Cognitive disability

There are a variety of medical conditions affecting cognitive ability. This is a broad concept encompassing various intellectual or cognitive deficits, including intellectual disability, deficits too mild to properly qualify as intellectual disability, various specific conditions (such as specific learning disability), and problems acquired later in life through acquired brain injuries or neurodegenerative diseases like dementia. These disabilities may appear at any age.

Intellectual disability, also known as general learning disability, and previously known as mental retardation (a term now widely considered to be offensive), is a generalized disorder characterized by significantly impaired cognitive functioning and deficits in two or more adaptive behaviors that appears before adulthood. It has historically been defined as an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) score under 70, but the definition now includes both one component relating to mental functioning and one relating to individuals' functional skills in their environment, so IQ is not the only factor.

Intellectual disability must have appeared in the developmental period, not only as an adult. By contrast, people with cognitive impairment have, or previously had, normal IQ, but now show confusion, forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating; cognitive impairment is typical of brain injuries, side effects from medications, and dementia.

A specific learning disability is a classification including several disorders in which a person has difficulty learning in a typical manner, usually caused by an unknown factor or factors, but sometimes caused by stroke or other medical problems. Specific learning disabilities include dyslexia and developmental coordination disorder and other disorders of psychological development. Unlike other intellectual disabilities, it is not indicative of general intelligence level, and many experts consequently do not consider it to be a true intellectual disability. Rather, people with a specific learning disability have trouble performing specific types of cognitive skills or if taught in conventional ways. A specific learning disability cannot be cured or fixed, but the effects can be mitigated by the use of different learning strategies.

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