Mental Challenged Support Group

Mental retardation is a term for a pattern of persistently slow learning of basic motor and language skills ("milestones") during childhood, and a significantly below-normal global intellectual capacity as an adult. One common criterion for diagnosis of mental retardation is a tested intelligence quotient (IQ) of 70 or below. People with mental retardation are people who are usually described as having developmental disabilities.

The term "mental retardation" has gradually acquired pejorative and shameful connotations over the last few decades and is now used almost exclusively in technical or scientific contexts where exactness is necessary.

In North America the broad term 'developmental delay' has become an increasingly preferred synonym by many parents and caregivers. Elsewhere, however, developmental delay is generally used to imply that appropriate intervention will improve or completely eliminate the condition, allowing for "catching up." Importantly, this term carries the emotionally powerful idea that the individual's current difficulties are likely to be temporary.

Developmental disability is preferred by most physicians, but can also refer to any other physical or psychiatric delay, such as delayed puberty.

Both the phrases intellectual disability and learning disability are increasingly being used as a synonym for people with significantly below-average IQ. These terms are sometimes used as a means of separating general intellectual limitations from specific, limited deficits as well as indicating that it is not an emotional or psychological disability. Intellectual disability is also used to describe the outcome of traumatic brain injury or lead poisoning or dementing conditions such as Alzheimer's disease. It is not specific to congenital conditions like Down syndrome.

The American Association on Mental Retardation continues to use the term mental retardation.

By most definitions it is more accurately considered a disability rather than a disease. It can be distinguished in many ways from mental illness, such as schizophrenia or depression. There is no "cure" for an established disability, though with appropriate support and teaching, most individuals can learn to do many things.

There are thousands of agencies in the United States that provide assistance for people with developmental disabilities. They include state-run, for-profit, and non-profit, privately run agencies. Within one agency there could be departments that include fully staffed residential homes, day habilitation programs that approximate schools, workshops wherein people with disabilities can obtain jobs, programs that assist people with developmental disabilities in obtaining jobs in the community, programs that provide support for people with developmental disabilities who have their own apartments, programs that assist them with raising their children, and many more. There are also many agencies and programs for parents of children with developmental disabilities.

Although there is no specific medication for "mental retardation", many people with developmental disabilities have further medical complications and may take several medications. Beyond that there are specific programs that people with developmental disabilities can take part in wherein they learn basic life skills. These "goals" may take a much longer amount of time for them to accomplish, but the ultimate goal is independence. This may be anything from independence in tooth brushing to an independent residence. People with developmental disabilities learn throughout their lives and can obtain many new skills even late in life with the help of their families, caregivers, clinicians and the people who coordinate the efforts of all of these people.