Is Adhd Considered An Intellectual Disability

Add And Adhd: Personal And Sociological Effects And Treatment Options

ADD/ADHD is a condition affecting both and adults; with estimates suggesting approximately 300,000 or more Canadians are diagnosed each year. Both diseases cause disabling symptoms that impede development and impair social function. Canadians afflicted with and/or ADD may be eligible for government support through the Disability Tax Credit for ADHD or ADD.

Intellectual Disability: What To Look For

Children with intellectual disability learn more slowly than typically developing children. These learning deficits generally apply to many kinds of learning and across different developmental stages. Young children with the disorder may learn to sit up, crawl, walk or talk later than other children. Most have difficulties developing communication skills as well as trouble interpreting and applying new information. These children often have trouble keeping up in school.

Older children with intellectual disability may demonstrate deficits in memory, social, and problem-solving skills. A lack of social inhibitions may also be a sign that a child has this disordernot because the child is acting out or rebelling, but because he has difficulties interpreting the signs as to what kinds of behavior are appropriate in a given situation.

Children with intellectual disability often have difficulty with adaptive skills, or tasks of daily living, that typically children do not experience.

International Classification Of Diseases

In the tenth revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems by the World Health Organization, the symptoms of hyperkinetic disorder were analogous to ADHD in the DSM-5. When a conduct disorder is present, the condition was referred to as hyperkinetic conduct disorder. Otherwise, the disorder was classified as disturbance of activity and attention, other hyperkinetic disorders or hyperkinetic disorders, unspecified. The latter was sometimes referred to as hyperkinetic syndrome.

In the implementation version of , the disorder is classified under 6A05 , and hyperkinetic disorder no longer exists. The defined subtypes are similar to those of the DSM-5: predominantly inattentive presentation ; predominantly hyperactive-impulsive presentation; combined presentation . However, the ICD-11 includes two residual categories for individuals who do not entirely match any of the defined subtypes: other specified presentation where the clinician includes detail on the individual’s presentation; and presentation unspecified where the clinician does not provide detail.

Adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder management

Prognosis For Add And Adhd

Traditional classrooms and academic activities often exacerbate symptoms and signs in children with untreated or inadequately treated ADHD. Social and emotional adjustment problems may be persistent. Poor acceptance by peers and loneliness tend to increase with age and with the obvious display of symptoms. Substance abuse may result if ADHD is not identified and adequately treated because many adolescents and adults with ADHD self-medicate with both legal and illegal substances.

Although hyperactivity symptoms and signs tend to diminish with age, adolescents and adults may display residual difficulties. Predictors of poor outcomes in adolescence and adulthood include

• Coexisting low intelligence

• Social and interpersonal problems

• Parental psychopathology

Problems in adolescence and adulthood manifest predominantly as academic failure, low self-esteem, and difficulty learning appropriate social behavior. Adolescents and adults who have predominantly impulsive ADHD may have an increased incidence of personality trait disorders and antisocial behavior; many continue to display impulsivity, restlessness, and poor social skills. People with ADHD seem to adjust better to work than to academic and home situations, particularly if they can find jobs that do not require intense attention to perform.

How Is Intellectual Disability Diagnosed

Intellectual disability may be suspected for many different reasons. If a baby has physical abnormalities that suggest a genetic or metabolic disorder, a variety of tests may be done to confirm the diagnosis. These include tests, urine tests, imaging tests to look for structural problems in the , or electroencephalogram to look for evidence of seizures.

In children with developmental delays, the doctor will perform tests to rule out other problems, including hearing problems and certain neurological disorders. If no other cause can be found for the delays, the child will be referred for formal testing.

Continued

Three things factor into the diagnosis of intellectual disability: interviews with the parents, observation of the child, and testing of intelligence and adaptive behaviors. A child is considered intellectually disabled if they have deficits in both IQ and adaptive behaviors. If only one or the other is present, the child is not considered intellectually disabled.

After a diagnosis of intellectual disability is made, a team of professionals will assess the childs particular strengths and weaknesses. This helps them determine how much and what kind of support the child will need to succeed at home, in school, and in the community.

Research Into Use Of Biomarkers For Diagnosis

Reviews of ADHD have noted that platelet monoamine oxidase expression, urinary , urinary , and urinary levels consistently differ between ADHD individuals and healthy controls. These measurements could potentially serve as diagnostic biomarkers for ADHD, but more research is needed to establish their diagnostic utility. Urinary and blood plasma phenethylamine concentrations are lower in ADHD individuals relative to controls and the two most commonly prescribed drugs for ADHD, and , increase phenethylamine in treatment-responsive individuals with ADHD. Lower urinary phenethylamine concentrations are also associated with symptoms of inattentiveness in ADHD individuals. is not accurate enough to make an ADHD diagnosis.

