Functional and Dynamic Asymmetry in 14 Year-old Boys with Minor Mental Handicap

The bibliography includes a lot of definitions of a mental handicap that is also called a mental deficiency or oligophrenia. At the present stage those definitions which are multi-aspect seem to be the most valuable. Lewicki gives the similar one in which “oligophrenia means a congenital or early acquired handicap or retardation of physical development, which often leads to disorders of social adaptation. It is characterised by considerable decrease in intellectual proficiency and efficiency, which becomes the bigger, the deeper is its level. It is connected with emotional and character disorders and, sometimes, with anomalies of a body build” (Lewicki, 1972, 282). In oligophrenia the retardation of intellectual development might be less or more deep; different degrees of mental deficiency depend on it. However, the classification of a mental handicap is as complex as its defining. The best-known and widespread psychological classifications are those which include measurement of an intellectual development level by an intelligence quotient (IQ). In Poland the classification developed by the WHO has become obligatory since January 1, 1968. It has introduced four levels of a mental handicap: slight (67–52 IQ), moderate (51–36 IQ), significant (35–20 IQ) and deep (below 20 IQ). The IQ values between 68 and 83 had been treated as the borderland of a handicap, presently they are considered the bottom line of a wide norm (see Kirejczyk, 1981). Though an intelligence quotient is an objective criterion of evaluation of a level of intellectual development, this ratio is insufficient. It is the basis for social planning, but it cannot decide about child’s needs how to help him or her. To diagnose a mental handicap, it is not enough to run a test analysis of intelligence and decide upon a low IQ. One should also learn something about social and emotional adaptation, a level of physical and psychomotor development characteristic for life age and environment. In bibliography there is no rigid system of criteria or a classification of a mental deficiency. Any accepted system would be of doubtful value, might be dangerous and lead to a deceptive feeling of accuracy. A classification has to be optional because a mental deficiency is – to some extent – a social concept depending on a changeable level of social tolerance. Hence none system of division can be either satisfactory or constant. FUNCTIONAL AND DYNAMIC ASYMMETRY IN 14 YEAR-OLD BOYS WITH MINOR MENTAL HANDICAP