Communication with Cognitively Impaired patients.

Course overview

What is Intellectual Disability (ID)? Intelligence is a general mental capability. It includes thinking, reasoning, planning, and problem solving. It also includes learning, applying new information, and being able to remember what was learned. Having intelligence allows a person to adapt to what is going on around them. Intellectual disability (ID) used to be considered a condition related to low intelligence only. Now days, it is defined as having low intelligence PLUS trouble functioning in the environment (American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, 2015). For example, people with ID may have trouble communicating. They may also have trouble socializing. Another area they may struggle with is holding down a job. They may even have trouble making decisions. If the condition is severe enough, it may even affect the ability to take care of basic needs like bathing, dressing, and eating. A person is considered intellectually disabled if he or she has both conditions of low intelligence and trouble adapting. If only one or the other is present, the person is not considered intellectually disabled. To be considered intellectually disabled, low intelligence and functioning problems have to be present in childhood, or before the 18th birthday. In other words, if a person has average or above average intelligence in childhood but then develops trouble with thinking or memory later in life, this is not intellectual disability. This would be considered something different, such as dementia. IQ Testing The main test to measure human intelligence is the intelligence quotient (IQ test). IQ test scores between 85 and 115 are considered average. People with IQ scores less than 70 are said to have low intelligence (American Psychological Association). IQ tests measure crystallized intelligence and fluid intelligence (American Psychological Association). Crystallized intelligence is related to what a person has learned through education and experience. Fluid intelligence is related to what a person can figure out.