SOMATOMETRICAL INDICATORS OF 5-6-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN WITH MENTAL RETARDATION

Relevance of the research topic. Children are at the heart of a healthy society, so the future of sustainable development starts with keeping every child healthy. During the 5-6 years of life, child development is dynamic and involves growing up, interconnected functioning, such as cognitive, physical, and social-emotional abilities. This is a period characterized by rapid physical and neurological development. In Ukraine today, there is a decline in the level of "health of the nation" as an integrative indicator of the social, mental and physical health of citizens, especially preschool children. Currently, almost 80 % of children have one or more diseases, every third child has physical or mental development abnormalities. The purpose of the article is to determine the somatometric features of children 5-6 years old with mental retardation (MR). Research participants. During the experiment 15 children aged 5-6 years with MR were involved. The following research methods were used to fulfill the tasks: analysis of special scientific and methodical literature, anthropometry, videometry - the data obtained as a result of the analysis on posture disorders were offered for consideration to the orthopedic doctor, who formulated the final conclusions about the type of posture of the 5-6-year-old children involved in the experiment, a pedagogical experiment. Results. It was found that 20 % of the children aged 5-6 years with MR who were examined by us had normal posture, 46.7 % had stoop, and 33.3 % showed signs of scoliotic posture. If we consider these results taking into account the gender of the children, it can be seen that among girls 14.3 % have a normal posture,42.9 % are characterized by stooping, and 42.9 % have a scoliotic posture. In the group of boys 25% are children with normal posture, 50 % are characterized by stooping, and 25 % have a scoliotic posture. Conclusions. It is shown that 5- 6-year-old children with mental retardation showed certain differences in physical development compared to their peers. They correspond to the norms of physical development characteristic of the mesomorphic body type, but have smaller indicators of mass, body length and hip circumference, which indicates their smallness and elegance. Prospects for further research are to theoretically substantiate, develop and experimentally test the technology for correcting violations of the biomechanics of the spatial organization of the body of 5-6-year-old children with MR in the process of physical culture and sports rehabilitation.