ABSTRACT
“Mental handicap” is par excellence a condition involving intellectual impairment. In the social sphere we argue elsewhere that ageing people with mental handicap are in double jeopardy from both their handicapping condition and the consequences of ageing. In this chapter we consider a further possible facet of this double jeopardy, namely whether the initial intellectual impairment is exacerbated by further decline in intellectual functioning with age. This question can be broadened to consider the course of change in a range of cognitive functions such as memory, as well as adaptive behaviour. An understanding of such changes is important not only with respect to theories of intellectual function, but also to our expectation regarding people with mental handicap as they get older.
