Issues in the Classification of Mental Retardation: Differentiating Among Organic Etiologies

Abstract

Many researchers of mental retardation fail to take etiological differences into account, although the value of distinguishing between organic and familial mental retardation has long been discussed. The argument is made that even the two-group approach needs to be extended so that groups with different organic etiologies are studied separately. Taking etiological distinctions into account will allow for more precise research and a better understanding of mental retardation. Evidence for the utility of differentiating retarded persons by etiology is provided by a research review showing examples of behavioral differences between organically retarded groups. It is concluded that such differentiation also has clear implications for intervention.

Study of behavioral phenotypes: Goals and methodological considerations

“…Studies of aetiologically distinct groups of children will help to provide data relevant to theories about what might be delayed and what might be different in retarded development [Burack et al, 1988. The ''delay versus difference'' theories of mental retardation posit that specific groups of children may show delays in development, whereas others may show unique differences.…”

“…Burack and his colleagues, however, have convincingly argued the case for studying samples of children with specific causes for their mental retardation [Burack, 1990;Burack, et al, 1988;Hodapp et al, 1990], insisting that information currently arising from precision in etiologic classification is proving to enhance research and intervention in the field. Although it is critical to consider the degree of mental retardation in studies of behavioral phenotypes, level of impairment is inadequate as a basis for classification.…”

Dados epidemiológicos de deficientes mentais matriculadas no Instituto Londrinense de Educação para Crianças Especiais

“…Enquanto alguns defendem que toda deficiência se deve exclusivamente a exteriorização de um estado patológico, refletindo um distúrbio orgânico, que acarrete a perda ou anormalidade da função psicológica, fisiológica ou anatômica (WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION, 1980), outros acreditam que a DM nem sempre está ligada a eventos orgânicos, e incluem em suas causas fatores culturais e familiares (BURACK et al, 1998). Estima-se que 10% da população mundial tenha algum tipo de deficiência, sendo 2 a 3% de deficientes mentais (LLERENA et al, 2000).…”

How I Attend—Not How Well Do I Attend: Rethinking Developmental Frameworks of Attention and Cognition in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Typical Development

“…Although Cicchetti and colleagues (e.g., Cicchetti & Beeghly, 1990) further developed this idea throughout the 1980s in their discussions in the general developmental literature on the organization of developmental processes within and across the domains of social, affective, and cognitive functioning among infants and young children with Down syndrome, it was largely ignored in the more specific literatures on 556 developmental disabilities at that time and for decades to follow. Rather, within the context of prevailing defect approaches at the time, even the emergent emphasis on the unique patterns of relative strengths and weaknesses among individual etiological groups with intellectual disability (e.g., Down syndrome, Williams syndrome; Burack, 1990;Burack, Hodapp, & Zigler, 1988, 1990Dykens & Hodapp, 2001;Dykens, Hodapp, & Finucane, 2000) was still based on the "Does X have Y?" question.…”