Intelligent people are living throughout the world. Intelligent people are able to support themselves, think logically, and have the ability to reason. The important aspect of their life is to adapt to their daily lifestyle or any drastic change. Most people are born to highly intelligent. Others are born with and cope with the ability to have the skills of being a talented musician or a star athlete. However, with this in mind, there are a few people who are not on the higher scale of intelligence and having the normal life of self-supporting structures in life. The intelligence quotient (IQ) test measures a person’s abilities to think, reason, and level of understanding. The scores that are below 70 will result in the person being known to have the condition of not being the average Joe. The average score on an IQ test is in the range of 90 to 110. Mental retardation, or MR, is a condition that anyone with below the given score is not able to neither adapt to life nor have the ability to have the mental ability live a normal life (1)***. With this in mind, people with this type of disability are discovered during the stages of development though the age of eighteen. It does not matter what background you are, racial aspects, and education it could occur to anyone (1, 2)***. Mental retardation can also be defined as the incompetence to meet a standardized school test and the effortless ability to want to learn. This will mostly likely occur in elementary children at an earlier age (3)***. This special disability can deal with the youth and their way of going through the human development stages.
I will say that one main criteria used to diagnose mental retardation is going to be the intelligence quotient (IQ) test. In the textbook, it gives a breakdown of different IQs classifications according to the scores of the test. This type of test is called a psychological since test since it allows psychologists to check people for any disabilities or any other body conditions (4)***. The result will show if the person is below the average with any incompatible cognitive and adaptive skills. Often the cases, mental retardation will be diagnosed as a development delay and nothing else beyond those conditions (5)***. Mental retardation can also occur within the family depending on the family history and if anyone else is in this type of condition of being retarded. After a person is diagnosed with being retarded, the results must be put on a scale of how severe the disability may be and this will be different from person to person. The American Association on Mental Retardation does is not based on IQ test scores, but on the level of support for individuals to ensure the best way to help their patients and get them treated properly. They use the four supporting degrees of intermittent, limited, extensive, and pervasive (1, 6)***.
To get straight to the point, schools and other common places will measure or categorize the severity along the lines of mild to moderate and sever to profound. If a person has a mild condition of mental retardation the IQ score will range from 50-69. The weaknesses and the ability to not being able to do everything like being independent and going on with daily life will be noticed able in people with a mild condition of retardation. In children, some reading and writing would be a concern in school; however, this may be the case for other students as well. Adults will be able to manage life on their own and still be independent, but when they do everything, it may be at a slower rate than others. A small affect on speech can be noticeable as well with those who could be diagnosed with retardation. The next degree of retardation is at the moderate level. The person who may have a moderate degree of disability could probably have the IQ score between 35 and 49. At this stage, the person may have the ability to perform simple skills whether or not they are good at what they are doing. When you see a person who may be retarded or diagnosed to be that way, the appearance is not visible, but the social and speech skills will be noticed. This has to do with the inability to not being able to talk with every day people and understand what they are saying. Miscommunication could occur in a conversation or from one person to the next giving the task of directions to completing something. A person who will show a strong sign of being very mental retarded will have a score of 20-34 and this will be at the severe degree. These types of people will have a genetic disorder or down syndrome that deals with the tissues in their body (1)***. People will not be able to comprehend or understand what is going on around them. If the person may be an adult, they will be sent to a group home to live with others. There will be supervision by other adults that may work for a corporation such as Volunteer of America that will care and tend the people who are not able to think right and possible be handicapped in wheel chairs. They could also live with their own families if they want to care for the person who may be sick or unable to live without support (2)***. The last level or degree of retardation is profound. The IQ ranges from 20 and below. Contest care is the key to people in this condition of mental retardation. In simple terms, adults and it could be children as well, are mobilized, the need the help others to watch and care for them. They may be placed in group homes with people of similar conditions. There is really nothing else that can be done except to keep them living and continue working with them from day-to-day (2, 7)***.
There are many different causes of mental retardation; however, to name a few, one possible cause is complication that occurs during pregnancy. This affects the human development of the child and causes the brain to not fully form through the stages of life. For example, if a mother drinks alcohol or smokes, the baby will become retarded as it grows up. If this may be the case, the notice or appearance of not functioning normal or lacking the abilities to think, reason, or have a high intelligence level. The mother puts the baby at risk by doing rudely behavior and the baby may be at a risk of not being born or anything such as HIV infection and chromosome abnormalities. Also, stress to the head of the baby will lead to less oxygen to be provided during birth (8, 9)***. A second cause of someone being mentally challenged is getting diseases and lacking important nutrients for the body. Chicken pox and other diseases that the baby can get will affect the brain. For example, if the baby gets or measles will cause the baby to get meningitis. The inflammation of the membrane that covers the spinal cord gets infection by different bacteria that will lead to meningitis. This also damages the brain and can be treated an early stages with the side effects that will cause the baby to not grow and mature into a normal adult. A third reason that will cause a person to be retarded can be through biological genetic disorders. If one of the parents may have a disorder, the child can inherited it and error or a mix up with of genes can lead to complications. For example, down syndrome can occur within the child. Birth defects occur within the heart and hearing lost, different health related problems will help lead to mental retardation (8, 9)***.
Special education is given to those who may be mental retarded. They have to go through training classes to help improve social skills for them to function as a normal person.
Sources:
- King, Laura A. The Science of Psychology.***
- http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552226/Mental_Retardation.html#s1***
- http://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/retardation.html***
- http://www.humanillnesses.com/Behavioral-Health-Sel-Vi/Testing-and-Evaluation.html***
- http://www.uab.edu/cogdev/mentreta.htm***
- http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=10349&cn=208***
- http://www.who.int/mental_health/media/en/69.pdf***
- http://www.wellesley.edu/Activities/homepage/bestbuddies/Buddies/mrAwareness.html***
- http://www.nlm.nih.gov/MEDLINEPLUS/ency/article/001523.htm***
- http://www.lpch.org/DiseaseHealthInfo/HealthLibrary/genetics/downs.html***
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