What are the symptoms of children's intellectual disability?

There is no difference between children when they are just born, but when they are one or two years old, some children always look dull and have lifeless eyes compared to other children. This situation may be that the child has an IQ problem, and there are many manifestations of a child's intellectual disability, such as inattention and late learning to speak. However, parents can also detect it from their children's appearance, such as wide-set eyes or abnormal head shapes. The manifestations of intellectual disability are as follows

Performance

1. The eyes are slanted, the distance between the eyes is wide, the nose is collapsed, the jaw is high, and the tongue often sticks out.

2. The head is square, with a flat hand, small brain volume and a particularly large head circumference. The head of a person with microcephaly is particularly small.

3. He learns to lie on his stomach, lift his head, sit, stand and walk later than other children, and he also learns to pinch things with his hands later.

4. They learn to speak late and have no vocal response to early teasing. They often start to speak at the age of 3 to 4 years old, and some may not even speak until they are 5 to 6 years old.

5. Difficulty in seeing, inflexible eye movement, and dull eyes.

6. Poor hearing ability, no response to sounds, and still cannot distinguish between the mother's voice and other people's voice after 6 months.

7. It is difficult to concentrate and cannot stay still for even one or two minutes.

Treatment

1. Treatment of the cause

For those whose causes have been identified, such as chronic disease, poisoning, long-term malnutrition, hearing or vision impairment, efforts should be made to eliminate the cause as much as possible so that their intelligence can be partially or completely restored. Children with endocrine and metabolic abnormalities such as hypothyroidism and phenylketonuria should be diagnosed early and receive thyroid hormone replacement or special diet therapy for phenylketonuria to improve their intelligence level.

2. Training and rehabilitation

Through the application of medical, social, educational and vocational training measures, patients are trained according to their age and severity of MR to achieve the highest possible intellectual level. Sooner or later, the child should receive long-term comprehensive education and training in organized institutions (such as nurseries and kindergartens). It is best to care for the sick child together with normal children, which is more beneficial than caring for them separately.

Causes of mental retardation

1. Genetics

Genetic factors are one of the main causes of severe mental retardation. In developed countries, mental retardation caused by genetic diseases accounts for more than half of the total number of severe mental retardation.

2. Infection and dystocia

Prenatal causes: If a pregnant woman is infected with rubella virus, influenza or other viral diseases in the first 4 months of pregnancy, it will cause great harm to the fetus and baby, and may cause congenital malformations and intellectual disabilities in the fetus.

3. Disease

Down syndrome, also known as congenital idiocy, is caused by chromosomal abnormalities. Cretinism is also known as congenital hypothyroidism. Due to abnormal development of the thyroid gland, it cannot synthesize thyroxine, which affects brain development. Phenylketonuria is caused by an enzyme defect that blocks the metabolism of ingested phenylalanine, leading to brain cell dysfunction. Cat cry syndrome is caused by a problem with the chromosomes in the body.

4. Social and family psychological factors

Early social isolation, emotional deprivation, lack of maternal love, lack of care, cultural isolation, and inappropriate teaching methods can all affect a child's intelligence level. Children from families with high socioeconomic status, stable family structure, and well-educated mothers have higher intelligence levels than those in poorer conditions. Other factors such as large families, many children, short birth intervals, twins and divorced parents all have a direct impact on children's intellectual development.

5. Geographical environment

Iodine deficiency in pregnant women is one of the important factors affecting the normal development of the fetus. Radiation, whether X-rays or other radiation, can stop embryonic development and cause deformities. The extent to which the embryo is affected by radiation depends on the type and dose of radiation, the developmental stage at the time of exposure, and the embryo's sensitivity to radiation.