Intellectual Disability: Treatment

Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) have limitations in thinking and the ability to learn. The definition of ID includes three essential elements: (1) significantly subaverage intellectual functioning; (2) significantly subaverage adaptive behavior expressed as limitations in conceptual, social, or practical adaptive skills; and (3) presence of these limitations prior to adulthood (generally 18 years old). An important reason to diagnose ID in an individual is to provide treatment. The treatment or habilitation of ID should address the limitations in thinking and ability to learn and result in improved human functioning. Because ID itself is not a disease or sickness (although people with ID may have disease or sickness), but rather a problem in human functioning that exists from a young age, the goal is usually ...