What is Intellectual Disability?

Intetellectual disability is an disorder where one's cognitive functioning (responding senses; rather abstract) has deficits or problems with one's adaptive behaviours. This is shown if one's Intelligence Quotient (IQ) score is below 70, and one has problems with normal mental functioning. 

Causes:



• Genetic Conditions​

​o Abnormal genes inherited from parents.
o E.g. Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome, Phenylketonuria​
 

• Problems during pregnancy
o Occurs when baby does not develop inside the mother properly.

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• Problems at birth
o When babies do not get enough oxygen

o Brain does not develop properly leading to complications


• Health Problems
o Diseases like whooping cough , measles, meningitis can cause intellectual disability

Symptoms (For children)
• Sit, crawl, walk later than other children
• Trouble speaking and learn to talk later than other children
• Difficulty remembering things
• Do not understand how to pay for things
• Trouble understanding social rules
• Trouble seeing the consequences of actions
• Trouble solving problems
• Trouble thinking logically​

How should we treat the Intellectually Disabled? Here are a few steps:



1. Be patient

Patience is of utmost importance as often they need a listening ear to understand them. 



2. Treat them well

They have emotions too, and need love. When we take care of them they usually feel very blissed. 



3. Dont take everything they say seriously 

Sometimes, they might get muddled with facts and as such some of them are not true.