Disadaptation of elementary school students: its causes, methods of determination and correction. School maladjustment: diagnostics, prevention, correction

School maladjustment is a child's mental state, manifested by problems with discipline, learning, behavior, relationships with peers and adults. There are many options for the manifestation of maladaptation, as well as reasons. But the basis of maladaptation is the child's inability to accept a new role and a new situation of development.

Disadaptation often occurs in primary school students, but also occurs when moving from junior to secondary and from secondary to senior, when changing the place of study. In most cases, this is a consequence of previously unnoticed problems with adaptation. The task of parents and teachers is to identify maladaptation in time and help the child.

Diagnostics

Several methods can be used to diagnose school maladaptation. I propose to consider an observation map for diagnosing all ages and separately methods for younger schoolchildren and adolescents.

Observation map

D. Stott's observation map is a ready-made form with statements, in which it is proposed to enter answers about the correctness of these statements regarding a particular child. In total, 16 blocks are presented, that is, all symptoms are divided into symptom complexes. This allows you to set the features of disadaptation:

• distrust of people, things, situations;
• self-care;
• in relationships with adults;
• hostility in relationships with adults;
• anxiety about peers and other children;
• asociality;
• hostility towards children;
• restlessness and restlessness;
• emotional stress;
• signs;
• unfavorable development conditions;
• problems in the field of sexual development;
• mental retardation;
• diseases and pathologies;
• physical handicaps.

The points determine the very fact of maladaptation, the severity of each symptom complex and its role in maladaptation. The card can be used for both younger students and teenagers.

This is an extensive and multifunctional (quality and quantity, congenital and acquired causes, severity of individual causes) method for studying maladaptation. But the minus of the methodology is that only a school specialist can conduct a more complete observation, but even then not always, subjective errors in the assessment are possible. In addition, it is a time-consuming method to implement.

junior schoolchildren

For the diagnosis of younger schoolchildren, especially first-graders, the questionnaire of L. M. Kovaleva and N. N. Tarasenko is often used. The technique is also focused on the observation of the child by teachers, but as in the first case, any adult who knows the child well can answer the questions.

The questionnaire includes 46 questions, which are divided into blocks (possible causes and factors of maladjustment):

• parental attitude towards the child;
• left-handedness;
• neuroses and neurotic symptoms;
• infantilism;
• hyperkinetic syndrome (impaired attention, hyperactivity and impulsivity), excessive disinhibition;
• inert nervous system;
• weak arbitrariness of mental functions;
• asthenic syndrome;
• intellectual violations.

The coefficient of disadaptation is calculated. Among the possible options: normal adaptation, average degree of maladjustment, serious maladjustment, indications for visiting a psychoneurologist (congenitally caused problems).

Teenagers

When diagnosing adolescents, you can use complexes of diagnostic methods to analyze individual areas:

• personality tests;
• Phillips anxiety test;
• method "House. Wood. Human";
• method of unfinished sentences;
• SAN questionnaire (well-being, activity, mood);
• Thomas test (behavior in conflicts);
• Q-sort (self-assessment analysis);
• SMIL (standardized multifactorial method of personality research);
• test of value orientations;
• T. Leary "Diagnostics of interpersonal relations";
• Furman A. "How adapted are you to life."

In the observation of the maladaptation of adolescents, the following are evidence:

• Developmental delay, with the exclusion of mental retardation.
• Problems in the assimilation of school knowledge, academic performance.
• Underdevelopment of speech, problems in the form of insufficient vocabulary, difficulty in generalization, systematization and other functions of speech. Weakness of inner speech.
• Lack of cognitive activity, curiosity and verbal-semantic memory.
• about people, things, animals.
• excitability and.
• Inadequate.
• Run away from home and/or school.

Both among younger schoolchildren and among adolescents, to determine their true interests, you can use the composition method (for younger children - a fairy tale, for older children - a story).

Correction

A popular mistake in the work on the correction of maladjustment is the struggle with the symptoms that have manifested. For example, a child asserts himself through fights. It is useless to punish him for fighting and forbid it. Even if he stops fighting, he will do something else, for example, vandalism, since the need for self-assertion will remain, and the child still does not know the correct methods. Accordingly, the purpose of the work is to help the child in self-affirmation in a socially acceptable way.

So what can be done:

1. Find out the interests of the child.
2. Identify problems accompanying the need for self-affirmation, for example, or.
3. Help the child overcome problems and do useful and interesting things, for example, join a circle, go in for drawing or sports, play KVN, and so on.

By the same principle, you need to work with the aggression and rudeness of the child. Perhaps this is an overcompensation of self-doubt, inability to communicate. Accordingly, we teach to communicate and be confident - rudeness goes away by itself.

Correction of disadaptation requires an individual approach, which takes into account:

• age features;
• individual personality traits;
• manifestations and root causes of maladaptation;
• development environment conditions.

