MENTAL RETARDATION AND ITS DEGREE OF SEVERITY

 MENTAL RETARDATION

I ‘am sure that you should have heard about the term mental retardation. What do you know about mental retardation?

DEFINITION: Mental Retardation is a disorder in which a person’s overall intellectual functioning is well below average, with an intelligence quotient (IQ) around 70 or less. Individuals with mental retardation also have a significantly impaired ability to cope with common life demands and lack some daily living skills expected of people in their age group and culture.

The impairment may interfere with learning, communication, self-care, independent living, social interaction, play, work, and safety. Mental retardation appears in childhood, before age 18. In the United Kingdom the term mental retardation is interchangeable with the term ‘learning disability’.

INCIDENCE: - About 1 percent of the general population has mental retardation, although some estimates range as high as 3 percent. Mental retardation is slightly more common in males than in females. It occurs in people of all racial, ethnic, education, and economic backgrounds.

DEGREES OF SEVERITY

There are four degrees of severity of mental retardation based on IQ score:

1. Mild retardation (IQ range 50-55 to about 70).
2. Moderate (IQ range 35-40 to 50-55).
3. Severe (IQ range 20-25 to 35-40).
4. Profound (IQ level below 20-25).

People of average intelligence, score from about 90 to 110 on IQ tests.

Now, let us go into a little bit of details about each of the above types

Mild

Mildly affected individuals often cannot be distinguished from normal children until they attend school. They may be labeled as slow learners by their teachers.  Although they learn more slowly, people with mild retardation usually can develop academic skills equivalent to the sixth-grade level. As adults, they can work and live in the community if helped when they experience unusual social or economic stress. Some may marry and have children.

 

 

Moderate

People with moderate retardation can progress to about the second-grade level in academic skills. By adolescence, they usually have good self-care skills—such as eating, dressing, and going to the bathroom—and can perform simple tasks. As adults, most can work at unskilled or semiskilled jobs with supervision.

Severe

Severe retardation affects 3 to 4 percent of mentally retarded individuals. Severely retarded individuals may learn to talk during childhood and develop basic self-care skills. In adulthood they can perform simple tasks with close supervision. They often live in group homes or with their families.

Profound

About 1 to 2 percent of retarded people have profound mental retardation and requires constant care. Profoundly retarded individuals can understand some language, but they have little ability to talk. They often have a neurological condition that accounts for their retardation.

Having looked at the different types of mental retardation, what could be some of the causes of mental retardation?

Here are some of the causes

CAUSES

1. Genetic conditions
2. Disorders that occur as a fetus develops during pregnancy
3. Problems during or after birth.

Genetic causes
Chromosomal disorders such as Down syndrome. Down syndrome occurs when people inherit all or part of an extra copy of a pair of chromosomes known together as chromosome 21. Although regarded as genetic disorders, chromosomal disorders are not necessarily inherited. Both parents may have normal genes, with the defect resulting from a random error when chromosomes reproduce.   Disorders that occur as a fetus develops during pregnancy

A variety of problems during a woman’s pregnancy can cause mental retardation in her child. 

1. Malnutrition;
2. Mother use   alcohol or drugs;
3. environmental toxins such as lead and mercury;
4. viral infections, including rubella (see German Measles) and cytomegalovirus;
5. An untreated diseases such as diabetes mellitus.
6. Fetal alcohol syndrome results from excessive consumption of alcohol during pregnancy, including premature birth, very low birth weight, and stresses to the fetus such as deprivation of oxygen.

Problems that occur during or after birth

1. Infectious diseases during childhood, which are easily preventable through immunization, also can cause mental retardation when they result in complications. For example, measles, chicken pox, and whooping cough may lead to encephalitis and meningitis, which can damage the brain.
2. Physical trauma to the brain can also cause mental retardation.
3. Brain damage may result from accidental blows to the head,
4. Near drowning,
5. Severe child abuse, and
6. Childhood exposure to such toxins as lead and mercury.
7. Experts believe that poverty and a lack of stimulation during infancy and early childhood can be factors in mental retardation.
8. Children raised in poor environments are more likely to experience malnutrition, lack of routine medical care, and environmental health hazards.