Vocabulary notes. adaptive behavior – приспособительное (адаптационное) поведение

layperson (= layman) – непрофессионал, дилетант

maternity – м атеринство, материнский

mental retardation – олигофрения, малоумие, врожденное слабоумие

successive levels – рядуровней (развития)

Children may experience physical, emotional, and learning problems as they grow. Several questions arise. What are the problems? Are they severe enough that the children should be labeled with a handicapping condition such as mental retardation? Do these children need special services to help them succed?

The most widely accepted definition of mental retardation is as follows: mental retardation refers to significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning resulting in or associated with concurrent impairments in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period.

Mental retardation can be distinguished from other conditions found in adulthood that are manifested by low intellectual functioning or maladaptive behavior.

Intellectual functioning basically refers to intelligence as measured by an individually administered intelligence test. The most commonly used tests are the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (Wechsler, 1974) and the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale (Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986). The Stanford-Binet produces a composite score (CS) that is interpreted like an IQ. An IQ of 100 means that student's standing is at the very middle of the group, half of the group having higher scores and half having lower ones.

The American Association on Mental Retardation further divides the IQ/CS range into four levels: mild, moderate, severe, and profound.

Since 1960, professionals have become more sensitive in how they refer to persons with mental retardation. This change is part of the whole movement to reduce the negative impact of being labeled with mental retardation.

Until the 1950s, the professional literature used harsh terms such as " moron", " imbecile", and " idiot". The authors of the major intelligence tests, Wechsler (1949) and Terman and Merrill (1960), referred to persons with IQs below 70 as mental defectives. Research articles in the American Journal on Mental Deficiency used the term " retardate". These terms became part of the layperson's speech.

Many professionals even find more neutral terms — the educable mentally retarded (EMR), the trainable mentally retarded (TMR), and the severely and profoundly mentally retarded (SPMR) (see MacMillan, 1982) — to be unacceptable because they imply an all-encompassing condition.

The descriptor " mentally retarded" becomes the only way in which we think of the person. As a result, we come to assume that the person is incapable of doing much. The preferred term is " the person with mental retardation". This term suggests that mental retardation is one of many qualities, albeit an important one. Professionals must remember to be careful in referring to children and adults with mental retardation. Some labels have evident negative meanings, whereas others are more subtle in communicating a negative meaning.

(C.J. Drew, M.L. Hardman, D.R. Logan. Mental retardation. A life cycle approach (6th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996.)

Отставание в развитии детей может быть обусловлено причинами воспитательного характера – когда взрослые не уделяют развитию ребенка должного внимания. Если это исключено, то причинами задержки развития детей чаще всего являются органические и функциональные нарушения центральной нервной системы (ЦНС), имеющие наследственный или травматический характер.

Человек, страдающий слабоумием, утрачивает знания об окружающем мире и даже о самом себе. Для установления диагноза необходимо иметь полную историю болезни пациента, а также проверить наличие специфических когнитивных дефектов. Основным средством терапии слабоумия являются лекарственные препараты, воздействующие на нейротрансмиттеры [5].

Task 3. Use the expressions in the sentences of your own.