There is no need to be afraid of maladjustment and even more so to hush up the problem. Problems in adaptation occur in 15-40% of schoolchildren. Unfortunately, this is a popular problem, but in the early stages it can be easily corrected.

The work should be carried out jointly by parents and school specialists:

• the psychologist draws up recommendations and an individual development plan for the child;
• parents monitor compliance with the recommendations within the home (assistance in the assimilation of knowledge, control over the implementation of lessons, analysis of missed or incomprehensible material);
• the teacher helps the child in the classroom: creates situations of success, monitors a healthy psychological climate and adherence to an individual-personal approach.

An important role in the correction of a child's maladjustment is played by the individual-personal qualities of adults (parents and teachers) and their nature of interaction. It is important to remember the overall goal - to help the child adapt. The unity of parents and teachers contributes at least to reducing the level of anxiety in the child.

junior schoolchildren

Primary school students are just starting to move from playing activities to learning, so games are an excellent form of assistance in adaptation:

• If we are talking about problems in relationships with the team, then games for rallying.
• For the development of cognitive processes - intellectual games.

Bonding games:

1. Orchestra. The game is played by analogy with real conducting: the presenter (conductor) raises and lowers his hands. The higher he raises them, the louder the other children (orchestra) perform the chosen action.
2. "Let the one who..." The facilitator comes to the center of the circle and says "Let someone who likes to play football (for example) come to me." You can name any word: a piece of clothing, a variant of a hobby, external features.

Educational games should be selected depending on the area in which the gap is marked. Here are some examples:

1. For the development of short-term memory. The child is invited to look for 20 seconds at a sheet with drawn figures, remember them and then repeat on a blank sheet.
2. Associations. The child is invited to connect the meaning of pictures and words, and then justify their decision.
3. To determine the creative potential will allow the technique "Finish the picture." The child is offered a set of identical (simple level) or different (difficult level) blank figures and is required to finish them. There are no other restrictions. Not only the result of the work is evaluated, but also the activity, variability, speed of thoughts and actions.

Teenagers

The best method for correcting a teenager's maladjustment is to help him realize himself. To do this, you need to conduct conversations, organize joint and interesting activities for the teenager, respect his personality and sense of adulthood.

Creative therapy has proven itself positively. The type of occupation is selected individually. For example, if the problem is not only in the socio-psychological (uncertainty), but also in the cognitive sphere, then classes that require concentration of attention and develop fine motor skills (sewing, embroidery, weaving) are suitable.

In order to unite the class, it is necessary to use trainings, group consultations. The work should be directed to the development, independence (including self-organization).

For example, you can follow the following training plan:

1. Warm-up and introduction (half an hour). Children get to know each other by playing "Hot Ball": they throw a ball to each other, say their name and say a compliment to another person (to whom they throw). Then the facilitator evaluates the readiness of the entire group, the activity of individual participants, and the characteristics of the composition of the group. The Arrow game will help in this: the group needs to imagine that they are an arrow (scale), and move towards the maximum or minimum as much as they are ready to work, cheerful, healthy, and so on. Well, in the end, the leader names the topic of the training, voices the problem and describes the essence and goals of the lesson.
2. Main part. Depending on the specific conditions, relaxation with the release of the subconscious and imagination, situational role-playing games, simulation games, psychological studies, psychodrama, discussions, metaphors, drawing, and so on are used.
3. Reflection. The results of the training are summed up, plans are made for the next lesson (7-8 lessons in total), the thoughts and feelings of the participants are discussed.

Training is allowed only by a specialist! This method has its own technology and a number of nuances.

Regardless of the age of the child, the duty of parents, psychologists and educators:

• Cooperate with the child, pay more attention, play, advise, observe.
• Prepare a child for school: work on the development of everyone, develop fine motor skills, work on voluntary attention.
• Avoid high expectations and demands, allow the child to be imperfect and make mistakes. Sincerely without ridicule to notice successes.
• Do not compare the child with other students, especially more successful ones. A child's progress can only be judged relative to his previous successes.
• Help the child find a reference group and activities for self-realization. Additional education, corresponding to the interests and abilities of the child, will give self-confidence due to the attention and success, emotional support that the child will receive in this area. Gradually, self-confidence will spread to all areas of life.
• To make significant the area in which the child's success is better. Gradually, the attitude “If I’m so good here, then I can succeed in another business” will gradually form.

It must be remembered that any word of an adult has educational power and corrects the behavior, as well as the thinking of the student. Both praise and abuse, shouting are tools of reinforcement and provocation for one or another response behavior.

Prevention

Primary School

Before the child enters school, a passage is shown, which determines the readiness for school, the state of health and gives recommendations on the individual path of the child's development.

Many parents are afraid of the commission, considering it an offensive event and seeing the risks of diagnosing a child. As a result, they refuse to pass. They have the right, but you need to understand that the members of the commission work in the interests of the child and the family.