How Common Is Intellectual Disability

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There are a number of common characteristics that may have a significant impact on an individual’s learning, including:

• difficulty understanding new information.
• difficulties with communication and social skills.
• slow cognitive processing time.

Common Developmental Disabilities in Children

• Intellectual disabilities.

Risperidone For Adhd In People With Intellectual Disabilities

Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder is more common in people with intellectual disability than in the general population.  As in the general population, ADHD adversely affects the ability to learn and is associated with behavioural disturbance, and therefore any intervention to reduce these symptoms is important.

Risperidone is a ‘newer’ atypical antipsychotic medication, prescribed to people with ID for many reasons, including disruptive behaviour, ADHD and psychosis. Most of the research into using risperidone for hyperactivity or disruptive behaviour has been performed in people with autism who do not have a clear diagnosis of ADHD. The aim of this review was to examine the effectiveness of risperidone in people with intellectual disability and ADHD.

No trials were found, and therefore there is no randomised controlled trial evidence to support or warn against the use of risperidone in this group of people.  It is important that this reseearch question is answered as many people with intellectual disability and ADHD are prescribed this medication. 

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is increasingly recognised as occurring in people with intellectual disability , although treatment of ADHD in this population has not ben tested widely. Risperidone has been used to treat ADHD in people with ID, although the evidence for its effectiveness is unclear.

Receiving Benefits For A Child With Adhd

Receiving benefits for an adult with ADHD is a very similar process for children. The same conditions must be fulfilled for a child to receive SSDI or an alternative benefit known as supplemental security income . Unless a child has a parent who is also collecting SSDI benefits, they will not receive these benefits. Instead, SSI helps both children and adults who are disabled and cannot successfully earn a living or earn too little to make ends meet. The goal of social security benefits for a child with ADHD is to help family members with their care.

While ADHD is considered a disability for a child, in order to be considered for government disability benefits, children must meet specific criteria similar to their adult counterparts.

The Blurred Line Between Autism And Intellectual Disability

Doctors often conflate autism and intellectual disability, and no wonder: The biological distinction between them is murky. Scientific progress depends on knowing where the conditions intersect and part ways.

Soon after Patrick Kelly started school at age 5, his teachers told his parents he belonged in special-education classes. His academic performance was poor, and his behaviors were disruptive: hand-flapping, rocking, hitting his head with his wrists and tapping his desk repeatedly. He often seemed as if he was not paying attention to people when they spoke to him. He would stare off into the distance, head turned to the side.

Kellys teachers assumed he had intellectual disability, known at the time as mental retardation. Then when he was around 9, a routine eye exam at school revealed that he could barely see. With glasses, he went from underperforming to outperforming his peers in every subject but English in just two years. And it turned out that he had been listening in the classroom all along. Finally, at age 13, a psychologist diagnosed him with pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified, a form of autism.

Adhd Learning Disability It May Be Both

Join the discussion.

Getting appropriate and effective treatment for a condition depends on getting an accurate diagnosis. But if two or more conditions such as ADHD and learning disorders exhibit similar symptoms, or when those conditions co-occur, accurate or differential diagnosis can be challenging. What is the relationship between learning disorders and ADHD, and what does that mean to you?

Learning challenges in ADHD

• inattention to details; makes careless mistakes
• easily distracted
• loses supplies, forgets to turn in assignments
• trouble finishing assigned work 
• interrupts or intrudes on others

What is a learning disability?

ADHD is not, in itself, a learning disability , but its behavioral manifestations impair the persons ability to learn. For that reason, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act has defined the term Specific Learning Disability as: 

A disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations. Such term includes such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia.

Specific Learning Disorder

The DSM-5 lists subtypes of impairment in learning disorders:

When ADHD and learning disorders co-occur

So If An Intellectual Disability Is Considered A Slower Pace Of Learning Then Why Is It Not Called A Learning Disability

There is often confusion regarding the difference between a learning and intellectual disability. Children with a learning disability often have select deficits with learning in specific academic domains . These children demonstrate stronger performance on IQ measures than children with an intellectual disability. The long-term implications may be different for an individual with a learning disability versus an intellectual disability as well. Individuals with a learning disability do not often have the same level of adaptive impairments as someone with an intellectual disability. These adaptive impairments often lead individuals with an intellectual disability to require long-term supports, where this is not the same for someone with a learning disability.

Treatment Of Add And Adhd

• Behavioral therapy

• Drug therapy, typically with stimulants such as methylphenidate or dextroamphetamine

Randomized, controlled studies show behavioral therapy alone is less effective than therapy with stimulant drugs alone for school-aged children, but behavioral or combination therapy is recommended for younger children. Although correction of the underlying neurophysiologic differences of patients with ADHD does not occur with drug therapy, drugs are effective in alleviating ADHD symptoms and they permit participation in activities previously inaccessible because of poor attention and impulsivity. Drugs often interrupt the cycle of inappropriate behavior, enhancing behavioral and academic interventions, motivation, and self-esteem.

