Intellectual Disabilities

Name: Asma Abdulla
ID: 20143852
Intensive English Development Course
Course code: 572
Johann Pillai
English Language Teaching Department
Near East University
Intellectual Disabilities


Intellectual Disabilities

The phenomenon of intellectual disabilities (ID) is highly concerned by
many different groups that a lot of specialists in fields of medicine,
sociology and education tried to investigate in this phenomenon; they also
tried to know the nature of this disorder and its causes and to find best
treatment for mentally disabled people. There is no doubt that intellectual
disability is one of the most dangerous phenomena in the world and has its
bad and negative effects nowadays.
All people admit the importance and necessity of treatment and support
those people.
Intellectual disability can be described as a disorder that has huge social
influences. It does not just influences the individuals who live through
the ill but additionally the family and society as well. A large number of
individuals around the whole world have mental disabilities and
pervasiveness its spread has recorded as 1 to 3% in flourished countries
that had development in a field of medicine and education. INDESOL
(National Social Development Institute) has calculated the number of people
who has this disease, it found out that there are about 2925000 individuals
in Mexico with mental disability, and they still have a little knowledge
about the causes of it.
Intellectual disability is one of the most popular phenomenons, and most of
the countries around the world have many disabled people who received a
great attention from the different humanistic organization.
The first question which comes to our mind that what is intellectual
disabilities? Intellectual disabilities are known as a mental retardation
that refer to human beings with significant inability that prevent him or
her to do any activity which might be expected for those who are in the
same age and same gender, as physical activities or make social
relationship. In previous years, the term intellectual disability was known
as mental retardation, but over time
it has changed because it influences individuals badly.
This term has changed to intellectual disability according to
American Association on Intellectual and Development Disabilities (AAIDD)
which has defined it that someone has a physical or mental disabilities,
which can be clearly seen in person's behavior in his normal life, this
kind of disease comes to view before adulthood (AAIDD website.2013). And
also the world health organization WHO has defined it as "a disorder
defined by the presence of incomplete or arrested mental development,
principally characterized by the deterioration of concrete functions at
each stage of development and that contribute to the overall level of
intelligence, such as cognitive, language, motor and socialization
functions; in this anomaly, adaptation to the environment is always
affected" (Katz,G.&Lazcano-Ponce,E. 2008.p.133).
This means the brain does not grow normally, and the person with an
intellectual disability could not act as normal people. In addition, that
person will suffer from many problems which are related to the mental
process including the way of thinking, behavior, feeling, and language, and
how they understand and think about the world.

There is another definition of ID which is known as Psychometric, it is a
field of study deals with the measurement of person's differences in
abilities, intelligence, and behavior. This test measures the intelligence
of individuals which must be above 70 to be as a normal person.
Furthermore, the clinic has defined ID as a condition of prevent the brain
to be developed, which can be clearly seen in the individuals' inabilities
to do any activity. On the other hand, there are important factors such as
educational and healthy ones that have a direct influence on the societies.
From an educational side, ID is depending on the learner's awareness to
learn and the amount of achievement and the individuals' mental abilities
have to be developed to be able to process complicated information.

But there are other views which are against the IQ test, from the
researchers point of view IQ test is not enough to measure the intelligence
of the individuals, moreover; if anyone has got a low score in IQ test it
does not mean that he or she is disabled person if he or she shows the
ability to response for life activities then they could be normal
individuals.

Furthermore, IQ test can be biased in some aspects as culture, gender, age
and so on. For example, Serpell.(1979) found out; 'when asked to reproduce
figures from using wire, pencil and paper, and clay, Zambian children
performed better in the wiring task, while English children performed
better in the pencil and paper task. Each group did better in the medium to
which they were more accustomed. Pencil and paper IQ tests may be
intrinsically biased towards Western culture ' (Young, E. 2013). According
to Ann Arbor who argued the significant differences in IQ scores and to
avoid such these differences the researches should take into considerations
the culture and social elements ( Balter, M.2011). Thus, in some situations
IQ test is not sufficient, and we can depend only on it when we diagnose
individuals. So psychologists has discovered other scales which are related
to the adaptive behavior as AAMD, ABS ( the American Association of Mental
Deficiency, Adaptive Behavior Scales ), also in the recent years, other
scales are used to measure the academic achievements as Reading Skills
Scale, Writing Skills Scale, and Language Skills Scale.

An individual who has a brain problem has a lot of difficulties in learning 
and doing normal life activities, those people are less than 18 years old.
They could not act as others who are in the same age, they could not get
dressed by themselves, and also they could not act normally around people.
Their families should spend much time and support them to be as possible as
normal people.

The classification of this diagnoses is differed from one to another
according to the level of mental, psychological, and sociological capacity,
and it could be mild, moderate or big. The more it is
bigger the more it has the huge effect on the individual. The
causes of this disorder, it may be known by the specialists but in some
conditions the reasons behind it are ambiguous. Intellectual disability
happens because there are several problems in the brain, which prevent it
to develop and grow up in the right way. Such these problems may happen
during the period of the pregnancy or during or after the birth.

