Developmental, Intellectual,
and Learning Disabilities
Definition of a Intellectual Disability
An intellectual disability is characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.
How to determine a intellectual disability?
An IQ test of 70-75 can indicate an intellectual disability. Other additional considerations may be community environment, linguistic diversity, and cultural differences in the way people move and behave.
Significant limitations
Significant limitations in intellectual functioning simply means intelligence or mental capacity for things like problem solving and the ability to reason and understand.
Significant limitations in adaptive behavior includes conceptual, practical, and social skills that have been learned in order to function in society.
Learning disabilities
A learning disability is a neurological condition that interferes with an individual’s ability to store, process, or produce information. Learning disabilities can affect one’s ability to read, write, speak, spell, compute math, reason, and also affect an individual’s attention, memory, coordination, social skills, and emotional maturity.
Specific Learning Disabilities
Related disorders are ADHD, dyspraxia, memory, and executive functioning.
Facts About Learning Disabilities
* Learning disabilities often go undetected because they can't be seen and the characteristics vary so much
* Learning disabilities should not be confused with other types of disabilities, such as intellectual disabilities, autism, deafness, blindness, and behavioral disorders.
Getting Help for Learning Disabilities
What is a Developmental Disability?
What is Autism?
Three Teaching Strategies
2. Provide a visual schedule of daily activities in the classroom to provide clear structure. Routine and structure are important for all children, but for those with disabilities, it is vital and provides a sense of safety.
3. Be repetitive. For example in learning sight/vocabulary words, spell the word, make the correct letter sounds, spell the word again as you write it out, say it again, hide the word and try to spell it without looking. The repetition will help the information sink in and make it easier to recall later.