In order to prevent maladaptation, it is impossible to send a psychologically unprepared child to school, even if he is 6-7 years old. According to the laws of our country, the maximum child can be sent to school at the age of 8. The second option is to identify gaps in the readiness structure in advance and work with the child, preparing him for school.

Younger and older teenagers

Adolescence itself is characterized by maladjustment of the personality in a broad sense. A teenager is actively discovering himself and looking for his place. The best thing that parents can do to prevent school maladjustment is to communicate with a teenager, treat him with respect and understanding, study the characteristics of age and the specifics of reactions.

What else can be done:

• Do not demand good grades and success in all subjects from your child.
• Help your teenager understand their interests and abilities, draw up an individual learning plan.
• Be indulgent with the cognitive impairments that are natural for this age, help with nutrition, joint activities and rest.

Moving from one institution to another

Changing your lifestyle is stressful for anyone. The transition from one school to another is a double stress for a child, especially if it is combined with a change of residence or falls into transitional classes. Joining a team is not an easy task:

1. Meet and talk with the class teacher. Tell us about your child's characteristics and success in the old school.
2. Find out the features and charter of the school, introduce the child to the school in advance.
3. It is useful for a student of elementary grades to help find friends - a neighbor on a desk, a member of a circle. Teenagers themselves unite in groups, no need to interfere. But you should always be ready to help, talk to your child.

The transition from one educational institution to another is an individual event. It is impossible to predict the development of events, since everything depends on the characteristics of the child, school and class. Recommendations should be made for a particular case. The best thing parents can do to increase the child's adaptation is to contact a local psychologist.

Afterword

If the child is happy with school and his whole life, then there will be no problems. This means that all work should be aimed at shaping a child's positive attitude towards life, himself, the environment, school and all participants in the educational process. This will help any significant for the personality of the child and giving him positive emotions, including communication as a separate activity.

Read more about successful school adaptation, its signs and the role of parents in this, read the article. About the signs and factors of maladjustment - in the article.

The term school maladaptation has existed since the appearance of the first educational institutions. Only before it was not given much importance, but now psychologists are actively talking about this problem and looking for the reasons for its appearance. In any class, there will always be a child who not only does not keep up with the program, but experiences significant learning difficulties. Sometimes school maladjustment is in no way connected with the process of mastering knowledge, but stems from unsatisfactory interaction with others. Communication with peers is an important aspect of school life, which cannot be ignored. Sometimes it happens that classmates begin to poison an outwardly prosperous child, which cannot but affect his emotional state. In this article, we will consider the causes of maladaptation at school, correction and prevention of the phenomenon. Parents and educators, of course, should know what to pay attention to to prevent unfavorable developments.

Causes of maladaptation at school

Among the reasons for maladaptation in the school community, the following are most common: the inability to find contact with peers, poor academic performance, and the child's personality traits.

The first reason for maladaptation is the inability to build relationships in the children's team. Sometimes a child simply does not have such a skill. Unfortunately, not all children are equally easy to make friends with classmates. Many simply suffer from increased shyness, do not know how to start a conversation. Difficulties in establishing contact are especially relevant when the child enters a new class with already established rules. If a girl or boy suffers from increased sensitivity, it will be difficult for them to cope with themselves. Such children usually often worry for a long time and do not know how to behave. It's no secret that classmates most of all attack the newcomers, wanting to "test them for strength." Ridicule deprives moral strength, self-confidence, creates maladaptation. Not all children can withstand such tests. Many people withdraw into themselves, under any pretext they refuse to attend school. This is how disadaptation to school is formed.

Another reason- Lag in class. If the child does not understand something, then gradually loses interest in the subject, he does not want to do homework. Teachers are also not always correct. If the child does not do well in the subject, then he is given appropriate grades. Some do not pay attention to the underperformers at all, preferring to ask only the strong students. Where can maladaptation come from? Having experienced difficulties in learning, some children refuse to study at all, not wanting to face numerous difficulties and misunderstandings again. It is known that teachers do not like those who skip classes and do not do homework. Disadaptation to school occurs more often when no one supports the child in his endeavors or, due to certain circumstances, little attention is paid to him.

Personal characteristics of the child can also become a certain prerequisite for the formation of maladjustment. An overly shy child is often offended by peers or even underestimated by the teacher. Someone who does not know how to stand up for himself often has to suffer from maladaptation, because he cannot feel significant in the team. Each of us wants to be appreciated for his individuality, and for this you need to do a lot of inner work on yourself. This is not always possible for a small child, which is why maladaptation occurs. There are also other reasons that contribute to the formation of maladaptation, but they are, one way or another, closely related to the three listed.

Problems with school in elementary school students

When a child first enters first grade, he naturally experiences excitement. Everything seems unfamiliar and frightening to him. At this moment, the support and participation of parents is more important than ever for him. Disadaptation in this case may be temporary. As a rule, after a few weeks the problem resolves itself. It just takes time for the kid to get used to the new team, to be able to make friends with the guys, to feel like a significant and successful student. This does not always happen as quickly as adults would like.

