SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS OF STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT DISABILITIES AND THE PSYCHOLOGICAL-PEDAGOGICAL MECHANISMS OF DIFFERENTIATED WORK WITH THEM

Abstract

Students with intellectual development disabilities (IDD) constitute a heterogeneous population whose meaningful participation in education depends on the timely identification and systematic accommodation of their special educational needs (SEN). This article examines the structure of these needs and analyses the psychological-pedagogical mechanisms that make differentiated instruction effective for such learners. Using a theoretical-analytical and comparative review of contemporary special-education literature and the cultural-historical tradition, the study identifies six interrelated categories of need—in pacing and cognitive load, in mediation, in curricular content, in communication, in emotional-volitional regulation, and in social participation—and maps them onto concrete differentiation mechanisms operating at the levels of content, process, product and learning environment. The analysis indicates that effective differentiated work rests on four interlocking mechanisms: diagnostic individualisation grounded in the zone of proximal development; graded mediation and scaffolding; multisensory and load-reduced content design; and the reinforcement of motivation and self-regulation through structured success. The discussion situates these mechanisms within inclusive-education policy and foregrounds the teacher’s role as mediator between the learner’s potential and actual development. It is argued that differentiation for learners with IDD is not a simplification of the curriculum but the deliberate engineering of supports that convert potential development into achieved learning