LEARNING DISABILITY DIAGNOSTIC CRITERIA USED BY CLDS
The following criteria have been reviewed alongside the latest guidance from the British Psychological Society DCP Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities[1]. People who would meet the criteria for a diagnosis of learning disability are an extremely varied group. However, in terms of diagnosis and classification there are a number of features of learning disability which have gained widespread acceptance across professional boundaries within the UK and America. The following definition is derived from the DSM-V (2013).
For a diagnosis of learning disability all of the following criteria must be met:
A) Significant impairments in intellectual functioning:
This includes various mental abilities: Reasoning; Problem solving; Planning; Abstract thinking; Judgment; Academic learning (ability to learn in school via traditional teaching methods); Experiential learning (the ability to learn through experience, trial and error, and observation).
These mental abilities are measured by IQ tests. A score of approximately two standard deviations below the mean score of 100 represents a significant intellectual impairment. This is typically an IQ score of 69 or below (i.e. lower than 97.5% of people of same age), although expression of IQ scores are considered more appropriate as a range, to allow for possible statistical error.
B) Significant impairments in adaptive functioning
that result in failure to meet developmental and sociocultural standards for personal independence and social responsibility. Without on-going support, the adaptive deficits significantly limit functioning in one or more domains of adaptive functioning, covering conceptual skills, social skills and practical skills. These domains cover:
1) Conceptual skills: language; reading and writing; and money, time and number concepts;
2) Social skills: interpersonal skills, social responsibility, self-esteem, wariness in terms of risk-taking, follows social rules/obeys laws, avoids being victimised or taken advantage of, and social problem-solving;
3) Practical skills: activities of daily living (personal care), occupational skills, use of money, safety, health care, travel/transportation, schedules/routines, and use of the telephone.
C) The onset is before the 18th birthday
Impairments that have only developed in adulthood (e.g. from acquired brain injury, neurological conditions, or the effects of long-term alcohol/substance use) are not considered to be a learning disability.
[1]Guidance on the Assessment and diagnosis of Intellectual Disabilities in Adulthood: A document compiled by a Working Group of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Clinical Psychology, Faculty for People with Intellectual Disabilities (BPS, 2015).