What is mental retardation?
Mental retardation is a condition marked with an intellectual and development delay. This means that a person works at an intellectual or developmental level that is considered lower than usual. A person with this condition often has difficulty learning and performing basic tasks associated with everyday life. However, the diagnosis of mental retardation does not mean that one cannot learn. Instead, this means that the person will probably need special help in learning and achieving developmental milestones.
The individual is usually diagnosed with mental retardation before he reaches 18 years. Family members often start to suspect an intellectual and developmental delay when a child reaches certain milestones more slower than a typical pace. For example, a child may be slower to develop motor skills than other children of his age. It may take longer than usual before it turns over or sits down. In some cases, the child can completely develop some motor skills.
In addition to the slow motorcycle motorbikeH skills, a child with mental retardation can be a slow development of language and everyday life skills. For example, it can be able to brush your own teeth or feed. It may also have difficulty talking, start talking much later than other children about their own age, or it seems unable to create recognizable words at all. It may also have difficulty adapting to change.
It may be difficult to determine what causes a person to have developmental and intellectual disabilities. Before the child is born, his mother can develop an infection that leads to retardation. Prescription drugs, illegal drugs and alcohol use during pregnancy can also lead to retardation. Sometimes genetic abnormality causes a condition.
problems that may lead to mental retardation after pregnancy are insufficient oxygen for the child during childbirth and the development of OS series during childhood. However, the cause is not always the caseá at the beginning of life. Serious head injury can lead to retardation at any age.
In the case of severe mental retardation, children can be diagnosed at a very low age because the symptoms are so obvious. However, when the child is only slightly retarded, his symptoms may not be diagnosed until he starts attending school or even later. If family and physicians have suspected mental retardation, the doctor usually uses developmental screening tests to diagnose. Unfortunately there is no medicine. Instead, treatment usually focuses on special education techniques designed to help the developed person to learn and develop.