Intellectual Disabilities

Chapter 5 True/False Questions 1. In the past several years, it has become more difficult to designate someone as having intellectual disabilities. - True 2. If a person achieves a low score on an IQ test, this means that his or her adaptive skills are below average. - False. Professionals came to consider adaptive behavior in addition to IQ in defining intellectual disability because they began to recognize that some students might score poorly on IQ tests but still function well in their daily environment, e.g., be “streetwise”—able to travel via the subway system and resist involvement in gangs. (pg. 82) 3. Down syndrome is usually an inherited condition. - False. Down syndrome involves an anomaly at the 21st pair of chromosomes. In the vast majority of cases of Down syndrome, the 21st set of chromosomes (the normal human cell contains 23 pairs of chromosomes) is a triplet rather than a pair; hence, the most common form of Down syndrome is also referred to as trisomy 21. (pg. 85) 4.The most common known hereditary cause of intellectual disabilities is Fragile X syndrome. - True. 5.People with Prader-Willi syndrome inherited it from their father. - False. Prader-Willi syndrome is the result of a genetic abnormality, but very few cases are inherited. (pg. 86) 6. Encephalitis results in intellectual disabilities, but meningitis does not. - False. While encephalitis can cause more severe disabilities, both meningitis and encephalitis are two examples of infections that can cause intellectual disabilities. (pg. 88) 7. Authorities believe that few cases of mild intellectual disabilities are caused by specific genetic syndromes. - False. In recent years, authorities have begun to suspect that many cases of mild intellectual disabilities might be caused by specific genetic syndromes (Dykens et al., 2000; Hodapp & Dykens, 2007; Polloway, Smith, & Antoine, 2010). They point to the many cases of people with Prader-Willi syndrome and Williams syndrome, as well as females with Fragile X syndrome, who have mild intellectual disabilities, and they speculate that in the near future, new genetic syn-dromes will be discovered as causes of mild intellectual disabilities. (pg. 90) 8. IQ is generally considered the single best index of how well a person will do in school. - True 9. Long-term memory involves the ability to keep information in mind while simultaneously doing another cognitive task. - False. Working memory involves the ability to keep information in mind while simultane-ously doing another cognitive task. (pg. 90) 10. Research has consistently shown that students who are positively reinforced for correct responses learn faster. - True Short Answer Questions 1.Explain why the major professional organization for people with significant cognitive or intellectual disabilities changed its name from the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD). - This was done in order to be more politically correct and to make an attempt to drop the bad name calling that is associated with many people with disabilities. Perhaps most important is that the term intellectual disability is actually more accu-rate than mentally retarded in describing the primary limitations of this group of individuals. 2.Describe what is meant by the phrase, "intellectual disability is a socially constructed condition." - This phrase, according to AAIDD, means that intellectual disabilities are not something within a person they are born with, but rather a result of the interactions between a person and their environments. 3.Distinguish between intelligence and adaptive behavior, giving examples of tasks that are representative of each. Why is adaptive behavior included in the definition of mental retardation? - Intelligence is generally based on a person's IQ, in which an example would be learning concepts and being able to identify these on a test, whereas adaptive behavior is defined as "the social and practical intelligence used in people's everyday lives." Adaptive behavior is actually made of two different types of intelligence, social and practical. Some representative examples of these would be being able to read someone's emotions (seeing if they are happy, angry, etc.), not being tricked easily, or doing things like cooking a meal and using public transportation. Adaptive behavior is included in the definition because there are these different types of intelligence that do not simply relate to conceptual learning, but being able to perform simple everyday tasks. 4.Discuss the difference in expected prevalence rates for intellectual disabilities (based on the hypothetical normal curve of intelligence) and the actual prevalence figures. - Although AAIDD does not advocate such a classification scheme, most school systems classify students with intellectual disabilities according to the severity of their condition: mild (IQ of about 50 to 70), moderate (IQ of about 35 to 50), severe (IQ of about 20 to 35), and profound (IQ below about 20) mental retardation or intellectual disabilities, or a close approximation. Students identified as disabled is less than 1%. 5.Identify and describe three environmental causes of intellectual disabilities. - The three major known causes of intellectual disability are Down syndrome, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Fragile X syndrome. Most of these occur when the baby is still developing in the prenatal phase. 6.Write a scenario illustrating the kinds of social problems a person with an intellectual disability is likely to have. - Children with intellectual disabilities may have problems making and keeping friends, but positive social interactions are certainly achievable and should be nurtured and encouraged. Virtually all persons with intellectual disabilities have limitations in language comprehension and production. 7.Write a scenario illustrating the use of an instructional prompt and explain why and how it is faded out. - A teacher tells the class “It’s time for lunch” (instruction). Ms. Mason, an Educational Assistant for Alex, reminds him of each step along the way saying “go to your cubby” (verbal prompt) then “get your lunch bag” (verbal prompt) then “take it to your seat” (verbal prompt) and so on. Eventually, students should complete these tasks without the teacher prompting. This is called fading because eventually the teacher doesn’t have to do anything to get the kids to complete the tasks. 8.What is self-determination? Describe the four components of self-determination and discuss arguments for and against promoting self-determination. - The four components of self determination are the ability to act autonomously, being self regulated, acting in a psychologically empowered manner and acting in a self realize manner. . since people with intellectual disabilities have reduced cognitive ability, professionals and parents have traditionally considered them incapable of making their own decisions. In our culture today, it is an important consideration for special educators to prepare more independent individuals in order to prevent learned helplessness. 9.Discuss three advantages of supported competitive employment over sheltered workshops for individuals with intellectual disabilities. - Supported competitive employment is better for individuals with intellectual disabilities because they are paid more, they receive ongoing assistance from a job coach, and more in depth on the job training. 10. Describe three ways that general and special educators can collaborate to serve students with intellectual disabilities. - General and special educators can share strengths and needs, develop routines for students, and create time for mutual lesson planning.