The mild ones refer to people who learn slowly at schools and they can
accomplish academic skills until almost the sixth level and professional
and social abilities allow them to work independently and live with a small
amount of support, while moderate disability refers to individuals who have
weakness in their academic skills, however, they are able to train on the
life activities and need full supervision in their work. The last dangerous
one is the severe disability that refers to individuals who have a
significant limitation on their capacity of communication and understanding
the basic information. They only know the alphabets, and they have degrees
of physical disability such as difficulty in movement or speech and
language disorders, and the educational programs are based on how they can
acquire life skills, communication, and they need a great support and
follow.

In addition, there is another classification which depends on when the
disability happens, it has divided into three categories. Firstly, when it
happened before birth, for example, when the baby could not breathe well.
However, those individuals get mental disabilities for many reasons as
physiological disease or chemical disorders transmitted to the fetus
(unborn baby) from his or her parents or from one of them such RHS factor,
or because of sugar in the blood that might be not organized, another
important reason is the blood pressure, it can affect the central nervous
system of the fetus growth, or when the mother drinks alcohol and drugs
during pregnancy, or when she gets some infectious viral disease such as
measles meningitis especially when the doctors do not intervene early .

Secondly, the baby becomes mentally retarded during the birth, in such
these conditions it is because of suffocation or exposure the brain to an
injury when using some birth devices during pull the baby from the mother's
womb.

Finally, some other conditions of intellectual disabilities may occur
during the phase of the baby growth, those children may get some infections
and injuries as a result of brain poisoning by lead, mercury, or carbon
monoxide, or by direct injury to the brain which is caused by accidents.

Intellectual disability doesn't treat as a disease and there is not cure
for it , but we can minimize the proportion of disabled individuals by
taking some useful steps as preventing women from drinking alcohol during
pregnancy, giving them appropriate vitamins and taking vaccinated against
some infectious diseases , we can reduce the risk that the baby may born
with mental retardation.
Making genetics test before married is preferable. Also monitor the baby by
ultrasound is recommended to know if the fetus has any problem that effect
on his or her brain. Protect the children by using some safety strategies
like car seats or wearing bike helmets. Healthy food is also important in
these situations.
Intellectual disability is diagnosed by testing how well the individuals
think and deal with problems this is known as intellectual functioning, and
whether they have limitations in life skills called adaptive behavior. Then
doctors and professionals will decide what kind of support is needed.The
most common characteristics of children who born with intellectual
abilities are crawling or walking later, having problem in speaking than
other children, having difficulties in remembering such things, moreover,
they could not make social relations , and also they could not think and
behave logically.
The psychological Scientific have classified the intellectual disabilities
according to the intelligence degree of individuals, and there are three
kinds of those people, idiot, imbecile, and a moron. Idiot ones represent
the greatest degree of mental retardation, so IQ is less than (25) and they
are considered about 5% of the total mental disabled ones who are three
years old. They cannot read and write; they also cannot protect himself or
his life from the dangers and may not eat unless we put the food in their
mouths. Consequently, idiot children require full care from others because
they have a mental deficiency or developmental delay in their brains than
it must be normal for its age. Those idiot children do not live for a long
time and most of them die young.

