Vygotsky Leo Semenovich contribution to psychology briefly. The Revisionist Movement in Vygotskovedenie

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky is a well-known Soviet psychologist, an outstanding researcher, the founder of the cultural-historical concept of the development of higher mental functions.

Lev Semenovich Vygotsky was born on November 17, 1896 in the city of Orsha, Mogilev province, in the family of a merchant and teacher. A year later, the family moved to Gomel, where his father worked as deputy manager of a local bank. In this city, Leo graduated from high school. His interest in psychology arose after reading the book “Thought and Language” (author - A. Potebnya). A significant influence on the future psychologist was made by his cousin - later known literary critic - David Vygodsky.

After leaving school in 1913, he entered two educational institutions: the Faculty of Law of Moscow University and the People's University of the Faculty of History and Philosophy. As a student, he wrote the study "The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark by W. Shakespeare." In 1916 he published articles on literary topics, actively wrote on the themes of Jewish history and culture, expressing a negative attitude to the ideas of socialism and the rejection of anti-Semitism in Russian literature. Already in 1917 he dropped out of law and graduated from the historical and philosophical faculty of the university.

After the 1917 revolution of the goal, Lev Semyonovich went to Gomel's hometown and worked first as a teacher of literature, and then as a teacher of philosophy and logic in a technical school, where he soon created an office of experimental psychology and conducted research work.

In 1924, at a congress on psychoneurology in Leningrad, Lev Vygotsky made a report entitled “Methodology of Reflexological and Psychological Research”. An unknown young scientist brilliantly made a report, which attracted the attention of well-known psychologists of that time: A. Leontyev and A. Luria, and was invited to the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology, led by N.K. Kornilov.

Leo Semenovich, having no psychological education, who came to psychology as if “from the side”, looked at psychological science in a new way, he was not burdened by the traditions of “academic” psychology.

Vygotsky received the greatest fame by creating a psychological theory called "cultural-historical concept of the development of higher mental functions." The essence of the concept, which is an alternative to existing theories, and above all behaviorism, is the synthesis of teachings about nature and culture. Studying the laws of cultural development gives an idea of \u200b\u200bthe laws of personality formation.

According to the researcher, all the psychic data, given by the nature of the function, over time are transformed into functions of a higher level of development: mechanical memory becomes logical, the flow of ideas becomes creative imagination, impulsive action becomes arbitrary, etc. All these processes originate in the child’s social contacts with adults, becoming entrenched in his mind. The spiritual development of the child was made dependent on the impact of adults on him. Lev Semenovich was convinced that not only heredity, but also social factors exerted on the formation and development of the personality of the child.

He devoted many works to the study of mental development, as well as the formation of personality in childhood, the education of children at school, including those with various developmental anomalies.

Leo Semenovich has a special role in the formation of the science of defectology. He first created the laboratory of psychology of abnormal childhood, which later became part of the Experimental Defectological Institute. Vygotsky theoretically substantiated and confirmed in practice that any deficiency in psychological and physical development can be corrected. When studying the psychological characteristics of abnormal children, special attention was paid to the mentally retarded and deaf-deaf-mute. Lev Semyonovich considered it his duty that if defective children live among us, then every effort must be made so that they become full members of society.

In 1924, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky moved to Moscow and spent the last decade of his life living in this city with his whole family.

In 1925, Vygotsky defended his thesis “Psychology of Art”, in which he put forward the provision on a special “psychology of form” and proved that art is a means of transforming the personality, radically changes the affective sphere, which plays an important role in the organization of behavior. This work was published after the death of the scientist.

Already at the last stage of scientific activity, he investigated the problem of thinking and speech, and published a work called “Thinking and Speech,” in which he emphasized the idea of \u200b\u200bthe inextricable link between thinking and speech. The level of development of thinking depends on the formation and development of speech, that is, these processes are interdependent.

In the summer of 1925, the only time I went to London at the International Conference on the Education of Deaf and Dumb Children as a responsible employee of the People's Commissariat for Education.

L.S. Vygotsky belongs to the consciousness-culture-behavior triad in return for the consciousness-behavior dyad, which was associated with the thoughts of other psychologists.

He published about 200 scientific papers (in all, over 37 years of life), including the Collected Works in six volumes, works on the problems of psychological development from birth and personality formation, and on the influence of the collective on the personality.

