What should be done if a child has low intelligence?

Jul 19, 2024 Source: Cainiu Health
Disease description:

My child is currently 8 years old, but seems somewhat sluggish in daily life and learns new things relatively slowly. I would like to ask, if a child has lower intelligence, what are the usual treatment options?

Doctor's answer (1)
Dr. Zhou Xiaofeng
There are many solutions for children's intellectual disability, including timely identification of causes, medication, life skills training, auditory training, and dietary regulation. 1. Identify the cause: When a child has intellectual disability, parents should promptly take the child to the hospital for examination. Only after identifying the cause can appropriate treatment be administered. Professional medical assessments are necessary to determine the factors leading to the child's intellectual disability; parents should not make blind judgments. 2. Medication: After understanding the underlying cause, children may need to take medications that can improve intellectual functioning. Under a doctor's guidance and based on the condition, oral medications such as thyroid hormone tablets, gangliosides, cerebral protein hydrolysates, or piracetam may be used. These medications can help improve the child's intellectual development to a certain extent and should be combined with other rehabilitation and training methods. 3. Life Skills Training: Children with intellectual disabilities, after receiving appropriate treatment and professional home care, can generally reach a level close to that of normally developing individuals. Common home care methods include training in eating, drinking, dressing, and toileting, as well as practicing motor skills such as lifting the head, rolling over, sitting, standing, and walking, which helps improve the child's physical coordination. 4. Auditory Training: Training and developing good hearing abilities in children significantly benefits their language development and intellectual improvement. Normal infants have hearing abilities from birth, and sound localization and source discrimination are primary training methods. 5. Dietary Regulation: Dietary management is also a crucial aspect. It is important to feed the child foods beneficial for brain development, emphasizing high-protein foods and those rich in vitamins and various trace elements, such as poultry, fish, organ meats, milk, and legumes.