Disadaptation of younger schoolchildren is associated with their age characteristics. The age of seven to ten years does not yet contribute to the formation of a special seriousness for school duties. To teach a child to prepare lessons on time, one way or another, it is required to control him. Not all parents have enough time to look after their own child, although, of course, they should set aside at least an hour every day for this. Otherwise, disadaptation will only progress. School problems can subsequently result in personal disorganization, disbelief in oneself, that is, reflected in adult life, make a person withdrawn, unsure of himself.

Correction of school maladaptation

If it so happened that the child is experiencing certain difficulties in the classroom, be sure to start taking active measures to eliminate the problem. The sooner this is done, the easier it will be in the future. Correction of school maladjustment should begin with establishing contact with the child himself. Building trusting relationships is necessary so that you can understand the essence of the problem, together get to the origins of its occurrence. The following tips will help you cope with maladjustment and increase your child's self-confidence.

Conversation Method

If you want your child to trust you, you need to talk to him. This truth should never be ignored. Nothing can replace live human communication, and a shy boy or girl just needs to feel significant. You don't have to start asking questions right away. Just talk for a start about something extraneous, insignificant. The baby will open up on its own at some point, don't worry. No need to push him, climb with questions, give premature assessments of what is happening. Remember the golden rule: do no harm, but help overcome the problem.

Art therapy

Invite your child to draw their main problem on paper. As a rule, children suffering from maladaptation immediately begin to draw a school. It is easy to guess that it is there that the main difficulty is concentrated. Do not rush or interrupt it while drawing. Let him express his soul in full, ease his inner state. Disadaptation in childhood is not easy, believe me. It is also important for him to be alone with himself, to discover the existing fears, to stop doubting that they are normal. After the drawing is complete, ask the child what's what, referring directly to the image. So you can clarify some significant details, get to the origins of maladaptation.

We teach to communicate

If the problem is that it is difficult for the child to interact with others, then this difficult moment should be worked out with him. Find out what exactly is the complexity of maladaptation. Perhaps the matter is in natural shyness, or he is simply not interested in classmates. In any case, remember that for a student to remain outside the team is almost a tragedy. Disadaptation deprives moral strength, undermines self-confidence. Everyone wants recognition, to feel important and an integral part of the society in which they are located.

When a child is bullied by classmates, know that this is a difficult test for the psyche. This difficulty cannot simply be brushed aside, pretending that it does not exist at all. It is necessary to work out fears, raise self-esteem. It is even more important to help re-enter the team, to feel accepted.

"Problem" subject

Sometimes a child is haunted by failure in a particular discipline. At the same time, a rare student will act independently, seek the teacher's favor, and study additionally. Most likely, he will need to be helped in this, directed in the right direction. It is better to contact a specialist who can "pull up" on a specific subject. The child must feel that all difficulties can be solved. You can’t leave him alone with a problem or blame him for running the material too far. And certainly one should not make negative predictions about its future. From this, most children break down, they lose all desire to act.

Prevention of school maladaptation

Few people know that a problem in the classroom can be prevented. Prevention of school maladaptation is to prevent the development of adverse situations. When one or more students are emotionally isolated from the rest, the psyche suffers, trust in the world is lost. It is necessary to learn how to resolve conflicts in time, monitor the psychological climate in the classroom, organize events that help establish contact, bring children together.

Thus, the problem of maladjustment in school requires careful attention. Help the child cope with his inner pain, do not leave alone with the difficulties that probably seem insoluble to the baby.

With the beginning of educational activities in the life of a child, there are big changes. At this stage, his psyche may experience a load due to a change in lifestyle, new requirements from parents and teachers.

Therefore, it is extremely important here to observe the general condition of the student, to help him avoid difficulties in the process of adapting to the school environment.

This article will consider the concept of school maladjustment, its main causes, types of manifestation, as well as recommendations for correction and prevention developed by psychologists and teachers.

School maladjustment does not have an unambiguous definition in science, because in every science, be it pedagogy, psychology and social pedagogy, this process is studied from a certain professional angle.

School maladaptation- this is a violation of the adequate mechanisms for adapting the child to the school environment, affecting his educational productivity and relationships with the outside world. If you bypass scientific terminology, then, in other words, school maladaptation is nothing more than a psychosomatic deviation that prevents the child from adapting to the school environment.

According to psychologists, a student who has difficulty adapting may have problems mastering school material, resulting in low academic performance, as well as difficulties in forming social contacts with both peers and adults.

The personal development of such children, as a rule, is delayed, they sometimes do not hear their "I". Most often, maladaptation is faced by younger students, but in some cases, high school students as well.

As a rule, children with this kind of problems in elementary school stand out from the whole team:

• emotional instability;
• frequent absence from school;
• abrupt transitions from passivity to activity;
• frequent complaints of feeling unwell;
• behind the course.

