verbal communication, communication skills, school integration, social integration, pupils with slight mental disorder, the differentiating ability of the brain, phonemic differentiation, phonemic awareness

The article analyses the conditions for development of speech in children with mental disorder and the particularities of using speech in social context. It points out the mutual connections between thinking and speech and it puts the emphasis on the development of communication competence in the process of school integration. It gives reasons for the necessity of systematic affecting the development of speech in children with slight mental disorder focused on the phonemic differentiation. It gives information on the results of the research focused on finding and judging the level of phonemic differentiation in pupils in young school age from which the suggestions for special pedagogical theory and practise are derived.