Book Description

The study of the general development of children in infancy assumes special significance in connection with the reform of schools providing general education and vocational schools, and also in connection with the change to starting systematic study at the age of 6 years. One way of solving this problem may be to look for methods stimulating a more dynamic psycho-physiological development of infants. The assumption is that during the first months of life, when psychosomatic development proceeds more rapidly than in the adult, the study of the effect of environmental factors on the formation of sensitive periods in infancy, considering the fact that "... sensitive periods coincide absolutely with what we have called ... optimal learning times" (Vygotskii, 1956), is particularly interesting. As a result of comprehensive studies of the development of human psycho physiological functions the heterochronicity and non-uniformity of development of memory, attention and thinking mere discovered and the enormous importance of sensitive periods for the formation and development of man's structured mental functions as an integral system lasting throughout ontogeny became evident. Our psychologist D.H. Gizatulina, in an investigation on children of preschool age, convincingly demonstrated the presence of heterochronicity and non-uniformity of development of the mental functions in children of that age group. Basic stages of development of mental activity in infancy have been distinguished in psychology, and the great importance of development of sensomotor functions on subsequent formation of the higher mental functions of attention, memory and so on, have been shown by the work of authorities such as Kolarova, Zurba and Kistekovskaya. In the present work it is suggested that, considering that the prerequisites for the development of swimming abilities exist in children in infancy (swimming movements are present from the age of 11 days to 6 months) water is evidently the optimal environmental factor to facilitate the more active development of sensomotor functions. In this work investigations of the psychosomatic development of children of preschool age, who swam from the first days of life, were carried out and certain facts were obtained to confirm the view that the psycho physiological development of such children is accelerated.