Misconceptions
Learners with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Myth: Once diagnosed as intellectually disabled, a person retains this classification for life.
Fact: A person’s level of intellectual functioning doesn’t necessarily remain stable; this is particularly true of those individuals who are mildly intellectually disabled. With intensive educational programming, some persons can improve to the point that they are no longer intellectually disabled.
Myth: Intellectual disability is defined by how a person scores on an IQ test.
Fact: The most commonly used definition specifies that an individual must meet two criteria in order to be considered intellectually disabled: (1) low intellectual functioning and (2) low adaptive skills.
Learners with Learning Disabilities
Myth: The rapid increase in the prevalence of learning disabilities is due solely to sloppy diagnostic practices.
Fact: Although poor diagnostic practices may account for some of the increase, there are plausible social/cultural reasons for it as well. In addition, evidence indicates that school personnel may “bend” the rules to identify students as learning disabled instead of the more stigmatizing identification of “intellectually disabled.”
Myth: We know very little about what causes learning disabilities.
Fact: Although no simple clinical test exists for determining the cause of learning disabilities in individual cases, current research strongly suggests causes related to neurological dysfunction possibly resulting from genetic factors, toxins, or medical factors.
Learners with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Myth: The social problems of students with ADHD are due to their not knowing how to socially interact with others.
Fact: Most people with ADHD know how to interact, but their problems with behavioral inhibition make it difficult for them to implement socially appropriate behaviors.
Myth: Using psychostimulants, such as Ritalin, can easily turn children into abusers of other substances, such as cocaine and marijuana.
Fact: No evidence shows that using psychostimulants for ADHD leads directly to drug abuse. In fact, evidence shows that those who are prescribed Ritalin as children are less likely to turn to illicit drugs as teenagers. However, care should be taken to make sure that children or others do not misuse the psychostimulants prescribed to them.
Learners with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
Myth: Most children and youths with emotional or behavioral disorders are not noticed by people around them.
Fact: Although it is difficult to identify the types and causes of problems, most children and youths with emotional or behavioral disorders, whether aggressive or withdrawn, are quite easy to spot.
Myth: Most students with emotional or behavioral disorders receive special education and/or mental health services.
Fact: The vast majority of students with emotional or behavioral disorders are not identified and served in a timely fashion by either mental health or special education. Only a small percentage (perhaps 20%) are served by special education or mental health.
Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Myth: Autism is a single, well-defined category of disability.
Fact: Autism comprises a wide spectrum of disorders and symptoms, ranging from very severe to relatively mild.
Myth: All people with autism are impaired in some cognitive areas but are highly intelligent or geniuses in other areas.
Fact: Only a very few people with autism have extraordinary skills. Called autism savant syndrome, these individuals are not geniuses in the traditional sense, but they possess very highly developed specific skills in such things as memorization, mathematics, art, or music in isolation from functional skills.
Myth: Once diagnosed as intellectually disabled, a person retains this classification for life.
Fact: A person’s level of intellectual functioning doesn’t necessarily remain stable; this is particularly true of those individuals who are mildly intellectually disabled. With intensive educational programming, some persons can improve to the point that they are no longer intellectually disabled.
Myth: Intellectual disability is defined by how a person scores on an IQ test.
Fact: The most commonly used definition specifies that an individual must meet two criteria in order to be considered intellectually disabled: (1) low intellectual functioning and (2) low adaptive skills.
Learners with Learning Disabilities
Myth: The rapid increase in the prevalence of learning disabilities is due solely to sloppy diagnostic practices.
Fact: Although poor diagnostic practices may account for some of the increase, there are plausible social/cultural reasons for it as well. In addition, evidence indicates that school personnel may “bend” the rules to identify students as learning disabled instead of the more stigmatizing identification of “intellectually disabled.”
Myth: We know very little about what causes learning disabilities.
Fact: Although no simple clinical test exists for determining the cause of learning disabilities in individual cases, current research strongly suggests causes related to neurological dysfunction possibly resulting from genetic factors, toxins, or medical factors.
Learners with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Myth: The social problems of students with ADHD are due to their not knowing how to socially interact with others.
Fact: Most people with ADHD know how to interact, but their problems with behavioral inhibition make it difficult for them to implement socially appropriate behaviors.
Myth: Using psychostimulants, such as Ritalin, can easily turn children into abusers of other substances, such as cocaine and marijuana.
Fact: No evidence shows that using psychostimulants for ADHD leads directly to drug abuse. In fact, evidence shows that those who are prescribed Ritalin as children are less likely to turn to illicit drugs as teenagers. However, care should be taken to make sure that children or others do not misuse the psychostimulants prescribed to them.
Learners with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders
Myth: Most children and youths with emotional or behavioral disorders are not noticed by people around them.
Fact: Although it is difficult to identify the types and causes of problems, most children and youths with emotional or behavioral disorders, whether aggressive or withdrawn, are quite easy to spot.
Myth: Most students with emotional or behavioral disorders receive special education and/or mental health services.
Fact: The vast majority of students with emotional or behavioral disorders are not identified and served in a timely fashion by either mental health or special education. Only a small percentage (perhaps 20%) are served by special education or mental health.
Learners with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Myth: Autism is a single, well-defined category of disability.
Fact: Autism comprises a wide spectrum of disorders and symptoms, ranging from very severe to relatively mild.
Myth: All people with autism are impaired in some cognitive areas but are highly intelligent or geniuses in other areas.
Fact: Only a very few people with autism have extraordinary skills. Called autism savant syndrome, these individuals are not geniuses in the traditional sense, but they possess very highly developed specific skills in such things as memorization, mathematics, art, or music in isolation from functional skills.