Intellectual Disability
Discuss different problems encountered by children and adult with intellectual disabilities and ways to overcome these problems.
Cognition can be defined as a mental action or a process involved in learning, remembering, understanding and knowing things. It is a set of mental processes and abilities that are part of every individual action when they are awake. Cognitive abilities are brain-based abilities or skills that every one needs to carry out from simple to most complex work. It involves the mechanisms of how individual remember, learn, solve problems, pay attention, rather than the actual knowledge (Michelon, 2006).
Cognitive skills are supported by particular neuronal network. These skills tend to decline with age, especially executive functions and those abilities that are not used on regular basis. But these can be best by several lifestyle practices and options (Prowse, 2014). Each cognitive skills and abilities plays significant role in processing new information. If any of these skills is weak then individual’s way of retaining, grasping or using the information is highly affected. Most learning disabilities are caused by weak cognitive skills. These skills can be developed in children by progressively building learning skills and techniques such as memory, attention and thinking. These skills help children to develop and process sensory information and finally learn to analyze, evaluate, make comparisons, remember, understand the cause and effect. These skills in children develop rapidly in the first few years and increases progressively throughout elementary school. Several cognitive skill development is due to genetic makeup of children and some are acquired by learning which means that learning and thinking skills in children can be improved by appropriate training and practice (Becker, Biedinger, & Klein, 2013).
Intellectual disability can be defined as a disability characterized by significant inability in intellectual functioning and also in adaptive behavior as exhibited in social, conceptual and practical adaptive skills. It is caused by social, biomedical educational, behavioral risk factor that is transferred from parent to child or by interaction of risk factors during the life span of individual. Biomedical risk factors include genetic disorders, lack of nutritious etc. (Wise, 2016). Behavioral factors include behaviors like maternal substance use and social factors include adult responsiveness, child stimulation. Educational risk factors include educational supports and availability of family that helps in mental development and increases adaptive skills (Welsh, Nix, Blair, & Bierman, 2010). There are several types of intellectual disabilities like Down syndrome, Fragile X-syndrome, developmental delay etc. involves difficulty in learning, retaining information and communicating. Fragile X syndrome is one of the most common inherited intellectual disability in the world. It is a genetic condition that is caused by mutation in the X chromosome (Alesi, Battaglia, Roccella, & Pepi, 2014).
Down Syndrome
Down syndrome is a genetic disorder which is caused due to partial or full, extra copy of chromosome 21 in the DNA. In Australia, about 1 in 1100 children are born with this disorder.
There is some delay in the development in these children. Development are not delayed equally in every areas but have a particular pattern of learning and cognitive difficulties. Children with Down syndrome mostly shows characteristics such as: they generally have strong visual memory skills and visual processing skills. Their reading skills is better than oral language. They face difficulty with numbers but non-verbal communication and social understanding is their strength. Motor skills in these children is mostly delayed and may have visual and hearing impairments. Specific delay auditory processing and auditory short-term memory are their weakness. Children with Down syndrome mostly has a hallmark appearance. Commonly they have short neck and small head, upward slanting eyes and a flat face (Typical Learning Profile of a Child with Down Syndrome, 2016). These children have decreased mental function and low IQ level. These children may have these issues but their cognitive skills can be improved by interaction with family and society, proper care, appropriate education. To improve their cognitive abilities, one must consider following things:
1.Visual teaching approach with practical and concrete materials are more effective and efficient for them while learning.
2.These children have shorter concentration and attention span, they get easily distracted and face difficulty in focusing on more than one thin. So, they need regular break and work broken into small sessions.
3.Reasoning and thinking skills are important for them to improve their cognitive skills. These children often understand more words and can produce more words. As many children with this disorder have hearing impairments, using picture exchange system and sign language is very effective for them.
4.They also mostly have difficulty in working memory skills but these can be improved by proper guidance and training.
