Possible Mental Retardation...

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Well your writing skills are far higher then even a super intelligent 8 year old would be able to pull off....as for what you said about communication I am much better at expressing myself in writing then I am verbally. But I thought issues with verbal communication would be more autism related.....it seems like your reasoning, comprehension and such is there but verbally expressing it is difficult. I can also relate to the whole working too slow thing and getting overwhelmed by multiple verbal instructions at once. So I don't know to me it seems like you are describing the same sort of processing difficulties lots of people with aspergers or autism have.

But that's why people always tell me that my writing is a gift. It's more superior to the challenges I face on a daily basis. I do have terrible reading comprehension, like for example, if you told me to read say... Charlotte's Web and then asked me what the book was about, I wouldn't be able to tell you nor could I even write down what the book was about.

As for writing, the only issue is if you told me to write you a story about a little girl discovering a magical world of rainbows and unicorns and candy... then its out of the question. I couldn't even do current events because of this difficulty. Yet, I can write freestyle or on my own, just not what people tell me to write. It becomes more of a challenge because my mind can process it and then put onto paper.

Actually this is not a correct description of mental retardation. It is entirely possible to be EMOTIONALLY like a child (having fits about stuff, being afraid to be without parents) while at the same time being quite intelligent (both in terms of high IQ as well as in terms of ability to DO stuff). Also the opposite is possible: one can be an adult, thinking of oneself as an adult, and yet be completely incapacitated, have very low IQ, and not being able to function without outside help.

Mental retardation is about lack of skills as opposed to being a child emotionally. The diagnosis is determined based on IQ alone (you are "mentally ret*d" if and only if your IQ is below 70). Now, of course, IQ might not be the accurate measure for the performance, so perhaps it might be worth considering of replacing IQ with some other criteria. But still, the point remains: you are looking for LACK OF SKILL, as opposed to "childhood mentality".

How about you go to college instead. Then you can do your homework at home, at your own pace, without being told to do "several things at the same time".

My mom said no on college, even community college. To be honest, I don't do well with homework. I can't focus myself enough to do it... because its not in my routine. It's hard for me to do it and in study hall, same thing... distractions and constant sensory overloads that the study skills teacher didn't do s**t about. I do have a very extreme case of anxiety that causes a lot of problems for me.

You don't have to listen to your mom you are an adult.



If you go to college it will BECOME your "routine". So you will be able to do it then.



You can find a location where there are no distractions and do your homework there. It doesn't have to be "study hall".




If it is homework you can do it at your own location and pace. So anxiety might no longer be an issue.

But... you really don't understand. I maybe be an adult but I have the mind of a child. It's much harder for me to function at the level an adult than what people think. I get stressed way too easily. I hate change and I hate being without my laptop with me or even my cellphone. I can't do these things because I seriously get so panicked that I literally crash into a huge mess of sobbing and panic. I had a hard enough time getting through high school. It's not as easy for me as you think.

You can easily carry around your laptop and cellphone with you while going to college. In fact, most college students DO carry cell phones and laptops with them! As far as not liking change, like I said there are ways to choose settings in which you do homework that are comfortable for you.

Okay let me ask you more general question. The fact that you are "still 8" in some sense is not going to make you live longer. Your life expectancy is consistent with someone who is 22. So do you want to spend the rest of your life not doing much and then regret it when you are old and can't do anything about it?

So why don't you try to do something now, as hard as it might be? I mean it is not just going to magically get easier if you sit and wait. On the other hand, it CAN get easier if you try to go to college now which might encourage you to learn new skills that you don't have. So, since you know you don't want to waste your entire life, you know you have to do something at SOME point. So why not now?

I would add, you don't seem to have the mind of a child. Obviously you have significant disabilities that cause you functioning problems but thats different from a child like mind. For example an 8yr old would not have the reasoning that you have (I know this, I have a 9yr old girl).
Also liking the things children often like, such as kids cartoons and Axel doesn't make you a child, it just means you like those things.

