Question
A three-year-old child has unclear language expression and has been diagnosed with an intellectual disability after hospital examination. What are the symptoms of children with intellectual disabilities?
Answer
Children with intellectual disabilities may learn to walk later than their peers and show abnormal facial and physical features from birth. They may appear dull and expressionless, showing less interest in their surroundings compared to typically developing children. For example, children with Down syndrome may have widely spaced eyes, slanted eyelids, a flat nose bridge, a tongue often sticking out of the mouth, and drooling, which is referred to as the ‘international face’. Additionally, children with hydrocephalus may have an especially large head circumference, while microcephaly may result in a particularly small head.