Treatment of ADHD in adults follows similar principles, but drug selection and dosing are determined on an individual basis, depending on other medical conditions.

Can Developmental Disability Be Called Something Else

Developmental disabilities that may also include an intellectual disability are briefly described below. Intellectual disabilities can also be caused by a head injury, stroke or illness. For some no cause is found. Intellectual disabilities will vary in degree and effect from person to person, just as individual capabilities vary considerably among people who do not have an intellectual disability. People should not make generalizations about the needs of persons with intellectual disabilities. In some instances an intellectual disability will not be obvious from a persons appearance, nor will it be accompanied by a physical disability. Persons with intellectual disabilities successfully perform a wide range of jobs, and can be dependable workers.

Communication Styles For People With Autism

The impairment includes both spoken language and non-verbal skills. People with autism may have no speech , or may have difficulty with speech production and/or conversation skills. There may be a total lack of development of speech which is also not compensated by the development of non-verbal modes of communication . In individuals who have speech, there may be a repetitive and stereotypic use of language, abnormal prosody , immature grammatical structures. There may be use of metaphorical language and/or neologisms which is understood only by those familiar with individuals communication style. There are also impairments in ones ability to initiate or sustain conversation with others.

Diagnostic And Statistical Manual

As with many other psychiatric disorders, a formal diagnosis should be made by a qualified professional based on a set number of criteria. In the United States, these criteria are defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the . Based on the DSM-5 criteria published in 2013, there are three presentations of ADHD:

This subdivision is based on presence of at least six out of nine long-term symptoms of inattention, hyperactivityâimpulsivity, or both. To be considered, several symptoms must have appeared by the age of six to twelve and occur in more than one environment . The symptoms must be inappropriate for a child of that age and there must be clear evidence that they are causing social, school or work related problems.

The DSM-5 also provides two diagnoses for individuals who have symptoms of ADHD but do not entirely meet the requirements. Other Specified ADHD allows the clinician to describe why the individual does not met the criteria, whereas Other Unspecified ADHD is used where the clinician chooses not to describe the reason.

What Causes Intellectual Or Cognitive Impairments

Intellectual or cognitive impairments can start any time before a child reaches the age of 18 years. Persons who have intellectual disabilities may have other impairments as well. Examples of coexisting conditions may include: cerebral palsy, seizure disorders, vision impairment, hearing loss, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder . Persons with severe intellectual disabilities are more likely to have additional limitations than persons with milder intellectual disabilities .

A Child Who Is Both On The Autism Spectrum And Has Co

Very high level, complex needs, in this context, may not be consequent of Autism of itself, but rather consequent of the child having intellectual disability and / or the combined challenges of both Intellectual disability and Autism.Identifying a co-concurring Intellectual Disability in an Autistic child is important to best support the individual learning needs and development of independence skills of that child. An Intellectual Disabled Autistic child will, for example, benefit from more repetition, including pre-teaching and re-teaching, particularly in intellectual functioning areas, compared to other Autistic children their age.

Importantly, presuming competence that is assuming a person has capacity to think, understand and learn is the only respectful path when interacting with both Autistic and / or Intellectually Disabled individuals.  With the right supports, all individuals are capable of growing, learning and developing; and, all individuals, irrelevant of intellectual challenges, have their own personalities and preferences which should also be respected.

When Will An Individual With An Intellectual Disability Catch

Individuals with an intellectual disability often acquire and learn information at a slower rate than their peers. Children with an intellectual disability, particularly a mild intellectual disability, may keep pace with peers academically until the second or third grade. However, as the demands on reasoning and problem-solving increase, the gap in learning increases as well. Although individuals with an intellectual disability may not catch-up to their peers, they will continue to learn and acquire new information and therefore require strong supports in place to help accomplish their goals.

Environmental And Other Causes

Sometimes an intellectual disability is caused by an environmental factor or other causes. These causes can be quite varied but can include:

• Problems during pregnancy such as viral or bacterial infections
• Complications during birth
• Exposure to toxins such as lead or mercury
• Complications from illnesses such as meningitis, measles or whooping cough
• Malnutrition
• Exposure to alcohol and other drugs
• Trauma

Research Into Positive Traits

Possible positive traits of ADHD are a new avenue of research, and therefore limited. Studies are being done on whether ADHD symptoms could potentially be beneficial.

