Background. The relevanceof this study is determined by society’s growing interest in the process of socialization of persons with mental disorders, which determines the need to find new means and methods of support for them based on modern technology.

Objective. To determine the possibilities of using virtual and augmented reality in the educational environment for children with mental disorders.

Design. The authors carried out a pilot study, including a survey of teachers and an evaluation of the perception of children with mental disorders of images of augmented and virtual reality. The mental disorders referred to in the article are understood to be autism spectrum disorders, combined with mental retardation. In total, 10 teachers and 14 children of the study group were interviewed.

Results. Data from the survey of teachers showed that children with mental disorders have difficulty in processing visual information; they like the interactivity of forms, and they can be attached to certain things (books, places), which should be considered when developing scenarios for using devices with hyperreality. Data from the survey of the children showed that they like the most familiar objects, and that they usually don’t perceive complex images and unknown symbols; they tend to pay attention to the small details of objects. They usually select images which use primary colors and cool tones. Observations have shown that children with mental disorders often navigate the interface of unfamiliar devices faster than the owners of the devices. By changing the size of the image, they seem to help themselves find the answer to the question.

Conclusion. Our data confirmed the possibility of using hyperreality in the education of persons with mental disorders, and concretized ideas about the features of pattern recognition in virtual and augmented reality. Particular attention was paid to the characteristics of the form of not only the images, but also the technical devices, since the design is interpreted as an "adapter" of virtual and augmented reality images to the current state of the recipient.

The method “Fairy Semantic Differential”, during which a respondent should assess a number of fairy-tale characters according to a set of personal characteristics, is designed for the individual work of a psychologist with children 4—9 years old. Personality characteristics, according to which the characters are evaluated, are formulated in terms that parents, teachers use when dealing with children of this age. An analysis of the child's attitude to this or that fairy-tale character allows us to determine the specificity of his (her) moral-value sphere. The method also allows evaluating of real adults, who are significant for the child (parents, teachers, etc.) Comparison of fairy-tale characters' ratings with those of a significant adult makes it possible to reveal the specifics of the child's attitude to this adult. The article discusses quantitative indicators that can be calculated using the data of the answering the questionnaire. These indicators characterize the child’s personality, his (her) understanding of interpersonal relationships with surrounding people, dimension of categorical space of interpersonal perception, content of this categories and its hierarchy, the level of cognitive development in this area, the degree of socialization. The method allows measuring self-esteem indices. The results of an empirical study of Moscow primary schoolchildren using the method “Fairy Semantic Differential” are presented, during which a psychometric analysis of the indicators was conducted. It was shown that the cognitive complexity of interpersonal perception, determined by the method “Fairy Semantic Differential” is significantly higher among adults, does not correlate with intelligence tests. Socialization increases with age, is significantly higher among girls than among boys, partly correlates with known methods that measure the level of social adaptation of a child, the degree of differentiation of moral and conventional norms, verbal intellect. The analysis of self-esteem indices reveals significantly higher self-criticism among girls, than among boys.

The article covers the subject of qualitative methodology’s potential as a means of value orientations investigation and study of sources of changes in respondents’ value system. The strategy of step by step combination of questionnaire, metrical and graphic methods is presented. The empirical research of the role of information environment in genesis and transformation of value orientations system of the youth audience representatives is described.