The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive Development Disorders BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience ISSN: 2068-0473 | e-ISSN: 2067-3957 Covered in: Web of Science (WOS); PubMed.gov; IndexCopernicus; The Linguist List; Google Academic; Ulrichs; getCITED; Genamics JournalSeek; J-Gate; SHERPA/RoMEO; Dayang Journal System; Public Knowledge Project; BIUM; NewJour; ArticleReach Direct; Link+; CSB; CiteSeerX; Socolar; KVK; WorldCat; CrossRef; Ideas RePeC; Econpapers; Socionet. 2020, Volume 11, Issue 3, pages: 147-163 | https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/115 The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive Development Disorders Liudmyla CHEPURNA¹, Svitlana FEDORENKO 2 , Yevheniya KUZMINSKA 3 , Larysa SUSHCHENKO 4 , Olena ZHAROVSKA 5 , Tetiana CHYZHYK 6 , Vitaliia PRYMAKOVA 7 , Larysa KOZIBRODA 8 1 National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Кyiv, Ukraine, chepurnal@gmail.com 2 National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Кyiv, Ukraine, fedorenkosvit@gmail.com 3 National Pedagogical Dragomanov University, Кyiv, Ukraine, o_kuzminsky@ukr.net 4 Zaporizhzhia National University, Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, zcpu@ukr.net 5 Vinnytsya Academy of Continuing Education, Vinnytsya, Ukraine, mova_m@ukr.net 6 Pylyp Orlyk International Classical University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine, chizhikt@ukr.net 7 Communal Higher Educational Establishment «Kherson Academy of Continuing Education» of Kherson Regional Councilа, Kherson, Ukraine, pran703@gmail.com 8 National University Lviv Polytechnic, Lviv, Ukraine, lora.kozibroda@gmail.com Abstract: The implementation of reforms in education for children with cognitive development disorders requires that the historical aspect of the educational process should be reconsidered and scientifically justified, as well as the accomplishments of Ukrainian defectology should be creatively used. The relevance of the research lies in the need to overcome the fragmentarity of historical and pedagogical knowledge about the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine to justify and determine its characteristics and roles in modern correctional pedagogy. The research aims to identify the prerequisites for the emergence and the features of such processes as the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine in the period under study, as well as to highlight the scientific and practical value of the available accomplishments in the field to further improve such books for these children under modern conditions. Research methods include theoretical analysis; synthesis; comparison; systematization and classification of data from archival sources; historical-and-genetic, comparative, chronological, biographical methods; periodization; retrospective analysis. The research identifies and justifies the stages in the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine, whose sequence is related to the development and reforms in the special education system, the elaboration of concepts, theoretical and methodological principles of education of children with cognitive development disorders, as well as the changes in organizational-and-pedagogical and scientific-and-pedagogical aspects. The research concludes that Ukrainian researchers and practicians regularly work on the improvement of textbooks’ content. Keywords: cognitive development; historical aspect; educational process; defectology; correctional pedagogy; stages of development. How to cite: Chepurna, L., Fedorenko, S., Kuzminska, Y., Sushchenko, L., Zharovska, O., Chyzhyk, T., Prymakova, V., & Kozibroda, L. (2020). The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive Development Disorders. BRAIN. Broad Research in Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience, 11(3), 147-163. https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/115 https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/115 mailto:chepurnal@gmail.com mailto:fedorenkosvit@gmail.com mailto:o_kuzminsky@ukr.net mailto:zcpu@ukr.net mailto:mova_m@ukr.net mailto:chizhikt@ukr.net mailto:pran703@gmail.com mailto:lora.kozibroda@gmail.com https://doi.org/10.18662/brain/11.3/115 The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 148 Introduction The implementation of reforms in education for children with cognitive development disorders requires that the historical aspect of the educational process should be reconsidered and scientifically justified, as well as the accomplishments of Ukrainian defectology should be creatively used. Researchers are much interested in the education of these children and its creation in the 20th century since this period of time is characterized by an active search for the content, methods, techniques and forms of special education organization. During this period, Ukrainian correctional pedagogy (oligophrenopedagogy) was attempting to elaborate conceptual principles for establishing a system of education for children with cognitive development disorders and ways of its implementation in state education standards, curricula, syllabi and textbooks. The main content of school education is disclosed in textbooks, whose historical analysis allows identifying the primary tendencies and characteristics of developing theory and practice of education of children with cognitive development disorders, especially the understanding of the essence and technologies of corrective work with them. Both the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine are somewhat controversial and complex processes. Their comprehension is possible only in the context