Intellectual Impairment By Emily

Definition - Significant limitation or impairment in the permanent capacity for performing cognitive tasks, functions, or problem solving, exhibited by more than one of the following:

• a slower rate of learning
• disorganized patterns of learning
• difficulty with adaptive behavior
• difficulty understanding abstract concepts.

(This was formally known as Mental Retardation and now currently known as Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities [IDD].)
IDD is seen to be caused mainly by three influences. The three influences are genetic factors, toxic agents, and infection. Students with the genetic factors are students with down syndrome, phenyeketonuria, and fragile X syndrome. Students with the influence of toxic agents usually have fetal alcohol syndrome and effects of lead. Last but not least, students that have been influenced by infections have rubella and encephalitis. Along with the influences there are many characteristics that separate a student with IDD from students who are seen as "normal".

Characteristics - There are three groups of characteristics that are used to determine students with IDD.

1. Ability to Process Information

• Students may have limited cognitive abilities
• Students may have problems with their central processing which includes the classification of a stimulus through the use of memory, reasoning and evaluation. (classification = organization of information in the student's memory.)
• Also their executive function which is the decision making function that controls attention, central processing and expression could lack power. A lack in the executive function is a key factor in poor performance of children with IDD.

2. Ability to Acquire and Use Language

• Due to the lack in cognitive abilities, many times language develops in the same way in the students just in a much slower rate.
• Also students with IDD who's language develops at a much slower rate have troubles communicating and speeching to others, which leads to the last group of characteristics.

3. Ability to Acquire Emotional and Social Skills

• Due to the lack of language development, students with IDD have troubles fitting in with other students. The IDD student's social skills suffer because the student is not fully fitting in with the other students.
• Since the student in not fitting in very well, their emotional skills begin to take over. The student with IDD begins to act out and cause trouble to get attention so it is harder for then to establish good social and emotional skills.
• Lower level of social acceptance in the classroom + Peer relationship problems = emotional, social and behavioral problems.

Difference from Others - Students with IDD develop at a slower rate that students who are considered "normal". Students with IDD have the inability to adapt academically and socially to the expected standards of his or her age group, which makes them the outcast of the classroom. The troubles with fitting and troubles having peer relationships makes them differ from others their age. IDD students rate of development with cognitive, social, behavioral, and emotional skills are much slower which is what makes them differ the most from other students.

Assistive Technologies & Education Plans - Instructional strategies for IDD is an Individualized Education programs or IEP. IEP is a plan "for child and family to increase the collaboration between professionals and parents and to ensure some thoughtful consideration about how children would be served within the special education program" (Kirk, Gallagher, Coleman, Anastasiow, 2009. p. 163). These plans are individualized based on the child's needs and what works best for the child. This plan is now focused on developmental and personal strengths for the most effective educational intervention. (Ex. If vocational skills lack, students can express thoughts through the arts like drawing or dancing.) Also IEPs reflect 3 areas of development: academics, social, and physical. Another instructional strategy would work around differentiated instructing which means teachers adjust the level of difficulty of a task to fit the developmental level of the child. Also scaffolding teaching helps students physically see the steps of a lesson so they can in return model it. Assistive technologies such as communication boards, adapted books, computers, and augmentative communications devices allow students to communicate and complete tasks with added help and modern understanding. Technologies open up a new world for students with IDD.

(example of a communication board)










(Example of an Adapted Book)

















Community Programs - Programs that help out the students and families adapt into the community and state organizations are the Special Olympics and Respite care. These allow the students to do normal activities like sports, and arts & crafts where the student participate in individual and team activities with winning and losing. This expands their physical ad social skills. Also respite care is a location where parents can drop off their child for a day or two when they feel they need a break. This allows the parents to release their stresses and know their child is being cared for correctly and are safe.


Kirk S. , Gallagher J.J. , Coleman M.R. , & Anastasiow N. (2009). Educating Exceptional Children (12th ed. , pp. 144-182). Boston, NY: Houghton Mifflin Company.