Mental retardation: how to recognize and what to do

Surely, you have heard about the concept of "mental retardation" more than once. This is often talked about in the media. At the same time, for the sake of entertainment, the true facts are distorted. As a result, people have misconceptions about mentally retarded people.

Signs of mental retardation

This ailment lies in the fact that a person has decreased indicators of intellectual development to one degree or another. Signs of such a condition usually appear in early childhood, but in some cases, mental retardation proceeds covertly until the baby goes to school or kindergarten.

The most common symptoms are:

• Too late onset of sitting, crawling, or walking.
• The child pronounces the first words too late and he has problems with speech.
• The kid hardly and very late begins to master the skills of self-service.
• He has constant difficulty remembering.
• The child cannot install brain teaser causal relationships.
• The baby may have sudden tantrums.
• The child cannot think logically.

With a severe form of mental retardation, health problems are also connected to these signs. The child may have seizures, problems with coordination and motor activity in general, mental disorders.

Degrees of mental retardation

The ailment of mental retardation, like many other diseases, has several degrees of severity. In each case, the degree of the disease is assessed by the level of intellectual development or IQ. IQ of 100 is considered the norm. With an IQ of less than 70 points, one can already talk about mental retardation.

The mild stage of the disease is characterized by an IQ level of 50-69 points and is called debility. Outwardly, a person with such a disease does not differ in any way from other healthy individuals. They usually suffer inability to concentrate... Therefore, they often have learning problems. But at the same time, these faces have a fairly good memory. Often they are unnerved by unfamiliar surroundings and they feel a strong dependence on loved ones. Usually, individuals with a mild stage of mental retardation feel difficulty in communicating or, on the contrary, attract attention to themselves by antisocial behavior. Such people are well aware of their illness, but carefully hide it from society.

The average degree of the disease is characterized by an IQ level of 20 to 49 points. This condition is called imbecility. Patients with this diagnosis can easily distinguish praise from punishment, can express their emotions and empathize with another person or animal. Such people can be taught to serve themselves, sometimes they even learn to count, write and to read... But they are not able to live separately from people close to them without outside help. They need care and constant monitoring.

With an intellectual level below 20 points, they put a severe degree of the disease, which is called idiocy. Patients in this state are incapable of any kind of learning, they cannot speak and are unable to control their movements. Their emotional range is extremely limited. Persons with this diagnosis require strict supervision, therefore they are kept exclusively in specialized institutions.

Causes of mental retardation

This serious ailment can develop for many reasons, some of them have not yet been fully examined and studied. In general, all reasons are divided into external and internal. Their action is manifested even in the womb or in the first months or years of life.

Among the main reasons leading to mental retardation are the following:

• Diseases that the mother suffered during pregnancy. Such dangerous conditions include poisoning with poisonous substances or drugs.
• Dangerous and difficult infections during pregnancy. These are diseases such as flu, rubella or scarlet fever.
• Severe metabolic disorders in a pregnant woman.
• Severe trauma suffered by a baby during pregnancy or during childbirth. This happens from squeezing the baby's head with obstetric forceps, too slow or, on the contrary, too fast delivery.
• Due to intrauterine infection of the child with parasites. Such reasons include toxoplasmosis.
• Heredity is of great importance. Most cases of intellectual disability have a genetic form. These are various chromosomal abnormalities - Down syndrome and others.
• In young children, inflammation of the meninges leads to mental retardation.
• Severe metabolic disorders.
• External factors include the environmental situation, bad habits of the mother, material living conditions.

Treatment of mental retardation

Such a serious illness as mental retardation simply cannot do without treatment. In this case, an important factor is the timely diagnosis of the disease and the early start of its treatment. In this case, we can talk about the development of the child's intellectual abilities. With a severe form of the disease, treatment is aimed at taking everything possible to adapt the patient to society and establish contact with him.

For treatment, medication therapy is used. The patient is given a special diet. In case of inappropriate or dangerous behavior, tranquilizers may be prescribed. To improve speech, it is imperative to conduct speech therapy classes. To establish contact with society, they conduct classes with a psychologist, teach a person some simple profession.

Remember that with early identification of the problem, mental retardation can be cured. This requires a lot of effort and patience. With the right behavior, you can bring your child back to normal life.