F70 - the code in the doctor’s certificate after the next medical examination, frightening many mothers. Decoding this code for some is a real discovery, because the F70 is a diagnosis of mental retardation.
What is mental retardation?
According to statistics, more than 3% of the world's population suffer from mental retardation. This is a condition in which there is a delay or general underdevelopment of the psyche, caused primarily by an intellectual defect. Backwardness can be accompanied by the development of another mental or somatic disorder or occur without it. A child with a similar disorder develops slowly, later begins to walk, talk. By the time he enters school, he is far behind his peers, although in physical terms it may not differ from them. In some cases, along with a delay in mental development, a delay in physical development is also observed.
Causes of Mental Retardation
Many factors can provoke this disease. But often only one third of the reasons can be uniquely determined. In the practice of some doctors, there were cases when it was not possible to find out the prerequisites. The most common causes include:
- genetic predisposition;
- pregnancy problems associated with maternal alcoholism, drugs, malnutrition;
- trauma or illness during pregnancy, such as whooping cough, measles, meningitis;
- problems during childbirth, in particular asphyxiation or premature birth.
Degree of mental retardation
Although the causes of the development of the pathology may be identical, the degree and severity of mental retardation may vary. There are 4 main degrees:
- Easy. In the international classification of diseases, this disorder is assigned the code F70. The diagnosis includes insanity, mild oligophrenia, and debility. It implies the impossibility of mastering mathematical knowledge, limited logical generalizations, judgments, scarcity of associations, poor memory. Angularity, awkwardness and slowness in physical activity are characteristic.
- Moderate. Imbecility refers to it. In people with such a diagnosis, thinking is concrete-effective, vocabulary is limited, physically they are poorly developed, outwardly express indifference and depression.
- The severe degree in its clinical picture is similar to moderate, but motor disorders and other pathologies associated with disorders of the central nervous system are added.
- A deep degree called idiocy. It is characterized by a lack of thinking, speech, non-verbal communication. Patients are not able to fulfill elementary requests and requirements. Most are inactive.
Diagnosis F70: transcript
The code F70.XX is used to indicate mental retardation. The fourth character in the cipher indicates the absence or weak severity of the violation in behavior. 0 means no violations, 1 - the presence of a significant violation of behavior requiring care and treatment, 8 - other violations of behavior, 9 - without indications of a violation of behavior. If the causes and conditions for the occurrence of backwardness are known, then an additional fifth character is used:
- F70.01 - the disease is provoked by a previous infectious disease (prenatal infection, postnatal infection, intoxication).
- F70.02 - retardation is provoked by an injury or physical agent (mechanical injury or asphyxia during childbirth, postnatal injury or hypoxia)
- F70.03 - retardation is provoked by a rare hereditary disease associated with impaired amino acid metabolism, phenylketonuria.
- F70.04 - mental retardation associated with chromosomal abnormalities.
- F70.05 and F70.06 - the disease is provoked by hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, respectively.
- F70.07 - retardation caused by prematurity.
- F70.08 - The disease is caused by other specified causes.
- F70.09 - backwardness is provoked by unexplained causes.
F70 - Mild mental retardation diagnosis: signs
Mental retardation affects the development of all mental processes, but especially on the cognitive. A child’s diagnosis of F70, the decoding of which indicates an intelligence coefficient of 50-70 points, is not a sentence. A child with such a violation begins to crawl, sit, walk and talk later, but he is fully trained and able to acquire normal communication skills. Sometimes there are defects in physical and sensory development. But even under favorable conditions, a slight degree of backwardness does not allow patients to understand the figurative meaning of proverbs, metaphors. They tend to literally interpret what they have read or said. Children are often not able to give definitions to objects; they change words to interjections and gestures.
Retelling a once-read text will become difficult for the child. Repeated reading may improve the situation, but the subtext, if any, will remain unsolved. The process of solving arithmetic problems involving two or more actions will become inaccessible or extremely difficult. Characteristic of a mild degree is the lack of a sense of humor, imagination, fantasy.
Disability and mental retardation
A child with a diagnosis of mental retardation may be assigned a disability. To do this, parents should be consulted by a child psychiatrist. If, at the doctor’s conclusion, the child is subject to disability, the psychiatrist writes out a referral for a specialized medical and social expert commission. After a comprehensive assessment of the social status of an MSEC patient, he may be assigned one of three disability groups. But not all people with a given diagnosis and not everywhere have a disability group. In some countries, people diagnosed with F70 are not given disability. This right is granted only to children and people with a moderate, severe and deep degree of backwardness.
Rehabilitation of children with mild mental retardation
What does an F70 diagnosis mean for parents? What parents should first of all learn as much as possible about this condition, about the possibilities of improving the quality of life of a person with such a diagnosis. It is necessary to start the therapeutic and pedagogical impact as soon as possible. Repeated reflexology courses, acupressure and segmental massage will stimulate blood circulation and metabolic processes in the cerebral cortex. An important role in the rehabilitation process will be played by proper nutrition, walks in the fresh air, physical therapy exercises, music therapy. Daily developmental classes, periodic consultations with a defectologist and psychologist, and further visits to kindergarten and school should become integral. Do not follow the child to perform actions that he is able to perform himself. Encourage his independence. Let him try and learn new things, you should only provide guidance and support.
The right approach to education and training can further provide an increase in IQ by 15 units. The child will read and write, communicate with peers and not only will acquire a profession. Of course, not everyone can achieve such results, but everyone has the potential, especially if the psychiatrist’s diagnosis is F70.
More pronounced decreases in the level of intelligence will require a special training program, mastering household skills, but even this state allows people to continue to engage in unskilled labor and take their place in society.
F70 - the diagnosis is not critical. Timely correction, attentive and caring parents with an adequate approach to education and training can not only raise a worthy member of society, but also remove the diagnosis in general.