of historical, economic and cultural conditions of Ukraine’s development, as well as a practical study and analysis of changes that took place in Ukraine in the 20th century. Scientists and practitioners in the field of defectology recognized the need to create specialized textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders not only as a primary means of learning but also an important factor in the functioning of special educational institutions. It was related to the issue of creating Ukrainian-language textbooks on reading and Ukrainian, as well as other school subjects for all grades. During the period under study, Ukrainian practicians wrote textbooks: ABC books, textbooks on reading (grades 4-6) and textbooks on literary reading for pupils in grades 7-10, textbooks on Ukrainian, math, science and other subjects. Many Ukrainian authors have worked on school textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders, including scholars K. Chertkova (1937; 1939), M. Hryshchenko (1954), O. Smaliuha (1938), I. Yeremenko (1967), school teachers T. Nesmielova (1939; 1941), BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 149 N. Popushoi, & O. Rebizova (1954), M. Yemelianenko (1948). Thus, considerable material has been gathered for special historical analysis, although it now remains out of the focus of researchers in the field of correctional pedagogy. In general pedagogy, those authors who have studied the writing of school textbooks in the historical aspect (Bai, 2005) are unanimous in their opinion that such an approach to developing modern schools and reforming school education in Ukraine is relevant. In the context of Ukrainian correctional pedagogy, this relevance is increasing concerning the development of inclusive education of children with special educational needs. The inclusion of children with cognitive development disorders in general education requires substantial individualization, which lies in independent work with sources of information, in particular, textbooks. Methodical studies on such issues as the writing on textbooks for primary school and the reflection of ideas of developmental and pedagogical learning of children with normal development in these textbooks is of special interest to this research, given its relation to the characteristics of cognitive and educational activities of children with cognitive development disorders, the pronounced specificity of the main principles of oligophrenopedagogy and specific methods of teaching individual subjects, in particular concerning the content and technologies of educational work and its focus on correction (Chosik, 1995; Kodliuk, 2006; Zankov, 1960). An analysis of general and specific psycho-pedagogical literature has made it possible to determine the chronology of the most important researches devoted to the problem of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. It finds that international and Ukrainian correctional pedagogy has accumulated some experience in writing textbooks for special needs schools. This is mostly true of ABC books and textbooks on mother tongue and reading. Many studies on the history of Ukrainian oligophrenopedagogy in the 20th century have been devoted to various aspects of the development and education and children with cognitive development disorders (Bondar, & Zolotoverkh, 2007; Odynchenko, 1996). However, there is no comprehensive study related to the creation and development of textbooks as a means of collective learning of children with cognitive development disorders in the scientific literature. It must be acknowledged that the history of the development of theoretical and methodological principles of correctional work with cognitive development disorders, in particular in Ukrainian defectology, also requires in-depth monographic studies. The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 150 The establishment of the state system of special institutions caused the need to develop a formal and uniform programme for special needs schools (1927). It is built based on programmes for junior secondary level urban schools, whose basic principle is complexity. The complex material of the programme envisioned the development of sensors and motor skills, the correction of speech defects, the development of observation, the expansion of the range of interests, the transfer of basic every day and social skills, as well as the cultivation of the emotional sphere in children with cognitive development disorders. The programmes on language and math included life-practical materials and aimed to implement the principles of concentricity and repeatability during all the years of study. Given that special needs schools were not provided with specific textbooks, they adjusted the content of textbooks for general education to the capacity of children with cognitive development disorders. Indeed, various aspects of studying the history of school textbooks have been reflected in many studies. However, the theory and practice of correctional pedagogy require a comprehensive historical and pedagogical study to address the issues of creating and developing textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine. The relevance of the research lies in the need to overcome the fragmentarity of historical and pedagogical knowledge about the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine to justify and determine its characteristics and roles in modern correctional pedagogy. Thus, the choice of the topic for the research is motivated by an insufficient elaboration of the problem under study, the importance of justifying the Ukrainian historical experience in the field, as