Treatment of a Boy with Idiopathic Mental Retardation: From Uneducable to Educable.

Background: Mental retardation has been recently called by the American Psychiatric Association “Intellectual disability”, despite that the World Health Organization is still using the term “Mental retardation” in its ICD-10 publication. It is a heterogeneous condition marked by generalized neurodevelopmental abnormalities associated with significant impairment in mental or intellectual functioning and adaptive behaviors that affect every day general living. Patients and methods: A comprehensive multi-factorial treatment approach was used to treat a boy with idiopathic (Moderate to severe) mental retardation who was uneducable with the main aim of making him more educable. Treatment courses included intramuscular citicoline, piracetam, cerebrolysin and oral pyritinol. Results: Treatment was successful in advancing the mental and cognitive functions of the patient and making the child perfectly educable. Conclusion: There is no single agent that is known to convert an educable mentally retarded child to perfectly educable. Idiopathic mental retardation is a heterogeneous condition and the use of multi-factorial therapeutic agents is suggested for its treatment.