A 2020 review found that creativity may be associated with ADHD symptoms, particularly divergent thinking and quantity of creative achievements, but not with the disorder of ADHD itself â i.e. it has not been found in patients diagnosed with the disorder, only in patients with subclinical symptoms or those that possess traits associated with the disorder. Divergent thinking is the ability to produce creative solutions which differ significantly from each other and consider the issue from multiple perspectives. Those with ADHD symptoms could be advantaged in this form of creativity as they tend to have diffuse attention, allowing rapid switching between aspects of the task under consideration; flexible associative memory, allowing them to remember and use more distantly-related ideas which is associated with creativity; and impulsivity, which causes people with ADHD symptoms to consider ideas which others may not have. However, people with ADHD may struggle with convergent thinking, which is a process of creativity that requires sustained effort and consistent use of executive functions to weed out solutions which aren’t creative from a single area of inquiry. People with the actual disorder often struggle with executive functioning.

Developmental Monitoring And Screening

A childs growth and development are followed through a partnership between parents and health care professionals. At each well-child visit, the doctor looks for developmental delays or problems and talks with the parents about any concerns the parents might have. This is called developmental monitoring.

Any problems noticed during developmental monitoring should be followed up with developmental screening. Developmental screening is a short test to tell if a child is learning basic skills when he or she should, or if there are delays.

If a child has a developmental delay, it is important to get help as soon as possible. Early identification and intervention can have a significant impact on a childs ability to learn new skills, as well as reduce the need for costly interventions over time.

Developmental monitoring and screening »

Human Rights And Legal Status

The law treats person with intellectual disabilities differently than those without intellectual disabilities. Their human rights and freedoms, including the right to vote, the right to conduct business, enter into a contract, enter into marriage, right to education, are often limited. The courts have upheld some of these limitations and found discrimination in others. The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which sets minimum standards for the rights of persons with disabilities, has been ratified by more than 180 countries. In several U.S. states, and several European Union states, persons with intellectual disabilities are disenfranchised. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in Alajos Kiss v. Hungary that Hungary violated the applicant’s rights by a blank disenfranchisement of persons with intellectual disabilities who did not hold legal capacity.

What Services Are Available For People With Intellectual Disability

For babies and , early intervention programs are available. A team of professionals works with parents to write an Individualized Family Service Plan, or IFSP. This document outlines the childs specific needs and what services will help the child thrive. Early intervention may include speech therapy, occupational therapy, physical therapy, family counseling, training with special assistive devices, or services.

School-age children with intellectual disabilities are eligible for special education for free through the public school system. This is mandated by the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act . Parents and educators work together to create an Individualized Education Program, or IEP, which outlines the childs needs and the services the child will receive at school. The point of special education is to make adaptations, accommodations, and modifications that allow a child with an intellectual disability to succeed in the classroom.

Can An Intellectual Disability Be Caused By Other Disorders Like Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Or Language Difficulties

Although ADHD and language disorders do not cause an intellectual disability, it is important to consider these factors when diagnosing a child with an intellectual disability. Difficulties with attention and language comprehension and production are often seen in children and adults with an intellectual disability.However, if attention difficulties are significant even when a child is placed within a structured learning environment, they may meet criteria for ADHD as well. Language is often considered when making the diagnosis of an intellectual disability. Specifically, it is important to consider if a childs overall cognitive limitations are due to difficulties accessing language, only. This why IQ scores alone do not determine if a child has an intellectual disability.

Types Of Funding & Support

Family Support Services are available to assist families with children who have intellectual disabilities to help promote healthy development, maximize quality of life and assist families in their role as primary caregivers.

• Respite Services: Families can get some rest and relief provided through contracted respite, or funding to purchase the respite services that best meet their needs. 
• Support Services: These include a range of programs intended to support parents to care for their child or youth with support needs in the home. Some examples of the types of supports available are: access to a child and youth care worker; behaviour supports; parenting skills training and support groups; counselling; household management services, and; life skills activities or programs for children and youth

What Are Some Examples Of Intellectual Disabilities

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Intellectual Disability is the most common developmental disabilitynearly 6.5 million people in the United States have some level of ID.Examples of associated disabilities:

Furthermore, what are the 4 levels of intellectual disability? There are four levels of ID:

• mild.
• profound.

Likewise, what are considered intellectual disabilities?

Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations both in intellectual functioning and in adaptive behavior, which covers a range of everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18.

Is ADHD an intellectual disability?

Some mental health, neurodevelopmental, medical and physical conditions frequently co-occur in individuals with intellectual disability, including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, ADHD, autism spectrum disorder and depression and anxiety disorders.

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Who Can Make A Diagnosis

Different specialists are qualified to test and diagnose different conditions. There might be variations depending on where you live and an individual clinicians qualification.

• Child psychiatrist: They can evaluate for ADHD but not an LD.
• Clinical psychologist: They can evaluate for both ADHD and LD.
• Educational psychologist: They can evaluate for an LD and, depending on their training, can evaluate for ADHD.
• Neuropsychologist: They can evaluate for both ADHD and LD.
• School psychologist: If they are working in a school, they can evaluate for an LD but not ADHD. However, if they are seen privately outside of school, they might be able to evaluate for and diagnose ADHD.