child's adaptation to school in the form of learning and behavior disorders, conflict relationships, psychogenic diseases and reactions, increased level adaptation, distortion in personal development.

Subgroup I - "Norm"

Based on the psychological diagnosis of observations, characteristics, it is possible to include children who:

cope well with the study load and do not experience significant learning difficulties;

they successfully interact both with teachers and with peers, that is, they have no problems in the field of interpersonal relations;

do not complain about the deterioration of the state of health - mental and somatic;

do not show asocial forms of behavior.

The process of school adaptation in children of this subgroup is generally quite successful. They have high learning motivation and high cognitive activity.

Subgroup II - "Risk group" (school maladjustment is possible), requiring psychological support. Children usually do not cope well with the academic load, do not show visible signs of social behavior disorders. Often the sphere of disadvantage in such children is of a rather hidden personal plan; the level of adaptation and tension in the student increases as an indicator of developmental disadvantage. An inadequate indicator of the child's self-esteem with a high level of school motivation can serve as an important signal of the beginning of trouble, and violations in the sphere of interpersonal relations are possible. If at the same time the number of diseases increases, this indicates that the body begins to respond to the emergence of difficulties in school life due to a decrease in defense reactions.

Subgroup III - "Unstable school maladjustment". Children of this subgroup differ in that they cannot successfully cope with the educational load, the process of socialization is disrupted, and significant changes in psychosomatic health are observed.

Subgroup IV - "Stable school maladjustment". In addition to signs of school failure, these children have another important and characteristic feature - asocial behavior: rudeness, hooligan antics, demonstrative behavior, running away from home, truancy, aggression, etc. In the most general form, deviant behavior of a student is always the result of a violation assimilation of the child's social experience, distortion of motivational factors, disorder of adapted behavior.

Subgroup V - "Pathological disorders". Children have an explicit or implicit pathological deviation in development, unnoticed, manifested as a result of training or deliberately hidden by the child's parents when he enters school, as well as acquired as a result of a serious, complicated illness.

Such manifestations of pathological conditions include:

mental (mental retardation of varying degrees of emotional-volitional sphere, neurosis-like and psychopathic disorders);

somatic (the presence of persistent physical ailments: disorders of the cardiovascular, endocrine, digestive systems, vision, etc.)

There are other approaches to the classification of forms of maladjustment.

I. School neurosis is a fear of school on an unconscious level. It manifests itself in the form of somatic symptoms (vomiting, headache, fever, etc.)

II. School phobia is a manifestation of overwhelming fear caused by going to school.

S. Didactogenic neuroses

They are caused by improper behavior of the teacher, mistakes in the organization of the learning process. V. A. Sukhomlinsky wrote about this: “For several years I have been studying school neuroses. Painful reaction nervous system the injustice of the teacher in some children acquires the character of agitation, in others - anger, in others it is a mania of unfair insults and persecution, in the fourth - feigned carelessness, in the fifth - indifference, extreme oppression, in sixth - fear of punishment, in front of the teacher, before school, in the seventh - antics and clowning, in the eighth - ferocity, sometimes taking pathological manifestations. "

IV. School anxiety

This is a form of emotional distress. It is expressed in excitement, increased anxiety in educational situations, in the classroom. The child is constantly unsure of the correctness of his behavior, his decisions.

Ovcharova R.V. offers the following classification of forms of school maladjustment, which analyzes the causes of maladjustment.

Table 1

Classification of forms of school maladjustment

Disadaptation form

Lack of adaptation to the subject side of educational activity

Inability to arbitrarily control your behavior

Inability to accept the pace of school life (more common in somatically weakened children, children with developmental delay), weak type of nervous system

School neurosis or "school phobia" - the inability to resolve the contradiction between family and school "we"

Insufficient intellectual and psychomotor development of the child, lack of help and attention from parents and teachers

Improper upbringing in the family (lack of external norms, restrictions)

Improper upbringing in the family or adults ignoring the individual characteristics of children.

The child cannot go beyond the boundaries of the family community - the family does not let him out (more often this is in children whose parents unconsciously use them to solve their problems)

Ovcharova R.V. emphasizes that the main reason for school maladjustment in lower grades associated with the nature of family influence. If a child comes to school from a family where he did not feel the experience of “we,” he also has difficulty entering a new social community - school. Unconscious striving for alienation, rejection of the norms and rules of any community in the name of preserving the unchanging "I" underlies the school maladjustment of children brought up in families with an unformed sense of "we" or in families where parents are separated from their children by a wall of rejection and indifference.

