Intellectual Disabilities: Learning Characteristics

Question 1

What are the learning characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities?

Answer 1

Attention
Memory
Academic performance 
Motivation
Generalization

Question 2

Attention

Answer 2

It is important for students to pay attention to gain knowledge.

Question 3

Memory

Answer 3

Short-term memory: data recalled after a few seconds/hours (remembering how objects are arranged)
Long- term memory: information retrieved after days or months (phone number)

Question 4

Academic Performance

Answer 4

Reading appears to be the weakest area for students with intellectual disabilities.

Question 5

Motivation

Answer 5

When a student fails many times, they may develop learned helplessness, which is the belief that no matter how hard one tries, they will always fail.

This dramatically decreases students’ motivation

Question 6

Generalization

Answer 6

Transferring knowledge gained in one setting to a different setting. For example, if a student always knows they will receive change of $1.00 when purchasing school lunches, they may have a hard time figuring out how much change they will receive from the grocery store.