Of course, Lev Semyonovich influenced not only psychology, but also related sciences - pedagogy, philosophy, defectology. Unfortunately, his fruitful work, as happens with talented people, was not appreciated during his lifetime. Moreover, from the beginning of the 30s of the last century, persecution began, the authorities accused him of ideological perversions.

Back in 1919, Vygotsky fell ill with pulmonary tuberculosis, and for all subsequent years of his life he struggled with this disease, but it turned out to be stronger. Lev Semenovich died on June 11, 1934 in Moscow at the age of only 37 years.

Everyone knows Freud, Yurga - the majority, Carnegie and Maslow - many. Vygotsky Lev Semenovich - a name rather for professionals. The rest, except that they have heard the surname, and at best, can associate it with defectology. And that’s all. But it was one of the brightest stars of Russian psychology. It was Vygotsky who created a unique direction that had nothing to do with the interpretation of the formation of the human personality of any of the gurus of science. In the 1930s, everyone in the world of psychology and psychiatry knew this name - Lev Semenovich Vygotsky. The labors of this man made a splash.

Scientist, psychologist, teacher, philosopher

Time does not stand still. New discoveries are being made, science is moving forward, restoring something, re-discovering something lost. And if you arrange a street survey, it is unlikely that many respondents will be able to answer who Lev Semenovich Vygotsky is. Photos - old, black and white, blurry - will show us a young handsome man with a thoroughbred elongated face. However, Vygotsky did not become old. It is possible that fortunately. His life flashed a bright comet on the dome of Russian science, flickered and went out. The name was forgotten, the theory was declared erroneous and harmful. And meanwhile, even if we discard the originality and subtlety of Vygotsky’s general theory, the fact that his contribution to defectology, especially for children, is invaluable, is beyond doubt. He created the theory of working with children suffering from damage to the organs of perception and mental disorders.

Childhood

November 5, 1986. It was on this day that Vygotsky Lev Semenovich was born in Orsha, Mogilev Province. The biography of this man did not contain vivid and amazing events. Wealthy Jews: father is a merchant and banker, mother is a teacher. The family moved to Gomel, and there a private teacher, Solomon Markovich Ashpiz, was engaged in teaching the children there, the figure in those parts is quite remarkable. He practiced not traditional teaching methods, but Socratic dialogues, which were almost never used in educational institutions. Perhaps it was this experience that determined Vygotsky’s unusual approach to teaching practice. A cousin, David Isaakovich Vygodsky, a translator and a well-known literary critic, also influenced the formation of the worldview of the future scientist.

Student years

Vygotsky knew several languages: Hebrew, Ancient Greek, Latin, English and Esperanto. He studied at Moscow University, first at the medical faculty, then transferred to law. For a while he comprehended science in parallel at two faculties - legal and historical-philosophical, at the University. Shaniavsky. Later, Vygotsky, Leo Semenovich, decided that he was not interested in jurisprudence, and focused entirely on his passion for history and philosophy. In 1916, he wrote a two hundred-page work devoted to the analysis of Shakespeare's drama - Hamlet. He later used this work as a thesis. This work was highly appreciated by specialists, since Vygotsky applied a new, unexpected method of analysis, which allows you to look at a literary work from a different angle. Lev Semenovich at that time was only 19 years old.

When he was a student, Vygotsky did a lot of literary analysis, published works on the works of Lermontov and Bely.

First steps in science

After the revolution, having graduated from high school, Vygotsky first left for Samara, then with his family he looked for work in Kiev and, in the end, returned again to his native Gomel, where he lives until 1924. Not a psychotherapist, not a psychologist, but a teacher - this is precisely the profession that Lev Semenovich Vygotsky chose. A brief biography of those years can fit in several lines. He worked as a teacher in schools, technical schools, courses. He headed the theater education department first, and then the art department, wrote and published (critical articles, reviews). For some time Vygotsky even worked as an editor of a local publication.

In 1923, he was the leader of a group of students at the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. The experimental work of this group provided material for study and analysis, which Lev Semenovich Vygotsky could use in his works. His activity as a serious scientist began precisely in those years. At the All-Russian Congress of Psychoneurologists in Petrograd, Vygotsky made a report based on data obtained as a result of these experimental studies. The work of the young scientist made a splash; for the first time, words were spoken about the emergence of a new direction in psychology.

Carier start

It was with this speech that the career of a young scientist began. Vygotsky was invited to the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology. Outstanding scientists-psychologists of that time — Leontyev and Luria — already worked there. Vygotsky not only organically fit into this scientific team, but also became an ideological leader, as well as an initiator of research.

