Many of them were killed early in the childhood, and then dumped into the Tiber in order to avoid them burdening society. However, they were exempt from their crimes under Roman law, and they were also used to perform menial labor.Caliph Al-Walid (r. 705–715) built one of the first care homes for individuals with intellectual disabilities and built the first hospital which accommodated intellectually disabled individuals as part of its services. In addition, Al-Walid assigned each intellectually disabled individual a caregiver.Until the Enlightenment in Europe, care and asylum was provided by families and the church (in monasteries and other religious communities), focusing on the provision of basic physical needs such as food, shelter, and clothing. Negative stereotypes were prominent in social attitudes of the time. In the 13th century, England declared people with intellectual disabilities to be incapable of making decisions or managing their affairs. Guardianships were created to take over their financial affairs. In the 17th century, Thomas Willis provided the first description of intellectual disability as a disease. He believed that it was caused by structural problems in the brain. According to Willis, the anatomical problems could be either an inborn condition or acquired later in life. In the 18th and 19th centuries, housing and care moved away from families and towards an asylum model. People were placed by, or removed from, their families (usually in infancy) and housed in large professional institutions, many of which were self-sufficient through the labor of the residents.
Cognitive-behavioral treatments, a combination of the previous two treatment types, involves a strategical-metastrategical learning technique that teaches children math, language, and other basic skills pertaining to memory and learning. The first goal of the training is to teach the child to be a strategical thinker through making cognitive connections and plans. Then, the therapist teaches the child to be metastrategical by teaching them to discriminate among different tasks and determine which plan or strategy suits each task. Finally, family-oriented strategies delve into empowering the family with the skill set they need to support and encourage their child or children with an intellectual disability. In general, this includes teaching assertiveness skills or behavior management techniques as well as how to ask for help from neighbors, extended family, or day-care staff. As the child ages, parents are then taught how to approach topics such as housing/residential care, employment, and relationships. The ultimate goal for every intervention or technique is to give the child autonomy and a sense of independence using the acquired skills he/she has. In a 2019 Cochrane review on beginning reading interventions for children and adolescents with intellectual disability small to moderate improvements in phonological awareness, word reading, decoding, expressive and receptive language skills and reading fluency were noted when these elements were part of the teaching intervention.Although there is no specific medication for intellectual disability, many people with developmental disabilities have further medical complications and may be prescribed several medications.