Intellectual Disability

Intellectual disability (ID)is the current diagnostic term used for the developmental condition once known as mental retardation. With the publication of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) in 2013, the label mental retardation is no longer the preferred diagnostic term for individuals with a constellation of symptoms centered on intellectual and adaptive functional deficits. Following the lead of the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AAIDD), and the U.S. government with the passage of “Rosa’s Law” (Public Law 111-256), the DSM-5 codified ID as the preferred terminology in North America. Similarly, the World Health Organization has also supplanted the term mental retardation with intellectual developmental disorders (IDD) in its forthcoming International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems–11th ...