Developmental Disabilities

What are Developmental Disabilities

  • a group of conditions due to impairment in physical, learning, language, or behavior areas” ("Facts About Developmental Disabilities").
  • identified before the age of 22 and usually last throughout a person’s lifetime” ("Developmental Disabilities").
  • Types ("Developmental Disabilities")
  1. intellectual disabilities
  • characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers many everyday social and practical skills ("Definition of Intellectual Disability")
  • for many children, the cause of their intellectual disability is not known ("Facts About Intellectual Disabilities")
  1. autism spectrum disorders
  • group of developmental disabilities that can cause significant social, communication and behavioral challenges ("Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)")
  • Two Areas ("Autism Spectrum Disorder")
  1. social impairment, including difficulties with social communication
  2. repetitive and stereotyped behaviors
  1. Down syndrome
  • most common genetic chromosomal disorder and cause of learning disabilities in children (“Down Syndrome")
  • Down syndrome occurs when an individual has a full or partial extra copy of chromosome 21 (“Down Syndrome")
  1. language and learning disorders
  • Language disorders in children refer to problems with either getting their meaning or message across to others or understanding the message coming from others ("Language disorder - children: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia")
  • Learning disorders affect how a person understands, remembers and responds to new information ("Learning Disorders: MedlinePlus")
  • may have problems listening, paying attention, speaking, reading, writing, and/or doing math ("Learning Disorders: MedlinePlus")
  1. cerebral palsy
  • refers to any one of a number of neurological disorders that appear in infancy or early childhood and permanently affect body movement and muscle coordination but don’t worsen over time ("NINDS Cerebral Palsy Information Page")
  • cannot be cured
  1. vision impairment
  • describe any kind of vision loss, whether it's someone who cannot see at all or someone who has partial vision loss (Salvin)
  1. hearing loss
  • associated with any issues individuals may have with hearing
  • described in 3 categories ("What is Hearing Loss?")
  1. type of hearing loss
  2. degree of hearing loss
  3. configuration of hearing loss

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