Thus, with a high level of intelligence, despite the indicated negative factors, the child often still copes with the curriculum, however, he may have deviations in the development of the personality according to the neurotic type. Among the specific deviations in the personal development of younger students, school anxiety and psychogenic school maladjustment are most often encountered.

The process of adaptation of a first grader to school life affects several areas of his life. This is the sphere of interpersonal relations with the homeroom teacher and with peers; the sphere of educational activity, which includes the assimilation of the curriculum and the rules of school life.

To make the diagnosis of the level of adaptation of a student to school life as complete as possible research work not only specific methods were used, but also conversations with the class teacher, teacher of the group extended day; method of observation in various fields of activity of first graders. These forms of work opened the first stage of our research.

From a conversation with the class teacher, the following was established:

§ In grade 3 students are registered with a neurologist and sedatives;

§ 1 the student passes the first grade program again (was transferred from another school);

§ Unequal age composition of the class. Children's ages range from 5.5 to 8;

§ 1 the student is brought up in a social protection institution;

§ 6 people are brought up in an incomplete family (there is only a mother);

§ 1 person from a large family.

Also, during the conversation, it was found out that the main initiators of any conflicts and collisions are three people: two students under the supervision of a neurologist and one who remained in the first grade for the second year.

Most of the students did not have serious problems in mastering the curriculum and when interacting with classmates. The main complaints related to a student who remained in the second year, as well as to a student registered with a neurologist.

At the beginning of lessons, it is very difficult to keep the students' attention on the assignment. Increased physical activity, rapid fatigability also hampered the work process.

The teacher of the extended day group confirmed the presence of the above negative manifestations in the behavior of the students.

As a result of the observation, the following results were obtained:

1. At the beginning of the lesson, some motor disinhibition is observed. It took the class teacher about ten minutes to establish a working environment in the classroom, which lasted no more than 15-20 minutes. Then the children's attention began to dissipate, and motor activity increased again.

2. After spending physical minutes, breathing exercises, the condition of the students improved slightly, but not for long.

3. In mathematics lessons, students had problems with counting cells. The teacher had to repeat the task several times and only a few students managed to complete this task. In the lessons of writing, the outside world did not have such problems.

4. Complications arose when the students were lined up for going to the dining room, for a walk, for additional classes. The guys ran, shouted and did not hear the words of the teacher and educator.

5. In the cafeteria, the bulk of the students behaved normally. Only two guys from time to time began to be capricious. During breaks and walks, the behavior of the children literally got out of control (screaming, running, conflicts). It was almost impossible to cope with this.

6. Most of the conflicts involved students from the “problem” list. But also, quite often, there were quarrels between the rest of the students in the class.

In order to diagnose the social status of each child in the class, as well as to identify the attitude of students to school, at the next, second stage of the study, a number of diagnostic techniques were selected. At the third stage, the research itself took place.

Sociometry. Methodology "Two houses" (Appendix 1).

Based on the data obtained, three groups of students were compiled: preferred, accepted and rejected. The criterion for referring to the first group was the preponderance of positive choices over minimal negative ones, or in the complete absence of those. The second group included the guys in respect of whom equal elections were made or with a slight advantage in one direction. The third group consisted of guys whose number of negative choices prevailed over positive ones or in the absence of such.

Table No. 1

according to the "Two houses" method

Figure: 1. Indicators of the social status of first graders

according to the "Two houses" method

As can be seen from the diagram shown in Fig. 1, the positions were divided almost equally.

In order to believe the results of this technique, another sociometric technique was carried out, with the help of which not only the attitude towards peers, but also towards oneself was clarified.

The "Ladder" technique (Appendix 2).

The data obtained also made it possible to divide the students into the three above-mentioned groups. The criteria for assignment to one or another position were approximately the same.

A distinctive feature of this technique was that the students had to be assigned not to one of two groups, but to one of three. The results were interpreted as follows. The list of preferred students included those students who had a predominance of positive choices (placement at the highest and middle “steps.” The admitted group included those students whose number of positive choices and negative choices was at the same level or with a slight predominance of positive or negative The last group, rejected, included those whose number of negative choices prevailed.

Note: Most students put themselves in middle positions.

Table No. 2

Indicators of the social status of first-graders according to the "Lesenka" method

The picture has changed a bit.

Figure: 2. Indicators of the social status of the first grader according to the "Ladder" method

To make the results of the two methods easier to compare, Fig. 3., which is presented in the form of a diagram.

Figure: 3. Comparative analysis of two sociometric methods

The inner ring of the diagram is the results of the first method, the outer ring is the second.