Soon, almost every practicing psychotherapist and defectologist knew who Lev Semenovich Vygotsky was. The main works of this outstanding scientist will be written later, at that time he was a brilliant practitioner for everyone, personally involved in pedagogical and therapeutic activities. Parents of sick children made incredible efforts to get an appointment with Vygotsky. And if it was possible to become an “experimental model” in the laboratory of abnormal childhood, it was considered an incredible success.

How did the teacher become a psychologist?

What is so unusual about the theory that Leo Semenovich Vygotsky proposed to the world? After all, psychology was not his core subject; rather, he was a linguist, literary critic, culturologist, and practicing teacher. Why exactly psychology? Where from?

The answer is in the theory itself. Vygotsky was the first who tried to move away from reflexology, he was interested in the conscious formation of personality. Figuratively speaking, if a person is a house, before Vygotsky, psychologists and psychiatrists were interested exclusively in the foundation. Of course, this is necessary. Without this, he won’t be at home. The foundation largely determines the building - shape, height, some design features. It can be improved, improved, strengthened and isolated. But this does not change the fact. The foundation is just the foundation. But what will be built on it is the result of the interaction of many factors.

Culture defines the psyche

If we continue the analogy, it was precisely these factors that determined the final appearance of the house that Leo Semenovich Vygotsky was interested in. The main works of the researcher: “Psychology of Art”, “Thinking and Speech”, “Psychology of Child Development”, “Pedagogical Psychology”. The scientist’s circle of interests clearly formed his approach to psychological research. A person who is passionate about art and linguistics, a gifted teacher, who loves and understands children, is Vygotsky Lev Nikolaevich. He clearly saw that it is impossible to separate the psyche and the products it produces. Art and language are products of the activity of human consciousness. But they also determine the emerging consciousness. Children grow up not in a vacuum, but in the context of a certain culture, in a linguistic environment that has a great influence on the psyche.

Teacher and psychologist

Vygotsky understood the children well. He was a wonderful teacher and a sensitive loving father. His daughters said that they had a warm trusting relationship not only with their mother, a strict and restrained woman, but with their father. And they noted that the main feature of Vygotsky’s attitude towards children was a feeling of deep sincere respect. The family lived in a small apartment, and Leo Semenovich did not have a separate place for work. But he never yanked children, did not forbid them to play or invite friends to visit. After all, this was a violation of family equality. If guests come to their parents, children have the same right to invite friends. To ask not to make noise for some time, as an equal equal - this is the maximum that Vygotsky Lev Semenovich allowed himself to do. Quotes from the memoirs of the scientist’s daughter, Gita Lvovna, will allow you to look “behind the scenes” of the life of an outstanding Russian psychologist.

Vygotsky's daughter about his father

The scientist’s daughter says that there wasn’t so much time dedicated to her. But her father took her with him to work, to college, and there the girl could freely examine any exhibits and preparations, and her father’s colleagues always explained to her what, why and why. So, for example, she saw a unique exhibit - the brain of Lenin, stored in a bank.

Father did not read her children's poems - he simply did not like them, he considered this a tasteless primitive. But Vygotsky had an excellent memory, and he could recite many classic works by heart. As a result, the girl developed perfectly in art and literature, not at all feeling her age mismatch.

Surrounding about Vygotsky

The daughter also notes that Vygotsky Lev Semenovich was extremely attentive to people. When he listened to the interlocutor, he focused on the conversation completely. During the dialogue with the student, it was impossible to immediately understand who the student was and who was the teacher. This moment is also noted by other people who knew the scientist: janitors, attendants, cleaners. All of them said that Vygotsky beat an exceptionally sincere and friendly person. Moreover, this quality was not demonstrative, developed. No, it was just a character trait. It was very easy to confuse Vygotsky, he was extremely critical of himself, while he treated people with tolerance and understanding.

Work with children

Perhaps it was sincere kindness, the ability to deeply feel other people and treat indulgence in their shortcomings that led Vygotsky to defectology. He always maintained that limited abilities in one thing were not a sentence for a child. A flexible children's psyche is actively seeking opportunities for successful socialization. Silence, deafness, blindness are just physical limitations. And children's consciousness instinctively tries to overcome them. The main duty of doctors and teachers is to help the child, push him and support him, as well as provide alternative opportunities for communication and information.