well as the need for further development of textbooks based on the creative use of the heritage of the past. The research aims to identify the prerequisites for the emergence and the features of such processes as the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine in the period under study, as well as to highlight the scientific and practical value of the available accomplishments in the field to further improve such books for these children under modern conditions. Methods Research methods are as follows: universal scientific methods: theoretical analysis, synthesis, comparison, systematization and classification of data from archival sources, which have contributed to the study and processing of archival and legal documents on the creation and development of BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 151 textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine; specific scientific methods: the historical-and-genetic method used to identify the prerequisites and factors in the development of textbooks; the comparative method used to analyze syllabi, programmes, textbooks and methodical manuals for children with cognitive development disorders at certain stages of their education development; chronological and biographical methods used to disclose research material in dynamics and time sequence; periodization used to identify the stages in the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders and determine the correction- oriented focus of the content of these textbooks; the retrospective method used to identify the trends and characteristics of the development of such textbooks’ content at different stages. The conditions for the emergence of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine between 1917 and 1930 were created under the influence of socio-political (wars, political upheavals, ideologization, Russification of school education), socio-economic (levels of economy’s development and financing of special education’s needs) and organizational-and-pedagogical (the creation of a system of special educational institutions; the improvement of the content, methods and forms of education; the organization of congresses, seminars; the publication of scientific and methodological literature; the improvement of educational facilities; advanced training of defectologists) factors. The periodization of the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine developed by the authors of the paper includes the four stages presented below. Stage 1 (1917-1941) is the initial creation of textbooks for special needs schools. The psycho-pedagogical literature of the 1920s presents diverse studies aimed at studying the development of children with cognitive development disorders to elaborate specific methods of education, as well as the means of corrective influence on the development of such children in Ukraine. Prominent doctors, researchers and defectologists supervised a comprehensive psycho-pedagogical study of children with cognitive development disorders. After the establishment of the state system of special educational institutions, experts in the field developed a curriculum and unified official programmes for special needs schools based on the programmes for junior secondary level urban schools with a comprehensive system of education, designed for five years of study. O. Graborov (1929) defined the complex material for each age period of teaching at special needs schools. Besides, he developed tasks for each subject, complex topics and forms of studying The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 152 them. He referred to textbooks and didactic material as the school’s teaching equipment, which should be vital and accessible to children with cognitive development disorders. Ukrainian special needs schools began to use the textbook under the title “I learn”, edited by E. Norkina & Ya. Dernova-Ermolenko in 1928, in the work with first-grade children with cognitive development disorders. This textbook was created based on complex programmes and consisted of two parts, one assigned to pupils and the other to teachers. It included tasks and drawings; material for writing, reading and calculation; exercises for developing manual dexterity and implementing mental orthopaedics. Each topic contained instructions for using educational material, as well as expected learning outcomes for the topic. It envisioned the development of fundamental skills in writing, reading, numeracy and social skills due to the principle of concentric circles with a gradual expansion and complication of information. The authors defined the sequence of studying each topic and recommended to follow certain steps while studying the material. This textbook helped to develop pupils’ volitional capacities and replenish the range of their fundamental ideas and concepts. However, the overload of the complex programme, as well as the lack of sufficient methodological recommendations on the study of complex topics, somewhat negatively affected the quality of knowledge and skills of children with cognitive development disorders. People’s Commissariat of State Security of the UkrSSR approved the production plan regarding the implementation of the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine as of August 23, 1930 “On Compulsory Primary Education”, which involved the introduction of general education for children with cognitive development disorders and the organization of work on the development of specific programmes and textbooks from the main sectors of educational work. In Ukraine, the first textbook titled “Listen, Look and Do” on manual labour for children with