Children with Intellectual Disability - Literature review Example

Children with Intellectual Disability Name Course Name and Code Instructions Name Date Introduction Given the needed support and within a receptive environment, intellectually disabled children and young people can make their needs and wishes known (de la Rocha, 2011). It is therefore advisable to make an assumption that children and young people regardless of their impairment in communication and/or cognitive skills can still communicate something (Gogging & Newell, 2005). It is up to the family members, caregivers and the society to strive and understand their views of experiences (Bigby et al., 2007). However, this has never been the norm, despite of the rights stipulated and enshrined in the international laws, intellectually disabled persons continue to receive cold treatment and widely excluded from decision making even on matters that directly affect them. Across the globe, adults comprising of parents, service providers, policy makers, and caregivers maker decisions on behalf of intellectually disabled persons without their consent. Providing help to intellectually disabled individuals requires significant and extraordinary effort and patience to fully listen and establish their actual needs particularly those that are unable to speak or use words to articulate their problems (Bigby et al., 2007). In accordance with this observation, parents of a child suffering from intellectual disability have an obligation of helping this child to live a fulfilling life. In certain circumstances, parents feel helpless, devastated and frustrated not knowing how they can meet the daily demands of such children (de la Rocha, 2011). Parents sometimes wonder if their child will ever be able to live a normal life: develop normally, make friends and live on his/her own. Developed countries have systems in place that are aimed at helping people with intellectual disability to lead a fulfilling life. This paper seeks to discuss how Australian parents of a child with intellectual disability can help this child meet the challenges of the society. Intellectual Disability This a condition where one has a sub-average intellectual functioning that is exhibited at birth or early infancy resulting into inability to conduct a normal life (The Ark, 2011). This condition can either be genetic or because of poor brain development. Research has established many children with intellectual disability do not develop noticeable symptoms until the reach preschool age. A child’s life expectancy is based on the level of the physical and mental problems (Bigby et al., 2007). It is therefore significantly important that parents of children with mental disability to provide proper and extensive parental care to lower the magnitude of the disability (de la Rocha, 2011). Consequently, support from several specialists, special education, and therapists will help a child with intellectual disability achieve highest functional levels. There are several causes of intellectual disability. The most common ones include biomedical cause whereby a child inherits abnormal genes from parents, errors during gene combination process (fragile X syndrome, and Down syndrome), nutritional deficiencies, and metabolic conditions. Intellectual disability can also occur because of behavioural issues during pregnancy like smoking, alcoholism, and malnourishment (The Ark, 2011). Problems at birth can also culminate in the development of intellectual disabilities in a child; for instance, pre-mature delivery, when the babe does not get enough oxygen at birth, and when the baby is injured during birth (The Ark, 2011). Illnesses during childhood such as whooping cough, measles, and chickenpox. Head injuries, educational deficiencies and other social factors like child stimulation and adult responsiveness can cause intellectual disability in children (de la Rocha, 2011). The main symptoms of a person suffering from intellectual disability will appear before he/she is 18 years old and varies depending on the magnitude of the disease (The Ark, 2011). The following are symptoms exhibited by a child with intellectual disability: their learning and development processes are always slow as compared to other children in the same age bracket. They have difficulties in communicating or socializing with others, the exhibit IQ scores that are below average, have learning troubles at school, the have limited capacity in performing normal daily routines like dressing up and using the bathroom (Daily et al., 2009). They also display difficulty in walking, talking, hearing and seeing (de la Rocha, 2011). Furthermore, they are unable to think logically. Persons suffering from mental retardation have intellectual functioning that is below average e thus they cannot actively cope up with more than one activities of normal daily living. Their rate of acquiring adaptive skills is inhibited by this condition (Bigby et al., 2007). For instance, they are unable to communicate, take care of oneself, participate in recreational activities, social activities, school and work activities, and be aware of personal safety and health. Additionally, persons with intellectual disabilities have varying levels of impairment (Daily et al., 2009). The functioning levels are mainly based on developmental quotient (DQ) tests and the intelligent quotient test (IQ) tests or the magnitude of the level of support needed. Accordingly, the level of support provided is also categorized as intermittent, limited, extensive, and/or pervasive. In this regard, intermittent means occasional support is needed while pervasive means extensive support is needed for all activities and fulltime care is the only option (Daily et al., 2009). The table below shows different levels of Intellectual disability based on IQ Levels of Intellectual Disability Level IQ Range Ability at Preschool age Ability at School Age Ability at Adult age Mild 52-69 Slightly impaired motor coordination. Diagnosed at a later age Can develop social and communication skills Can learn appropriate skills Can learn approximately to 6th grade by late teens May need guidance and help during unusual social or economic stress. Can achieve social and vocational skills for self support Moderate 36-51 Social awareness is poor Fair motor coordination Can benefit from assistance in self help Can learn how to communicate or talk He/she can progress to elementary school Can learn to travel alone in familiar places Can acquire social and occupational skills Need supervision and