High school children who have difficulty adjusting are more likely to:

• - increased sensitivity, sharp outbursts of emotions;
• - the appearance of aggressiveness, conflicts with others;
• - negativism and protest;
• - the manifestation of character through appearance;
• - can keep up with the curriculum.

Causes of school maladaptation

Psychologists studying the phenomenon of maladjustment, among the main reasons, distinguish the following:

• strong suppression by parents and teachers - (fear of failure, a sense of shame, fear of making a mistake);
• disorders of a somatic nature (weak immunity, diseases of internal organs, physical fatigue);
• poor preparation for school (lack of certain knowledge and skills, poor motor skills);
• weakly - formed foundation of some mental functions, as well as cognitive processes (inadequately high or low self-esteem, inattention, poor memory);
• a specifically organized educational process (a complex program, a special bias, a fast pace).

Types of manifestation of school maladaptation

1. cognitive- manifests itself as a general poor progress of the student. There may be chronic academic failure, lack of skills, fragmentary acquisition of knowledge. Lack of adaptability to the collective pace - being late for lessons, prolonged assignments, rapid fatigue.

2. Emotionally evaluative- there are violations of the emotional attitude to individual lessons, teachers, possibly to study in general. "Fear of school" - anxiety, tension. Uncontrolled manifestation of violent emotions.

3. Behavioral- weak self-regulation, an inability to control one's own behavior is manifested, conflict appears. The lack of training is manifested in the unwillingness to do homework, the desire to engage in other activities.

Correction of disadaptation in children of school age

Currently, there is no single methodology for solving problems with the adaptation of a student, since this problem includes several aspects of a child's life at once. Here it is necessary to take into account the medical, pedagogical, psychological and social aspects.

It is for this reason that it is necessary to understand the seriousness of this problem and solve it through qualified specialists.

Insofar as psychological help in resolving this issue is the main one, with a child experiencing difficulties, either a school psychologist or a private psychologist, in some cases, a psychotherapist, can work.

Specialists, in turn, to determine the methods of correcting school maladaptation, conduct a detailed study of the life of a student, identify the main points:

• learn in detail about the social environment of the child, the conditions of his development, collecting a detailed anamnesis;
• assess the level of psychophysical development of the child, taking into account his individual characteristics, conduct special tests appropriate to the age of the child;
• determine the nature of the student's internal conflict leading to crisis situations;
• identify factors that provoke manifestations of signs of maladaptation;
• make up a program of psychological and pedagogical correction, focusing specifically on the individual characteristics of the child.

teachers are also inextricably linked with the process of creating positive conditions for the adaptation of the student. It is necessary to focus on creating comfort in the classroom, a favorable emotional climate in the classroom, and be more restrained.

But it is important to understand that without family support, the chances for the development of positive dynamics are quite limited. That is why parents need to build friendly relations with their children, encourage more often, try to help and, of course, praise. It is necessary to spend time together, play, come up with joint activities, help develop the necessary skills.

If the child does not have a relationship with a teacher at school, or with peers (option), parents are advised to consider transfer options to another school. It is likely that in another school the child will become interested in learning activities, and will also be able to establish contacts with others.

Prevention of school maladaptation

Complex in solving this problem should be both methods of correction and methods of prevention. To date, various measures are envisaged to help a child with maladaptation.

These are compensatory classes, social trainings, qualified consultations for parents, special methods of remedial education, which are taught to school teachers.

Adaptation to the school environment- the process is stressful not only for the child, but also for parents, for teachers. That is why the task of adults at this stage of a child's life is to try to help him together.

Here, all efforts are rushed to only one important result - to restore the child's positive attitude towards life, teachers and the educational activity itself.

With the advent of the student, there will be an interest in the lessons, possibly in creativity and in others. When it is clear that the child has begun to experience the joy of the school environment and the learning process, then the school will no longer be a problem.

An important task of a social teacher in the education system is the prevention of school maladaptation, pedagogical and social neglect.

The relevance of this area of ​​activity of a social pedagogue is associated with the relative prevalence of behavioral disorders of a pathological and non-pathological nature and their negative personal and social significance.

Social prophylaxis (warning, prevention) is an activity to prevent a social problem, social deviation or keep them at a socially tolerable level by eliminating or neutralizing the causes that give rise to them. Prevention is aimed at preventing possible physical, psychological or socio-cultural conflicts among individuals and "risk groups"; preservation, maintenance and protection of a normal standard of living and health of people; assisting them in achieving their goals and unlocking their inner potentials 11 .

There are three levels of social prevention.

1. The general social level (general prevention) provides for the activities of the state, society, their institutions, aimed at resolving contradictions in the field of economics, social life, in the moral and spiritual sphere, etc. It is carried out by various state authorities and administrations, public formations, for whom the function of crime prevention is not the main or professional one. For example, the Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On the Fundamentals of the System for the Prevention of Neglect and Juvenile Delinquency” is devoted to social prevention.

