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Intellectual disability and mental retardation

The diagnosis of mental retardation is talking about an experience of a certain situation, which is inserted within a logic of disability -therefore it is produced-, and that it obeys certain political and ideological guidelines prevailing from the beginning. power-to-know at any given time.

If a person has an intellectual disability, it means that he learns and develops more slowly than the rest .

A person with an intellectual disability usually – it depends on the severity of his condition – will have learning problems, attention problems and problems to function normally in his daily life.

We must take into account the stigmatization that accompanies the “disabled” in our culture and its effects on their process of subjectivation. Effects that are recurrent, as Víctor Giorgi puts it below: “… negative relational experiences return on the subject, deteriorate their self-esteemand they construct a picture in which primary disabilities are synergized and fed back with attacks on self-confidence and the inability to access certain social learning. Social exclusion consists precisely in a process of increasing impoverishment of interactions until reaching a point of inflection, of no return, in which the links are reduced to the immediate environment or to other subjects of the same condition, thus restricting access to identifying models and conditioning it to a fragile development of the personality. ”.

How can you detect mental retardation?

E mental retardation can be detected in early childhood. In babies who suffer from an intellectual disability or mental retardation, we can begin to notice the failures of their development from 6 months, when the baby begins to experience new skills, such as taking objects, sitting and begins to connect with the world Exterior.

In children, failures of mental development can be detected if limitations in adaptive functioning or essential skills for living are noted.

It is important to ask yourself about their experience at school, since certain studies maintain that: children with mild mental retardation do not usually have major problems , attending it almost normally (which makes an earlier diagnosis difficult), perhaps being a little slower than the rest. What is usually noticed is some withdrawal or shyness. In turn, parents may have more submissive and complacent attitudes and not ask or inquire due to possible ignorance, myths, fears.

The earlier the mental retardation is detected, the less risks it will present, this is because prompt attention reduces the risk of prolonged brain damage.

Classifications according to level of disability

Like most clinical pictures, mental retardation can be mild, moderate, or severe (severe). The greater the disability, the more problems the individual will have learning, relating, and becoming independent.

It is normal that there is uncertainty with certain types of disability, not all deficiencies evolve in the same way , or it is not known how they can develop. It takes time and the work of several professionals to achieve a more accurate diagnosis; thus incorporating uncertainty as one more variable that must be lived with.

Intellectual disability or mild mental retardation

Those with a mild level of intellectual disability are often slower in all areas of conceptual development and social skills.

The cognitive problems of the person with mild mental retardation do not only respond to a delay at the level of intelligence, but there is a disharmony between the factors that make up their personality, manifested in inability to accommodate the social demands and expectations of the environment. This, in turn, leads those around him to accommodate such dysfunctions in two possible ways: overprotecting him or demanding “normal” behavior , which in both cases generates a lack of communication that will affect his affective-emotional integrity, which, added to his instrumental difficulties will impede their educational, social and work integration.

Intellectual disability or moderate mental retardation

People with intellectual disabilities or moderate mental retardation can usually be noticeably slower than other people and clear developmental failures can be seen from a very young age.

Individuals with moderate mental retardation can take care of themselves, travel to places within their community, and learn basic skills related to safety and health. His self-care requires moderate support.

Intellectual disability or severe mental retardation

Those who suffer from severe mental retardation can present congenital syndromes, therefore, from the fetal stage, their brain has developed in an abnormal way. These people cannot be independent, and require constant and close supervision to help with self-care activities.

Individuals with severe mental retardation have a very limited ability to communicate, are unable to care for themselves, and do not understand the daily dangers that can occur. They are dominated by the “it” and have no notion of norms or morals. They can try to satisfy their needs in a primitive way without any form of repression , which can cause serious problems if they are not supervised.

Causes of intellectual disability or mental retardation

The causes that cause mental retardation are usually varied. Often times, severe or severe mental retardation can be accompanied by congenital causes – brain failure in the womb.

Some of the diagnosed causes of mental retardation are: Down syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, various types of medical conditions – such as poorly treated hypothyroidism – and psychiatric conditions – such as autism . Among all these common causes of mental retardation, only fetal alcohol syndrome can be completely preventable.

Diagnosis of mental retardation

For the diagnosis of mental retardation, an evaluation is performed that begins with a complete physical examination and a complete review of the medical history that justifies any physical or medical cause of the worrisome symptoms. Then a cognitive test is performed that shows the intellectual level of the patient. and they carry out adaptation studies, with participation in group roles and social interaction – they show the adaptive behavior of the individual.

If the diagnosis of mild mental retardation is made only with the results of the WAIS III, as it is done in most cases, an invalidating sentence is generated since a diagnostic label generally leads to acceptance by the sufferer and the group that surrounds him, both behaving according to the stereotypes that are lived and assigned to him in society. What is contradicted by the paradigmatic changes that we are currently experiencing around health, which suppose a hologrammatic vision (E. Morin) of the subject, where different disciplinary perspectives should converge, which in turn suppose multireferential perspectives within a culture and socio-economic moment. – determined historical.

A diagnosis is generated that excludes and stigmatizes, while from the new approach on Disability, it is contemplated to guarantee the exercise of rights, based on the identification of needs , to provide opportunities by enabling a scenario of equity that stimulates potentialities that transcend the individual differences, seeking respect for diversity.

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Hello Readers, I am Nikki Bella a Psychology student. I have always been concerned about human behavior and the mental processes that lead us to act and think the way we do. My collaboration as an editor in the psychology area of ​​Well Being Pole has allowed me to investigate further and expand my knowledge in the field of mental health; I have also acquired great knowledge about physical health and well-being, two fundamental bases that are directly related and are part of all mental health.

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