Intellectual Disabilities

Intellectual Disabilities or Mental Retardation Terms

The following set of keyword search terms for intellectual disability/mental retardation was created and documented in the article: Robert W. Sandieson, Lori C. Kirkpatrick, Rachel M. Sandieson, and Walter Zimmerman (2010). Harnessing the Power of Education Research Databases With the Pearl-Harvesting Methodological Framework for Information Retrieval. The Journal of Special Education 44(3) 161–175.

The terms were verified in the academic databases ERIC and PsycINFO. They may function in other databases, but need to be checked to ensure the sensitivity and precision of the search terms and search string. Note, parentheses have been used throughout so that the exact phrases are retrieved.

retard* OR "mental* disab*" OR "mild disab*" OR "moderate* disab*" OR "severe* disab*" OR "profound* disab*" OR "multipl* disab*" OR "intellectual* disab*" OR "developmental* disab*" OR "substantial* disab*" OR "cognitive disab*" OR "mild* handicap*" OR "moderate* handicap*" OR "severe* handicap*" OR "mental* handicap*" OR "multi* handicap*" OR "profound handicap*" OR "developmental* handicap*" OR "developmental* delay*" OR "delay* development" OR "mental* delay*" OR "intellectual* delay*" OR "mental* impair*" OR "intellectual* impair*" OR "cognitive impair*"