The figure clearly shows how the ratio of the three positions has changed. The number of preferred students has noticeably increased and the number of rejected has decreased slightly. The percentage of admitted children did not change much.

Based on the results of the two conducted methods, the following conclusions can be drawn:

§ The bulk of students quite successfully interacts with classmates;

§ With regard to some children, not all students have finally decided on their attitude towards them;

§ A number of students (4 people) have firmly established their positions on the list of rejected. Two of them are from a group of problem students in the class.

§ A group of students have retained their preferred positions.

For a more complete picture in this area of \u200b\u200bresearch, the method of R.S. Nemova "What am I?" (Appendix 3).

The results obtained are shown in Table 3 below.

Table No. 3

Figure: 4. Indicators of self-attitude of the first grader

Notes: Three students who consistently entered the rejection group rated themselves very high.

The results of the first two methods differ from the data obtained in the last version. Many children have a very high self-esteem, they treat themselves very well. In the process, almost all students answered certain positions in the form without hesitation for a long time.

The situation in the classroom is generally not bad, but it still cannot be called stable. Social status four students is very low, but they themselves assess themselves extremely positively.

Revealing the child's attitude to school.

In order to diagnose the child's attitude to school, to reveal whether the internal position of schoolchildren has formed and what motive prevails in the activity, a number of methods were carried out. The work was carried out with the whole class, since everyone can have problems, despite the outwardly favorable situation. Problems can be hidden.

The method of unfinished sentences (Appendix 4).

In the process of completing the assignment, the students did not experience difficulties. The overall emotional background was positive.

To make the interpretation more complete and qualitative, the number of positive, neutral and negative answers for each proposal was calculated. Generally, general dynamics the answers are positive, which indicates a positive attitude towards school, teacher and classes.

According to some parameters, in some sentences a negative assessment arose in those children who, as a rule, do not cause practically any complaints on the part of learning the material and behavior in the classroom.

Positive answers were also given by those children who have some difficulties in the field of self-control and assimilation of the curriculum.

Determination of the formation of the "internal position of the student" among younger students (Appendix 5).

The results of this technique are presented below in table No. 4.

Table 4

Notes:

1 student with a medium-formed internal position has great learning difficulties.

Also, the results of another student raise doubts, since according to the results of the diagnostics, his position as a student has not been formed, but the student succeeds in all subjects and his behavior is not satisfactory.

Figure: 5. Indicators of the formation of the student's internal position

Determination of the dominance of the child's cognitive or play motive (Appendix 6).

In the process of reading the tale, two pauses were made at the most interesting moments. On both occasions, almost all children (except for two people) chose the game. This indicates the dominance of the play motive over the cognitive one.

Summarizing the study of all diagnostics carried out at this stage, the following conclusions can be drawn:

§ In general, students have a predominantly positive attitude towards school, teacher, teaching;

§ The position of the student is formed for the majority of students, which also indicates a positive dynamics in the adaptation process;

§ Because learning activities is completely new to first-graders; naturally, they want to play more than work hard in class;

§ The main difficulties in the process of adaptation to school life in first-graders were caused by relationships with peers;

§ Due to high physical activity and physical fatigue, there are some problems in the assimilation of the curriculum, namely, due to insufficient concentration of attention.

The findings indicate the need to develop a program to normalize the interpersonal interaction of first graders, as well as to stabilize motor manifestations, in order to increase concentration of attention in the process of cognitive activity.

Having crossed the threshold of school, the child finds himself in a completely new world for him. Perhaps the child has been waiting for this moment for a long time, but he will have to adapt to a new life, where new trials, friends and knowledge await him. What difficulties can a first grader have in adapting to school? Learn about the problems of adapting first graders to school. Learn how to help your child adapt to learning and overcome challenges. Your little one just goes to kindergarten? Read about.

Children do not all adapt equally. Someone quickly joins a new team and is included in the learning process, while someone takes time.

What is adaptation to school and what factors does it depend on?

Adaptation is the restructuring of the body to work in changed conditions. School adaptation has two sides: psychological and physiological.

Physiological adaptation includes several stages:

"Acute adaptation" (first 2 - 3 weeks). This is the most difficult period for a child. During this period, the child's body responds to everything new with a strong tension of all systems, as a result of which in September the child is susceptible to diseases.
An unstable device. During this period, the child finds close to optimal responses to new conditions.
A period of relatively stable adaptation. During this period, the child's body reacts to stress with less stress.

In general, adaptation lasts from 2 to 6 months, depending on the individual characteristics of the child.

