The health status of mild to moderate intellectually handicapped adolescents

To assist in the planning of school health services for the intellectually handicapped, a comprehensive evaluation of physical and emotional health, and social competence was completed on a group of students attending a school for educably retarded adolescents (IQ ranging form 60 to 85). This evaluation included a review of the school health records, a medical history, physical examination, and a parent-completed questionnaire assessing their child's behaviour and social competence. Abnormal physical findings included short stature (24%), impaired vision (49%) and impaired hearing (20%). In six of eight female and seven of nine male subscales of deviant behaviour, 20% or more of the students scored abnormally high (above the ninety-eighth percentile). An extreme degree of social isolation was found in 35% of the sample. Only 31% had a primary care physician, while 63% utilized episodic emergency room care. Handicapped adolescents participating in this study demonstrated a high prevalence of physical, emotional and socialization problems compounded by inadequate primary care supervision.