So you think that going to college where I could become even more stressed, so much so that I literally scream bloody murder and make peoples ears start bleeding? Sure, I'd love to... but really, you are missing my POINT. I have severe and very extreme issues when it comes to stress and anxiety. A JOB NOR COLLEGE is a good idea for me. I've had a job once and nearly came close to hurting myself because I was so stressed.

It's not my fault for being the way I am. I have more problems than meets the eye. No one can understand me and the only way to get away from the world of being misunderstood is being isolated until someone sees I need the help. I'm not going to put myself under that amount of stress because unless you want me to go through a whole suicidal rampage than it's best if I stay away from college or even getting a job.

I wanted to die in high school at times, I would make up excuses so my parents could come get me. I would be sitting there on the phone with my mom... crying because I wanted to come home. It was so hard for me because I didn't like school at all and there was really no reason why... I just hated it. I always have so each time I had meltdowns at school and I didn't want to be there... so if you think I could handle college, than yeah... as if. I couldn't even handle high school. I was so stressed for no reason that I wanted to DIE rather than deal with school.

My parents tried homeschooling me but it was hard for them to do. So I ended up having to go back to school and I was in resource classes but I still hated school. My mom would literally fight and scream at me just to get me to go; let alone out of my bed. I was even using my shoulder injury as an excuse just to stay home.



But even so, I have the mind of a child but I guess its more in the level between eight and thirteen. So I really don't know because it seems to vary depending on my levels of stress. I mean I honestly can say that at times, I have the emotional development of a two year old. If I'm under constant stress where my anxiety levels have risen to an extreme, its so bad that I have to pinch my skin or even cause myself harm just to stop all the thoughts running in my head. I used to have suicidal thoughts as well but its soon passed since I've gotten just a bit better at managing.

Last edited by iheartmegahitt on 26 May 2011, 4:15 am, edited 2 times in total.

I'm not diagnosing you but, yes, in theory, it's very possible to have both mental retardation and autism. My step-nephew has both actually.

I don't really know what else you're asking in this thread. People suggested trying to go to work or go to school but it sounds like you flatly don't want to and I didn't read that you were looking for that kind of advice. So I'll just leave it at that. For what it counts, you do write well though.

So there... but I think Sweetleaf is right, it is more driven by the anxiety of things. I have an extremely severe form of anxiety that makes it difficult for me; not to mention High Functioning Autism, ADHD and a slight learning disability as well. I am somewhat slower than most people though and at times I do have a hard time really catching on.

I am sure that this is not true. The studies that showed this many years ago have been shown to be unreliable, based on biased data to prove the pre-existing racist views of those researchers.

Hello Iheart, I know how hard it can be having these problems, I think that it is quite normal for ADHD people to feel like they are much younger than others the same age.

I think that if you can work through your anxieties and work out some control strategies then you will get through this and things will get better in time.

I suspect that you are not ret*d as such, I am only guessing from what you wrote, but it seems to me that you had a horrible time at school, and that its very scary for you the idea of growing up. I think that being scared is affecting your abilities rather than you being unable to things permanently. Once you get your anxiety under better control, and as you get to know yourself a bit better, you will find that your confidence increases and you will surprise yourself.

So what I am saying is hang on in there, and try to sort your head out a bit. Work out what is making you anxious and then try to work out if that thing is likely to be a problem today, or if its something to write down and let the worry go to the back of your mind. Easier said than done, I know.

Take care

I had about the same reaction. I'm not comfortable with just saying the average IQ of specific races is different. I believe it leads to bigotry. Looking it up though it seems the average IQ gap of various races is real. The IQ gap of individual members of different races is not. People fall all along the IQ spectrum whatever their race happens to be. This tells me that the average IQ gap isn't actually because of race, but because of other external factors that the culture of the member's race plays a part of, such as education. It's complicated though. There isn't one contributing factor to it. The gap is actually getting smaller as time goes on.

I read it on the internet so it must be true!

I think in a way, especially for Blacks because of the history they went through, most of them didn't learn how to read and write. But you are right, its not just because of their race alone or anyone's race. I think disability can affect anyone regardless of race or even age, gender, sexuality and even religion... it just depends on how you look at things.