Mental Retardation

Major federal laws:

• IDEA - gives grants to the state, and organizations in order to support research for the disability, and grants to colleges or non-profit organizations also to support research, advances in technology or parent-training and information centers.


• NCLB - (No Child Left Behind Act) The act was created in order for states and school districts to be held more accountable in making sure that “all students reach certain proficiency standards in a specified amount of time.” If these standards are not met in time, students may switch to a higher performing schools or receive other services such as tutoring. This also points to the school’s curriculum, teacher qualify, and parental rights. Children with disabilities must be included in standardized testing, and this will determine whether the school meets the specified standard; “95% of students with disabilities must participate in the annual testing.”


• SECTION 504 - “This is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. It gives parents certain rights to review and request changes in their child's school records as well as requiring parental permission for the release of education records except under specified circumstances” (Special Education).


• ADA – “The landmark 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability by employers, public accommodations, state and local governments, public and private transportation, and in telecommunications” (Special Education).

Definition:

• Mental retardation, also known as Intellectual Disability is the disability a child has from birth or infancy, which causes dependency and limitations of engaging in normal activities on a daily basis.

Characteristcs:

• Inability to take care of themselves and to develop a social relationship.


• In a number of cases, children are not identified to have this disability until they start school. However, most students with mild mental retardation master academic skills up to about the sixth-grade level and are able to learn job skills well enough to support themselves independently or semi-independently” (Characteristics of MR).


• Significant delays in academic and social development.


• Individuals with moderate mental retardation tend to have better health and behavior problems than those with a mild case of mental retardation.


• If a child is identified at birth, it is more than likely that they have a severe case of mental retardation.


• Massive central nervous system damage, and may have other disabilities as well.


• “Difficulties accepting criticism, limited self-control, and bizarre and inappropriate behaviors such as aggression or self-injury” (Characteristics of MR).


• As W. L. Heward states, “The more severe the retardation, the higher the incidence of behavior problems” (Ch. of MR).
  

Review:

• Short-term memory, which causes these individuals to encounter more daily difficulties seeing as they need to be repeatedly reminded in order to develop a long-term memory on certain subjects.


• “The rate at which individuals with mental retardation acquire new knowledge and skills is well below that of typically developing children” (Ch. of MR).


• Compared to a typical developing child who needs to learn something 2-3 times, a child with mental retardation needs to be taught something about 20-30 times.


• It is said that teachers have assumed that just because the students is mentally disabled, their teaching instruction should be lowered to meet their mental level. This is indeed wrong. “Research has shown, however, that students with mental retardation benefit from opportunities to learn to ‘go fast’” (Ch. Of MR).


• Trouble staying on task and paying attention. These students become easily distracted, which creates more difficulty when learning new information in the classroom.


• These students also rely on others for help when they do not understand or know the answer; they expect the person to help them because they have low expectations for themselves.


• Teachers need to teach these students how to become “self-reliant problem solvers” (Ch. of MR) instead of waiting to be helped.
  

Summary:

• Teacher can become easily frustrated when dealing with a student who “stands too close, interrupts frequently, does not maintain eye contact, and strays from the conversational topic” (Ch. of MR).


• Students with mental retardation have below average scores and their IQ scores on a standardized test are usually below 70. This can be extremely discouraging for both the student and their teacher.


• One strategy for teachers is to think positive, and to spread that positiveness onto your students with a disability. There’s no sense in focusing on the negatives when you truly believe that you’re students can do much more than expected.
  

Descriptor:

• NICHCY – promotes to encourage and educate anyone dealing with or affected by a disability.


• The Arc – “devoted to promoting and improving supports and services for all people with intellectual and developmental disabilities” (The Arc).

*All quotes are used by the links at the right side of blog.