2. A special level (social and pedagogical prevention) consists in a targeted impact on the negative factors associated with certain types of deviations or problems. The elimination or neutralization of the causes of these deviations is carried out in the course of the activities of the relevant subjects, for whom the preventive function is professional.

3. The individual level (individual prevention) is a preventive activity in relation to specific individuals whose behavior has features of deviation or problematicity. For example, in the Federal Law “On the Fundamentals of the Juvenile Delinquency Prevention System”, individual preventive work is defined as an activity for the timely identification of minors and families in a socially dangerous situation, as well as for their social and pedagogical rehabilitation and (or) prevention of their committing offenses and antisocial actions. Depending on the stage of development of the problem, prevention can be of several types: early prevention, immediate prevention, etc.

The entire population needs social prevention, and, above all, people belonging to the “risk groups”. However, the approaches to these categories of people are different, just as the programs of social and preventive work are different in cases of specific problems and risk situations.

One of the areas of preventive activity of a social worker is the prevention of maladaptation.

The term "adaptation" is used, on the one hand, to characterize the level of human adaptability to environmental conditions. On the other hand, adaptation acts as a process of adapting a person to changing conditions. It is important to see the mutual nature of the adaptation of a person and the environment with which he enters into regulatory relationships in work and life 12 .

To refer to the situation of the norm, the term "sustainable adaptation" is used (synonymous with the norm, health). When habitual conditions of life change, factors appear that introduce disorganization into mental activity. In this case, the re-adaptation mechanism should turn on. Under re-adaptation today we understand the process of transition from a state of stable adaptation in familiar conditions to a state of relatively stable adaptation in new unusual (changed) conditions of existence, or the result of this process, which has a successful value for the individual. The re-adaptation process has several stages 13 .

1. Preparatory - takes place if a person knows about changes or assumes them with a certain degree of probability. In this situation, he accumulates certain information about the environment of his future habitat and the conditions of future activities, thus creating an information field that will become one of the sources for the formation of adaptation mechanisms. Depending on the individual properties and qualities of a person, cognitive behavior can be active-purposeful or passive. The first type of cognitive behavior is characterized by the desire to obtain as much information as possible, the manifestation of an active interest in it and the use of any opportunities to obtain it. The second type is expressed in the passive perception of the information received.

2. The stage of starting mental stress is the starting moment in the action of the re-adaptation mechanism. At the same time, the state of a person is comparable to feelings before sports competitions, entering the stage, etc., when mental and personal resources are mobilized. Internal resources are further used to organize life in the changed conditions. It is difficult to determine the boundaries of this stage, since the dynamics of the adaptation process does not have clearly defined time indicators. It depends on the individual characteristics of each person, the conditions of his life, etc.

3. The stage of mental and personal reactions of entry (primary maladjustment) - the stage at which a person begins to experience the influence of psychogenic factors of altered living conditions.

The state of disadaptation can be considered in two ways. Firstly, as a relatively short-term situational state, which is a consequence of the impact of new, unusual stimuli of the changed environment and signals an imbalance between mental activity and environmental requirements, and also encourages re-adaptation. In this sense, maladaptation is a necessary component of the adaptation process. Secondly, disadaptation can be a rather complex and long-term mental state caused by the functioning of the psyche at the limit of its regulatory and compensatory capabilities, or in an outrageous mode and expressed in inadequate response and behavior of the individual. Therefore, the entry situation can have two possible continuations: exit to re-adaptation, when a person's adaptation to a new condition ends with the stages of final mental stress and an acute mental exit reaction, or exit to disadaptation.

Among the various types of maladaptation, social maladaptation is distinguished, which is expressed in violation of moral and legal norms, asocial forms of behavior and deformation of the system of internal regulations, reference and value orientations, and social attitudes.

Maladaptive behavior is of two types:

1. The behavior of the aggressive type in its simplest form can be represented as an attack on an obstacle or barrier. However, when realizing a possible or obvious danger, aggression can be directed at any random object, at strangers who are not involved in its causes, that is, it can be vented not on true objects or obstacles, but on their random substitutes. It is expressed in rudeness, sharp outbursts of anger for insignificant reasons or for no apparent reason at all, in dissatisfaction with everything that happens, especially the requirements for an aggressive person.

2. Escape from the situation - a person's withdrawal into his experiences, the conversion of all his energy to the generation of his own negative states, self-digging, self-accusations, etc. Anxiety and depressive symptoms develop. A person begins to see himself as the source of all troubles and is imbued with a feeling of complete hopelessness, since he considers himself incapable of influencing the environment and the situation. Such people are closed, detached, immersed in a world of painful thoughts.

The stages of social maladjustment, with which the social teacher most often has to deal, are school and social maladaptation.