Vygotsky paid particular attention to the problems of mentally retarded and deaf-blind children as the most problem socialized, and achieved great success in organizing their education.

Psychology and Culture

Vygotsky was keenly interested in the psychology of art. He believed that this particular industry is capable of exerting a critical influence on a person, releasing affective emotions that in ordinary life cannot be realized. The scientist considered art the most important tool for socialization. Personal experiences form a personal experience, but emotions caused by the influence of a work of art form an external, social, social experience.

Vygotsky was also convinced that thinking and speech are interconnected. If developed thinking allows you to speak a rich, complex language, then there is an inverse relationship. The development of speech will lead to a qualitative leap in intelligence.

He introduced the third element, culture, into the familiar chain of consciousness-behavior for psychologists.

The death of a scientist

Alas, Lev Semenovich was not a very healthy person. Back in 19 years, he contracted tuberculosis. For many years the disease was dozing. Vygotsky, although he was not healthy, nevertheless coped with the disease. But the disease progressed slowly. Perhaps the situation was aggravated by the persecution of the scientist that unfolded in the 30s. Later his family joked sadly that Lev Semenovich died on time. This saved him from arrest, interrogation and imprisonment, and his relatives from repression.

In May 1934, the condition of the scientist became so difficult that he was prescribed bed rest, and a month later the body's resources were completely exhausted. On June 11, 1934, the outstanding scientist and talented teacher Lev Semenovich Vygotsky died. 1896-1934 - only 38 years of life. Over the years, he managed an incredible amount. His work was appreciated not immediately. But now many practices of working with abnormal children are based precisely on the techniques developed by Vygotsky.

Vygotsky Lev Semenovich (1896-1934) - Soviet psychologist, creator of the cultural-historical theory of the development of higher mental functions. Lev Semenovich Vygotsky was born on November 5, 1896 in the city of Orsha. A year later, the Vygotsky family moved to Gomel. It was in this city that Leo graduated from high school. After graduating from high school, L.S. Vygotsky entered Moscow University, where he studied at the Faculty of Law.

He worked at the Moscow State Institute of Experimental Psychology (1924-1928), at the State Institute of Scientific Pedagogy (GINP) at the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute and at the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute. A.I. Herzen (both in 1927-1934), Academy of Communist Education (AKV) (1929-1931), 2nd Moscow State University (1927-1930), and after the reorganization of the 2nd Moscow State University - at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. A. S. Bubnova (1930-1934), as well as in the Experimental Defectological Institute founded by him (1929-1934); also gave lecture courses at a number of educational institutions and research organizations in Moscow, Leningrad, Tashkent and Kharkov, for example, at the Central Asian State University (SAGU) (in 1929).

Vygotsky was engaged in a large volume of pedagogy, consulting and research activities. He was a member of many editorial boards, and he wrote a lot. Despite the materialistic form of his theory, Vygotsky adhered to an empirical evolutionist trend in the study of cultural differences in thinking, creating an approach to psychology. Exploring speech thinking, Vygotsky in a new way solves the problem of localization of higher mental functions as structural units of brain activity. Studying the development and decay of higher mental functions based on the material of child psychology, defectology and psychiatry, Vygotsky concludes that the structure of consciousness is a dynamic semantic system of affective volitional and intellectual processes that are in unity.

In 1928-32, Vygotsky, along with his colleagues Luria and Leontyev, participated in experimental studies at the Academy of Communist Education. Vygotsky headed the psychological laboratory, and Luria - the entire faculty. The most famous was brought to Vygotsky by the psychological theory he created, which became widely known under the name Cultural-historical concept of the development of higher mental functions, the theoretical and empirical potential of which has not yet been exhausted. The essence of this concept is a synthesis of the doctrine of nature and the doctrine of culture. Theory provides an alternative to existing behavioral theories, and above all behaviorism. According to the author himself, the study of the basic laws of the development of culture can give an idea of \u200b\u200bthe laws of personality formation. Lev Semenovich considered this problem in the light of child psychology. The spiritual development of the child was put in a certain dependence on the organized impact of adults on him. Leo Semenovich has a lot of work devoted to the study of mental development and patterns of personality formation in childhood, the problems of learning and teaching children in school. It is Vygotsky who plays the most prominent role in the formation of the science of defectology. He created in Moscow a laboratory of psychology of abnormal childhood, which later became an integral part of the Experimental Defectological Institute. The main emphasis in the study of the psychological characteristics of abnormal children was made by Vygotsky on the mentally retarded and deaf-blind.

