Intellectual disability is the most significant characteristic of those with Fragile X.

Most males and approximately two thirds of females exhibit some intellectual disability. This is usually accompanied by poor fine and gross motor skills.

The range of learning problems is wide. Some are affected by minor developmental delays. At the other end of the scale there can be severe intellectual disability. Most affected males fall somewhere in the middle. Males typically appear more severely affected than females. However, parents and educators are often surprised at their achievements.

Females appear less affected. However, they may experience difficulty with maths and tend to suffer from a range of anxiety disorders including social anxiety.

Weaknesses

• Short-term memory
• Auditory-only processing
• Abstract concepts
• Sequencing, praxis and planning
• Fine and gross motor
• Perceptual, visual motor
• Social, language, semantic-pragmatic
• Attention and initiation

Strengths

• Learn visually e.g. pictures,computers
• Whole word, number and pattern recognition, ‘gestalt’ learning
• Long term and incidental memory
• Concrete, relevant tasks
• Strong imitation skills, drama
• Good functional life skills
• Friendly, good sense of humour