Intelligence Disability
Intelligence disability refers to people with slow development or incomplete brain development, resulting in limited learning ability and social adaptability or incapable to handle problems when compared with normal people.
Intelligence disability occurs in growth period and the intelligence level is lower than the same age peer group and has adaptive behaviour defects. Intelligence Quality (“IQ”) is lower than the average standard deviation of 2.0 (normal person’s IQ average value is set at 100 and the standard deviation of IQ value is 15). For those IQ is below 70 (or 75), intelligence is significantly lower than the average level. Adaptive behaviour includes individual living capability and social responsibilities implementation. Low intelligence has several expressions, is psychiatric named as “mental retardation” “incomplete mental development” “mental defect”. In education and psychological side, it is named as “intelligence defect”. In special school, it is called “low intelligence” or “intelligence disable”.
In Chinese medicine, low intelligence is due to congenital deficiency and lack of nourishment, is mainly deficiency in heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. Some congenital patients have blood stagnation, phelgm-demp blocking the meridian and resulting into deaf.
Low intelligence is a permanent defect, it is not a disease or psychiatric illness, and is unable to cure by medicine either. Patients can train continuously to enhance their limited strength, so that they can live independent and have normal life.
Different levels of low intelligence
According to IQ, adaptability behaviour defect, low intelligence hasdivided into 4 levels.
1. Mild level is also named as stupid. IQ is 50 to 70, adaptability behaviour is mild defect. Early growth is slower and is not active than normal kids. Kids show no interest in the surroundings, late language development, with little conceptual wordings. Poor analysis ability, study result is worse than normal kids. Through special education can gain experience and practical reading ability. Patients can do simple housework when grow up. Patients are usually without any ideas, highly dependent to others, unable to cope with outside changes and easily affected by others.
2. Moderate level of low intelligence, IQ is 35-49; whole growth is slower than normal kids. Incomplete language development, inarticulate, lack of wordings, can only have simple mind without conceptual concept. Poor identification to the surroundings, and only acknowledge, no improvement in reading and calculation ability. Throughout a long-time education and training, they can learn simple social communication skill and basic hygiene and simple handicraft technique.
3. Severe level of low intelligence, IQ is 20-34, severe adaptability behaviour defect. Slow growth in every part. Unclear pronunciation and spoken language and poorer self expression ability, lack of conceptual concept, poor understanding ability, stupid motion, has certain defense ability to avoid obvious danger. After systematic training, they can have simple living and hygiene habit but still requires others to take care. They can do some rigid and simplest manpower work under supervision
after growing up.
4. Profound level of low intelligence, IQ is below 20, profound adaptability behaviour defect, know nothing about the surroundings, lack of speaking ability, always screaming for unknown reasons, lack of self protection ability and unable to avoid obvious danger. Felling, touching obviously retard. Motion functional ability obstacle, limbs not movable or permanently cannot walk. Severe disability and recurrence of epilepsy. Unable to handle personal life and the majority are dead in one’s early years.
Clinical behaviour
1. upward slanting eyes, hypertelorism, flattened nose, high arch palate, protruding tongue;
2. Square shaped skull, microcephaly, irregular oversized head or abnormal small head;
3. equiring longer time to learn sit, stand, walk or grasp things than normal kids;
4. Usually starting talking at 3 or 4 years old, some kids even cannot speak at 5 or 6 years old
5. Visual problem, dull looking
6. Poor hearing ability, no response to voice, cannot differentiate voices of mother and other people even after 6 months old.
7. Difficulty in concentration.
8. No eye contact at 1-2 months old, no smile, no visual follow to close relatives and colourful objects.
Cause of Low Intelligence
Modern medicine believes that there are many reasons of low intelligence and are mainly divided into congenital and acquired factors:
Congenital factors:
1. Chromosomal abnormality, for example, Down’s syndrome has one extra chromosome than normal
2. Genetic abnormality
3. Inborn error of metabolism
Acquired factors:
1. During Pregnancy period
Mother has suffered from rubella, diabetes, consumption of wrong medicine, malnutrition, alcoholism or X-ray radiation infection during pregnancy are factors that may cause low intelligence.
2. During delivery
Prematurity, difficulty in delivery, low birth weight can cause brain maldevelopment or damage resulting in low intelligence.
3. Infancy
Neonatal convulsion, hypoglycemia, virus infection (eg. meningitis, jaundice), malnutrition or accidental brain damage may also cause low intelligence.
Needs of mental retarded people
Generally speaking, the needs of mentaMl retarded people are same as normal people and can be divided into three types:
1. General Needs
Require basic necessity needs like clothes and food. Psychologically, mental retarded people require care and acceptance from their friends; they need self performance opportunities to build up self-confidence. In addition, they also need friends and group life.
2. Education opportunity
Mental retarded people require much longer time to learn as their learning ability is slower.
3. Teaching in accordance with their ability
As the ability of each mental retarded person is greatly different, therefore we need to treat them fair and teach them according to their ability so that they can develop their potential.
Treatment and Training for mental retarded people
At present, there is still no effective way to cure low intelligence.
Mild grade mental retarded people can have normal life after studying and training, some can take up jobs if suitable technical training was provided. Mild grade mental retarded people can improve their own life quality through training and education.
Tongue acupuncture gives a new hope to mental retarded people
Prof. Sun is the first person who discovered that almost all the patients with brain disorders, e.g. people with mental retardation, usually have a swollen sublingual. The conditions of patients were improved after the tongue acupuncture treatment. According to the clinical statistics, 77.4% of the patients’ intelligence was improved after 20-40 sessions of the treatments and sublingual swelling was diminished. Improvements were mainly performed in the area of acceptability, understanding ability and expression ability. The correlation of sublingual swelling and intelligence was objectively confirmed.
Tongue Acupuncture brings a new hope to the researchers in low intelligence and good news to the family that has members with mental retardation.
