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Mental retardation has several degrees of severity. The least severe retardation grades into borderline normal functioning. The line between them lies in the neighborhood of IQs between 70 and 75. People in this range of IQ may or may not be diagnosed with mental retardation, depending on how well they can carry on the business of everyday life. The person making the judgment must decide whether the person has significant deficits in at least two of the following areas: communication, self care, home living, social skills, use of community resources, self direction, functional academic skills, work, leisure, health, and safety. People with IQs below 70 usually will show deficits in several of these areas. However, great care must be taken in determining the IQ score. People from other linguistic or socio-cultural backgrounds may have low scores despite essentially normal intellectual ability unless the examiner takes special precautions to take their background into account, for example by testing in their native language. People with sensory or motor difficulties also require special testing procedures. The diagnosis of mental retardation is made only if the person is less than 18 years old; later, a diagnosis of dementia is more likely because the individual who otherwise meets the criteria must have functioned at a higher level when younger. There are many possible causes of mental retardation, ranging from genetic flaws through problems in embryonic development or birth to medical conditions or brain injuries. In perhaps a third of the cases, no cause can be determined. DSM-IV distinguishes four levels of mental retardation. The IQ ranges are as follows: mild retardation, 50-55 to about 70; moderate, 35-40 to 50-55; severe, 20-25 to 35-40; and profound, below 20-25. Fortunately, 80 to 85% of those diagnosed with mental retardation fall into the mild category. People in this group, given optimum opportunities, are likely to be able to live in the community. Some can live independently, and others in places where they can be supervised. People with moderate retardation comprise about 10% of those with mental retardation. They can benefit from education, but are unlikely to be able to function without supervision. They may be able to perform unskilled or semiskilled labor after vocational training. Even the 3 to 4% of people with severe mental retardation can sometimes learn to do simple tasks under close supervision. Their communication skills, however, will be very slow to develop. They may adapt reasonably well to family life or group homes. Finally,
those with profound retardation, luckily only 1 or 2% of the
group, may be able to develop some self-care skills under close
supervision and with optimal training. They, too, may learn to
perform simple tasks. Their communication skills will be severely
limited or absent, but they may learn some words or to use other
means of communication, given sufficient training. The web site
below is exceedingly slow and commercial, but it is the site for the
national association and does provide links to other valuable sites.
Last updated 12/19/03 |
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