Mental Age

[Uzoma]

Is there a test or a way to determine a person's mental age? I'm looking for a method that is somewhat official, that can be used as an official standard, almost like an IQ test, for example.

[Tilly2]

You can test reading age, spelling age and IQ but mental age might be difficult.

[woofgang]

Can I ask what the purpose is? different purposes need different tests

[ladyalex]

The original definition of IQ is mental age divided by chronological age, multiplied by 100. So, if you know someone's IQ and their chronological age, you can work backwards to their Mental Age....sort of....I say that because IQ tests are much more sophisticated now than they were when originally conceived.
Why do you want to know someone's Mental Age ?

[Uzoma]

The reason that I ask is that someone I know is looking after a person with some sort of mental/learning disability. Despite their adult age, they seem to exhibit traits that can only be described as 'childlike'. There is a clash as there is one school of thought that wants them to have the privileges of an adult but the carer wants to prove that they cannot handle those privileges, using evidence of their mental age.

[Tilly2]

The carer should be helping the person with learning difficulties to develop life skills at an appropriate level for that individual. I don't think having an actual 'Mental age' for that person means anything.

[woofgang]

you mean "capacity" not mental age
http://www.direct.gov...someoneelse/DG_195206

http://www.amcat.org.uk

I am a bit rusty but IIRC the law assumes that people DO have capacity unless an accredited assessment decides otherwise. The law also says that people may have capacity to make some decisions and not others....eg a person may not have the capacity to cross a busy street but may well have the capacity to make their own medical decisions. The law also says that people may have differing abilities in differing circumstances and that capacity should be viewed as something that can vary.......and if your friend doesn't know this then he/she should not be making assumptions about her client's life.