cognitive development disorders aged between 8 and 10 was developed and published by V. Dankovska and A. Ponomariova in 1931 based on the programme for special needs schools. Both the content and methodological concepts of the textbook were based on the “chain” methodology. One of the main methodical methods of practical work was the division of tasks into separate sequential elements, which promoted the development of planning and self-control techniques in children. The introduction of curricula and programmes in the educational process initiated further theoretical and methodological studies on the BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 153 development of theoretical principles of correctional education and the publication of school textbooks on comprehensive subjects. The famous Ukrainian defectologist M. Tarasevych (1933) was the first who drew attention to the need to create specific ABC books and textbooks on mother tongue and reading for children with cognitive development disorders and recommended taking into account the experience of German colleagues in the experimental study of children’s learning characteristics. The creation of stable school textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders occurred after the adoption of the resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine as of March 11, 1933 “On Textbooks for Primary and Secondary Schools”. However, the difficulties in further work on the creation and development of textbooks for special needs schools were related to the efforts of education authorities to adjust the content of learning at these schools to the one in secondary schools. According to M. Tarasevych, textbooks on mother tongue for special needs schools were characterized by some specific essential aspects. A significant step in the development of textbooks for special needs school became the approval of a new curriculum and programmes in 1938. In the late 1930s, the first stable national textbooks on the Ukrainian language and reading for all grades were developed and published by K. Chertkova (1939), V. Liubchenko (1956), T. Nesmielova (1941), O. Smaliuha (1938), V. Tamarova, & V. Liubchenko (1937) et al. Other comprehensive subjects in Ukrainian secondary schools were taught using textbooks developed in Russia, translated into Ukrainian and published by the Soviet School publishing house. The textbooks of this stage had some drawbacks, such as the overload of content; the abundance of illustrations; the uniformity of questions and tasks for revision; a haphazard arrangement of texts for extra reading; the presence of difficult, unfamiliar words for perception and no explanations to them. At this stage, textbooks lacked the correctional focus. Stage 2 (1943-1960) is the provision of specialized textbooks. An analysis of archival materials shows that given a very difficult economic situation in the country after the Second World War, the main task of special needs schools was to create the conditions for the comprehensive education of children with cognitive development disorders. According to the resolution of the People’s Commissariat of the USSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolshevik) of Ukraine as of March 1, 1945, they announced a competition for the compilation of new textbooks on Ukrainian and Russian for Ukrainian The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 154 primary schools, with the involvement of scholars and the most experienced educators of Ukraine. During a scientific and methodological meeting on the creation of new textbooks, they initiated approaches to developing ABC books for special needs schools in Ukraine and prepared a draft of a publishing plan that envisioned the publication of school textbooks on all comprehensive subjects for these schools. Archival data indicate that it was at this time that the Soviet School Publishing House received a manuscript of the ABC book for special needs schools (Yemelianenko, 1948), which was first published in Ukraine in 1948. This textbook had withstood 10 reissues. In the post-war period, research activities began to be rather promoted in the field of special pedagogy and psychology, in particular, oligophrenopedagogy. Besides, special attention was paid to the issues of the content, methods, forms of educational work, as well as methodical aspects of studying the basics of sciences, teaching literacy to children with cognitive development disorders. The defectologists of the Scientific Research Institute of Defectology of Ukraine (Hryshchenko, 1954; Liubchenko, 1956; Yeremenko, 1985 et al.) played an important role in this process since they were introduced new curricula, syllabi and promoted theoretical and methodological studies on the content of specialized textbooks. They highlighted the need to use special tasks and effective techniques for developing auditory attention, as well as analysis, generalization and self- control skills in teaching children with cognitive development disorders since they helped to create the necessary basis for further educational work to strengthen the correctional role of textbooks. The ideas of specially organized educational and practical activities, introduced by well-known scholars of that time, were further refined in new textbooks for special needs schools. Thus, M. Horuzha (1958), M. Hryshchenko (1954), V. Liubchenko (1956) became authors of textbooks on reading and Ukrainian for junior and senior grades of special needs schools. This had certainly contributed to reinforcing the correctional focus of special textbooks, but mainly by making their texts accessible to pupils, which was a rather