CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION
Mental retardation refers to the number of heterogeneous conditions with varying degrees and for various reasons disrupts the vital activity of a person of his age group due to a defect in cognitive abilities.
People with mental retardation in their intellectual development are below the generally accepted norm.
CAUSES OF MENTAL RETARDATION
A person’s intelligence depends on his heredity and the environmental conditions in which he is located. Unfortunately, the exact mechanisms of the occurrence of such a phenomenon are not yet known to science. But, risk factors have been established that significantly increase the likelihood of mental fatigue:
Previous viral infections, poor nutrition, radiation therapy, alcohol and tobacco abuse, the use of certain medications during pregnancy.
Chromosomal abnormalities.
Hereditary diseases.
Premature birth and birth trauma.
Lack of oxygen in the fetus during childbirth.
SYMPTOMS OF MENTAL RETARDATION
Mental retardation.
Inadequacy and instability of emotions.
Underdevelopment of cognitive processes.
Uncriticism and concreteness of thinking.
Disturbances in perception and attention.
Systemic underdevelopment of speech.
Reduced intelligence.
DIAGNOSIS OF MENTAL RETARDATION
Since such a diagnosis will affect the rest of a person’s life, comprehensive and thorough research is required when installing it.
Suspicions of mental underdevelopment may appear by the third year of the child’s development, when he acquires speech and mental skills.
For mentally retarded children , it is characteristic:
Lateness of such skills as: holding the head, crawling, babbling, walking, pronouncing phrases and syllables.
The manifestation of impulsive extreme emotional reactions.
The predominance of concrete thinking over abstract thinking.
Diagnostic measures include:
Drawing up a pedigree.
Cytogenetic examination.
Measuring intelligence using standardized tests.
Psychometric testing.
During pregnancy, women over 35 years of age are prescribed ultrasound, chorionic villi analysis, measurement of alpha-fetoprotein levels in the blood.
TREATMENT OF MENTAL RETARDATION
The main direction of treatment of this disease is rehabilitation of children during the pedagogical process. To do this, parents need to arrange a child in an institution that teaches such special children according to a special program. At the same time, the contact between parents and children should be maintained. Children should grow up in circumstances where the training program meets their capabilities.
In the process of teaching children in such specialized institutions, their condition is monitored by child psychiatrists.
For children with a mild degree of mental retardation, a program is used with an emphasis on concrete and visual teaching methods. This allows them to adapt to their surroundings.
For children with moderate and severe mental retardation, a program for mechanical memorization of letters and ordinal counting is used. Since they do not have the opportunity to creatively apply their knowledge, they are taught the simplest work skills that they can use, but under control.
Children with a mild degree of mental retardation are characterized by almost complete underdevelopment of speech and thinking, therefore it is impossible to teach them, they require constant supervision and care.
Conservative treatment, which is prescribed for this disease, is aimed at removing psychotic and psychopathic symptoms.
