Mild Cognitive Disabilities

  Mild cognitive disabilities are intellectually disabled disabilities such dyslexia, memory impairment, language impairment, attention deficit, and any other disability that is. Intellectual disability, or mild cognitive disabilities are seen when a child has a below average functioning level. A mild form of intellectual disabilities, which is why it is known as mild cognitive disabilities, is seen in students with an IQ of 50-70 where the average IQ is 100. It is hard to say if a student has one cognitive disability because usually student's who have a single cognitive disability, have many cognitive disabilities whether they are seen or not.
        Educators, parents and other people who come in contact or work with children who you may think has a cognitive disability, there are signs. Soem symptoms, or signs to finding out if a child has a mild cognitive disability are: short attention span, limited communication skills, confusion and problem behavior in new settings, delays in milestones for development and difficulty learning and retaining new information. These symptoms are just a few that you could look for in student's to see if they have any slight possibility of having a mild cognitive disability. One thing to remember though is whether or not a student has a mild cognitive disability, they can still fully succeed in school with help and facilitation from individualized strategies and skills. Some important skills or tools that will help student's with mild cognitive disabilities in the classroom is explicit modeling from the teacher, extra time on assignments and tests because it takes these student's longer to process and retain information, and repeated instruction, because their attention span is so short they may forget by the time they are told to go do the work on their own.
       Student's with mild cognitive disabilities could need help with social cues, which can also be achieved in the classroom through peer modeling. Student's with mild cognitive disabilities can watch peer behavior and try and model the behavior, just as the teacher models academic work for the class. The student can also improve social skills through groups and partners that the teacher can facilitate. The main goal is to have the student succeed in every aspect, but that means educators and parents have to be on board together to work towards this common goal. Student's always need support, but especially student's with mild cognitive disabilities, they need to know everyone is there for them, and everyone wants them to succeed. Parents and teachers can work together to find the common interests of the student to incorporate those interests in the classroom, to make learning as engaging as possible for the student to be able to focus on what is going on. Everyones goal should be to help the student succeed, and to set goals for the student to work towards attaining.