Mental Retardation - Intellectual Disabilities

People with intellectual disabilities are those who develop at a below average rate and experience difficulty in learning and social adjustment. The regulations for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) provide the following technical definition for intellectual disabilities:

"Intellectual disabilities means significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's educational performance."

"General intellectual functioning" is typically measured by an intelligence test. Persons with intellectual disabilities usually score 70 or below on such tests.

Intellectual disabilities are not diseases, nor should they be confused with mental illness. Children with intellectual disabilities become adults; they do not remain "eternal children." They do learn, but slowly, and with difficulty.

Some studies suggest that approximately 1% of the general population has intellectual disabilities (when both intelligence and adaptive behavior measures are used).

Many authorities agree that people with intellectual disabilities develop in the same way as people without intellectual disabilities, but at a slower rate. Others suggest that persons with intellectual disabilities have difficulties in particular areas of basic thinking and learning such as attention, perception or memory. Depending on the extent of the impairment -- mild, moderate, severe, or profound -- individuals with intellectual disabilities will develop differently in academic, social, and vocational skills.

Related Marcus Autism Center Clinical Programs

Pediatric Neurodevelopmental Center

Additional Resources

ADD Warehouse: Leading Resource for the understanding and treatment of all developmental disorders
(http://www.addwarehouse.com)

Knowledge Path- Children with Special Health Care Needs
(http://www.ncemch.org)

The Association for Retarded Citizens
(http://www.thearc.org)

The Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities: the largest website on learning disability/difficulty in the UK
(http://www.learningdisabilities.org.uk)

Council for Exceptional Children
(http://www.cec.sped.org)

Family Village-A global community of disability-related resources
( http://www.familyvillage.wisc.edu )

National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities
( http://www.nichcy.org )

Exceptional Parent Magazine
( http://www.eparent.com )

Indiana Institute on Disability and Community
(http://www.iidc.indiana.edu)