Intellectual & Developmental Disabilities



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[pic] "Mental retardation is significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's educational performance" Friend, 2011, p. 236).

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Prenatal causes:

• Down Syndrome (aka - trisomy 21)

• Fragile X Syndrome (aka - Martin-Bell Syndrome)

• Prader-Willi syndrome

• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS)

• Phenylketonuria (PKU)

• Toxoplasmosis

Perinatal causes:

• Premature babies weighing less than 3.3 lbs

• Deprivation of oxygen

• Incorrect use of forceps or procedures followed during birth

Postnatal causes:

• Encephalitis

• Lead Poisoning

• Brain Injury

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The cognitive characteristics of students with intellectual disabilities have a significant impact on several dimensions of cognitive functioning including memory, generalization, metacognition, motivation, language, and academic skills.

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Some students with IDD have difficulties with their working memory, which is the ability to remember what needs to be done and how much time there is to do it. However technology, such as PDAs are helping to address this dilemma by helping students to overcome limitations in working memory.

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The ability to learn a task or idea and then apply it in other situations. Students with IDD struggle with generalization of academic tasks, of behavior expectations, and in social interactions.

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The ability to "think about thinking". Students with IDD are most successful when they are not expected to make judgments about what to do next.

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Some students struggle with motivation and learned helplessness. However for students with IDD learned helplessness may not be a result of frustration with the task at hand, but rather it develops because professionals and classmates, in attempts to be helpful; are too eager to offer assistance, which some students learn that if they wait long enough someone will help out. Professionals are working to teach students with IDD skills such as self-management so that they learn to begin and complete the school tasks.

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Students with IDD have delays in language development (up/down, over/under, etc). Students also struggle with words that are abstract in meaning and benefit when professionals can make those words more concrete.

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Students with IDD usually have to work harder and practice longer than other students in order to learn academic skills. If given the opportunity, students with IDD are able to learn more than anyone ever thought they could. Research shows that when students with mild IDD are educated in general education classrooms with peers, they often make more academic progress than similar students who are taught in special education classes.

Individuals are grouped based on the extent of their cognitive impairment:

Mild - IQ = 55-69

Moderate - IQ = 40-54

Severe - IQ = 25-39

Profound - IQ = below 25

• A student is identified as having mental retardation only if their IQ score places them at approximately 2 standard deviations or more below the average score of 100.

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The social, behavior and emotional characteristics of students with IDD can vary as much as those of students without disabilities.

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Many students with IDD have difficulties in social relationships. They tend to be less accepted by their peers and more likely rejected by them. Also, they may have only a few friends outside of school. Several reasons are offered for these difficulties in social relationships:

• First, many students with IDD have immature behaviors that make other students want to avoid them.

• Second, their ways of dealing with social situations may be inappropriate (ex: a student with an IDD may walk up to a group of students engaged in conversation and elbow their way in; those students then may form a negative perception of them).

• Finally, students with IDD may have difficulty picking up subtle social cues, and so they may misinterpret other students' actions.

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To be identified as having an IDD, a student must display deficits in adaptive behavior. Here is a list of some of the skills that are included in the area of adaptive behavior:

• Communication - the ability to exchange thoughts, messages, or information with other people through speaking, sign language, or other means.

• Self-care - the ability to tend to personal hygiene, eating, and other related tasks.

• Social skills - the ability to interact appropriately with others

• Home living - the ability to manage the day to day tasks of living in an apartment or house.

• Leisure - the ability to use free time productively.

• Health and safety - the ability to take precautions and act in ways that do not endanger oneself or others.

• Self-direction - the ability to make and implement decisions

• Functional academics - the reading, writing, math, and other skills needed for independence

• Community use - the ability to identify and access services and activities in the neighborhood or area.

• Work - the ability to obtain and keep employment.

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• Very young children - learning to crawl, then walk, then learning to speak.

• Elementary school - taking turns, following directions, and moving safely around the school and its grounds.

• Middle and High school - going to the mall, dining out with friends, changing classes at school, and preparing for employment.

