Assessment and treatment of D.: intellectual or learning disability?
The first part of this study is an overview of the controversial evidences supporting the interpretation of IQ in terms of unitary intellective function. Taking into account evidences of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and biology I argue that impaired learning underlying a deficitary IQ is likely to be generated by: i) deficits in executive functions and working memory; ii) atypical development of some neurobiological structures (i.e., dendrites) supporting the learning process. These same cognitive functions and neurobiological structures, however, can be modified as suggested by both some treatment studies and the environmental enrichment effects in animal models of mental retardation. The second part of the study explores this hypothesis reporting the effects of treating attention, executive functions and verbal working memory in D., a 14-year-old boy with mild intellectual disability
