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 the baby s birth . For example if the baby s is underweight

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.