THE PECULIARITIES OF INTRA-SUBJECTIVE COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES WITH AN IMAGINARY COMPANION IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DELAY

Abstract

The study purpose was to clarify the peculiarities of intra-subjective communicative activities with the Other (in particular, with an imaginary companion) in pre-schoolers with developmental delay. Methodology and methods. The study methodological position was the interpretation of the “an imaginary companion” phenomenon in pre-schoolers with developmental delay as a marker of competence / incompetence in the area of intra-subjective communicative activities. The formal-logical analysis of various aspects of the researched problem, the logical-deductive method, the axiomatic method, the descent from the abstract to the concrete were applied. Empirical measures: an experiment (ascertaining) was organized using the following technique: an interview with a child about an imaginary companion (Taylor, Cartwright, S. Carlson, 1993). Mathematical and statistical analysis: the obtained data were processed using the non-parametric criteria of φ*-criterion of Fisher’s angular transformation and χ2Pearson's criterion. The study sample consisted of middle-age pre-schoolers (n=85, experimental group of children 1) and older pre-schoolers (n=88, experimental group of children 3) with developmental delay, as well as pre-schoolers of middle (n=58, experimental group of children 2) and older preschool age (n=60, experimental group of children 4) with typical psychophysical development. Results. The article has theoretically substantiated importance of the proposed study of intra-subjective communicative activities with the Other (in particular, with an imaginary companion) in the conditions of information society and postmodern culture. We determined empirically the specifics of “an imaginary companion” genesis in pre-schoolers with developmental delay and revealed that communicative activities at the reflective level appears in intra-subjective relationships of Self with the Other. In comparison with their peers, preschool children having an imaginary companion has better social understanding of the Other, were less shy, better focused their attention and were able to look at things from another person’s point of view. Conclusions. The performed study of intra-subjective interactions with an imaginary companion revealed that only a quarter of pre-schoolers with developmental delay invented an imaginary companion for communication. At the same time, children with developmental delay invented an imaginary companion mainly in social and everyday situations (for friendship and communication, emotional support, raising mood), while children with typical psychophysical development used an imaginary companion mainly in game activities. Children with developmental delay mainly invented an imaginary boy-girl companion as a personified object or a real another person, while children with typical psychophysical development had all types of an imaginary boy-girl companion (an invisible friend, a personified object or a real another person). Additionally, children from both developmental groups identified themselves and their imaginary companions, which was manifested in a child’s belief that his/her imaginary companion likes the same things as child him/herself. Prospects for future research in this direction lay in experimentally testing of a technology developing intra-subjective communicative activities of a pre-schooler with developmental delay through interaction with an imaginary companion.