Cognitive Disabilities

Cognitive disabilities
In loose terms, a person with a cognitive disability has greater difficulty with one or more
types of mental tasks than the average person
The connection between a person's biology and mental processes is most obvious in the
case of traumatic brain injury and genetic disorders, but even the more subtle cognitive
disabilities often have a basis in the structure or chemistry of the brain.
Cognitive Disability means;
Significantly sub average intellectual functioning ...
Existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior
Adversely affects education performance
Functional vs. Clinical Cognitive Disabilities
Clinical diagnoses of cognitive disabilities include autism, Down Syndrome, traumatic
brain injury (TBI), and even dementia.
Less severe cognitive conditions include attention deficit disorder (ADD), dyslexia
(difficulty reading), dyscalculia (difficulty with math), and learning disabilities in
general.
Down syndrome
What Causes Down Syndrome?
Occasionally, an egg or sperm cell does not develop properly and contributes 24
chromosomes instead of 23.
Down syndrome results if the extra chromosome is number 21.
The features of Down syndrome result from having an extra chromosome 21 in each of
the bodys cells.
Down syndrome is also referred to as Trisomy 21, because of the presence of three
number 21 chromosomes
What Does a Child With Down syndrome Look Like?
May have eyes that slant upward.
Small ears that may fold over at the top.
Small mouths, making the tongue appear large.
Small nose, with a flattened nasal bridge.
Some babies may have short necks, small hands, and short fingers.
Adults are often short with unusually limber joints.
Health Issues
Many children with Down syndrome have health complications beyond the usual
childhood illnesses. Approximately 40% of the children have congenital heart defects.
Health Issues
Many children with Down syndrome have health complications beyond the usual
childhood illnesses. Approximately 40% of the children have congenital heart defects.
Learning & Development

Most children with Down syndrome have mild to moderate impairments but it is
important to note that they are more like other children than they are different
Children and adults with Down syndrome experience developmental delays, they also
have many talents and gifts and should be given the opportunity and encouragement to
develop them.
AUTISM
Autism is a complex developmental disability that typically appears during the first three
years of life
It is widely recognized as a neuro-developmental disorder that affects the functioning of
the brain.
It is a spectrum disorder
Children with autism are unable to interpret the emotional states of others, failing to
recognize anger, sorrow or manipulative intent
It impacts the normal development of the brain in the areas of social interaction and
communication skills
Children and adults with autism typically have difficulties in verbal and non-verbal
communication, social interactions, and leisure or play activities
In some cases, aggressive and/or self-injurious behaviors might be present
It is not a behavioral, emotional or conduct disorder
There are no medical tests that can be used to diagnose autism
It is not a mental illness
Symptoms of children with autism
Communication
Avoid eye contact
Act as if deaf
Develop language, then abruptly stop talking
Fail to use spoken language, without compensating by gesture

Exploration of environment
Remain fixated on a single item or activity
Practice strange actions like rocking or hand-flapping

Show no sensitivity to burns or bruises, and engage in self-mutilation
Are intensely preoccupied with a single subject, activity or gesture
Show distress over change
Insist on routine or rituals with no purpose
Lack fear
Social relationships
Act as if unaware of the coming and going of others
Are inaccessible, as if in a shell

Fail to seek comfort
Fail to develop relationships with peers
Have problems seeing things from another persons perspective, leaving the child unable
to predict or understand other peoples actions
Physically attack and injure others without provocation

Teaching Tips for Children with Autism
Use visuals
Avoid long strings of verbal instruction
Encourage development of childs special talents
Use childs fixations to motivate school work
Use concrete, visual methods to teach number concepts
Let child use a computer instead of writing
Protect child from sounds that hurt his/her ears
Interact with child while he/she is swinging or rolled in a mat
Dont ask child to look and listen at the same time
Teach with tactile learning materials (e.g., sandpaper alphabet)
Use printed words and pictures on a flashcard
Other symptoms of children with autism
An infant should respond to others with a social smile within the second or third month of
life. Lack of such a smile during this period is often the earliest indication of autism.
Early sign of problems in social communication is a lack of gestures, including pointing.
Children with autism have a delay in speech and in severe cases sometimes do not speak
at all.
When children with autism are able to speak, they may repeat back exactly what is said to
them.
Unusual behaviors
Insist on doing things in exactly the same way or on following the same routine from day
to day.
Children may be alarmed by common sounds such as a flushing toilet or falling rain.
Self injury (hand biting, skin picking, head banging)
Repetitive behavior( stereotypy
Restricted behaviors-they may also be preoccupied with parts of objects
Example: children with autism will have a limited number of intense interests, such as
dinosaurs, trains, or characters from a cartoon
Compulsive behavior- intended and appears to follow rules, such as arranging objects in
stacks or lines.
Dementia
Is a serious loss of global cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond

what might be expected from normal aging.
result of a unique global brain injury, or progressive, resulting in long-term decline due to
damage or disease in the body
it can occur before the age of 65
affected areas of cognition may be memory, attention, language, and problem solving
affected persons may be disoriented in time in place and in person
According to Gelder(2005) dementia reduces the ability to learn, reason, retain or recall
past experience and there is also loss of patterns of thoughts, feelings and activities
Psychosis (often delusions of persecution) and agitation/aggression also often
accompany dementia
Alzheimer's disease
Progressive brain disorder that causes a gradual and irreversible decline in memory,
language skills, perception of time and space, and, eventually, the ability to care for
oneself.
Alzheimers disease is not a normal part of the aging process, the risk of developing the
disease increases as people grow older.
Early stages
Alzheimers patients have relatively mild problems learning new information and
remembering where they have left common objects, such as keys or a wallet.
Then, they begin to have trouble recollecting recent events and finding the right words to
express themselves.
As the disease progresses, patients may have difficulty remembering what day or month
it is, or finding their way around familiar surroundings. They may develop a tendency to
wander off and then be unable to find their way back.
Behavioral changes may become more pronounced as patients become paranoid or
delusional and unable to engage in normal conversation
The causes of Alzheimers disease remain a mystery, but researchers have found that
particular groups of people have risk factors that make them more likely to develop the
disease than the general population. For example, people with a family history of
Alzheimers are more likely to develop Alzheimers disease.
Eventually Alzheimers patients become completely incapacitated and unable to take care
of their most basic life functions, such as eating and using the bathroom.

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Cognitive disabilities

Learning & Development

Develop language, then abruptly stop talking

Fail to use spoken language, without compensating by gesture

Practice strange actions like rocking or hand-flapping

Show distress over change

Insist on routine or rituals with no purpose

Are inaccessible, as if in a shell

Physically attack and injure others without provocation

Is a serious loss of global cognitive ability in a previously unimpaired person, beyond

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