Imbecile children are those who their IQ is ranging between (25-50) which
their mental level is not more than an ordinary intelligence child at the
age of seven, they lack the ability to take care for themselves and also
they cannot benefit from their schools, it is possible to teach them how to
wear their clothes by themselves, and we can train them to do such simple
actions, such as sweeping and cleaning the ground and wash clothes, we can
teach them how to behave ethically towards others .
Moron persons, who are notably stupid, are about 75% of the weak-minded
proportion. Their IQ is between (50-70) and they are 7 to10 years old. They
can rely on themselves to living well, through doing simple work that suit
their situation and circumstances, they have a kind of social harmony and
compatibility that are relatively reasonable, and has some shortcomings
physical and physiological minor, and this kind of category may learn how
to write and read but they cannot make a significant achievement in regular
classes, but they need special schools. Also, they need big effort than
other children.
According to the educational classification, there are three main
categories that depend on the capacity of learning, who are educable ones,
trainable, and custodial. I will come up with details: Educable ones who
have the ability to get benefits from educational programs but in a slowly
way. So they need a specific programs that work to make a noticeable change
on the Social behavior to be acceptable when they interact with others.
This category can depend on themselves, they can buy or sell things. They
have some skills for learning and their intelligence is between 50-70.
Trainable individuals, who their intelligence is between 25-49, need a full
a care, and the learn more slowly, they can not live without support from
others. The last category is custodial ones, these individuals need
continuously care throughout their lives. Their intelligence is less than
25.
Disabled individuals have many characteristics which differ from one to
another according to the level of disability and other effects as cognitive
and mental characteristics: disabled persons characterized by general
academic retardation, as deficient in memorization, the way of thinking,
understanding.
Physical and sensory characteristics: disabled persons characterized by
their weight is less and their size is smaller than ordinary children, and
they are more vulnerable to get a disease, sensory and optical deficits,
deficits in speaking.
To prevent the intellectual disability we should take important
considerations into account as asking doctors and make tests know if there
are a genetics problem before married, this step may reduce the dangerous
of incidence intellectual disability, also check up and make ultrasound to
fetus may help the doctors to know if there are any problems. Providing a
good nourishment especially for poor people is essential to avoid
intellectual disability. In addition, there is another important factor
which is toxic, exposure to lead or mercury is very risky. Everyone should
know the bad effects of these toxins. And all pregnant women should stop
drinking alcohol and taking the drugs for their babies safety. Lastly,
vaccination against the diseases are paramount as rubella syndrome.
The treatment for babies and kids, when parents or any member of the family
notice the baby has difficulties in crawling or walking or he or she has
delay in speech, in that case they should interfere as soon as possible to
help them, by following specific programs as IFSP ( Individualized Family
Service Plan) which gives instructions of the child's demands, and to help
them to grow normally . Early curing may consist of speech or physical
therapy. Whereas, children in the school age need individualized programs
that fit their needs because they need more help and support than other
children. Such these programs have a positive side in teaching and learning
process. They help them tremendously.
What are the learning strategies for individuals with an intellectual
disability? What are the main problems that the teachers may encounter when
teach them and how do they cope with the difficulties? There are many steps
that should teachers follow when they teach children with intellectual
disability.
No one can deny the vital role of the teachers in helping disabled students
to learn, they should read more about their needs, and also they most try
to understand them and their abilities and use the appropriate education
plan for teaching them as typical students. There are many strategies that
could encourage disabled students to learn and help them to improve and
understand easily by using a real materials to clarify any concept, For
example; bring a blue ball to teach them the color and to show them the
form of the ball, so the teacher here supports the students' learning. The
other strategy is trying to be close to disabled students, playing or
drawing with them, they will feel more relax and confidant, and while
playing, for instance, try to teach them some expressions or sentences , as
it is your turn or can you can I draw a tree? and so on. Dividing the
tasks into chunks is a very helpful approach, it make the task easier to
understand, and teachers should explicit the lessons and avoid complicated
texts.
Chaining is also a useful method for learning students with intellectual
disability, by divided the task into small phases, and teach them in a
consequential way ( Dominica,S.2012). There are two kinds of chaining,
forward and backward chaining. Forward chaining when teach students
starting with the beginning and end with the final step. For instance, when
a child learn how to brush his teeth, the first step is pick up the brush,
then put on some toothpaste ,after that brush the teeth in smooth way, then
rinse his mouth by using water. For backward chinning, starting with the
last step and go back to the fist one. For example, when a kid learn to how
get dressed and go to school, first; teach he to put on shirt, put on
trousers, put on shoes, put on socks, put on underwear. By using this
approach, we can minimize the frustration and avoid making mistakes, it is
also helping to motivate learners and improve their performance.
Let's throw light on the importance of a group learning, kids will be more
motivated if they play and learn with other children, they also do better
in a group, they will learn different skills. In contrary, the teacher
needs someone else to be with him when they teach students in a group.
We cannot deny that positive reinforcement is an effective strategy in
teaching process. The performance of disabled students will get better and
better during time by giving them gifts or rewards. Besides that it gives
students an opportunity to explore more and in the same time we help them
to reduce the anxiety.
From the above-mentioned points, we realize that these strategies are
helpful for the students with intellectual disabilities to overcome all the
difficulties that they face. In addition, using such these approaches to
support students are appropriate to reach the goal which is helping them to
live independent and act as a typical individual.
In conclusion, we should work seriously and support disabled people, we
should show some respect and kindness towards them, all of us should try to
involve them in the society as any typical person, and avoiding to make
them feel that they are an independent and integrate them in public schools
by providing an educational environment that has a basic requirements
needed for people with disabilities because they are an important segment
of society who has the right in education and to contribute to developing
the society. Moreover, educational integration has a huge role to stimulate
disabled students to learn, and afford them the opportunity to achieve
better. Besides, this process will enhance positively the ability of the
rest of the student to face any challenging in their life.






References

American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
(AAIDD).(2008). Intellectual
Disabilities. Retrieved from.
http://aaidd.org/intellectual-
disability/definition#.VVzb5_lVikp
Balter, M.(2011). What does IQ really measure?. Retrieved from.

http://news.sciencemag.org/2011/04/what-does-iq-really-measure
Dominica,S. (2012). Teaching Students with Intellectual Disabilities.
Retrieved from.
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/special-ed-neurological-disorders/79002-
tips-for-teaching-students-with-an-intellectual-disability/
Katz,G.& Lazcano & Ponce,E.( 2008). Intellectual disability:
definition,etiological factors, classification,
diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. Salud pública de méxico50(2), 133.
Young,E. (2013). Intelligence Testing: Accurate or Extremely Biased?.
Retrieved from
http://www.theneuroethicsblog.com/2013/09/intelligence-testing-accurate-
or.html