Intellectual disability

Intellectual disability (ID), once called mental retardation, is characterized by below-average intelligence or mental ability and a lack of skills necessary for day-to-day living. People with intellectual disabilities can learn new skills, but they learn them more slowly. There are varying degrees of intellectual disability, from mild to profound. Someone with intellectual disability has limitations in two areas.

 These areas are: Intellectual functioning. Also known as IQ.

Adaptive behaviors. Skills necessary for day-to-day life, such as being able to communicate or interact with others, and take care of oneself.

Causes

The most common causes of intellectual disability are:

Genetic conditions. These include things like Down syndrome and fragile X syndrome.

Problems during pregnancy. Things that can interfere with fetal brain development include alcohol or drug use, malnutrition or certain infections.

Problems during childbirth.

Illness or injury. Infections like meningitis, whooping cough and severe head injury, near-drowning or extreme malnutrition.

Sign and symptom

Rolling over, sitting up, crawling, or walking late

Slow to master things like potty training, dressing, and feeding himself or herself

Behavior problems such as explosive tantrums

Difficulty with problem-solving or logical thinking

In children with severe or profound intellectual disability, there may be other health problems as well.

Vaccination

Ataxia/Apraxia

Retardation

Meningitis Paralysis

Paralytic polio

Ms. Gullain Barre Syndrome

Lupus

Hyperactivity - ADD, LD

Auto-immune Diseases Epilepsy

Convulsions - Seizures

Blindness

Deafness

Mental confusion - lowered IQ

Brain tumors (SV-40)

This list was generated from a variety of resources and is not, by any means, all inclusive.