America's special education law defines mental retardation as significantly performing below the normal intellectual functioning and coexisting with other deficits in adaptive behavior that may have occurred during the child's developmental process and will affect his learning at school. According to Merck, doctors have decided that the term "mental retardation" carried such a harmful stigma that they first referred to it as a mental handicap before replacing it with intellectual disability. According to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, more than 600,000 children struggle with an intellectual disability.
Causes
Most cases of intellectual disabilities occur during or right after pregnancy. Some cases are triggered by abnormal gene chromosomes, such as Down syndrome, or Tay-Sachs disease, where intellectual disability often coexists. Poor prenatal care may also cause intellectual disability, as in if the mother drinks too much and develops fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS), or if she develops preeclampsia during her second or third trimester. However, children may also develop the disorder from not receiving adequate oxygen at birth, or during childhood from malnutrition, infections like the measles or meningitis or a severe head trauma.
Symptoms
Some parents may notice visible signs in their children as infants, such as an unusually large or small head, or deformities on their hands. However, most signs will not be as evident until children are preschool-aged. Affected children may speak very slow and only in a few-word sentences. They have difficulty being independent and dressing themselves. Children may get frustrated easily and throw tantrums, sometimes hitting other children in their outbursts. Since parents and teachers do not look for much regarding language and cognitive development until preschool, this is often when diagnosis first begins.
Diagnosis
A team of experts, consisting of a pediatric neurologist, psychologist, speech pathologist and therapists, will evaluate the child by testing intellectual functioning and determining the reason for the disorder. While the reason may be irreversible, it may help map the treatment plan and determine if the child has multiple disorders. Some children struggle with physical disorders like cerebral palsy or language disorders such as dyslexia. Doctors will complete a three-part evaluation, consisting of parent interviews, child observations and tests, such as the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV, which tests intellectual reasoning, and the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, which checks for independent living skills, language and motor abilities. The doctors must combine and study the data to confer on a diagnosis.
Levels
For mild retardation with an IQ of 52 to 69, children under 6 years old can develop language and social skills with only slightly delayed motor development, while older children and teenagers will learn up to about a 6th grade curriculum by their late teens. For those who suffer from moderate retardation with an IQ of 36 to 51, young children will learn to talk and walk but will benefit from help, while older children and teens will likely make it through an elementary curriculum and develop some appropriate social skills. With severe retardation--an IQ of 20 to 35--young children struggle with poor coordination and can only speak a few words, while older children and teens can learn daily habits if repeated often. With profound retardation, an IQ of 19 or less, all groups have very little communication or motor skills.
Treatment
A team will help decide the best course of action. Children do best living at home with their parents, but it can be helpful to have a caregiver if your child's retardation is severe. The National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities suggests educating yourself about the disorder and joining a support group to converse with other parents. Arrange to put your child in a special education classroom, where he can get the extra help he needs, and ask the teacher to explain things slowly and break steps down to help him understand.
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