one-sided understanding of the corrective influence on the educational and cognitive development of children with cognitive development disorders. There are rather limited findings on the issue of ensuring pupils’ consistent intellectual growth in textbooks of that time, although Ukrainian defectologists conducted psycho- pedagogical research on the characteristics of cognitive development of pupils at special needs schools already in the 1950s (Yeremenko, 1985; Horuzha, 1958). They revealed some of the techniques that could facilitate BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 155 pupils’ conscious acquisition of information. They also found that the content of these textbooks promoted Russification and politicization. Stage 3 (1960-1990) is the development of scientific and methodological principles of developing textbooks for special needs schools. The Order of the Ministry of Education of the USSR “On the Conditions and Measures to Improve Education and Treatment of Children with Disorders of Mental and Physical Development in the UkrSSR” (1962) was the impetus for developing scientific and methodological principles for creating textbooks for special needs schools in the UkrSSR. Much attention was paid to the development of special methods and means of corrective learning at this stage. After the establishment of the National Educational and Methodical Office of Special Needs Schools at the Ministry of Education of the USSR (1963), new theoretical and methodological practices, which covered various methodological issues directly or indirectly related to the approaches to determining the content-related and methodological components of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders, were actively implemented. Methodical newsletters with specific scientifically justified recommendations on the correctional focus of individual subjects, as well as the implementation of didactic principles and methods at special needs schools, were regularly issued (Yeremenko, 1985). This research pays considerable attention to Sinev’s findings (1988). He was first in Ukrainian defectology, who studied the method of working with textbooks, focusing on which textbooks special needs schools might need to effectively promote the principles of accessibility, the objectivity of consciousness, independence, learning activity of pupils with cognitive development disorders, consolidation of knowledge, that is, to correct disorders in pupils’ thinking, speech, memory, emotions during the educational process and, thus, improve the development of their personality as a whole. I. Yeremenko’s research (1985) contributed to improving textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders, as well as further recommendations on the conditions for adjusting the content and teaching modes to pupils’ reduced cognitive abilities. In the 1970s and 1980s, the number of textbooks and manuals for special needs schools somewhat increased. The quality of these textbooks’ content was enhanced due to a more systematic presentation of educational material, the improvement of pupils’ ability to acquire knowledge and skills, as well as a variety of illustrations. The ideologization and Russification of textbooks intensified, too. The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 156 An essential step in the further development of school textbooks for special needs school became the study of V. Sinev (1988), who first developed a comprehensive pedagogical concept of implementing corrective functions of the educational process. Stage 4 (1990-2000) is the development of specialized textbooks in Ukraine. After Ukraine gained independence in 1991, the issue of developing and creating national textbooks for special needs schools became especially relevant not only concerning the language of educational material but also to its content. The content of all textbooks required fundamental changes, especially concerning textual material from all comprehensive subjects. Theoretical and methodological principles of the national school are stated in relevant legal documents. De-politicization and national identity became the important tasks of updating the content of school textbooks. In 1994, they established the Institute of Defectology of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine to develop a state policy for updating the national education system for individuals with psychophysical disorders. Under the guidance of Academician V. Bondar (1996), Ukrainian defectologists developed a new strategy in the field of special education, which also influenced the updating of the content of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. The leading trends in the content of these new textbooks were as follows: improving the content and design of textbooks; strengthening their corrective educational functions; organizing independent work of pupils with textbooks. Scientific-practical conferences and seminars conducted by the Institute of Pedagogy of the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, which discussed and studied the issues of new Ukrainian textbooks for secondary and special needs schools in Ukraine, also played an important role in the issues of new approaches and the content of modern school textbooks. Ukrainian specialists in oligophrenopedagogy and psychology have conducted fundamental and internationally recognized studies that were partially taken into account when creating new generation textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. Moreover, they can be used while creating specialized textbooks. These studies are devoted to further elaboration of theoretical principles