Adaptation disorders depend on several factors:

Features of adaptation to school of a first grader, levels of adaptation to school

Each first grader has his own characteristics of adaptation to school. To understand how the child adapts, it is recommended to learn about the levels of adaptation to school:

The problem of adaptation in the school of a first grader - the causes and signs of maladjustment

Disadaptation can be understood as expressed problems that do not allow the child to learn and the occurrence of any difficulties associated with learning (deterioration in mental and physical health, difficulties in reading and writing, etc.). Sometimes maladjustment is difficult to notice.
The most typical manifestations of maladjustment:

Mental disorders:

Poor appetite;
Fatigue;
Inappropriate behavior;
Headaches;
Nausea;
Violation of the tempo of speech, etc.

Neurotic disorders:

Enuresis;
Stuttering;
Obsessive-compulsive disorder, etc.

Asthenic conditions:

For the adaptation of the first grader to be successful, it is necessary to help the child. This should be done not only by parents, but also by teachers. If a child cannot adapt even with the help of parents, it is necessary to seek help from a specialist. In this case, a child psychologist.

The problem of school adaptation is not new. However, due to modern conditions (mobility and globalization of the world; social, economic and political changes) and the structure of the education system (system-activity approach; changing the goal of education - “to teach to learn”, new standards) the urgency of this problem has increased significantly.

Education at school, the transition from one link to another and the very admission always requires special costs from the child. But the situation of entering school deserves special consideration, especially over the past few years it has acquired new features while maintaining the established ones.

Technical progress and informatization of society, as well as the introduction of educational standards, complicate the adaptation process.
Federal state educational standards require serious expenses from first graders (physical, moral, psychological). In addition to the usual educational knowledge, abilities and skills, the child needs to achieve subject, meta-subject and personal results, to correspond to the portrait of a primary school graduate.
Overnight, a first grader finds himself in a new status and role, environment, system of responsibilities and rights. The child receives an endless stream of new information.

Adapting to school is a kind of difficult life situation for the child and the parents. At the same time, it is the primary adaptation to school that influences the entire further educational, professional and personal path of the individual.

What is school adaptation

The problem of school adaptation is at the junction of a number of sciences (psychology, pedagogy, sociology, medicine). Speaking about school adaptation, we will consider it as a psychological and pedagogical phenomenon.

The very concept of adaptation refers to biology and means the adaptation of an organism to changing environmental conditions. According to V.I.Dolgova's definition, adaptation is a process and result of internal changes, external active adaptation and self-change of an individual to new conditions of existence.
For a person, this is the process of assimilating norms and values, changing conditions, responsibilities and requirements.

School adaptation - the process of acceptance and assimilation by a child of the social situation of schooling, his new status (student) and new systems of interaction ("child - teacher", "child - peer"); developing new means of behavior.

From the point of view of psychology, school adaptation can be characterized by 4 specific criteria:

The child's mastery of a new social situation in the unity of its components.
Acceptance of a new social position and status, reflected in the inner position of the student.
Mastering new forms and means of social interaction in the emerging systems "student - teacher", "student - student".
Differentiation of the relationship "child - adult", purposeful restructuring of the entire way of life of the child (initiator and manager - an adult).

The period of adaptation to school can last from 2-3 months to a year. Therefore, it is the first class that is considered the most difficult and important.

Structure and types of adaptation

Adapting to school is a systemic process. It is subdivided into social, physiological and psychological adaptation, each of which goes through:

indicative phase (2-3 weeks);
unstable adaptation (2-3 weeks);
relatively stable adaptation (from 5-6 weeks to a year).

In the first phase, all systems of the body are strained, in the second - the body is looking for optimal solutions, in the third - the tension subsides, the body systems return to normal, stable forms of behavior are developed.

Assumes skill:

listen;
respond to teachers;
independently complete tasks;
organize and analyze their implementation.

At the same time, it is important to be able to establish contacts with peers, to adequately assess oneself and others.

Physiological adaptation

Assumes the stress of the body from the piled loads. Regardless of what activity and what kind of activity a child is engaged in at school, his body is working to the limit. This is dangerous overwork.

Depends on the child's readiness for school. Assumes:

desire to learn and complete assignments;
striving for their successful implementation and understanding.

Important developed ability to memorize and process information. You can read more about this element in the article.

Impact of adaptation

From the above it follows that school adaptation affects the entire body and personality as a whole. There are 3 main areas and characteristic changes in them with poor adaptation:

Mental (cognitive component). When problems arise, internal tension (anxiety) and stress arise.
Psychophysiological (emotional component). When problems arise, emotional maladjustment and physical manifestations of stress occur.
Psychosocial (behavioral component). In case of problems, the impossibility of the formation of new communication links is noted.

