Da deficiência mental à dificuldade intellectual e desenvolvimental

This paper shows how the concept of mental deficiency or cognitive deficit has evolved until recent times, when it was replaced by the concept of intellectual and development difficulties as a result of reflections around this problem that underlined the negative or pejorative connotations of the deficiency term. At school, this new concept also implies a change of paradigm when educating children and youngsters with said difficulties, since it suggests that it must not be based on disability degree but, instead, on which support this population actually needs.