guidance during times of mild social and economic stress. Can achieve self support through unskilled or semi-skilled work under sheltered conditions Severe 20-35 Can learn some self-help skills Limited speech skills Poor motor coordination Can utter some few words Can acquire simple health habits Can profit from habit training Can learn how to communicate and talk Can learn some self-protection skills in a controlled environment. Partially he/she can contribute to self-care under complete supervision Profound 19 and below Little motor coordination Nursing care is needed Has extreme cognitive limitation Poor communication skills Need nursing care all the time. May achieve limited self-care (Daily et al., 2009) Early Interventions Parents with intellectually disabled child must be vigil enough and address social, educational, and behavioural needs of the child (Bigby et al., 2007). Early intervention is key in improving the results of people with intellectual disability; the intervention can reduce the effects by mitigating or alleviating the impact of the existing disability and/or prevent the prevalence of the existing disability. In accordance with this, parents of children with intellectual disability must be able to visualize the type of classroom that best meets the child’s educational needs (Bigby et al., 2007). Try to find out relevant activities that child will excel in and incline their help activities in this direction (de la Rocha, 2011). Consequently, parents need to find the best social environment that their child will fit in thus helping him/her to acquire the necessary social skills (Palmer & Short, 2000). Child’s behaviour is vital in determining his/her social life and therefore parents must come up with strategies that will work exceptionally in improving the child’s behaviour. In order to accomplish this, they need to utilize professionals and relevant care organizations across Australia to help advocate for the needs of their child. Australian government early intervention initiatives include the Better Start, and the NSW Government’s Stronger Together (Bigby et al., 2007). These initiatives have programs tailored to help individuals with intellectual disability for instance the intensive family support program, the family first program, and the family assistance fund. The discussion provides different ways that parents can initiate in order to meet different needs of a child with intellectual disability (de la Rocha, 2011). Educational Concerns: across Australia there are early education intervention programs available in all states, for instance, calling an intervention specialist to be visiting the home for a few hours a week to analyze the child’s situation and fully understand the care needs for the child (Bigby et al., 2007). Consequently, several early intervention agencies can develop Individualized Family Service Plan thus identifying family needs in providing care for the intellectually disabled child. When the child reaches a school going age, the child’s school should be one that will provide appropriate educational environment that meets the needs of the child; rather meets the needs of children with specialized educational needs (Alexander, 2009). In Australia, parents are legally entitled to request an evaluation from the school where the child is enrolled to make sure that the educational settings of the school are appropriate and relevant for the child’s educational development (Alexander, 2009). Nonetheless, the parent is obliged to request for an Individualized Education Plan in writing which is then given to the school district. The school district will then perform the child’s evaluation within the stipulated time. After the evaluation the school official meet with the parent and come up with an individualized education plan for the child (Gogging & Newell, 2005).. Accordingly, the educational laws state that a child has a right to be educated in a favourable environment that is not restrictive (Bigby et al., 2007). Following this, a parent can visit different schools within the district to evaluate different educational settings and decide on the best classroom environment that will meet the child’s educational needs (Palmer & Short, 2000). Specialized Activities: parents of a child with intellectual disability should be on the forefront to assist this child to acquire different specialized skills. For instance, they can enrol the child in specialized activity training centres (de la Rocha, 2011). The child will get an opportunity to develop his/her sporting skills by discovering his/her physical potentials. The child will be able to acquire sporting skills and activities that best fit his/her abilities (de la Rocha, 2011). They can be trained and nurtured to achieve their highest potentials for instance participating in Paralympics. The child can develop the athletic skills and compete against others thus build his/her self esteem while also fostering friendships. Social skills: it is important to note that children with intellectual disability are human beings and can respond strongly to both negative and positive peer pressure just like normal children do (Alexander, 2009). In this perspective, parents should foster participation of children with intellectual disability in well-supervised social activities that are in the child’s area of interest (de la Rocha, 2011). This can either be in dance, sports, drama, religious or even civic activities. These activities are essential in nurturing the social skills that are taught both at school and at home. Social skills groups for the mentally retarded children should be structured to provide the social satisfaction needed as well help them mix and socialize with their peers (Sulkes, 2011). Mood and Behaviour problems: a child with intellectual disability is extremely vulnerable to coexisting behaviour and mood disorders (Bigby et al., 2007). The most common mood and behaviour disorders associated with mentally retarded children are hyperactivity disorders, impulse control disorders, self-injurious behaviours, and mood disorders (Elder et al., 2009). Parents of a child with intellectual disabilities must use a combination of behavioural interventions and medical interventions to curb the situation. Various treatments are vital in salvaging mood and behavioural problems among children and adolescents with intellectual disabilities. These include: Behavioural therapies: parents of a child with intellectual disabilities must seek services of a behavioural therapist who will examine the disorder