Mentally Challenged

Definition

A mentally challenged person is incapable to think and act rationally, because of the
blocking of thinking power due to mental conflict and lack of intellectual maturity.

Types of mental handicaps

1. Mental retardation
2. Learning disability
3. Mental disorder

1. Mental retardation
Signs and symptoms

Children with mental retardation may learn to sit up, to crawl, or to walk later than other
children, or they may learn to talk later. Both adults and children with mental retardation
may also exhibit the following characteristics:

 Delays in oral language development

 Deficits in memory skills
 Difficulty learning social rules
 Difficulty with problem solving skills
 Delays in the development of adaptive behaviors such as self-help or self-care skills
 Lack of social inhibitors

Types
 On the basis of IQ :

Class IQ

Profound mental retardation Below 20

Severe mental retardation 20–34

Moderate mental retardation 35–49

Mild mental retardation 50–69

 As per medical grounds :

a) Down's syndrome (Mongolism) - Research has shown that possible chromosomal

anomalies lead to this disorder. Most of people with Down’s syndrome have 47
chromosomes instead of the normal component of 46. There is no known effective
treatment. However, antibiotics, better medical care, and a more healthful and
stimulating environment are increasing the life expectancy of many of the victims of
this disorder.
b) Phenylketonuria (PKU) - Phenylketonuria is a rare metabolic disorder. In PKU the
baby appears normal at birth but lacks an enzyme needed to break down
phenylalanine, an amino acid found in protein foods. Often the first symptoms
noticed are signs of mental retardation, which may be moderate to severe,
depending on the degree to which the disease has progressed.
c) Cretinism (Thyroid Deficiency) - Cretinism provides a dramatic illustration of mental
retardation resulting from endocrine imbalance. In this condition, the thyroid either
has failed to develop properly or has undergone degeneration or injury. Early
treatment of cretinism with thyroid gland extract is considered essential, and infants
not treated until after first year of life may have permanently impaired intelligence.
d) Microcephaly- The term Microcephaly means "small headedness". It refers to a type
of mental retardation resulting from impaired development of the brain and a
consequent failure of the cranium to attain normal size.
e) Hydrocephalus- Hydrocephalus is a relatively rare condition in which the
accumulation of an abnormal amount of cerebrospinal fluid within the cranium
causes damage to the brain tissues and enlargement of the cranium. A good deal of
attention has been directed to the surgical treatment of hydrocephalus, and with
early diagnosis and treatment this condition can usually be arrested before severe
brain damage has occurred.

Causes

1. Health problems- Diseases like whooping cough, the measles, or meningitis.

2. Problems at birth- Problems during labor and birth, such as not getting enough
oxygen.
3. Problems during pregnancy- When the baby does not develop inside the mother
properly.
4. Genetic conditions- Abnormal genes inherited from parents, errors when genes
combine, or other reasons.

Treatment

There is no treatment for mental retardation. Prevention is the best way to control it.
However some of the retardations like cretinism, if found early, can be treated in childhood.
Rehabilitation is also a possible solution for moderate and mild mentally challenged.

2. Learning disables
Definition

It is a disability in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused
by an unknown factor or factors. This disorder can make it problematic for a person to learn
as quickly or in the same way as someone who isn't affected by a learning disability.

Types

a) Dyslexia- The most common learning disability. Its a reading disability, which can
affect any part of the reading process, including difficulty with accurate or fluent
word recognition, or both, word decoding, reading rate, prosody (oral reading with
expression), and reading comprehension. 
b) Dysphasia/aphasia- This term is used for the person suffering with writing disorder.
Impaired written language ability may include impairments in handwriting, spelling,
organization of ideas and composition.
c) Dyscalculia- It’s a math disability, which can cause difficulties such as learning math
concepts (such as quantity, place value, and time), difficulty memorizing math facts,
difficulty organizing numbers, and understanding how problems are organized on
the page.

Treatment
Specific educational assistance is the best treatment for individuals with learning disabilities.
Gentle understanding, emotional support, and opportunities for the child to experience
success in other non-reading activities should be encouraged.

3. Mental disorder
Definition
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioural pattern associated with
distress or disability that occurs in an individual.

Types
a) Psychosis - An illness that prevents people from being able to distinguish between
the real world and the imaginary world. Symptoms include hallucinations (seeing or
hearing things that aren't really there, or delusions), irrational thoughts and fears.
b) Neurosis - Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving distress but
neither delusions nor hallucinations, where behaviour is not outside socially
acceptable norms.

Treatment
It is difficult to treat psychosis, but somewhat easy to treat neurosis. Medication and
psychotherapy have their role in treatment. However, treatment depends upon a person
himself/herself. It has been seen that it is easy to treat physical disorders but very difficult
to treat mental patients. The parents should be educated about proper child care. They
should be trained to take care of a sensitive child to prevent mental disorder.