Vygotsky’s works examined in detail the relationship between the role of maturation and learning in the development of the child’s higher mental functions. He formulated the most important principle, according to which the safety and timely maturation of brain structures is a necessary but insufficient condition for the development of higher mental functions. The main source for this development is the changing social environment, for the description of which Vygotsky introduced the term social development situation, defined as “a peculiar, specific for a given age, exceptional, unique and unique relationship between the child and his surrounding reality, especially social”. It is this attitude that determines the course of development of the psyche of the child at a certain age stage.

A significant contribution to educational psychology is the concept of proximal development introduced by Vygotsky. The zone of proximal development is “an area of \u200b\u200bnot ripened, but ripening processes,” which encompasses tasks that a child at this level of development cannot handle, but which he can solve with the help of an adult; this is the level reached by the child so far only in the course of joint activity with an adult.

At the last stage of his scientific activity, Vygotsky was interested in the problems of thinking and speech, and he wrote the scientific work Thinking and Speech. In this fundamental scientific work, the main idea is the inextricable connection that exists between thinking and speech. Vygotsky first suggested that he himself soon confirmed that the level of development of thought depends on the formation and development of speech. He revealed the interdependence of these two processes.

During the life of Lev Semenovich, his work was not allowed for publication in the USSR. Since the early 1930s real persecution began against him; authorities accused him of ideological perversions. On June 11, 1934, after a long illness, at the age of 37, Lev Semenovich Vygotsky died.

Vygotsky Lev Semenovich (1896-1934), Russian psychologist.

Born November 17, 1896 in Orsha. The second son in a large family (eight brothers and sisters) family. Father, a bank clerk, a year after the birth of Leo, he moved his relatives to Gomel, where he founded a public library. Famous philologists came out of the Vygodsky family (the initial spelling of the surname), the cousin of the psychologist David Vygodsky was one of the prominent representatives of "Russian formalism."

In 1914, Leo entered Moscow University at the medical faculty, from which he later switched to law; at the same time he studied at the historical-philological faculty of the A. L. Shanyavsky People’s University. In his student years, published reviews of books by symbolist writers - A. Bely, V. I. Ivanov, D. S. Merezhkovsky. Then he wrote his first major work, The Tragedy of Hamlet of Denmark by W. Shakespeare (she saw the light only 50 years later in the collection of articles by Vygotsky, “Psychology of Art”).

In 1917 he returned to Gomel; He took an active part in the creation of a new type of school, began to conduct research in the psychological office organized by him at the pedagogical college. He became a delegate to the II All-Russian Congress on Psychoneurology in Petrograd (1924). where he talked about the reflexological techniques used by him when studying the mechanisms of consciousness. After speaking at the Vygotsky Congress, at the insistence of the famous psychologist A.R. Luria, the director of the Moscow Institute of Experimental Psychology N.K. Two years later, under the leadership of Vygotsky, an experimental defectological institute was created (now the Institute of Correctional Pedagogy of the Russian Academy of Education) and thus laid the foundations of defectology in the USSR.

In 1926, Vygotsky's “Pedagogical Psychology” was published, which protects the individuality of the child.

Since 1927, the scientist published articles analyzing the directions of world psychology, and at the same time developed a new psychological concept, called the cultural-historical one. In it, human-controlled behavior correlates with cultural forms, in particular with language and art. Such a comparison is made on the basis of the concept developed by the author of a sign (symbol) as a special psychological tool, which serves as a means of transforming the psyche from a natural (biological) into a cultural (historical) one. The work “History of the development of higher mental functions” (1930-1931) was published only in 1960.

Vygotsky’s last monograph, Thinking and Speech (1936), is devoted to problems of the structure of consciousness. In the early 30s. attacks against Vygotsky became more frequent; he was accused of retreating from Marxism. Persecution, along with ongoing wear and tear, depleted the scientist. He did not suffer another exacerbation of tuberculosis and died on the night of June 11, 1934.

Reading mode

Defectology in the scientific biography of L.S. Vygotsky *

In the activity and work of Leo Semenovich, the problems of defectology occupied a significant place. The entire Moscow period of life, all ten years, Lev Semenovich, in parallel with psychological research, conducted theoretical and experimental work in the field of defectology. The proportion of studies carried out on this issue is very high ...