This can be tracked (table below).

Adaptation components	Criteria	Indicators
Cognitive	The level of development of self-awareness, the presence of skills, opinions, attitudes, stereotypes, views, knowledge about the school	The child's awareness of his rights and responsibilities, the presence of adequate ideas about what the school is for
Emotional	Self-esteem, level of claims	Adequate self-esteem, high level of aspirations
Behavioral	Child behavior at school, relationships with other people	The desire to meet the role expectations of adults, a formed idea of \u200b\u200btheir social role, appropriate behavior

Criteria and indicators of a child's adaptation to school (according to V.V. Gagai)

Signs of successful school adaptation

The child's satisfaction with the learning process, mastering the skills of educational activities.
Self-organization of educational, homework; adequate behavior.
Satisfaction with relationships with teachers and classmates; established contact.

Adaptation levels

A. L. Venger identified 3 levels of school adaptation (low, medium, high) and following components school adaptation: attitude to school, interest in learning activities, behavior, position in the classroom (see table below).

Adaptation level	Student characteristics
Low	Negative or indifferent attitude towards school; lack of interest in learning; often violates discipline, ignores assignments, needs direction and control from parents and teacher; has no friends, knows some classmates by name
Middle	Has a positive attitude towards school; easily copes with the main material; observes discipline, carries out assignments; friends with classmates
Tall	Has a positive attitude towards school; learns quickly and easily even additional material; takes initiative in classroom affairs; class leader

Levels of school adaptation (A.L. Venger)

From the table, it can be stated that a low level indicates, an average - about mild manifestations of maladjustment and risks, a high - about successful adaptation of a first grader.

Adaptation success factors

The success of school adaptation depends on a number of factors. Allocate external and internal factors of school adaptation.

External relationships include relationships with the class, teacher, and family.
Internal - educational motivation, readiness for school, health and stress resistance of the child.

External and internal factors are interconnected. There is no consensus on what is secondary and determines the rest. Until the end, this issue has not been studied. But many psychologists and educators (S. N. Vereikina, G. F. Ushamirskaya, S. I. Samygin, T. S. Koposova, M. S. Golub, V. I. Dolgova) agree that the family is paramount. The child's health (physical, psychological and mental), preparation for school, educational motivation and the ability to establish social contacts depend on parent-child relationships.

The role of the family in adaptation

V.I.Dolgova calls the parent-child relationship the main factor of the child's adaptation. In her research to identify the impact on school adaptation, the author relied on 2 indicators of adaptation success: learning motivation. The research results showed the following:

in families with the "symbiosis" type, children experience increased anxiety;
high parental control helps to reduce the child's educational motivation;
the style of "cooperation" and the ability of parents to accept the failure of the child contribute to the reduction of anxiety.

The best position (style) in the family during the adaptation of the first grader is the recognition of the child as an active subject of family relations; adequate control in the form of emotional acceptance of the child and voluminous, clear, feasible, consistent requirements.

Children of these adapt well to school. They:

active (socially, physically and communicatively);
proactive;
independent;
empathic and benevolent.

However, in most families, the subject-object attitude of the parents to the child is really predominant. This causes problems with the adaptation and socialization of the child.

Afterword

School adaptation is a crisis situation, as the child finds himself in new conditions without the appropriate "tools" and experience of similar situations. First grade education coincides with the crisis of 7 years. This further complicates the adaptation process. The period of school adaptation can be called a contradictory period of transformation of a preschooler into a schoolchild.

If the child is ready for school, with the support of the family and the teacher, school adaptation can take 2-3 months. Otherwise, the process may take a year and be accompanied by problems or result in maladjustment (the child's inability to psychologically and physically accept a new way of life).

The democratic style of upbringing favorably affects the development of the child and his adaptation to any conditions. Child-parent relations, in which each family member acts as an active subject, is interested in the affairs of others, supports, participates in everything that happens and expects the same from others.

The child goes to first grade. Why is it difficult for him to get used to school and how can parents help him with this?

It seems that just recently you took your baby from the hospital. And so the years passed imperceptibly, and it was time to lead him to the first grade. Joyful expectations, new impressions, elegant bouquets, white bows or bow ties - a picture of a wonderful holiday for a first grader is drawn. But the effect of novelty and charm with an unusual environment quickly passes, and the child begins to understand that he came to school not for a holiday, but for study. And now the most interesting part ...

Suddenly, you begin to notice that your previously so obedient and kind child suddenly becomes aggressive, refuses to go to school, cries, is capricious, complains about the teacher and classmates, or collapses from fatigue. Of course, a loving parent immediately starts sounding the alarm: what to do about it? How can I help my child get used to school? Is everything that happens to him normal?

