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Intellectual Disorders: Understanding Individuals With Disabilities

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Understanding Individuals with Disabilities Since the 1770s, researchers have struggled to understand what makes individuals with disabilities act and think the way they do as well as the underlying causes of various disabilities. While much about the many disabilities remains a mystery, we’ve uncovered a great deal over the last two and a half centuries. Because of advances in both medical technologies as well as the human understanding of the mind and body, disabled children have many more treatments and options available with new ones being discovered each day.
Intellectual Disabilities
Definition & Characteristics Intellectual disability, less commonly referred to as mental retardation, is defined as “significantly sub-average intellectual functioning” (Heward, 2012). In order for an individual to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability, they must meet the following …show more content…

Individuals of average intelligence score a mean of 100 on tests such as the Stanford Benet Intelligence scale and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children. For an individual to be diagnosed with an intellectual disability, they must score at least two standard deviations below the mean, resulting in a score of 70-75. Adaptive behavior, another consideration for identification of intellectual disabilities, is defined as the “ability to change, adjust, or modify behavior based on environmental conditions” as well as the ability to “accomplish tasks and meet goals efficiently and effectively” (Heward, 2012). Individuals with intellectual disabilities show substantial limitations in this area. Evaluations are based on age, social and culture norms, determined by the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) Adaptive Behavior Scale or the Vineland Social Maturity

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