Intellectual Disability in Babies and Children

Does Your Child Have an Intellectual Disability?

Typically, you can spot that your child has this birth disorder if they seem to meet their developmental milestones at a much slower pace than other children. You will normally see their developmental stages coming at a slower rate. While all children develop at their own pace, you may notice that your child seems drastically behind the pediatrician’s expected milestones. This could indicate that your child may have an intellectual disability. For example, an expected developmental milestone is for most children to have the ability to formulate two or three words by the age of two. If your child has this condition, they may not be able to formulate words by this age. Still, you should leave the child some room for growing at their own pace. If your child doesn’t appear to be reaching the milestones correctly, you may still want to alert your doctor for further evaluation.

If your child has a milder case of cognitive disability, you may not even spot a cognitive disability until your child reaches a certain age because the symptoms are more subtle than more serious cases. You might use a child educational specialist to determine if your child has this disability.

What Causes This Condition?

There are a few risk factors related to intellectual disability that may occur during birth. Typically, this condition happens because of hypoxia or anoxia. Hypoxia happens when a child receives a lack of oxygen to the brain, and anoxia happens when you have a total absence of oxygen in the brain. The short-term lack or total absence of oxygen to the brain can cause brain damage, cerebral palsy, or intellectual disability. Whatever it causes, it can lead to some serious disabilities that you need to address as soon as possible. If you can spot birth injury risk factors, you should try to minimize them as much as possible.

What Happens When a Child Has This Disability?

Cognitive disabilities also classify as a neurodevelopmental disability. A neurodevelopmental disability is characterized as a child that develops more slowly than they otherwise would without a disability. They will reach developmental milestones at a slower pace than the other children. Also, they might struggle or have problems in school and may need additional help in school to succeed.

In some cases, the doctor was at fault for the birth disorder. Their actions during the birth led to an injury that caused harm to the child. In those cases, you may be entitled to financial help. You also have a variety of available programs to help your child get the help that they need. Intellectual disability will range anywhere from mild to severe, and every case will be a little different from the other.