Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Categories: Mental Illness

Wisdom is the product of brain. Man has relied wisdom and development of language to achieve his current state of dominance in the world. Intelligence is clearly a salient feature in permitting the species to adapt to a wide range of differing environments. The people of restricted intelligence are at a disadvantage in solving problems and coping with new complex situations

The term intellectual disability is increasingly being used instead of mental retardation. Intellectual disability or mental retardation is defined as a condition of arrested or incomplete development of the mind, which is especially characterized by impairment of skills manifested during the development period, which contribute to the overall level of intelligence, i.e., cognitive, language, motor and social abilities (World Health Organization, WHO, 1992). 

The American association on intellectual and developmental disabilities describe intellectual disability as characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior as expressed in conceptual, social and practical adaptive skills.

The disability originates before the age 18. There is general agreement that a person with intellectual disability must have significantly sub-average intellectual functioning, it is divided into four degrees of severity, mild, moderate, severe and profound.

Intellectual disability or developmental disability first appears in children from birth to 18 years.

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Currently it is also been defined as an intellectual functioning level as measured by standard tests, that is well below average and with significant limitations in daily living life. Individuals with intellectual disability are trainable and educable. Severe to profound levels of disability need regular custodial services due to their very limited learning capacity.

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Often intellectual disability is associated with other kind of disabilities such as cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, visual impairment and so on. 

Families, especially in rural areas of backward states, don’t have a proper understanding of such disabilities so they are unable to offer appropriate support to their children and also those parents who live in cities especially due to lack of knowledge cannot be able to give proper care. Parents always play vital role in their children’s life and when it is about a disabled child, it is necessary for them to have adequate knowledge about the type of disability, which their child is suffering from, to make it happen a study to assess the effectiveness of information booklet on knowledge and attitude regarding intellectual disability among parents is done.

As per census 2011, in India, out of 121 Cr population, about 2.68 Cr persons are disabled which is which is 2.21% of the total population. It is also estimated that the number of person with intellectual disability is 1, 505,624. It means in every one lakh persons in our total population, 124 persons are having intellectual disability. In Chhattisgarh 33,171 persons are affected with intellectual disability, among them 17,562 are males and 15,609 are females. In an era where ‘inclusive development’ is being emphasized as the right path towards sustainable development, focused initiatives for the welfare of disabled persons are essential. This emphasizes the need for strengthening disability statistics in the country.

The national policy for person with disability (2006) recognizes that persons with disability are valuable human resource for the country and seeks to create an environment that provides equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in the society. To facilitate the national objective, there is a need for collection, compilation and analysis of data on disability.

A study of Sunil Kumar Raina at annals of Indian academy of neurology at west of Jammu city reveals a total of 61(0.79%) of the 7,707 children surveyed had positive screening results on the ten questions instrument. 56 (0.72%) children were diagnosed as suffering from mental retardation. Serious mental retardation was diagnosed in 48 children and mild mental retardation was diagnosed in 8 children. The combined prevalence estimates of mild and serious mental retardation were 7.2/1000.

Intellectual disability is the most common developmental disability-nearly 6.5 million people in the United States have some level of ID (more than 545,000 are ages 6-21). In India, overall prevalence of ID is 10.5/1000. Urban population has slightly higher rate (11/1000) than rural (10.08/1000). Children with intellectual disabilities have significant difficulties in both intellectual functioning (e.g. communicating, learning, problem solving) and adaptive behavior (e.g. everyday social skills, routine and hygiene). It can be mild or more severe. Children with severe forms typically require more support-particularly in school. Children with milder IDs can gain some independent skills, especially in communities with good teaching and support. With the passage of Rosa’s law in 2010, many states replaced all terminology from “mental retardation” to intellectual disability.(American academy of pediatrics).

A descriptive study conducted by Jubina Bency in the year 2016, by the department of community medicine, Jubilee mission Medical College and Research Institute, Thrissur, Kerala India which aims to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice on child-rearing among parents having children with intellectual disabilities. The participants were either of the parents of children aged 5-15 years. Data collection was done using KAP questionnaire and scoring system done by Ad Hoc classification, it was found that knowledge level of parents of children with intellectual disability on child rearing was moderate to high, attitude and practice was found to be unsatisfactory.

