How does a developmental disability affect an individual?
Developmental disabilities commonly affect one or more of the following areas:

• Self-care and self-direction

• Learning

• Mobility

• Ability to live independently

• Receptive and expressive language

• Economic self-sufficiency

Examples of developmental disabilities
Developmental disabilities affect approximately 1-2% of the population. Some examples of developmental disabilities include:

• Down Syndrome

• Cerebral Palsy

• Fetal Alcohol Syndrome

• Autism

• Prader-Willi Syndrome

• Phenylketonuria (PKU)

• Traumatic/Acquired Brain Injury

• Epilepsy

• Pervasive Developmental Disorders

• Mental Retardation (Mild, Moderate, Severe, Profound)

• Chromosomal and Genetic Disorders

Causes
Although there are a variety of physical, environmental and developmental factors that can cause a developmental disability, some of the most common are:

• Brain injury

• Infection

• Nutrition problems

• Poor diet issues

• Premature birth

• Genetic and chromosomal defects

• Drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy

• Shaken Baby Syndrome

Developmental Disability or Mental Retardation?
Most commonly in western countries, developmental disabilities are refered to as mental retardation. The differences between a developmental disability and mental retardation are:

1. The age of onset (Mental retardation onset is before the age of 18 and a developmental disability is manifested by age 22), and
    

2. A developmental disability does not refer to an IQ requirement (Mental retardation is generally though to be present in individuals with an IQ of 70 or below).