Child cognitive imparment - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages... The disease is defined by the center of disease control by a score of 70 and below on the child’s intellectual test capabilities i.e. the IQ test. There are four levels of a child’s cognitive impairments. A child suffering from mild cognitive impairments has an IQ test of 50 to 70 while moderate cognitive impairment has an IQ test of 35 to 55. Severe cognitive impairments with an IQ test of 20 to 40 and profound cognitive impairment where the child has an IQ test of below 20.physical disabilities will usually impact on the way a child controls its body, move and the cognitive and intellectual disabilities will affect the way the way a child thinks and learns. Children develop at different rates. However, there are certain milestones that the healthy child ought to reach by a specific age. The child’s cognitive impairments will affect the developmental milestones of the child (Webster et al., 2006).
Cognitive impairments are as a result of a number of factors. Majority of the instances of cognitive impairments are as a result of genetic and chromosomal disorders. Cognitive impairments are also attributed to injuries and illness that occur to the mother during pregnancy or infancy period. Extreme cases of malnutrition to the child, inadequate medical accessibility among the infants, exposure to environmental toxins and chemicals can attribute to cognitive impairments among children. Other causes attributed include genetic diseases, infections on the child such as meningitis, parasitic infections to the child, cerebral malaria, in-utero alcohol and drug exposure during pregnancy, asphyxia, low birth weight, endocrine disorders and head injuries to the children. Most of these causes are preventable. However, it is difficult to prevent these conditions in developing countries. With the many possible causes, it is difficult to define the specific cause of cognitive defect on a child (Ferguson, Hall, Riley, & Moore, 2011).
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