A study conducted by Dr. Sribas in the year 2013on parental attitude of mentally retarded children, which aims to find out parental attitude of mentally retarded children in Kolkata. The study reveals that 27 out of 30 parents have shown their favorable parental attitude which is above 50% of the total. Rest 3 have shown unfavorable parental attitude, which is below 50% of the total. But those who are even above 50% don’t have 100% positive attitude. As the problem is not biological, the social workers should play a significant role in solving this social problem.

A descriptive study conducted by Vijay Rani in July 2016 on knowledge of family care-givers on care of mentally challenged children at selected Nachiketa manovikasa Kendra special school, Bangalore, which aims to assess the level of knowledge among family care-givers with the help of knowledge questionnaire and also with the association of socio-demographic variable

A study conducted by ram Lakhan in the year 2010 in Barwani, India on intellectual disability, the purpose of this study is to assess knowledge, attitude and practices survey of families toward their children with intellectual disability among families with such children. A total of 41 parents (tribal-28 and non- tribal-13) from 43 villages covering 55,366 populations of two blocks of barware district were interviewed in their own languages in order to understand their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards their children. 

A questionnaire with 15 items comprising of major rehabilitation components was used for the study. Data were analyzed and the results are discussed based on responses of tribal versus non-tribal and male versus female. The study reveals that there is huge lack of awareness in the community at large regarding intellectual disability. Lack of proper practices and attitudes towards disabled children are also result of poor awareness and knowledge about the disability.

Hence by reviewing many researches on the knowledge level and attitude regarding intellectual disability, which shows lack of awareness, poor knowledge and attitude among parents and caregivers, it is very important to make attempts to build awareness on various aspects of intellectual disability ranging from handling at home, education and rehabilitation at large

Intellectually disabled children are stress factor for their parents; it often requires a reorientation and revaluation of family goals, responsibility and relationship. Parents play a very important role in caring for their disabled child because their child needs lifelong adjustment, children spend more time with their parents, so parents should have knowledge about intellectual disability, with efficient knowledge, parents with understanding and accept the child’s problem and makes plan according to child’s capacity. It is very important for parents to understand their child’s actual problem of their intellectually disabled child, and also should maintain emotional stability, should avoid the attitude like rejection or over protection. They shouldn’t feel guilt, depressed.

Every parent wants their child to be physically and developmentally perfect. Often some children have a temporary or permanent physical or mental disability. The birth of a child with disability or the discovery that a child has a disability can have profound effects on family. But “Every child is special”. The same holds true for disabled child also. Parents are prime educators until the child an early year setting of the school and beyond. The school teachers and parents both have crucial role to play in case of mentally challenged children 

Works cited

  1. American Academy of Pediatrics. (n.d.). Intellectual disability. Healthy Children. https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/developmental-disabilities/Pages/Intellectual-Disability.aspx
  2. Bency, J., Anitha, A., & Susan, J. (2016). Knowledge, attitude and practice of parents towards child rearing practices among children with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine and Healthcare, 3(7), 269-273. https://doi.org/10.18410/jebmh/2016/54
  3. Raina, S. K., Razdan, S., Nanda, R., & Kaul, R. L. (2013). Prevalence of mental retardation in children using a screening questionnaire. Annals of Indian Academy of Neurology, 16(3), 382-386. https://doi.org/10.4103/0972-2327.112475
  4. Sribas, T. C., Mukherjee, T. K., & Chakrabarti, P. (2013). Parental attitude of mentally retarded children in Kolkata. Journal of Psychiatry, 16(1), 4-8. https://doi.org/10.4172/1994-8220.S12-005
  5. World Health Organization. (1992). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: Clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. https://www.who.int/classifications/icd/en/bluebook.pdf
  6. Government of India. (2011). Census of India 2011: Data on Disability. Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner. https://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/censusdata2011/specialreports/disabled_splreport.html
Updated: Feb 24, 2024
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Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. (2024, Feb 24). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/association-on-intellectual-and-developmental-disabilities-essay

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