Sexuality and Intellectual Disability

Abstract

Amad is a wonderful 16-year-old young man from Syria who has recently relocated to the United States from his war-torn native country. In his last few years in Syria, he was primarily at home with his mother, and they sought refuge with a maternal aunt in the United States seeking asylum and treatment of Amad's disability. At 8 years of age, he had intelligence testing in the United Arab Emirates, which showed a verbal intelligence score on the Wechsler intelligence scale for children (WISC) of 68 and a performance of 64. His working memory was 67 and his processing speed was 65. On arrival in the United States, his achievement was roughly at a third-grade level in Arabic. In the year and a half that he has been in the United States, he quickly improved his English skills, which he learned as a toddler. His father remains in Syria unable to safely immigrate and his mother is raising him alone in the United States with the help of her sister. They come to you for an urgent care visit because Amad recently was accused of sexual harassment by two girls at his high school. He is in a substantially separate program but is included for lunch and technology. While in the computer laboratory, he repeatedly approached the girls and asks them to "date" him, and on 1 occasion sat behind 1 girl and repeatedly reached out to stroke her long blonde hair. His mother is distraught because she recently found out that Amad also has a Facebook page and had been attempting to contact the same two girls on social media. The girls' parents recently threatened to file criminal harassment charges and Amad's mother comes to you asking for help with making Amad stop this activity. What would you do next?

<p>Older siblings' influence on sexual behavior of high school adolescents in Mekelle, northern Ethiopia</p>

“…This sibling similarity might be due to younger siblings observing their older siblings‘ behavior and sexual permissiveness and subsequently using this knowledge as a point of reference in shaping their own behavior. This result suggests that older siblings can play a more beneficial role in their younger siblings' lives and is consistent with social learning theory16 and previous sibling research,8,13,14 which suggests that indirect learning from an older sibling is one mechanism through which adolescents form expectations about health-risk behaviors, and strengthens the idea that older siblings can shape younger adolescents‘ sexual behaviors and potentially impact the transition to adulthood. However the odds were smaller than the data from Kenya (AOR 5.66, 95% CI 3.4–7.8),13 but higher than studies done in Rhode Island (AOR 3.72, 95% CI 1.37–10.09),14 and Philadelphia (AOR 2.3, 95% CI 1.27–3.55) 15.…”

A comprehensive educational program for promoting Sexual Knowledge and Social Skills Mild Intellectually Disabled Teenagers in Puberty: protocol for a mixed methods study

“…Thus, hitting puberty, regardless of the mental age of girls and boys with MID, is a sign showing that they have passed the childhood stage and require adult support to attain sexually acceptable behavior in accordance with the norms and expectations of society. Accordingly, ID adolescents ought to be trained by parents and educators before and after puberty [14].…”

“…Teenagers with MID should be familiar with their body organs and understand the normality of their physical changes. It seems that they need to understand rules about relationships, personal boundaries, and sexuality [14]. Sexual health encompasses physical, emotional, spiritual and social dimensions.…”