Lev Semenovich began his scientific and practical activities in the field of defectology back in 1924, when he was appointed head of the department of abnormal childhood at the People's Commissariat of Education. We have already written about his bright and pivotal report for the development of defectology at the II Congress of SPON. I would like to note that interest in this field of knowledge turned out to be persistent, it increased in subsequent years. L.S. Vygotsky conducted not only intensive scientific, but also did a great deal of practical and organizational work in this area.

In 1926, he organized a laboratory for the psychology of abnormal childhood at the Medical and Pedagogical Station (in Moscow, on 8 Pogodinskaya St.). Over the three years of its existence, the employees of this laboratory have accumulated interesting research material and have done important educational work. About a year Lev Semenovich was the director of the entire station, and then became her scientific consultant.

In 1929, on the basis of the laboratory mentioned above, the Experimental Defectological Institute of the People's Commissariat of Education (EDI) was created. The Director of the Institute was appointed I.I. Danyushevsky. Since the creation of EDI  and until the last days of his life, L.S. Vygotsky was his supervisor and consultant.

The staff of scientists gradually increased, the base for research expanded. At the institute, an abnormal child was examined, diagnosed and planned for further corrective work with deaf and mentally retarded children.

Until now, many defectologists recall how scientific and practical workers flocked from different regions of Moscow to observe how L.S. Vygotsky examined the children, and then analyzed in detail each individual case, revealing the structure of the defect and giving practical recommendations to parents and teachers.

In EDI there was a community school for children with behavioral abnormalities, an auxiliary school (for mentally retarded children), a school for the deaf, and a clinical diagnostic department. In 1933, L.S. Vygotsky together with the director of the institute I.I. Danyushevsky decided to study children with speech impairments.

Conducted by L.S. Vygotsky's studies at this institute are still fundamental to the productive development of defectology problems. Created by L.S. Vygotsky, the scientific system in this field of knowledge has not only historiographic significance, but also significantly affects the development of the theory and practice of modern defectology.

It is difficult to name the work of recent years in the field of psychology and pedagogy of an abnormal child, which would not experience the influence of Leo Semenovich’s ideas and would not directly or indirectly appeal to his scientific heritage. His teaching still does not lose its relevance and significance.

In the field of scientific interests L.S. Vygotsky had a wide range of issues related to the study, development, training and education of abnormal children. In our opinion, the most significant are the problems that help to understand the nature and nature of the defect, the possibilities and features of its compensation and the correct organization of the study, training and education of the abnormal child. Briefly describe some of them.

Leo Semenovich's understanding of the nature and essence of abnormal development differed from the widespread biologizer approach to the defect. L.S. Vygotsky considered the defect as a “social dislocation” caused by a change in the child’s relationship with the environment, which leads to a violation of the social aspects of behavior. He concludes that in understanding the essence of abnormal development, it is necessary to isolate and take into account the primary defect, secondary, tertiary and subsequent layers over it. Distinguishing primary and subsequent symptoms L.S. Vygotsky considered it extremely important when studying children with various pathologies. He wrote that elementary functions, being the primary flaw arising from the very core of the defect and being directly related to it, are less amenable to correction.

The problem of defect compensation is reflected in most of the works of L.S. Vygotsky, devoted to the problems of defectology.

The developed theory of compensation was organically included in the problem of development and decay of higher mental functions that he studied. Already in the 20s. L.S. Vygotsky put forward and substantiated the need for social compensation of the defect as a task of paramount importance: "It is likely that humanity will defeat sooner or later blindness, deafness, and dementia, but much earlier it will defeat them socially and pedagogically than medically and biologically."

In subsequent years, Lev Semenovich deepened and specified the theory of compensation. Extremely important for the improvement of the theory of compensation and the problems of teaching abnormal children was put forward by L.S. Vygotsky's provision on creating workarounds for the development of a pathologically developing child. In his later works, L.S. Vygotsky has repeatedly returned to the question of workarounds for development, noting their great importance for the compensation process. “In the process of cultural development,” he writes, “a child is replaced by some functions by others, bypassing, and this opens up completely new opportunities for us to develop an abnormal child. If this child cannot achieve anything directly, then the development of workarounds becomes the basis of his compensation. "

L.S. Vygotsky, in the light of his compensation problem, pointed out that all defectological pedagogical practice consists of creating workarounds for the development of an abnormal child. This, in the words of L.S. Vygotsky, "alpha and omega" of special pedagogy.

