Intellectual Disability: Overview, Symptoms, and Treatment

Intellectual Disability
Author’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Course Code and Name
Professor’s Name
Date
Intellectual Disability
Introduction
Intellectual disability (ID) disorder entails specific limitations that children or adults can have that affect their cognitive skills and functioning, such as self-care, socialization, independent living, and communication aspects. In most cases, it occurs when a child is below 18 years old, including during the gestation period (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). The cognitive limitations make children with ID learn and develop more slowly than their typical healthy young individuals. When a person has an intelligence quotient (IQ) of below 70, one is considered to have ID. ID causes peoples’ limitations in adaptive behaviors and intellectual functioning. The paper focuses on a detailed overview of ID, its symptoms, treatment, and impacts on mental and behavioral processes.
A Detailed Overview of ID
ID is characterized by the impairment of adaptive or intellectual functioning. In particular, intellectual functioning enables people to make decisions, reason, learn new things, and solve problems. Adaptive behaviors are the skills relevant to an individual’s daily life, such as interacting with others, communicating effectively, and taking care of oneself (Lee, Cascella, & Marwaha, 2019). Adults or children diagnosed with ID encounter numerous challenges in learning and they usually take longer to develop appropriate practical and social skills. Children with this disorder might take an extended period to learn how to eat, walk, dress, and speak. ID can be caused by genetic conditions, health complications, issues during pregnancy, birth defects, and environmental factors. However, for many individuals with ID, the causes are unknown. The common types of ID are Down syndrome, autism, Prader-Willi syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome, and fragile X Syndrome among others (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Notably, ID can occur when children are above 18 years old since it can be caused by stroke, infections, and head injury.
Symptoms of ID Disorder
Signs of ID can be seen immediately after birth. Specifically, children with ID might have abnormalities noticeable after birth or shortly afterward. These abnormalities can be neurological or physical. For instance, some babies with ID have unusual facial characteristics, a too-small or large head, or feet and hands malformations. In other instances, children might appear normal but depict signs of illnesses, such as lethargy, seizures, vomiting, and abnormal urine odor (Sulkes, 2022). The common symptoms of children or adults with ID include problems in crawling, walking, sitting, or speaking, difficulty remembering things, challenges understanding social rules, difficulty planning, and issues when interacting with others. They also have challenges in solving problems, logical thinking, and cannot relate their actions with consequences. As such, people with ID have behavioral problems that might lead to explosive outbursts, physical aggression, temper tantrums, and self-injurious behaviors.
Treatment or Therapy
The most significant challenge of ID is that...