Social Psychological Support of Students with Disabilities

Abstract

In this article we study the main goals, objectives, functions and mechanisms of social psychological support of students with disabilities and special needs in higher education. We describe the experience in providing such support at the Department of Distance Learning of the Moscow State University of Psychology and Education. We show that social psychological support of students with disabilities is a specially organized process involving the creation of an optimally accessible and nurturing environment which contributes to the development of general cultural, professional competencies as well as to healthy personality development in individuals. Macro social, psychological and pedagogical features of the environment play a key role in social psychological support. Psychological and educational support of students with disabilities involves several types of assistance, each with its own tasks and features, however only the optimal combination of these forms embodies social psychological support as a whole.