Concept of Mental Age
Mental age is the age level of the mental ability of an individual (Benjamin, 2009). It bases on the period in which it takes an average individual to reach that same level of mental attainment — mental age measured by standardized intelligence tests (Benjamin, 2009). For example, early versions of the Standford-Binet Intelligence Scales calculated a mental age based on how well a child performed on the test.
The concept of mental age has been debatable over the years. The supporters of the idea believe intellectual development is the same for every child. Those who do not agree with this concept believe intellectual development is not a straight path as it depends on the individual, which is true because every child is different in their way (David, 2019). In the context of persons with intellectual disability, the concept of mental age is also debatable. According to (Brown, McDonnell, and Snell, 2016), the idea of psychological maturity is just a way of denying equal rights to people with disabilities. They claim that people use this concept to deny adulthood to people with intellectual disabilities.
In my opinion, the concept of mental age is useful in the sense that, knowing someone’s intellectual capacity help you identify their strengths in their areas of expertise, especially among people with intellectual disability. Mental age also determines the level of understanding of an individual (David, 2019). For example, you cannot take a child to the ninth grade just because she is old enough; first, learn about her mental capacity and her level of intelligence before deciding which class she will fit it. Therefore, the age of a person does not determine their level of knowledge. The concept of mental age assessment comes in handy at this point as many factors can tamper with the intellectual ability of a person, and age is not one of them.
In conclusion, the concept of mental age is essential when it comes to determining the level of intelligence of an individual. The idea is more crucial when it comes to students with disabilities especially those with intellectual disabilities. These students have difficulties when it comes to using their brains; therefore, the concept of mental age applies much to them in that it enables the people responsible for them knows what exactly they are dealing with. In doing so, they can be able to provide the necessary help required for these students to be successful and secure a future for them where they can be independent.