Mental Retardation Essay, Research Paper
Mental Retardation
The term Mental retardation or Mentally challenged which most people prefer,is
when a persn can t really think for themselves. The person can t do what most normal
people can do such as communicate with others properly or be able to do schoolwork ,
also they have a low attention span. For exampe if you were talking to them for let s say
20 minutes, maybe after ten minutes they would get frustrated and their mind would be
wondering somewhere else and it would be as if you were talking to a wall. Mental
retardation can be caused by the following genetic conditions, problems during the
pregnancy,problems at birth, and poverty cultural deprivation.
What happens in Genetic conditions is the babies genes are abnormal and this can
be caused by things like infections or overexposure to x-rays. An example of a Gene
disorder is Down Syndrome, which is when there is an abnormal gene count. Another
example of a Gene disorder inherited is Fragile X Syndrome when the X there is a
disorder in the X chromosome. In genetic disorders mental retardation can be either
caused by man or be inherited from the babies family.
Another cause of Mental retardation is when problems occur at pregnancy. The
baby s mom may be drinking alcohol which is damaging to the baby or maybe the mother
is smoking cigarrettes or taking in illegal substance which can really screw up the baby.
Also could have hiv which would possibly pass on to the baby or the mother may have
S.T.D. s which can also cause harm to the baby.
Next is problems at
then that would foreshadow future problems. Another thing is if the baby was dropped
that could cause serious damage to the brain permanently.Some problems which may
damage the baby s brain could be chicken pox which could turn serious or measles or
Hib disease which sometimes leads to meningitis or encephalitis which damages the
brain. The baby could also be abused which causes brain damage too.
Last but not least is poverty and cultural deprivation. Like if a kid doesn t have
the proper amount of food to eat they will be malnutritioned and if they catch a simple
flu that most people would be able to get rid of in 24 hours this could damage their brian.
The reason being is because the wouldn t have the vitamins and antibodies in them to
help fight the cold and it could get worser and worser to the point where their brain is
effected. Also when a person insn t given the chance to use their brain for a long time
this can also cause mental retardation because the brain has no use if the person isn t
using it, it is just taking up space so it kind of slows down. This usually happens where
people can t afford to send their children to school.
Mental retardation can be caused by numerous things such as
genetic disorders,poverty and cultural deprivation,problems before and after the baby s
birth and problems during the pregnancy. Just from reading this a person can see having a
baby is for those who that are responsible enough to take care of their children and even
if the child has a defect at birth they have to accept the child.