School maladjustment is a discrepancy between the sociopsychological and psychophysiological status of the child and the requirements of school education, the mastery of which becomes difficult or, in extreme cases, impossible. As a result, “pedagogically neglected” minors appear, who are underachieving and prone to conflicts. As a rule, their various actions and antisocial manifestations are explained not by ignorance, misunderstanding or rejection of generally accepted moral and legal norms, but by the inability to slow down their affective outbursts or resist the influence of others (affective and volitional levels). Pedagogically neglected minors, with appropriate psychological and pedagogical support, can be rehabilitated in the conditions of the school educational process. The key factors of rehabilitation should be trust, reliance on useful interests related not so much to educational activities as to future professional plans and intentions, as well as rebuilding emotionally warm relationships with teachers and classmates.

Social maladaptation is a higher degree of maladjustment, characterized by asocial manifestations (foul language, smoking, impudent antics) and alienation from the main institutions of socialization - family and school. The alienation of socially neglected minors from family and school leads to difficulties in professional self-determination, significantly reduces the assimilation of value-normative ideas, morality and law, the ability to evaluate oneself and others from these positions, and be guided by them in one's behavior. Such adolescents need more serious socio-pedagogical and socio-psychological assistance, which can best be provided in specialized institutions (centers for socio-pedagogical rehabilitation, etc.).

The main areas of prevention of maladaptive behavior in the activities of a social worker are:

Early diagnosis of children at risk. According to N. A. Rychkova, the following groups of children with an increased risk of developing maladaptive forms of behavioral disorders can be distinguished: children who are brought up in families with different levels of social maladaptation; children with a high hereditary burden of mental and psychosomatic diseases; children with hyperdynamic syndrome; children in conditions of deprivation; children who are under hyper-custody by their parents, relatives, educators 14;

Consulting and explanatory work with parents, teachers;

Mobilization of the educational potential of the environment, work with the contact groups of the minor, including the family;

Organization of correctional and rehabilitation activities depending on the level of maladjustment, attracting the necessary specialists, seeking help from specialized institutions, centers, services;

Patronage of maladjusted minors;

Development and implementation of targeted programs and technologies aimed at the prevention and correction of behavioral disorders.

The concept of school difficulties as a manifestation of school maladaptation.

The process of restructuring the behavior and activities of the child in a new social situation at school is usually called adaptation to school. Criteria her success consider good academic performance, assimilation of school norms of behavior, absence of problems in communication, emotional well-being. A high level of school adaptation is also evidenced by developed learning motivation, a positive emotional attitude towards school, and good voluntary regulation.
In recent years, in the literature devoted to the problems of primary school age, the concept of maladaptation. The term itself is borrowed from medicine and means violations of human interaction with the environment.
V.E. Kagan introduced the concept of "psychogenic school maladaptation", defining it as "psychogenic reactions, psychogenic illnesses and psychogenic formations of the child's personality that violate his subjective and objective status in school and family and hinder the educational process." This allows us to single out psychogenic school maladjustment as “an integral part of school maladjustment in general and differentiate it from other forms of maladaptation associated with psychosis, psychopathy, non-psychotic disorders due to organic brain damage, hyperkinetic syndrome of childhood, specific developmental delays, mild mental retardation, analyzer defects, etc.”
However, this concept did not bring significant clarity to the study of the problems of younger schoolchildren, since it combined both neurosis as a psychogenic illness of the personality and psychogenic reactions, which can be variants of the norm. Despite the fact that the concept of "school maladjustment" is quite common in the psychological literature, many researchers note its insufficient development.
It is quite correct to consider school maladjustment as a more particular phenomenon in relation to general socio-psychological maladjustment, in the structure of which school maladaptation can act both as a consequence and as a cause.
T.V. Dorozhevets proposed a theoretical model school adaptation, including three areas: academic, social and personal. Academic adaptation characterizes the degree of acceptance of educational activities and the norms of school life. The success of a child's entry into a new social group depends on social adaptation. Personal adaptation characterizes the level of acceptance by the child of his new social status (I am a schoolboy). School maladaptation considered by the author as result dominance of one three fixture styles to new social conditions: accommodation, assimilation and immature. accommodation style manifests itself in the child's tendency to completely subordinate his behavior to the requirements of the school. IN assimilation style reflects his desire to subordinate the surrounding school environment to his needs. Immature style adaptation, due to mental infantilism, reflects the inability of the student to reorganize in a new social situation of development.
The predominance of one of the adaptation styles in a child leads to violations in all areas of school adaptation. At the level of academic adaptation, there is a decrease in academic performance and learning motivation, a negative attitude towards school requirements. At the level of social adaptation, along with a violation of the constructiveness of behavior at school, there is a decrease in the status of the child in the peer group. At the level of personal adaptation, the ratio of "self-esteem - the level of claims" is distorted, and an increase in school anxiety is observed.
Manifestations of school maladjustment.
School maladaptation is the education of the child inadequate mechanisms of adaptation to school in the form of violations of educational activity and behavior, the appearance of conflict relations, psychogenic diseases and reactions, an increase in the level of anxiety, distortions in personal development.
E.V. Novikova connects the occurrence of school maladaptation with the following reasons:

• lack of formation of skills and methods of educational activity, leading to a decrease in academic performance;
• unformed motivation for learning (some schoolchildren retain a preschool orientation to the external attributes of the school);
• inability to arbitrarily control their behavior, attention;
• inability to adapt to the pace of school life due to the peculiarities of temperament.

