Is add and being mentally retarded the same thing?

Question

i was told that they are the same thing because a school told them that,i never heard of this before.the school told her that seens how he was labled add they had to put him as mentally retarted also.

Answer 1

no it isnt

Answer 2

no.  mental redardaion and add are nowhere near similiar.  Mental retardation normally pertains to individuals with low iqs.  Those with add, add stands for attention deficit disorder.  those with normal iq's can have add.  Anyway. those suffering from add often lose things, is frequently late, procrastinates, blurts out stuff, and has a high distractability factor.

Answer 3

NO

Answer 4

A person COULD be mentally impaired AND have ADD.

However, having Attention Deficit Disorder does NOT equal being mentally impaired.

In the world of "special education", these are 2 separate labels for 2 different learning challenges.

I would ask the special education teacher in charge of this person's paperwork, called the PI - Primary Implementor, to arrange a meeting with this student's general ed and special ed teachers and a school administrator to review this person's special ed file and see what the evaluations indicated.

There's some information missing here or a mistake has been made.

Answer 5

Not at all.  if I was retarded I probably would not even understand your question, much less give you a definitive answer.  At the same time, I am A D D.  I space out on assignments all the time, I start many projects and rarely finish any.  I forget what I am doing and do something entirely different and only go back to what I was doing if I remember I was doing it...

Do you think I am retarded???

Answer 6

Not at all. ADD is attention deficit disorder. That is inability to focus for a length of time making it difficult to acquire new information. Usually these students self-distract, such as handling an eraser, rolling a pencil, this activity challenges their focus on learning. Sometimes the activity is not obvious and takes place internally, or mentally.

Now ADHD is ADD with hyperactivity, which is overly apparent body movements which interfere in learning.

Mental retardation is recognized as an IQ below 70. It ranges from mild to severe/profound.

In schools this is now called intellectually disabled (ID). IDMI=intellectually disabled mild, IDMO=intellectually disabled moderate, IDSP=intellectually disabled severe profound

Answer 7

That is ludicrous!  

First of all, no child should be labeled "retarded" by a school system.  Even children who are severely developmentally delayed are NOT called "retarded" by the school system.  (at least they are not supposed to be!)  

There is a rampant epidemic of children being labeled ADD in both the US and Canada.  Often, it is the school system and teachers who simply cannot cope with these kids who demand that they be medicated.

If your son has NOT been diagnosed as ADD by a competent psychologist or pediatrician, do NOT capitulate to any demands from the school.  A diagnosis of ADD can only be obtained after many tests by competent professionals.  Teachers are not qualified to diagnose ADD.  

Also, I would remove your son from that school as soon as possible.  Regardless of his medical diagnosis, do you really want him to attend a school where he is called "retarded"?  

I have been home schooling my daughter for the past 5 years now because a teacher tried to tell me that I was destroying her life by not putting her on ADD medication.  (She had not been diagnosed).   I removed her from school altogether at the end of that year.  We have never looked back!

Homeschooling is the best thing that I could have ever done for my daughter.  By the way, she did not have ADD.  The problem was the teacher.

Any school that would call a beautiful child "retarded" is not a positive place for a child to grow and learn.

Stand up for your rights as a parent.  Please don't let them bully you into giving your son a label that will follow him throughout his life.

PS:

Here is a link to an article that I think you would find interesting.  It is from the Connect the Thoughts website and is about the responsiblity of teachers for children who "fail" or do not do well.

Connect the Thoughts is an excellent curriculum that we have just started to use for our daughter.  I am very impressed with it and would recommend it highly.

http://connectthethoughts.net/articles.p...

Answer 8

No, not even close to the same.  In fact, you were told a complete untruth.  The Nicest way I can think of to say that you were lied to.

Answer 9

Attention deficit disorder is not considered a form of mental retardation. Mental retardation is a group catagory. There are many things that fall under that catagory. 2 of my kids have adhd and are catagorized under something  in school so thay can get extra help but mental retardation isn't what it is. It is considered a handicap.