Individuals with intellectual disability. According to the definition by the American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR), an individual is considered to have intellectual disability if they experience the following three criteria:
Below average intellectual functioning level (two years or more behind peers)
Significant limitations exist in two or more adaptive skill areas. Adaptive skill areas are those daily living skills needed to live, work and play in the community. The definition includes 10 adaptive skills: communication, self-care, home living, social skills, leisure, health and safety, self-direction, functional academics, community use and work. Adaptive skills are assessed in the person's typical environment across all aspects of an individual's life. A person with limits in intellectual functioning who does not have limits in adaptive skill areas may not be diagnosed as having intellectual disability.
The condition manifests itself before the age of 18. Children with intellectual disability grow into adults with intellectual disability; they do not remain "eternal children."