As usual, there is no single answer to all these questions. After all, your child is a person, and he has his own individual characteristics, your temperament, character, habits, health, finally. Great importance have factors such as:

baby's readiness level for schooling - I mean not only mental, but also physical and psychological readiness;
the degree of socialization of the crumbs - how much he knows how to communicate and cooperate with peers and with adults, in particular, did he go to kindergarten?

How to understand how successfully a child gets used to school?

The beginning of schooling is a serious event in the life of a little person. In fact, this is his step, or even a leap, into the unknown. Try to put yourself in the shoes of your daughter or son for a moment, or remember your first school experiences if possible. Exciting, right? Even if mom and dad told the baby in advance as much as possible about what awaits him at school, all the same, the first time for him will be very unexpected. And the words "You will study there", in fact, will hardly say a lot to a 6-7-year-old man. What does it mean to study? How to do it? Why do I need it? Why shouldn't I, as before, play and walk with my mother and sisters-brothers? And this is only the first level of your child's experience.

New acquaintances are added here, the need to get used to new conditions of activity. Do Masha and Vanya like me? And the teacher? Why do I have to sit at the same desk with Vasya, who is pulling my pigtails? Why does everyone laugh when I want to play with the typewriter? Why would I sit for so long if I want to run? Why doesn't the bell ring for so long? Why, if I want to go home to my mother, I can't?

It is easy to guess what enormous intellectual, physical and emotional stress children experience during adaptation to school. And we, as loving parents, are simply obliged to help them go through this period as gently and painlessly as possible. That is why it is worth periodically trying to put yourself in the child's place, learning to look from his bell tower, remember how you felt when “the stars shone brighter, were big at home”. And give the baby exactly what he needs most now.

It takes time for a baby to get used to a new environment. Not one day, not one week or even one month. According to the observations of specialists, the average duration of adaptation to school is from two months to six months. Adaptation is considered successful if the child:

calm, in a good mood;
speaks well of the teacher and classmates;
makes friends quickly among peers in the class;
without discomfort and easily completes homework;
understands and accepts school rules;
responds normally to teacher comments;
not afraid of teachers or peers;
normally accepts the new regime of the day - gets up in the morning without tears, falls asleep calmly in the evening.

Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Signs of maladjustment of the child can often be observed:

excessive fatigue of the crumbs, heavy falling asleep in the evenings and the same difficult awakening in the morning;
the child's complaints about the demands of teachers, about classmates;
difficult addiction to the requirements of the school, resentment, whims, resistance to order;
as a result, learning difficulties. It is simply unrealistic for a child to focus on gaining new knowledge with all this "bouquet".

In such cases, comprehensive help from parents, a psychologist and a teacher is needed. This way you can help your child get through this period in the most optimal way for him. But, for a more conscious help of the crumbs, it's not bad to figure it out, but what actually happens to him during the period of getting used to school?

The first step is to deal with the increased physiological load on the baby. Educational activities require the child to maintain a relatively motionless posture throughout the lesson. If earlier your child devoted most of his time to all kinds of activity - running, jumping, funny games - now he has to sit at his desk for several hours a day. Such a static load is very difficult for a six to seven year old child. The motor activity of the baby is actually half as much as before the moment of entering school. But the need for movement does not disappear so easily in one day - it still remains great and is now not being satisfied qualitatively.

In addition, at the age of 6-7 years, large muscles mature faster than small ones. This makes it much easier for children to perform sweeping, strong movements than those that require greater precision, such as writing. Accordingly, the child quickly gets tired of performing small movements.

Physiological adaptation of a first grader to school goes through several stages:

"Physiological storm" - as experts call the first couple of weeks of schooling. All systems of the child's body in response to new external influences are strongly strained, taking up a significant part of the crumbs' resources. In this regard, many first-graders start to get sick in September.
Further, an unstable adaptation to new conditions of life begins. The baby's body is trying to find the most appropriate reactions to the outside world.
And only then does the phase of relatively stable adaptation begin. Now the body already understands what they want from it, and less strains in response to stress. The entire period of physical adaptation can last up to 6 months and depends on the initial data of the child, his stamina and state of health.

