Diagnosis of the imagination of students with intellectual disabilities in the context of studying geographical material

the development of imagination in students with intellectual disabilities is one of the key tasks of correctional education, since this process occupies a central place in the structure of cognitive activity. However, in the practice of special schools, purposeful work on its correction, especially in high school, often remains unsystematic. During the ascertaining experiment conducted in the 2024/2025 academic year on the basis of Kerch Special Boarding School (n=51), the author’s diagnostic technique was applied. The methodology included three series of tasks aimed at assessing reproductive imagination based on geographical material: 1) creating an image based on the listened text; 2) creating an image based on text and illustrations; 3) creating an image based on decoding the terrain plan. The analysis of the results was carried out according to adapted criteria with the allocation of four quality levels (low, medium, sufficient, high). The results of the ascertaining stage revealed a critically low level of development of reproductive imagination. The vast majority of students showed low (40%) and medium (48.6%) levels. The works were characterized by fragmentation, stereotyping, emotional poverty of images, inability to synthesize elements into a complete picture. There is no positive trend from 6th to 9th grade. The most difficult tasks were those requiring work with abstract symbolic information (terrain plan). None of the subjects achieved a high level of performance. It is established that the existing educational process in a special school does not provide the necessary conditions for the correction of imagination. The results confirm the need for targeted, systematic remedial work integrated into the content of academic subjects, in particular geography, which has significant potential to solve this problem. The developed diagnostic technique makes it possible to identify specific difficulties and serves as the basis for designing a correctional program.

imagination, correction, mental retardation, intellectual disabilities, high school students, geography, ascertaining experiment