This is a term used when a person has limitations in mental functioning and skills such as communicating, taking care of themselves, and social skills. Children with these limitations will develop more slowly than a typical child. Intellectual disorders are fairly common as one percent of children in the United States have them.
What are some common problems with intellectual disorders?
- poor short and long term memory
- difficulty using organizational strategy for memory storage and retrieval
- difficulty applying background knowledge
- until mental age of ten years, developmental pattern like typical just slower rate
- have trouble solving problems
- have trouble seeing the consequences of their actions
- have trouble understanding social rules
- learn to talk later
Difficulties with language:
Children with intellectual disorders often times have language development issues. It is best to intervene in the first three months of their life. Specific difficulties in language differ within different disorders. For example children with Down Syndrome experience receptive language is far ahead of their expressive, they omit function words and auxiliary verbs, their language achievement is better predicted by memory variability, and older children do well with complex narratives. Children with Williams syndrome experience early development as they are delayed in prelinguistic speech perception, difficulties with complex vocabulary, and they have less coherent narratives and conversations. Children with Fragile X have a delay in language that is onset. This is most frequently seen in boys. They have articulation and fluency problems and they also have problems with vocabulary, syntax, and morphology. Sometimes augmentative or alternative communication devices are used which include communication board with pictures and sign language vocabulary for expressive and receptive acts.
Is there any help for children with an intellectual disorder?
When a baby is born with an intellectual disability, his or her parents should get immediate help with early intervention. This is a system of services designed to help infants and toddlers with disabilities until their third birthday. After that special education services are available to the child.
Resources:
National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities. (2012). Intellectual Disability. Available online at http://nichcy.org/disability/specific/intellectual#def
Griffin, P. [2012] Class 12 Writing Variety Composition with ID April 18. Retrieved from online May 3, 2012.
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