Mental retardation diagnostic study of choice

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Chelsea Mae Nobleza, M.D.[2] Kiran Singh, M.D. [3]

There is no specific study to diagnose intellectual disability. The DSM 5 Diagnostic Criteria specifies that all of the three criteria must be satisfied:

1. Individuals have difficulty in executive functioning, academic learning, and experiential learning confirmed by standard assessment tools and clinically.
2. Social communication skills are challenging and practical skills that impair independence (performing activities of daily living) and interaction with other people.
3. It happens during the developmental period.

The classification of ID must also be specified.

Note: The diagnostic term intellectual disability is the equivalent term for the ICD-11 diagnosis of intellectual developmental disorders. Although the term intellectual disability is used throughout this manual, both terms are used in the title to clarify relationships with other classification systems. Moreover, a federal statute in the United States (Public Law 111-256, Rosa’s Law) replaces the term mental retardation with intellectual disability, and research journals use the term intellectual disability. Thus, intellectual disability is the term in common use by medical, educational, and other professions and by the lay public and advocacy groups.

Unspecified intellectual disability refers to an intellectual disability that is difficult to evaluate among individuals > 5 years of age. Subjects with unspecified intellectual disabilities should be reassessed at a later time. The difficulty to assess the extent of the intellectual disability can be due to one or more of the following conditions: ^[2]

• Sensory impairment
• Physical impairment
• Locomotor disability
• Severe behavioral problem
• Coexisting mental disorder