Signs maladaptation are:

• negative emotional attitude to school;
• high persistent anxiety;
• increased emotional lability;
• low performance;
• motor disinhibition;
• Difficulty communicating with teachers and peers.

TO symptoms of adjustment disorder also include:

• fear of not completing school assignments, fear of the teacher, comrades;
• feeling of inferiority, negativism;
• withdrawing into oneself, lack of interest in games;
• psychosomatic complaints;
• aggressive actions;
• general lethargy;
• excessive shyness, tearfulness, depression.

Along with obvious manifestations of school maladjustment, there are her hidden forms when, with good academic performance and discipline, the child experiences constant internal anxiety and fear of the school or the teacher, he has no desire to go to school, there are difficulties in communication, and inadequate self-esteem is formed.
According to various sources, from 10% to 40% children experience serious problems in adapting to school and for this reason need psychotherapy. There are significantly more maladjusted boys than girls, their ratio is from 4:1 to 6:1.
Causes of school maladjustment.
School maladaptation occurs for many reasons. There are four groups of factors contributing to its emergence.
First group factors associated with the peculiarities of the learning process itself: the saturation of programs, the fast pace of the lesson, the school regime, the large number of children in the class, the noise at breaks. The maladjustment caused by these reasons is called didactogeny, it is more susceptible to children who are physically weakened, slow due to temperament, pedagogically neglected, with a low level of development of mental abilities.
Second group associated with teacher misbehavior. in relation to students, and the variant of maladjustment in this case is called didascalogeny. This type of maladaptation often manifests itself in primary school age, when the child is most dependent on the teacher. Rudeness, tactlessness, cruelty, inattention to the individual characteristics and problems of children can cause serious disturbances in the child's behavior. To the greatest extent, the emergence of didaskalogeny is facilitated by the authoritarian style of communication between the teacher and the children.
According to M.E. Zelenova, adaptation process in first grade goes more successfully with a personality-oriented type of interaction between the teacher and students. Children develop a positive attitude towards school and learning, neurotic manifestations do not increase. If the teacher is focused on the educational and disciplinary model of communication, adaptation in the classroom is less favorable, contact between the teacher and the student becomes more difficult, which sometimes leads to complete alienation between them. By the end of the year, negative personal symptom complexes are growing in children: distrust of themselves, feelings of inferiority, hostility towards adults and children, and depression. There is a decrease in self-esteem.
B. Phillips considers various school situations as a factor of social and educational stress and a threat to the child. A child usually associates social threat with rejection, hostility from teachers and classmates, or a lack of friendliness and acceptance on their part. The educational threat is associated with a premonition of psychological danger in educational situations: the expectation of failure in the lesson, the fear of punishment for failure by parents.
Third group factors associated with the child's experience of being in preschool institutions. Most children attend kindergarten, and this stage of socialization is very important for adaptation at school. However, in itself, the child's stay in kindergarten does not guarantee the success of his entry into school life. Much depends on how well he managed to adapt to preschool.
Disadaptation of a child in kindergarten, if special efforts have not been made to eliminate it, “transfers” to school, while the stability of the maladjustment style is extremely high. It can be said with some certainty that a child who is shy and timid in kindergarten will be the same in school, the same can be said about aggressive and overly excitable children: their characteristics are likely to only worsen in school.
The most reliable harbingers of school maladjustment include the following features of the child, which manifest themselves in kindergarten conditions: aggressive behavior in the game, low status in the group, socio-psychological infantilism.
According to a number of researchers, children who did not attend kindergarten or any circles and sections before school experience great difficulties in adapting to the conditions of school life, to the peer group, since they have only little experience of social communication. Kindergarten children have lower rates of school anxiety, they are more calm about conflicts in communication with peers and teachers, and behave more confidently in a new school environment.
Fourth group factors contributing to the emergence of maladaptation, associated with the peculiarities of family education. Since the influence of the family on the psychological well-being of the child at school is very large, it is advisable to consider this problem in more detail.

Methods to determine the causes of maladaptation of younger students:
1. Drawing of a person, drawing "Non-existent animal", drawing of a family, "Forest school" and other projective drawings
2. Eight-color test by M. Luscher
3.Children's apperceptive test -CAT, CAT-S
4. Tests of school anxiety
5. Sociometry
6. Questionnaire for determining the level of school motivation Luskanova