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Intellectual Disability and Development Disorders

Code: 102539 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
Psychology OT 4

Contact

Name:
Olga Pont Nesta
Email:
olga.pont@uab.cat

Teachers

Debora Perez Garcia

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

Prerequisites: 

There are no strict prerequisites for taking this subject. However, it is highly recommended that students should have previously studied the milestones of normal development (including language).

 


Objectives and Contextualisation

Aims:

The subject aims to provide students with knowledge of the following neurodevelopment disorders: genetic syndromes causing intellectual disability, cerebral palsy and language disorders.

When the subject is completed, the student will be able to:

- Understand and be sensitive to the overall condition of patients who present these disorders. 

- Identify the behaviour characteristics associated with the disorders studied.

- Meet the psychological needs of patients who present these disorders.


Competences

  • Act with ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and duties, diversity and democratic values.
  • Apply knowledge, skills and acquired values critically, reflexively and creatively.
  • Apply techniques to collect and produce information about the functioning of individuals, groups and organisations in context.
  • Criticise the effects of personal practice on people, taking into account the complexity of human diversity.
  • Evaluate, contrast and take decision on the choice of adequate methods and instruments for each situation and evaluation context.
  • Formulate hypotheses about the demands and needs of the recipients.
  • Maintain a favourable attitude towards the permanent updating through critical evaluation of scientific documentation, taking into account its origin, situating it in an epistemological framework and identifying and contrasting its contributions in relation to the available disciplinary knowledge.
  • Make changes to methods and processes in the area of knowledge in order to provide innovative responses to society's needs and demands.
  • Prepare and write technical reports on the results of the evaluation, research or services requested.
  • Recognise the diversity of human behaviour and the nature of differences in it in terms of normality abnormality and pathology.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analyse a situation and identify its points for improvement.
  2. Analyse the results to develop intervention objectives.
  3. Apply assessment techniques for each type of problem and level of complexity.
  4. Apply knowledge, skills and acquired values critically, reflexively and creatively.
  5. Assess the impact of the difficulties, prejudices and discriminations that actions or projects may involve, in the short or long term, in relation to certain persons or groups.
  6. Critically analyse the principles, values and procedures that govern the exercise of the profession.
  7. Criticise the effects of personal practice on people, taking into account the complexity of human diversity.
  8. Differentiate the various methods and tools and their usefulness.
  9. Distinguish the quality criteria of the instruments depending on the context.
  10. Explain the explicit or implicit deontological code in your area of knowledge.
  11. Identify situations in which a change or improvement is needed.
  12. Indicate the differential diagnosis.
  13. Maintain a favourable attitude towards the permanent updating through critical evaluation of scientific documentation, taking into account its origin, situating it in an epistemological framework and identifying and contrasting its contributions in relation to the available disciplinary knowledge.
  14. Make diagnoses of psychological disorders in practical clinical cases presented.
  15. Organize the relevant information of the case.
  16. Propose new experience-based methods or alternative solutions.
  17. Propose new ways of measuring the viability, success or failure of the implementation of innovative proposals or ideas.
  18. Propose projects and actions that are in accordance with the principles of ethical responsibility and respect for fundamental rights and obligations, diversity and democratic values.
  19. Recognise and analyse the psychopathological manifestations of each disorder, associated symptoms, and epidemiological trends.
  20. Select the appropriate vocabulary according to the recipient.
  21. Weigh up the risks and opportunities of both one's own and other people's proposals for improvement.
  22. Write up the results in an operational way.

Content

Contents

This subject is structured through the following blocks.

BLOCK A: Concept of intellectual disability (ID). This block will discuss briefly the historical evolution of the concept of intellectual disability and how it is defined today. It is a brief block to establish the basic concepts of the subject

BLOCK B: Syndromes that cause intellectual disabilities. The main disorders that cause ID will be studied, together with its aetiology, symptoms and differential phenotypes, both physical and behavioural. It is the largest block in the subject

BLOCK C: Cerebral palsy and its associated disorders.

BLOCK D: : Mental health and intellectual disability. The most common psychopathological disorders in ID, classification systems 

BLOCK E:  Assessment .The main assessment tools will be studied.

BLOCK F:Specific language disorders

 

 

 

 


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Practical sessions 12 0.48 2, 4, 3, 7, 8, 22, 14, 12
Theory classes 24 0.96 8, 14, 19
Type: Autonomous      
Practical case studies 30 1.2 2, 3, 22, 14, 15, 20
Readings related to the content of the subject 80 3.2 8, 19

-Group Work 

-Theory classes with multimedia support. Group size 1/1.24 hours.

-Practical classes in small group. Seminar size. 12 hours.

-Individual work

-Readings related to the content of the subject. 80 hours.

- Practical case studies. 30 hours.

Prohibited use: In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies is not allowed in any of its phases. Any work that includes fragments generated with AI will be considered a lack of academic honesty and may lead to a partial or total penalty in the grade of the activity, or greater sanctions in serious cases.