Parents should not underestimate the difficulty of the period of physiological adaptation of their child. Doctors say that some first-graders lose weight by the end of October, and many show signs of fatigue such as a decrease or increase in blood pressure. Therefore, there is nothing to be surprised when 6-7 year olds complain of a constant feeling of fatigue, headaches or other pains in the first two to three months of schooling. Children can become capricious, partially lose control over their behavior, and their mood can often and dramatically change. For many children, the school itself becomes a constraint factor, because it requires increased stress and attention. As a result, by the middle of the day children are overworked, unable to completely relax. Sometimes children are already sad in the morning, look devastated, may complain of abdominal pain, sometimes even morning vomiting appears. If the crumbs had some health problems before entering school, adaptation may not be easy. Remember this before reproaching your child for laziness and unwillingness to fulfill new responsibilities!

First of all, let's deal with some psychological characteristics first graders. By the age of 6 - 7, a greater balance is established between the processes of excitation and inhibition than before. But still, excitement still prevails over inhibition, which is why first-graders are generally very active, restless, and highly excitable emotionally.

After 25-35 minutes of the lesson, the child's performance decreases, and in the second lesson it may generally drop sharply. With a high emotional saturation of lessons and extracurricular activities, children can get very tired. All this must be taken into account by adults to help their child adapt.

Referring to developmental psychology, we can say that a new type of activity comes into the child's life - educational. In general, the leading activities of the child are:

from 1 to 3 years old - subject-manipulative game;
from 3 to 7 years old - role play;
from 7 to 11 years old - educational activities, operational and technical activities.

On the basis of this new activity for the child, thinking is advanced to the center of consciousness. It becomes the main mental function and gradually begins to determine the work of all other mental functions - perception, attention, memory, speech. All these functions also become arbitrary and intellectualized.

Thanks to the fast and continuous development thinking, such a new property of the child's personality as reflection - awareness of oneself, one's position in the group - class, family, assessment of oneself from the position of "good - bad" appears. The child takes such an assessment from the attitude of his close environment to him. And, depending on whether relatives accept and encourage him, broadcasting the message “you are good,” or condemn and criticize “you are bad,” the child develops a feeling of psychological and social competence in the first case, or inferiority in the second.

According to psychologists, no matter how old a child goes to school - at 6 or at 7 - he still goes through a special stage of development, called the crisis of 6-7 years of age. The former baby takes on a new role in society - the role of a student. At the same time, the child's self-awareness is changing, a reassessment of values \u200b\u200bis observed. Indeed, what was previously significant - play, walks - becomes secondary, and study and everything connected with it comes to the fore.

At 6-7 years of age, the emotional sphere of the child changes dramatically. As a preschooler, a toddler, experiencing failure or hearing unpleasant responses about his appearance, of course, was offended or felt annoyed. But such emotions did not radically affect the formation of his personality. Now all the failures are tolerated by the child much more acutely, and can lead to the emergence of a persistent inferiority complex. In other words, the more often a child receives negative assessments in his address, the more flawed he feels. Naturally, such a "acquisition" can negatively affect the child's self-esteem and the level of his future claims and expectations from life.

In school teaching, such a feature of the child's psyche is taken into account, therefore the first class of study is a priori non-judgmental - when assessing the work of schoolchildren, marks are not used. But parents should also support the child in every possible way:

celebrate all the child's achievements, even the smallest;
to evaluate not the personality of the child, but me his actions - instead of the phrase “you are bad”, say “you did not act very well”; - communicating with a son or daughter about failures, explaining that it is temporary, supporting the child's desire to overcome various difficulties.

The socio-psychological adaptation of first-graders can proceed in different ways. Three types of adaptation are conventionally distinguished:

1. Favorable:

the child adapts to schooling during the first two months;
he likes going to school, he is not afraid and does not feel insecure;
the child easily copes with the school program;
he quickly finds friends, settles in among a new team, communicates well with peers, establishes contact with a teacher;
he has practically all the time an even good mood, he is calm, affable, benevolent;
he fulfills his school duties without stress and with interest and desire.

2. Average:

the time to get used to school is delayed up to six months;
the child cannot accept the situation of study, communication with the teacher, peers - he can sort things out with a friend or play in the classroom, reacts to the teacher's comments with resentment and tears or does not react at all;
difficult for a child to assimilate curriculum.

Usually, such children get used to school and adjust to the new rhythm of life only by the end of the first half of the year.

3. Unfavorable:

the child has negative forms of behavior, he can sharply show negative emotions;
the child is not able to master the curriculum, it is difficult for him to learn reading, writing, counting, etc.;

Parents, classmates, teachers often complain about such children, they are capable of unpredictable reactions, they can “interfere with work in the classroom”. All this together creates a whole complex of problems.

Causes of socio-psychological maladjustment

Experts identify the following factors of violation of socio-psychological adaptation:

inadequate requirements from adults - teachers and parents;
situations of constant failure;
educational problems of the child;
discontent, punishment, reproaches from adults;
state internal stress, anxiety, alertness in a child.