of specific didactics; the characteristics of lessons at special needs schools; a differentiated approach to pupils, taking into account their cognitive abilities and performance characteristics (Yeremenko, 1985); the content- and activity-related personal correction of development and socialization of individuals with cognitive development disorders based on the cultivation of their higher mental functions and creative thinking (Sinev, 1988); the possibilities of programmed learning at BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 157 special needs schools; teaching children with cognitive development disorders to apply their knowledge in practice; a heuristic focus of educational cognition; cultivating the reader’s culture in children with cognitive development disorders; understanding texts in the context of using the moral potential of fiction (Tarasenko, 1973); implementing the functions of different visualization (Tarasenko, & Kapustin, 1980; Lipa, 1982). The scientific achievements of Ukrainian defectology are most fully reflected in the works prepared at the fourth stage of the development of specialized textbooks. At the same time, the prospects of an innovative approach to implementing educational, developmental and corrective functions of textbooks and other information sources for children with cognitive development disorders in the process of both specific and inclusive learning remain enormous and require coordinated fruitful work of modern scholars and practitioners in the field of oligophrenopedagogy. Thus, stage 4 has introduced new curricula, whose practical value lies in the fact that each topic contains methodical recommendations to teachers about which mental processes and personal qualities of pupils can be corrected based on this educational material. A programme of a new subject “Physics” was first developed in Ukraine (Bondar, 1996). An important component of the updated content of these programs became the development and publication of new national textbooks on all comprehensive subjects. The “alternative textbooks”, that is educational and methodological brochures created according to European standards and written in the so-called “simplified language”, also play a vital role in teaching children with cognitive development disorders. Therefore, one can conclude that Ukrainian researchers and practicians regularly work on the improvement of textbooks’ content. Discussion & Conclusions Both the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine between 1917 and 1930 were influenced internal and external factors, including socio-political (wars, political upheavals, ideologization, Russification of school education), socio- economic (levels of economy’s development and financing of special education’s needs) and organizational-and-pedagogical (the creation of a system of special educational institutions; the improvement of the content, methods and forms of education; the organization of congresses, seminars; the publication of scientific and methodological literature; the improvement of educational facilities; advanced training of defectologists) ones. A The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 158 characteristic feature of the late 1930s was the development and publication of the first national textbooks on Ukrainian and reading for all grades (Chertkova, 1937; Liubchenko, 1956; Nesmielova, 1939; Smaliuha, 1938; Tamarova, & Liubchenko, 1937). Other comprehensive subjects in Ukrainian secondary schools were taught using textbooks developed in Russia, translated into Ukrainian and published by the Soviet School publishing house. The research also specifies an innovative role of Ukrainian defectologists in the creation and development of textbooks for special needs school at all stages of these processes. Besides, the research identifies and justifies the stages in the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine, whose sequence is related to the development and reforms in the special education system, the development of concepts, theoretical and methodological principles of education and learning of these, as well as the changes in organizationally and scientifically pedagogical aspects. Stage 1 (1917-1941) is the initial creation of textbooks for special needs schools. Stage 2 (1943-1960) is the provision of specialized textbooks. Stage 3 (1960-1990) is the development of scientific and methodological principles of developing textbooks for special needs schools. Stage 4 (1990-2000) is the development of specialized textbooks in Ukraine. The research highlights the importance of studying and tracking the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders, depending on the reflection of the requirements for implementing a correctional focus of the educational process in its components, which is the main principle of oligophrenopedagogy, to improve the development and socialization of these children. Also, the research discloses the contradictions and characteristics of developing the content of school textbooks at certain stages. Oligophrenopedagogy between 1917 and 1941 was characterized by a mostly scientific search for effective approaches to developing the content of school textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. Certain psycho-pedagogical studies were conducted on pupils from special needs schools, as well as the development of specific educational methods and means of corrective influence on these pupils’ development. The content of textbooks showed a tendency for special needs schools to converge with comprehensive schools. There occurred some changes in the development of textbooks for special