Mental retardation is a violation of general mental and intellectual development, characterized by qualitative changes in the psyche, intellect , will, behavior and physical development.
Forms and degrees of mental retardation
To date, there are 4 degrees of severity of mental retardation:
- easy - debility;
- moderate - imbecility;
- severe - severe mental subnormality;
- deep - idiocy.
Of course, every degree of mental retardation has its own characteristic. An easy degree is the most frequent, it allows patients to learn reading, writing and counting rules. Teaching of children and adolescents occurs in specialized schools, but with mild mental retardation, it is not possible to obtain a complete secondary education. People with debility can master a simple profession and manage their household.
People with mental retardation of a moderate degree are able to understand others, to speak in short sentences, although the speech is not entirely connected. Their thinking is primitive, memory and will are underdeveloped. Nevertheless, those suffering with imbecile can master elementary skills of work, reading, writing and counting.
As for people with the most severe degrees of mental retardation, they are deprived of the opportunity to walk, the structure of internal organs is disturbed. Idiots are not capable of meaningful activity, their speech does not develop, they do not distinguish relatives from outsiders. As a rule, with the help of syndromes that accompany the disease, there is a division of mental retardation into clinical forms. The most frequent form is Down's syndrome, Alzheimer's, as well as pathologies caused by infantile cerebral palsy. Less common are forms of mental retardation, such as hydrocephalus, cretinism, Tay-Sachs disease.