Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social, and practical adaptive skills. (Ormrod, 2011)

What causes Intellectual Disability?

Intellectual Disability can be caused by timing or type. "Timing refers to the time of onset of the disability and has implications for causes" (Ormrod, 2011). Such timing are prenatal, perinatal and postnatal. Prenatal refers to before birth, such as chromosomal disorders and disorders of brain formation. Perinatal refers to onset that occurs during birth such as premature or birth inquiries and finally postnatal onsets occur after birth, such as traumatic brain inquiry and infections. Research shows that 12% of all students with intellectual disabilities had a prenatal cause, 6% had a perinatal cause and 4% had a postnatal cause. For the remaining 78%, a cause could not be determined.

The other cause for intellectual disability deals with the type. There are four categories; biomedical causes, social factors, behavioral factors and educational factors. Biomedical causes deals with the biological process during development. One biological cause is chromosomal disorders which occur at or during conception. A chromosomal disorder is when a parent gives an extra chromosomes or all or part of a chromosome is missing genetic material. A normal union of sperm and egg has 23 chromosomes from each parent; these chromosomes provide our genetic make-up. There are two types of chromosomal disorders that may occur; Autosomal disorder and Heterosomal disorder. Autosomal chromosomes are all chromosomes except the X and Y chromosomes that determine gender (Ormrod, 2011) The most common of this type of disorder is Down Syndrome ( an extra 21st chromosome is present. Another chromosomal disorder is Fragile X syndrome. This is the result of an unstable region of genetic material (a gene called FMR1) on the long arm of the X chromosome.(Ormrod, 2011). This disorder is also the most common known cause of autism.

Social, behavioral and educational causes are grouped together because they often overlap, which makes it challenging to distinguish among them. "Poverty is an element in each causes, and poverty during childhood creates an even greater risk for higher incidence of intellectual disability, lower educational attainment, poorer physical and mental health, and increase mortality"(Ormrod, 2011).

What are the characteristics of Intellectual Disability?

Students with Intellectual Disabilities have difficulty with memory, generalization, motivation and adaptive behavior.
Individuals with intellectual disability have a memory impairment, especially short term memory. This difficulty presents challenges in recalling information shortly after that information is given. In school following directions can be critical to understanding a completing a task, these students may forget the directions before they even start the task, making success that more difficult. The possible to improve does exist as evidence shows that memory strategies have helped to improve recollection.

Students also have difficulty in "transferring knowledge or behavior learned for doing one task to another task and to make that transfer across different settings or environments; a process known as Generalization. The difficulty lies in being able to take what they've learned in the classroom and apply it at home or in the community. One reason is that outside of the classroom there are a lot more distractions and things may present itself in a different order than in the classroom.

Students with intellectual disabilities are often more extrinsically motivated. They tend to wait for others to guide them in fear of their own failure. They tend to be less hopeful about their futures. Their low motivation leads them to use what is called, outer-directedness, which is distrusting their own solutions and depending on others to guide them. This also means that they are more vulnerable to the control of others. (Ormrod, 2011)

Lastly, students with Intellectual Disabilities have difficulties with adaptive behavior." Adaptive behavior refers to the collection of conceptual, social and practical skills that have been learned by people in order to function in their everyday lives" (Ormrod, 2011).

 

Inclusion Ideas

During 2003-2004, students with Intellectual Disability are more than twice more likely to spend the majority of their school time outside the general education classroom than are all other students with disabilities combined. However progress are being made and more and more students with intellectual disability are spending more and more time in the general educational classroom Ways to include students with intellectual disabilities include teaching self-regulating behaviors, include social skills into the transition instructions, create and incorporate more community based instruction and encourage motivational strategies.

Other instructional strategies include Prelinguistic milieu teaching that teaches children with intellectual disability who do not speak to make frequent, clear requests or comments with gestures or sounds while looking at the person with whom they are communicating. This teaching strategy follow the student's lead (follow what they are interested in), then encourage comments or gestures by strategic playing items that require communication for the student to get it and finally strategically play games with the student. Use games as a way to communicate to the student whether by interrupting, or changing something in the game.

Self Determined Learning Model of Instruction is another strategy that teachers can use to include students with intellectual disability. This builds on the principles of self determination and promotes middle school students' progress in achieving the goals as well. This model has 3 phases; in each phase the teacher gives the student a problem that they must solve. Phase 1 as the student, what is my goal?; phase 2 ask what is my plan and phase 3 ask what have I learned? When teachers connect these phases to instructional goals they are helping students to understand and use the problem-solving process.

Community-based instruction is another great way to include students. Since students with intellectual disability have difficulties generalizing, it is only fair that we teach them where they will be using  the information –in the community.

Local and Noation Support/Information
 

K-State Disability Services
https://www.k-state.edu/dss/
Disability Support Services
202 Holton
Hall
Kansas State University
Manhattan, KS 66506
785-532-6441
785-532-6457 fax
785-370-0431 video phone
dss@k-state.edu


Project Genesis
https://www.projectgenesis.us/
Serving Connecticut Residents
Contact Information
Project Genesis, Inc.
720 Main Street,
3rd Floor
P.O. Box 799
Willimantic, CT 06226-0799
General Agency Contact:General Information: (860)456-1698 ~ Toll Free:
(888)456-1698 ~ Fax: (860)456-7417
info@projectgenesis.us
ABI Program:Kathy Rathan, Assistant Director, (860)456-1698 ext. 20 ~
Toll Free: (888)456-1698 ~ Fax: (860)456-7417
k.rathan@projectgenesis.us
SESS Program: Steve Montgomery, Assistant Director, (860)456-1698 ext.
12 ~ Toll Free: (888)456-1698 ~ Fax: (860)456-7417
s.montgomery@projectgenesis.us
BRS Program:Bob Trostler, Job Developer,(860)885-0570 ~ Toll
Free:(877)885-0570 ~ Fax: (860)887-7139
b.trostler@projectgenesis.us
For non-Connecticut Residents, please use the following links for resources
in your state:
https://askjan.org/pubsandres/res.htm
Brain Injury Associations: https://www.biausa.org/state-affiliates.htm