Characteristic

Mentally retarded or also known as intellectual disability, is a condition in which children have intellectual abilities below average. This can happen to anyone, including children. In fact, for most children it is not known what causes it. The following is an explanation of mental retardation that parents need to know.

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What is the condition of mental retardation in children?

If you are unfamiliar with this term, mental retardation comes from the word intellectual disability .

This condition is no longer interpreted as mental retardation. Therefore, it is now referred to as intellectual disability.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, expressions of mental retardation are considered inappropriate, offensive, and do not represent the meaning of mental retardation.

Quoted from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, mental retardation is a term used when a child has intellectual or adaptive limitations.

Therefore, this can affect the development of children and their daily life.

Children who experience hearing loss generally have difficulty functioning intellectually. For example, it is difficult to communicate, study, and solve problems.

Whereas in the adaptive function, children have difficulty carrying out daily activities. Good in communication so that it is difficult to do something independently.

This condition can be mild or more severe.

How common is this condition in children?

This condition is claimed to affect one percent of the population. Moreover, intellectual disabilities or mental retardation can occur at any time.

Can be started when the child is in the womb or before reaching the age of 18 years.

Not only that, most boys are diagnosed with mental retardation compared to girls.

Parents also need to know that children with mental retardation also have the possibility of experiencing autism.

However, the percentage of autism is still higher than intellectual disabilities.

What are the characteristics of children with mental retardation conditions?

This condition of children with special needs has several characteristics or signs that can be observed.

Common characteristics of children with intellectual disabilities or mental retardation are how they learn and develop more slowly than other children.

Children with intellectual disabilities usually have difficulty learning and doing daily activities.

Getting worse, the parents are expected to know the signs quickly.

Some of the characteristics that can be seen from children with mental disabilities include:

• Sit, crawl, or walk slower than other children his age
• Has difficulty speaking
• Has difficulty understanding social rules
• Has difficulty controlling his attitude or movements
• It's hard to solve the problem
• It's hard to think logically

For example, a 10 year old child with an intellectual disability is usually unable to speak or write.

In fact, at that age the child should be able to write and speak fluently.

Children with this condition are generally also slower to learn other skills.

Like it is difficult to dress yourself or do not understand how best to react when interacting with other people.

Although it is often characterized by conditions of slow learning development, it does not mean that children with intellectual disabilities cannot learn.

The characteristics of children with mental retardation are that they can still learn, but at different speeds and in different ways.

Some people with autism, down syndrome, or celebral palsy there are also many who perform like other children.

What are the causes of mental retardation in children?

This intellectual disability or mental retardation is generally caused by an injury, illness, or other problem in the child's brain.

Even so, most children with this condition also don't know what causes it.

Here are some of the most common causes of mental retardation in children, such as:

1. Head injury

Serious head injury to a baby or child can cause intellectual disability. This causes the brain to not develop normally.

This condition can occur in the womb, during birth, or even after the baby is born. Some of the damage is temporary, but it can also be permanent.

That is why it is very important to wear a helmet, seat belt, and take care of other parts of the child to avoid head injuries.

2. Genetic conditions

Sometimes, intellectual disabilities can be caused by an abnormal gene passed down by a parent or an error occurs when genes are joined.

So, the baby may receive abnormal genes or the genes may change as the baby develops in the womb.

Some of the genetic conditions that you may experience are:

Down Syndrome

Fragile X syndrome

Phenylketonuria

3. Complications during pregnancy and childbirth

Impairment can also occur in babies because the mother experiences complications during pregnancy. Therefore, there is no development in the baby while still in the body.

This can be caused when you consume alcohol or contract an infectious disease such as rubella during pregnancy.

Meanwhile, when you experience complications during childbirth, your child can experience mental retardation due to premature birth or not getting enough oxygen.

4. Illness or exposure to toxins

There are several diseases that can increase the chances of a child experiencing mental retardation. For example, whooping cough, measles, to meningitis.

This includes when a child is severely malnourished and does not receive proper care.

Another thing parents need to know is that mental retardation or intellectual disability is not a contagious disease. Therefore, children cannot be infected from other children.

Then, this condition is also not a type of mental illness such as depression in children.

If something seems odd, doctors and other medical personnel can provide recommendations to your family regarding the type of help your child needs.

How to diagnose mental retardation?

There are two ways that you can do to diagnose mental retardation conditions in children.

The doctor will later diagnose the intellectual disability problem in this child by measuring how far the person's ability to think and solve problems.

1. Intellectual intelligence (IQ) test

A child is said to have mental retardation if he has an IQ (Intelligence Quotient) which is very low.

That is why an IQ test is used as one way of diagnosing this disease.

This IQ test later aims to measure the learning ability and problem solving of a child. Generally, a normal IQ score is around 100.

Children with intellectual disabilities generally have a low IQ score, which is below 50 and the highest score is 75.

Usually, children cannot run intelligence tests (Intelligence Quotient Test or IQ test) until they are 4 to 6 years old.

Therefore, parents may have to wait until the child reaches that age before knowing for sure whether the child has mental retardation or not.

2. Adaptive test

After carrying out the IQ test, doctors and evaluators will also see how the child is developing and what the child can do according to their age.

There are three areas that will be assessed in the adaptive function of the child, such as:

• Conceptual (Language, reading, writing, counting, reasoning, knowledge, and memory)
• Social (Empathy, communication, the ability to follow rules, and make friends)
• Practical (job responsibilities, managing money, managing tasks, caring for things)

How to deal with mental retardation in children?

Quoted from Healthy Children, until now there is no medicine that can cure mental retardation or intellectual disabilities in children.

However, most children can get through it by continuing to train themselves as well as learning. Of course, this requires support from parents so that he can do many things.

Here are some tips that parents can do to deal with children with mental retardation:

• Learn all things about intellectual disabilities
• Communicate with other parents who are also experiencing it
• Be patient because children need more time to study
• Teach children about independence and responsibility

Special schools for children with intellectual disabilities

Children with this condition need help while in special schools. Some children with intellectual disabilities may need someone else to accompany them at school.

In addition, there are also schools or educational facilities for mentally retarded children that implement a learning process such as in a dormitory.

Parents can provide children with special education programs or get other services to help them learn and develop.

Children with intellectual disabilities need to learn how to live independently.

They need independence and life skills to take care of themselves as they get older, such as how to cook or take a public bus to go to work.

Some things that must be taught by children with mental retardation or intellectual disabilities are:

• Taking care of yourself, such as getting dressed, going to the bathroom, and eating by yourself
• Communicating and socializing, such as having conversations, using the telephone for emergency matters
• Go to school or work skills according to ability
• Learn to use money
• Knowing how to protect yourself when you are at home

Most children with this condition generally can learn a lot as a step to prepare themselves to live with other communities.

Not infrequently, many adults with intellectual disabilities now have jobs and live independently.