No specific personality and behavioral features are uniquely associated with Intellectual Disability. Some individuals with Intellectual Disability are passive, placid, and dependent, whereas others can be aggressive and impulsive.

No specific personality and behavioral features are uniquely associated with Intellectual Disability. Some individuals with Intellectual Disability are passive, placid, and dependent, whereas others can be aggressive and impulsive. Behavioral symptoms sometimes seen in Intellectual Disability include dependency, low frustration tolerance, and poor impulse control. The course of Intellectual Disability is variable: with good environmental influences, functioning may improve; with poor environmental influences it may deteriorate.

Individuals with mild Intellectual Disability often are not distinguishable from children without Intellectual Disability until a later age. There are difficulties in learning academic skills (reading, writing, math) with support needed to complete conceptual (cognitive and academic) tasks. During the adult years, these individuals usually achieve social and vocational skills adequate for minimum self-support, but may need supervision, guidance, and assistance, especially when under unusual social or economic stress. There is a somewhat concrete approach to problems and solutions when compared to age mates.

Based on new research in the field of intelligence, it should be noted that intelligence or cognition is a complex system and not all parts are equally important to overall system functioning. The degree to which an impaired cognitive ability lowers the functioning of the whole system depends on the affected ability’s centrality (relative importance to overall system functioning). In some cases, a student will have deficits in only some areas of cognitive functioning, but those areas lower the functioning of the whole system, despite having some cognitive skills above this range.