So, in the works of the 20s. L.S. Vygotsky only in the most general form put forward the idea of \u200b\u200breplacing biological compensation with social. In his subsequent works, this idea takes on a concrete form: the way to compensate for a defect is to form workarounds for the development of an abnormal child.

Lev Semenovich argued that a normal and abnormal child develop according to the same laws. But along with general patterns, he noted the uniqueness of the development of an abnormal child. And as the main feature of the abnormal psyche, he distinguished the divergence of biological and cultural development processes.

It is known that in each of the categories of abnormal children, for various reasons and to varying degrees, the accumulation of life experience is delayed, so the role of learning in their development is of particular importance. For a mentally retarded, deaf and blind child, early started, properly organized training and education are necessary to a greater extent than a normally developing one, capable of independently drawing knowledge from the world around it.

Describing defectiveness as a “social dislocation”, Lev Semenovich does not at all deny that organic defects (with deafness, blindness, dementia) are biological facts. But since the educator has to deal in practice not so much with the biological facts themselves as with their social consequences, with the conflicts that arise when the “abnormal child enters life,” L.S. Vygotsky had sufficient reason to argue that raising a child with a defect is fundamentally social in nature. Improper or later started raising an abnormal child leads to the fact that deviations in the development of his personality are aggravated, and behavioral disorders appear.

To tear an abnormal child from a state of isolation, open up wide opportunities for a truly human life, introduce him to socially useful work, educate an active conscious member of society from him — these are the tasks that, in the opinion of L.S. Vygotsky, should first of all decide a special school.

Refuting the false opinion about the lowered “social impulses” of an abnormal child, Lev Semenovich raises the question of the need to educate him not as a disabled dependent or socially neutral being, but as an active conscious person.

In the process of pedagogical work with children with sensory or intellectual disabilities, L.S. Vygotsky considers it necessary to focus not on the "spools of illness" of the child, but on the "pounds of health" he has.

At that time, the essence of the correctional work of special schools, which boiled down to training the processes of memory, attention, observation, sensory organs, was a system of formal isolated exercises. L.S. Vygotsky was one of the first to draw attention to the painful nature of these trainings. He did not consider it right to isolate the system of such exercises into separate exercises, to turn them into an end in itself, and advocated such a principle of correctional and educational work, in which the correction of deficiencies in the cognitive activity of abnormal children would be part of the general educational work, would be dissolved in the entire learning process and upbringing, was carried out in the course of play, training and work.

Developing in child psychology the problem of the ratio of learning and development, L.S. Vygotsky came to the conclusion that education should precede, run ahead and pull up, lead the development of the child.

Such an understanding of the correlation of these processes led him to the need to take into account both the current (“current”) level of development of the child and his potential capabilities (“zone of proximal development”). Under the "zone of proximal development" L.S. Vygotsky understood the functions “Being in the process of ripening, functions that will ripen tomorrow, which are now still in their infancy, functions that can be called not the fruits of development, but the buds of development, the colors of development, i.e. that is just ripening. "

Thus, in the process of developing the concept of a “zone of proximal development”, Lev Semenovich put forward an important thesis that when determining the mental development of a child, one cannot focus only on what he has achieved, i.e. to the passed and completed stages, but it is necessary to take into account the "dynamic state of its development", "those processes that are now in a state of formation."

According to Vygotsky, the “zone of proximal development” is determined in the process of solving a child’s difficult tasks for his age with the help of an adult. Thus, the assessment of the child’s mental development should be based on two indicators: susceptibility to the assistance provided and the ability to solve similar problems in the future on their own.

In his daily work, not only encountering normally developing children, but also examining children with developmental disabilities, Lev Semenovich was convinced that ideas about development zones are very productive when applied to all categories of abnormal children.

The leading method of examining children by pedologists was the use of psychometric tests. In some cases, interesting in themselves, they, however, did not give an idea about the structure of the defect, about the real possibilities of the child. Pedologists believed that abilities can and should be quantified with a view to the subsequent distribution of children in different schools depending on the results of this measurement. A formal assessment of children's abilities, conducted by test tests, led to errors, as a result of which normal children were sent to auxiliary schools.

In his writings L.S. Vygotsky criticized the methodological inconsistency of the quantitative approach to the study of the psyche using test tests. According to the figurative expression of the scientist, during such examinations “kilometers were summed up with kilograms”.