 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Ev1:1st Interim Exam (first assessment period) 40% 2 0.08 6, 4, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 21, 16, 19
Ev2: 2nd Interim Exam (second assessment period) 40% 2 0.08 4, 12, 15, 17, 18, 19, 5
Ev3: Written report of practical cases (week 12) 20% 0 0 2, 1, 4, 3, 7, 8, 22, 14, 11, 20

Assessment is continuous.

Students who have submitted less than 40% of the evidences will be Non-Assessable (NA).

The learning evidences are all face-to-face, except for the Ev3 that consist in an individual delivery of a practical case exercise.

The subject is failed when students who, having submitted evidences with a weight of 40% or more (evaluable if two or more), have an average grade less than 5.

The subject is passed when the student obtains a total of at least 5 points in the continuous assessment, with a minimum of 3 points or more in each of the tests carried out. If these requirements are not met, the maximum grade that can be obtained is 4.5 points

Reassessment:

Students will have the option to make up individual written evidence of learning that has not been passed and previously submitted.
Thus, the student who, during the continuous assessment, has completed the evidence of learning with a weight equal to or greater than 2/3 of the total qualification and has obtained a grade of less than 5 points and greater than or equal to to 3 points In case of not meeting the established requirements, the maximum grade to be recorded in the academic record will be 4.5 points.
The reassessement will serve to obtain a maximum of 5 for the recovered evidence. 
The recovery cannot be used to improve the grade, that has been passed by assessment.
The single assessment does not differ from the continuous one, in recovery tests.
The recovery will consist of making the first and/or second evidence in person and in writing.  EV1 and EV2 will be open written questions.
In case of passing the recovered evidence, the total mark will be recalculated with the original marks of the remaining original evidences not recovered, taking into account that the recovered evidence has a maximum score of 5.
 
FEEDBACKEVALUATION ACTIVITIES
 
Feedback evaluation activities Name and description of evidence Week
Tutoring meeting
EV1: 1st Interim Exam (first assessment period)
W 7/8
Tutoring meeting
Ev2: 2nd Interim Exam (second assessment period)
W 20/21
Rubrics in the tutoring meeting
Ev3: Written report of practical cases
W 14

SINGLE ASSESSMENT 

 The single assessment is requested telematcally (E-Form) during the specific period  (more information on the Faculty's website)

 

SINGLE ASSESSMENT ACTIVITIES TABLE  

Name and description of the evidence 

Weighing   

Duration in hours (of the face-to-face act) 

Fulfillment /delivery date 

EV1:  1st midterm exam 

40%  

3 h 

Second assessment period 

EV2: 2nd midterm exam 

40%  

EV3: Deliver  practical case exercise

20%  

   

   

   

   

 The same resit system as the continuous assessment will be applied.

 EXAM TRANSLATION

The delivery of the translation of the face-to-face assessment tests will be carried out only if the requirements set out in article 263 aremet and your request is made in week 4 via online E-Form (more information on the Faculty's website).

https://www.uab.cat/web/estudiar/graus/graus/avaluacions-1345722525858.html

 


Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY

AAIDD (Asociación Americana de Discaoacidades Intelectuales y del desarrollo) (2021) Discapacidad Intelectual: definición, diagnóstico, clasificación y sistemas de apoyos, 12ª edició. TEA Ediciones 

AAVV(2006) Síndrome X frágil:Libro de consulta para familias y profesionales. Centro Español de Documentación sobre Discapacidad.

BRUN,C y ARTIGAS J. (2005) Síndrome de Angelman: del gen a la conducta. Ed Nau Llibres Valencia. Colección Logopedia e Intervención. Serie: Patologías.

GARCÍA-ALBA,J., ESTEVA-CASTILLO,S. I VIÑAS-JORNET,M. (2018) Neuropsicología de la discapacidad intelectual de origen genético.Editorial Síntesis

HAGERMAN,R.J i HAGERMAN,P . (2002) Fragile X syndrome. Diagnosis, Treatment and Research. The Johns Hopkins University Press. Baltimore.

CABALLO,VICENTE,SALAZAR, ISABEL,CARROBLES,JOSÉ ANTONIO  (2015) Manual de psicopatologia y trastornos psicológicos. Ediciones Pirámide 

 

WEB LINKS


http://www.ssbp.co.uk - SSBP: Society for the Study of Behavioural Phenotypes, página de esta agrupación de profesionales dedicados al estudio de los fenotipos conductuales
http://www.ssbp.co.uk/files/syndromes.htm - Aquí encontrareis una ficha con la información relevante de cada síndrome.
http://www.fcsd.org Fundació catalana síndrome de Down
http://www.dincat.cat Página con informaciones, documentos y convocatorias de actividades sobre discapacidad intelectual.
http://www.rett.es AEn la seccinó "Nuestr@ hij@ Rett" -Que es el S. de Rett, encontrareis un Manual en PDF del  síndrome en castellano muy  completo.
http://www.findresources.co.uk Pàgina molt completasobre trastorns neurogenètics
http://www.downcantabria.com/revista.htm Página con muchos articulos específicos sobre el síndrome de Down

 

 




Software

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Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(SEM) Seminars 111 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 112 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(SEM) Seminars 113 Catalan second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 Catalan second semester morning-mixed