Describe the psychology of Children with Mental Impairments

      

Describe the psychology of Children with Mental Impairments

  

Answers


Francis
Mental impairment refers to children and adults who have serious limitations in adjusting to their social environments. Those affected with mental impairments are not only more numerous in developing countries, but they face harsher consequences.
People who suffer mental impairments in developing countries are usually punished. The family and community often will shun these people, hiding them away and leaving them in deplorable conditions. These children and adults cannot attend normal schools and usually are unable to attain jobs.
Mental retardation (MR) is one of the most distressing handicaps in any society. Development of an individual with mental retardation depends on the type and extent of the underlying disorder, the associated disabilities, environmental factors, psychological factors, cognitive abilities and comorbid psychopathological conditions (Ludwik, et al., 2001). Social development means acquisition of the ability to behave in accordance with social expectations (Pati et al., 1996).
Becoming socialized involves 3 processes:
a. learning to behave in socially approved ways,
b. playing approved social roles and
c. Development of social attitudes (Hurlock, 1967).
For people with mental retardation, their eventual level of social development has implication for the degree of support needed in their literacy arrangement and their integration in the community with increasing emphasis on mainstreaming the attainment of skills in personal, domestic and community functioning. It also contributes considerably to quality of life. Thus investigation of factors that may facilitate or inhibit social development assumes particular importance.
Mentally retarded children, due to low intellectual growth, function with a limited capacity in comparison to normal children. Hence the social functioning of these children is found to be affected, and this is closely related to degree of impairment. In addition to brain pathology, there are other factors related to the malfunctioning of these children in a normal social setup. A particular environmental setup in which a child grows up is likely to play an important part in improving or deteriorating the child‘s functioning in a social milieu.
francis1897 answered the question on March 13, 2023 at 06:11


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