and its causes and develop a therapeutic plan for the suffering child. The plan is cooperatively designed by both parents and clinicians, and given chance, the child should be included in the design process (de la Rocha, 2011). The designing process involves establishing the factors and events that leads to the behaviour disorder, consequences of the disorder, and coming up with best preventive measures. For instance, the child can be promised or given incentives and rewards if he/she improves the behaviour and replace disorder with more acceptable behaviour. Medication Treatment of behavioural and mood disorders: Stimulants like methylphenidate and Adderall XR can be administered to improve the hyperactive symptoms, inattention and impulsivity in a child with intellectual disabilities. Consequently, Serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant like fluoxetine and paroxetine are essential for mood disorder treatments as well as repetitive compulsive behaviour in children with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, mood-stabilizing agents like valproic and carbamazepine are vital in the treatment of bipolar mood disorders in children with intellectual disabilities (Elder et al., 2009). The Antipsychotic medications such as resperidone are used by clinicians for controlling destructive behaviours like aggression towards others, self-injurious behaviours and repetitive behaviours that may lead to self injury like head banging, self-biting and self-scratching (Sulkes, 2011). It is imperative for parents and family members of a child with intellectual disability to be an integral part of each caretaking decision that regards your child. As a parent, you are mandated to play a vital role in the child’s treatment team. Treatment A child with intellectual disability can only be best treated and cared for by a multidisciplinary team comprising of primary cared doctor; social workers; physical, occupational and speech therapists; developmental paediatrician, nutritionists, psychologists and educators (Bigby et al., 2007). The parents and other family members together with the treatment team must cope up with an individualized treatment program for the child that commences immediately the child is diagnosed with intellectual disability (Gates, 2006). Parents and the whole family are obliged to be an integral part of the entire program. During treatment, it is important to consider the child’s strengths and weaknesses and determine the appropriate support needed. In this regard, mental illness, physical disabilities, interpersonal skills, and personality disorders must be considered (de la Rocha, 2011). Appropriate drugs in recommended dosages should be administered. Institution of behavioural therapy and environmental changes will automatically improve the child’s situation. As aforementioned, special education provided in a least restrictive and most inclusive environment will have a great positive impact to the latter (Bigby et al., 2007). For instance, the child will have a chance to interact with his/her peers and have tantamount access to community resources. It should be noted that, a child with intellectual disability is better placed at home with his/her parents (de la Rocha, 2011). However, children with severe and complex intellectual disabilities cannot get the needed care at home. In this regard the support team and parents must come up with the best decision that will give the child exceptional care (Gates, 2006). A child with complex and severe disabilities to be cared for at home demands dedicated care that sometimes is impossible for parents to provide (Bigby et al., 2007). With regard to this, psychological support for the family is essential. Social workers can offer to help the family. Consequently, care centres, child caregivers, housekeepers and respite care facilities can effectively provide help. Conclusion In conclusion, intellectual disability is a condition where one has a sub-average intellectual functioning, which is exhibited at either birth or early infancy resulting into inability to conduct a normal life. Children with intellectual disability are at times incapacitated to perform basic daily life activities. However, when given the needed support and within a receptive environment, intellectually disabled children and young people can make their needs and wishes known. In this respect, parents of a child with intellectual disability must find appropriate ways that can help the child be cured and lead a normal life. Early intervention is vital, treatment, educational, social and behavioural concerns must be taken into consideration when helping a child with intellectual disability. The parent should seek specialized services from a multidisciplinary team comprising of primary cared doctor; social workers; physical, occupational and speech therapists; developmental paediatrician, nutritionists, psychologists and educators. The child will get specialized and possibly be treated to lead a normal life. References Alexander D. 2009. Prevention of Mental Retardation: Four Decades of Research. Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. Research Review Bigby C., Fyffe C., and Ozanne E. 2007. Planning and Support for People with Intellectual Disabilities: Issues for Case Managers and other Professionals. Melbourne: Jessica Kingsley Publishers Daily D, Ardinger H, and Holmes G. 2009. Identification and evaluation of mental retardation. American Family Physician. Retrieved on 20/09/2012, from http://www.aafp.org/afp/20000215/1059.html de la Rocha K. 2011. Intellectual Disability (Cognitive Disability; Developmental Disability; Mental Retardation). Retrieved on 20/09/2012, from http://www.beliefnet.com/healthandhealing/getcontent.aspx?cid=96644 Elder R., Evans K., and Nizette D. 2009. Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing. Sydney: Elsevier Australia Gates, B. 2006. Care planning and delivery in intellectual disability nursing. New York: John Wiley & Sons Goggin G., and Newell C. 2005. Disability in Australia: exposing a social apartheid. Melbourne: UNSW Press Palmer, G. R., and Short S. D. 2000. Health care and public policy: an Australian analysis. Sydney: Macmillan Education AU Sulkes B. S. 2011. Mental Disability. Retrieved on 20/09/2012, from: http://www.merckmanuals.com/home/childrens_health_issues/learning_and_developmental_disorders/intellectual_disability.html The Ark. 2011. Causes and Prevention of Intellectual Disabilities. Retrieved on 20/09/2012, from: http://www.thearc.org/page.aspx?pid=2453 Read More