needs schools, including a transition from complex BRAIN. Broad Research in September, 2020 Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience Volume 11, Issue 3 159 programmes of educational material to the development and publication of the first stable textbooks on Ukrainian and reading and, at the same time, a certain unification of curricula, an inconsistency of textbooks’ content with programme requirements and a lack of such textbooks at special needs schools. The main trends of the second stage in the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders were strengthening the focus orientation of these textbooks’ content, specifying the requirements for pupils’ knowledge and skills, as well as intensifying the provision of special needs schools with relevant textbooks. This stage also witnessed a certain increase in contradictions regarding the intensification of ideologization, politicization and Russification of these textbooks’ and, at the same time, a certain decrease in the number of Ukrainian-teaching special needs schools. The centralization of education influenced the development of the content and structure of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. The third stage is characterized by the elaboration of scientific and methodological principles of developing textbooks for special needs schools. For the first time, defectologists developed a system of tasks for developing pupils’ ideas, concepts and skills for a conscious identification of causal relationships, defined a system of verbal, visual and practical methods of teaching and justified the characteristics of corrective work while working with such textbooks. Besides, special attention was paid to methodological experimental studies aimed at improving the content of school textbooks and defining the correctional focus of their tasks by defectologists. The fourth stage in the development of specialized textbooks in independent Ukraine introduces a new strategy in the field of special education, which has influenced the updating of the content of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. The research finds that the leading trends in the content of these new textbooks were as follows: improving the content and design of textbooks; strengthening their corrective educational functions; organizing independent work of pupils with textbooks. Scientific-practical conferences and seminars conducted by the Institute of Pedagogy of the National Academy of Pedagogical Sciences of Ukraine, which discussed and studied the issues of new Ukrainian textbooks for comprehensive and special needs schools in Ukraine, also played an important role in the issues of new approaches and the content of modern school textbooks. The implementation of a personalized approach to studying historical and pedagogical phenomena has made it possible to update the The Creation and Development of Textbooks for Children with Cognitive … Liudmyla CHEPURNA et al. 160 history of Ukrainian defectology with archival information on the life and activities of Ukrainian theorists and practitioners in the field of oligophrenopedagogy, who significantly contributed to the creation and development of specialized textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders. The scientific value of the research consists in the following: for the first time, the dynamics of the creation and development of textbooks for Ukrainian children with cognitive development disorders has been studied on the basis of the identified theoretical and methodological principles; the influence of socio-political, socio-economic and psychopedagogical factors on theory and practice of the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine at different historical stages has been revealed; the main stages of the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine have been identified and scientifically justified; the characteristics and trends in the theory of textbook development have been described; the content and approaches to developing such textbooks in the period under study have been studied; the views of defectologists and their incorporation in the content of textbooks in different periods of textbook creation and development have been scientifically and comparatively analyzed; individual theoretical views on teaching children with cognitive development disorders have critically reviewed; the areas in the use of the accumulated experience under modern conditions have been determined; many unknown and little-known archival documents related to the development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine have been introduced to scientific community; relevant data on the life and activities of Ukrainian theorists and practitioners in the field of defectology, as well as the authors of such school textbooks, have been gathered and specified. The main theoretical and methodological foundations of this research can be incorporated in higher education textbooks on the history of oligophrenopedagogy, subsequent studies on the history of Ukrainian defectology, teaching methodologies of such courses as “The History of Correctional Pedagogy”, “Methods of Teaching Ukrainian Language and Literature to Children”. Besides, they can be used to create new textbooks and other modern information tools for the school education of children with cognitive development disorders. This research does not disclose all the issues related to the creation and development of textbooks for children with cognitive development disorders in Ukraine. Further research should study the criteria for selecting BRAIN. 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