There are several theories that can help to improve cognitive skills in intellectual disability of several types:
This theory describes the various stages of children mental development and also explains the ways to construct a mental model of the world. Piaget’s never considered intelligence as a fixed trait rather he believed cognitive development as a process occurring due to learning environment and biological maturation (Ribaupierre, 2001).
Piaget was one of the first psychologist who conducted research on cognitive development. His contribution included stage theory of children cognitive development, observation-based study on cognition and tests to discover different cognitive abilities. Piaget’s was interested in the idea or ways by which various fundamental concepts like number, time, justice, causality, quantity etc. emerged (McLeod, 2015).
Improving Cognitive Skills in Intellectual Disabilities
Previously, it was believed that children are less competent thinkers than adults. Piaget demonstrated that children think in quite different ways in comparison to adults. The four stages identified by Jean Piaget are:
- Sensorimotor stage: this is the stage in which children (2 years) learn about the world through manipulation of objects with their senses.
- Preoperational stage: in this stage, the memory an imagination of children (2 to 7 years) develops. They learn about things symbolically and also understand about the past and future events.
- Concrete operational stage: this is the stage when children (7 to 11 years) starts to understand their own feelings and also become aware of external events.
- Formal Operational stage: By this stage, children (11 years and older) starts to use logic to solve problems, better understand the world around them and can think future plans.
The main objective of this theory is to explain the stages or mechanism through which an infant develops into child and child develops into an adult who can think and reason. This theory mainly focused on development rather than ways of learning specific behavior or information
The use of assistive technology which includes computer-based games, tools or software can help the children with intellectual disability to learn, play, communicate, socialize and become independent in their lives. This has drawn the attention towards design and development of applications for individual with intellectual disability.
This has given rise to collaborative complex learning resources which is based on collaborative learning and live sessions. The use of animated avatars discussing together on a topic and as a result the learner used to understand the communication in a simple way. According to a research, the use of physical activities in classroom have been considered to be effective in improving children cognitive experience and also enhances their overall performance by 6%.
The various other learning models which allows children to learn through multimedia are listed below:
This theory allows the children to learn through audio and visual channels. It basically uses sensory, working and memory to produce multimedia elements and which converts into logical mental constructs (Dandashi, Karkar, Saad, & Al-Jaam, 2015). As per this theory, there are three important phases through which a learner engages in. Firstly, there is selection of audio and visual information to form a base for learning, secondly, the information is organized to form coherent mental representation and finally the resulting visual and audio representation re integrated with one another.
This theory encourages learner behavior by positive or negative reinforcement. These reinforcements can be of different forms:
Positive reinforcement: Favoring the learner after the completion of target.
Negative reinforcement: Removal of unfavorable outcomes after the completion of target.
Positive punishment: pushing the learner to weaken the negative response.
Negative punishment: removal of favorable event after an undesirable behavior.
As per skinner’s theory, there exists three different responses which can reflect behavior.
- Reinforcers: these are the responses which increases the possibility of certain behavior being repeated. These can be positive or negative.
- Neutral operants: these are the responses from the surrounding or other factors which neither increases or decreases the possibility of certain behavior from happening.
- Punishers: these responses decrease the possibility of certain behavior from being repeated.
Although this theory promotes both positive and negative reinforcement and punishment it is appropriate to use only the positive and negative reinforcement as it will promote positive encouragement.
Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development
Every individual irrespective of their abilities should be respected and have access to all the choices or opportunities to participate in all community related activities. these inclusion and participation of people with disabilities do not happen overnight. It is important to consider, how to promote and support these people with disabilities and their families in different phases of their lives such as school life, adult life and aging. Each of these phases provides different opportunities to support their preferences, involvement and self-esteem and determination (McConnell & Savage, 2015). Each subsequent phase prepares the individual and his family to the next level. There should be special education programs for each individual which considers their strength and support them while learning. The schools play vital role during the transition phase from child to adulthood. The transition which begins from 16years should include trainings, assessments that can help student along with their families and staffs which matches their interest, skills in such a way that they get employment after their graduation (Supports, Modifications, and Accommodations for Students, 2017). The ability to earn money to fulfill one’s need is fundamental to every individual life and is respected in every community. Employment gives great sense of pride and purpose in every individual life. So, the person with Down syndrome should have all this rights and opportunities to feel like a normal person there should be opportunities based on their choices and skills, so that they are also contributing to the community. The promotion of social capital should be in such a way that every person understands the benefit of each individual including the person with disabilities and their contribution to the society (Woodman, Mailick, Anderson, & Esbensen, 2014). For example, there is an energy company in Spain, Repsol which provides employment to the person with disabilities at gas stations.
Conclusion:
The people with intellectual disability may be different from any other normal person but can contribute to the community if provided with proper training as per their choice and skill. There are several types of intellectual disability like Down syndrome and can be improved by proper education and training. They should not be left isolated rather every person from community should support them along with their families so that they can overcome their disabilities. There should be special educational programs, physical activities which enhances their abilities and make learning easier for them. The Piaget’s theory explained various stages of development in a child. While Meyer’s and Skinner’s theories encouraged the children to learn things in a more easier way.
References
Alesi, M., Battaglia, G., Roccella, M., & Pepi, A. (2014). Improvement of gross motor and cognitive abilities by an exercise training program: three case reports. PMC, 10, 479–485.
Becker, B., Biedinger, N., & Klein, O. (2013). The Development of Cognitive, Language, and Cultural Skills From Age 3 to 6. American Educational Research Journal, 50(6), 616–649.
Dandashi, A., Karkar, A. G., Saad, S., & Al-Jaam, J. (2015). Enhancing the Cognitive and Learning Skills of Children with Intellectual Disability through Physical Activity and Edutainment Games. International Journal of Distributed Sensor Network, 1-11.
Frequently Asked Question on Intellectual Disability. (2008). Retrieved from aaiddinformation: https://aaidd.org/docs/default-source/sis-docs/aaiddfaqonid_template.pdf?sfvrsn=2
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McConnell, D., & Savage, A. (2015, February 4). Stress and Resilience Among Families Caring for Children with Intellectual Disability: Expanding the Research Agenda. Retrieved from INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s40474-015-0040-z.pdf
McLeod, S. (2015). Jean Piaget. Retrieved from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/piaget.html
Michelon, P. (2006, December 18). What are Cognitive Abilities and Skills, and How to Boost them? Retrieved from SHARPBRAINS: https://sharpbrains.com/blog/2006/12/18/what-are-cognitive-abilities/
Prowse, V. (2014, June). Cognitive Ability, Character Skills, and Learning to Play Equilibrium: A Level-k Analysis. Retrieved from IZA: https://ftp.iza.org/dp8236.pdf
Ribaupierre, A. (2001). Piaget’s Theory of Child Development. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, 11434–11437.
Supports, Modifications, and Accommodations for Students. (2017, February 8). Retrieved from Center for Parent Information & Resources: https://www.parentcenterhub.org/accommodations/
Typical Learning Profile of a Child with Down Syndrome. (2016). Retrieved from Down Sundrome Ireland: https://downsyndrome.ie/typical-learning-profile-of-a-child-with-down-syndrome/
Welsh, J. A., Nix, R. L., Blair, C., & Bierman, K. L. (2010). The Development of Cognitive Skills and Gains in Academic School Readiness for Children from Low-Income Families. PMC, 102(1), 43–53.
Wise, R. (2016, July 25). What is an Intellectual Disability? Retrieved from educationandbehaviour.com: https://www.educationandbehavior.com/what-is-an-intellectual-disability/
Woodman, ,. A., Mailick, M. R., Anderson, K. A., & Esbensen, A. J. (2014). Residential Transitions among Adults with Intellectual Disability across 20 Years. PMC, 119(6), 496–515.
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