What Is Mental Retardation?
People with mental retardation show delays in learning, a slower pace of learning, and difficulty in applying learning. Approximately 200,000 people in New York are thought to have mental retardation. Mental retardation can result from a variety of factors, among them premature birth, genetic abnormalities, malnutrition, exposure to toxic agents, and social deprivation. Assistance for people with mental retardation usually includes diagnosis and help early in their life, family counseling and training, education, job training, and housing services. Many people with mental retardation can learn to take care of their basic needs and to live in the community.
To understand mental retardation, it helps to know what intelligence (say: in-tel-uh-jents) is. Intelligence is a way of describing someone’s ability to think, learn, and solve problems. Mental retardation means that someone has lower than average intelligence. The person may have trouble learning and might need longer to learn social skills, such as how to be friends or how to communicate with others. People with mental retardation also might be less able to care for themselves or unable to live on their own as adults. Sometimes kids who have mental retardation get teased or bullied. This is especially sad because these kids really need friends and people who will be kind to them. Just because they have learning problems doesn’t mean they don’t have feelings! Just like you, these kids want to be liked and to have fun at school. During school, a kid with mental retardation will probably need help. Some kids have aides that stay with them during the school day. Special education and oth
Mental retardation is characterized both by a significantly below-average score on a test of mental ability or intelligence and by limitations in the ability to function in areas of daily life, such as communication, self-care, and getting along in social situations and school activities. Mental retardation is sometimes referred to as a cognitive or intellectual disability. Children with mental retardation can and do learn new skills, but they develop more slowly than children with average intelligence and adaptive skills. There are different degrees of mental retardation, ranging from mild to profound. A person’s level of mental retardation can be defined by their intelligence quotient (IQ), or by the types and amount of support they need. People with mental retardation may have other disabilities as well. Examples of these coexisting conditions include cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, vision impairment, hearing loss, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Children wit