Such stress makes the child undisciplined, irresponsible, inattentive, he can lag behind in his studies, gets tired quickly and simply does not have the desire to go to school:

unbearable additional loads - various circles and sections, which gradually create stress and "overload" of the child, he is constantly afraid of "not being in time" and as a result sacrifices the quality of all work;
rejection of schoolchildren by peers. Such situations in turn generate protest and bad behavior.

It is important for all adults - both parents and teachers - to remember that bad behavior is an alarm. It is necessary to show additional attention to the student, to observe him, to understand the reasons for the difficult adaptation to school.

The issue of helping children to get used to school painlessly and smoothly without harming their health is more urgent than ever. Experts recommend following simple tips:

Help your child get used to the new role of a schoolboy. For this, it is necessary to explain to the child what a school is, why study is needed, what rules exist at school;
Build your first grader's daily routine correctly. Daytime exercise must be consistent and constant, and take into account the personality of the child;
Discuss with the child the concepts of self-esteem, assessment, their various criteria: accuracy, beauty, correctness, interest, diligence. Work with your child to find ways to achieve all of this;
Teach your child to ask questions. Explain to him that asking is not at all ashamed or shameful;
Build your first grader's learning motivation. Tell him what the learning is, what benefits he will get, and what he can achieve through successful studies. But, of course, be honest with him and first of all with yourself - you don't need to say that gold medal will open the door to a carefree life. You yourself know that this is not so. But to explain that it is interesting, important and necessary to study, in order to then realize yourself in some kind of business, is still worth it, right?
Teach your child to manage their emotions. This does not mean suppressing and hushing up your problems and fears. But the development of voluntary behavior is very important for every person. The student must be able, if necessary, to obey the rules, follow them accurately, and listen carefully to the assignments. Games by the rules and didactic games can help in this - through them the child can come to an understanding of school assignments;
Teach your child to communicate. Communication skills will help him to function normally in group activities at school;
Encourage your child to cope with difficulties. Show him that you really believe in him and are always ready to help him if necessary;
Show a genuine interest in the class, the school your child goes to. Be sure to listen to your child when he wants to tell you something;
Stop criticizing the child. Even if he is bad at reading, counting, writing, he is sloppy. Criticism from loved ones, especially in the presence of strangers, can only exacerbate problems;
Encourage your child. Celebrate not only his academic progress, but other achievements, even the smallest. Any supportive words from the parents will help the baby feel significant and important in the business he is doing;
Consider the temperament of your child. Active children are physically unable to sit in one place for a long time. The slow ones, on the other hand, hardly get used to the difficult school rhythm;
Forbid yourself to compare your child with other children. Such comparisons will lead either to increased pride - "I am the best!", Or to a fall in self-esteem and envy of others - "I am worse than he ...". You can only compare your child with himself, his new successes with previous achievements;
Don't think that children's problems are easier than those of adults. Conflict situation with a peer or teacher can be no easier for a baby than a conflict between a parent and a boss at work;
When a child enters school, do not dramatically change the relationship in the family. You shouldn't say: "Now you are big, wash the dishes yourself and clean the house", etc. Remember, school stress is enough for him now;
If possible, during the adaptation period, do not overload the child. No need to drag him straight to the sea of \u200b\u200bcircles and sections. Wait, let him cope with the new environment, and everything else will be in time and then;
Do not show your baby your anxiety and concern about his performance in school. Just take an interest in his affairs without evaluating him. And be patient in anticipation of success - after all, they may not appear from the first day! But if you label your child as a failure, their talents may never show up;
If your child is very sensitive to school, reduce the importance of school grades. Show the child that you appreciate and love him, and not for good studies, but just like that, that is, of course;
Be sincerely interested in the crumbs' school life, but focus not on grades, but on his relationship with other children, on school holidays, excursions, shifts, etc.;
At home, create opportunities for your child to relax and unwind. Remember - at first school is a very serious burden for your child, and he really gets tired;
Provide your child with a welcoming family environment. Let him know that at home he is always awaited and loved, no matter what;
Walk with your child after class. Help him satisfy his need for movement and activity;
Remember, late evening is not for lessons! After class, give the baby a rest, and then do your homework for tomorrow as early as possible. Then the child needs good sleep;
And remember that the main help for a child is kind, trusting, open communication with parents, their love and support.

The most important thing - is the upbringing in the child of a positive and joyful attitude to life in general, and to daily school activities in particular. When learning begins to bring joy and pleasure to the child, then school will cease to be a problem.