Mental Retardation and Cognitive Disability
 

Definition: A mental retardation diagnosis requires below-average intellectual function with onset before age 18 and is a byproduct of a person's impairment in adapting to environment.

Individuals With Education Act Definition: Mental retardation means significantly sub average general intellectual functioning (as measured on standardized intelligence tests with a score below 70) existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performance.

Causes: Mental retardation often results from a combination of its more than a thousand known causes. The American Association of Mental Retardation differentiates mental retardation by causes (medical, e.g., chromosomal or oxygen deprivation); psycho social disadvantage, or timing (before, during, or after birth). Timing related causes are Down Syndrome, meningitis, head trauma, lead intoxication, and abuse. The majority (45%) of severe retardation instances can be traced to genetic disorders and complications associated with birth.

Characteristics: If a child does not display age-appropriate developmental or adaptive skills and scores 70 or below on standardized intelligence test, mental retardation may be diagnosed.

Prevalence: 1-3% of the general population has mental retardation. Mental retardation severity varies. Of children with mild mental retardation (almost 90% of all with mental retardation), only 10% can be directly diagnosed; the others may be unnoticed or only suspected.

Parent Note: A child with mental retardation learns and grows intellectually, but will acquire these skills slower than peers. With a supportive environment, early intervention, functional education, a child with mental retardation will continue to progress.

 Teaching Strategies

Strategies to use resemble those for learning disabilities, such as peer tutoring, cooperative learning, establishing goals, and success reinforcement. Because students may have decreased motivation from repeated failures, teachers should look for ways to build in reinforcement and enthusiasm.

Other Classroom Strategies: Recognize the student with mental retardation may have memory impairment (especially short-term). Teachers can encourage students to verbally practice a task sequence or associate a task with mental pictures to compensate for memory difficulties. Students also may not associate reason to relevant causes, so identify cues ("Look there").

Behavior Strategies: While most children with mental retardation do not have behavior problems, those who do may have difficulties with others' expectations, organic problems, related to mental age, family problems, getting attention or frustration, Reinforce appropriate behavior and ignore or discourage inappropriate. Consider environment changes or medication, in some situations. Serious aggression and self-injury occur in fewer than 5% of people with mental retardation; in these and other challenging behavior situations, positive behavioral support has proven effective.

information from the Beach Center on Families and Disabilities

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