(Students with mild IDD may experience delays in a few areas of adaptive behavior)

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Some types of IDD are related to specific behaviors. Prader-Willi syndrome, with its compulsive eating, is one example. Many students with IDD do not display extraordinary behaviors. Rather they need rewards and consequences much like those needed by other students, perhaps with a greater emphasis on the use of tangible rewards (ex: stickers, small prizes) used in a very systematic way. A few students may have self-injurious behaviors such as pulling their hair out or biting others.

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A relatively new topic being explored in relation to school-age students with IDD is these students mental health. Researchers have found that students with IDD experience more loneliness than do students without disabilities, and these feelings may persist into adulthood. Clearly, valuing individuals with IDD includes understanding that they experience the same emotions as others and that they have mental health needs.

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Most students with mild IDD do not have any extraordinary medical conditions. However, some researchers have found them to be more likely than other students to be obese and not physically fit. As a student's cognitive impairments become more pronounced, the likelihood of having serious physical problems and medical conditions needing intervention increases.

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Knowing about a students' health and medical needs is important for several reasons:

• First - if a student's medical condition is fragile or changing, educators need to know whether an emergency might occur and how to respond.

• Second - if a student should be wearing glasses or using a hearing aid or another medical device, educators need to be prepared to monitor this.

• Finally - some students may miss significant amounts of school because of surgery or illness; in these cases, professionals are responsible for working with parents to minimize the impact on student learning.

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The instructional process for ensuring systematic learning by breaking lengthy or complex tasks into distinct small steps and teaching those steps to students, separately at first and gradually in combination (ex: classroom rules, using musical instruments). Once task analysis has been completed, students with IDD may need to practice the component steps for a task more than other students. For academic work, a computer with drill-and-practice software (ex: for math facts or for consonant sounds) will make the amount of practice available almost limitless. For activities such as following classroom routines or moving around the school, parents or family members, peers, paraprofessionals, or volunteers might be able to assist.

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Peers teaching peers. Using this type of teaching strategy involves cooperative-learning strategies that bring together student groups of three, four, or even more students. Another peer-mediated instructional approach is peer tutoring, which is especially effective for students with IDD. Peer tutoring is an approach to instruction in which students are partnered, provided with instructional materials that they are to learn, and expected to help each other in accomplishing the learning goal.

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• One approach pairs older students who are struggling to learn with younger students.

• Another approach partners high-achieving students with struggling learners in their classrooms.

• More recently, classwide peer tutoring (CWPT) has been introduced, which assumes that peer tutoring should be reciprocal - that all participating students should have opportunities to be both the teacher and the learner.

For students with IDD, a growing body of research is demonstrating that they can successfully participate in these programs and that their learning is enhanced. Further, students without disabilities develop more positive views of their peers with special needs when peer tutoring is carefully implemented.

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Friend, M. (2011). Special education: contemporary perspectives for school Professionals (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

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Intellectual Disability. (2010). In M. H. Ferrara (Ed.), Human Diseases and Conditions (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 921-929). Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons.

This resource as covers all areas of IDD. It starts off with what IDD is, and a did you know section with a few facts about it, what causes IDD, the group IDEA, how some definitions changed over the years, diagnosing IDD, Special Olympics and Best Buddies programs, can IDD be prevented and living with IDD. I would most definitely return to this resource as it offers additional websites and books as well, it is very informative.

Encephalitis. (2010). In M. H. Ferrara (Ed.), Human Diseases and Conditions (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 587-592). Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons.

This resource has amazing details about encephalitis and what causes it and how to treat it, what happens to people who get it, how long it can last, what the different types are and where they are normally found, regional forms and how to prevent it. Detailed information specifically on this disease, very informative and useful as well, if you want to learn more.

Shah, N. (2011). After Special Education, Students Turn to College. Education Week, 31(14), 1,.

This journal article was amazing, I discovered so much more about what individuals with IDD can accomplish after high school and how many more options there are out there for them to succeed in this world today. It is a very encouraging article as it looks at the positive side of individuals with disabilities as being capable and helpful in the work force getting competitive pay, while living and managing their lives independently.

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