Originally Posted by Val
Originally Posted by HowlerKarma
Are children with profound mental retardation capable of "learning to read?"

Well, yes, probably SOME of them are, given enough of the idealizing inputs discussed. But not all of them, and it may depend on your standards-- is this at the level of a 3rd grader? A sixth grader?

Can they simply "grow" into this task if they really, really want to, and we all "encourage" them enough?


I'd argue that the answer is "no." That's not to say that life ought to be filled with people saying "Nope, not for you."

Having spent some time around profoundly (and severely) retarded kids, I'd have to disagree that even some of them can learn to read. They can't even talk (though some can learn some sign language). Our school system is very generous with them, and they may get aides in a classroom or, for those who can't go to school, get visits from aides who help them develop motor skills and so on. The experiences are enriching for them, but they don't learn learn reading skills. Certainly, some moderately retarded children may learn to read a little and write a few words.

I'm only pointing this out because it highlights the reality of ability limits. People who work with severely intellectually disabled children don't generally pretend that these kids can make themselves smarter if they work hard. Maybe this is because they spend a lot of time working with these kids and they get to know what that condition really means.

Maybe I sound mean. I don't know. Personally, I think it's meaner to tell a student with a barely average or below-average IQ that he can become an engineer if he just believes in himself and works hard.

Our society encourages people to stretch themselves, which is a good thing. I just think that we've reached a point where the idea gets taken way, way too far, and it does a lot of damage.

Just a small comment on ID individuals learning to read:

Many moderately impaired individuals have the capacity to learn to decode and encode, if taught explicitly. The real difficulty is comprehension. I know a not insignificant number of adolescents and adults with IQs in the intellectually disabled-moderately impaired range who can read and/or write fluently at what we consider an average adult level with regard to basic skills (and I'm not speculating about either the cognitive level or the academic level, as I did the evals myself)--but their comprehension, especially inferential comprehension, is limited by their cognition. This manifests in writing as simplistic ideas, poor or simple organization, and less complex sentence structures.

The severely impaired children I've seen usually can learn some environmental print, and sometimes primary-level reading and writing (<2nd grade).

Beyond that level of impairment, they're often working on skills like joint attention, and reliably activating switches.

...pronounced like the long vowel and first letter of the alphabet...