Levels of mental retardation:
Mild: master academic skills up to about the sixth-grade level and are able to learn job skills well enough to support themselves independently or semi-independently.
Moderate: significant delays in development during their preschool years. As they grow older, discrepancies in overall intellectual development and adaptive functioning generally grow wider between these children and age mates without disabilities. People with moderate mental retardation are more likely to have health and behavior problems than are individuals with mild retardation.
Severe: always identified at birth or shortly afterward. Most of these infants have significant central nervous system damage, and many have additional disabilities and/or health conditions.