After one of the reports made by Vygotsky (December 23, 1933) he was asked to give his opinion on the tests. Vygotsky answered it this way: “At our congresses, the smartest scientists argued over which method is better: laboratory or experimental. It’s the same as arguing which is better: a knife or a hammer. A method is always a means, a method is always a way. Is it possible to say that the best way is from Moscow to Leningrad? If you want to go to Leningrad, then of course this is so, but if to Pskov, then this is a bad way. This is not to say that tests are always a good or bad tool, but one general rule can be said that tests themselves are not an objective indicator of mental development. Tests always reveal signs, and signs do not indicate the development process directly, but always need to be supplemented with other signs. ”

Answering the question of whether tests can serve as a criterion of actual development, L.S. Vygotsky said: “I think the question is which tests and how to use them. This question can be answered in the same way as if I had been asked if a knife could be a good tool for surgery. Watching which one? A knife from Narpitov’s dining room, of course, will be a bad remedy, and a surgical one will be a good one. ”

“The study of a difficult-educated child,” wrote L.S. Vygotsky, more than any other child’s type, should be based on his long-term observation in the process of upbringing, on a pedagogical experiment, on the study of products of creativity, play, and all aspects of a child’s behavior. ”

"Tests to study the will, emotional side, imagination, character, etc. can be used as an auxiliary and indicative means."

From the above statements L.S. Vygotsky can be seen: he believed that tests alone cannot be an objective indicator of mental development. However, he did not deny the permissibility of their limited use along with other methods of studying a child. In fact, Vygotsky’s view of tests is similar to that currently held by psychologists and defectologists.

A lot of attention in his works L.S. Vygotsky devoted the problem of studying abnormal children and their proper selection to special institutions. The modern principles of selection (comprehensive, holistic, dynamic, systemic and integrated study) of children are rooted in the concept of L.S. Vygotsky.

Ideas L.S. Vygotsky about the features of the child’s mental development, about the areas of current and immediate development, the leading role of education and upbringing, the need for a dynamic and systematic approach to implementing corrective action, taking into account the integrity of personality development and a number of others, were reflected and developed in theoretical and experimental studies of domestic scientists, and also in the practice of different types of schools for abnormal children.

In the early 30s. L.S. Vygotsky worked fruitfully in the field of pathopsychology. One of the leading provisions of this science, contributing to the correct understanding of the abnormal development of mental activity, according to well-known experts, is the provision on the unity of intelligence and affect. L.S. Vygotsky calls it the cornerstone in the development of a child with a safe intellect and the mentally retarded. The significance of this idea goes far beyond the problems in connection with which it was expressed. Leo Semenovich believed that “The unity of intellect and affect provides the process of regulation and the mediation of our behavior (in Vygotsky’s terminology -“ changes our actions ”).”

L.S. Vygotsky took a new approach to the experimental study of the basic processes of thought and to the study of how higher mental functions are formed and decay in pathological conditions of the brain. Thanks to the work carried out by Vygotsky and his collaborators, the decay processes received their new scientific explanation ...

The problems of speech pathology that interested Leo Semenovich began to be studied under his leadership at the EDI speech clinic-school. In particular, from 1933-1934. One of the students of Lev Semenovich, Roza Evgenievna Levina, was engaged in the study of Alalik children.

Leo Semyonovich belongs to the attempts of a thorough psychological analysis of the changes in speech and thinking that occur with aphasia. (These ideas were subsequently developed and developed in detail by A.R. Luria).

Theoretical and methodological concept developed by L.S. Vygotsky, ensured the transition of defectology from empirical, descriptive positions to truly scientific foundations, contributing to the formation of defectology as a science.

Such well-known defectologists as E.S. Bane, T.A. Vlasova, R.E. Levina, N.G. Morozova, J.I. Shif, who were fortunate enough to work with Lev Semenovich, appreciates his contribution to the development of theory and practice: “His works served as the scientific basis for building special schools and the theoretical justification of the principles and methods of studying the diagnosis of difficult (abnormal) children. Vygotsky left a legacy of enduring scientific significance, which was included in the treasury of Soviet and world psychology, defectology, psychoneurology and other related sciences. "

Fragments of the book G.L. Vygodskoy and T.M. Lifanova “Leo Semenovich Vygotsky. A life. Activity Strokes to the portrait. " - M .: Sense, 1996. - S. 114–126 (in abbreviation). *