Intellectual Disability (Mental Retardation)

Symptoms
By Johnna Medina, M.A.

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Intellectual Disability, formerly known as “Mental Retardation,” is a disorder with onset during
the developmental period. It includes intellectual deficits and difficulty functioning in daily life
in areas such as communication, self-care, home living, social/interpersonal skills, self-direction,
academics, work, leisure, health, and safety.

Intellectual disability has many different etiologies and may be seen as a final common pathway
of various pathological processes that affect the central nervous system.

Prior to the publication of DSM-5 in 2013, diagnostic criteria for Mental Retardation required
that an individual score ~2 standard deviations below their expected IQ compared to same-age-
peers on standardized IQ tests (Full Scale Intellectual Quotient ≤ 70).

In the DSM-5, IQ scores have been deemphasized. There is no longer a “cut-off” score or

threshold per se for establishing a diagnosis. Rather, scaled IQ scores are evaluated in context of
individual’s entire “clinical picture.”

The rationale for this change was that while scaled IQ scores represent approximations of
conceptual functioning, they may be insufficient to assess reasoning in real-life situations and
mastery of practical tasks within conceptual, social, and practical domains. For example, a
person with an IQ score above 70 may have such severe adaptive behavior problems in social
judgment, social understanding, and other areas of adaptive functioning that the person’s actual
functioning is comparable to that of individuals with a lower IQ score. For this reason, clinical
judgment is required to interpret the results of an IQ test.

This criteria has been adapted for DSM-5.

Determining Severity of Intellectual Disability

This criteria has been adapted for DSM-5. Diagnostic code 317 (Mild), 318.0 (Moderate), 318.1
(Severe), 318.2 (Profound).

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