A Challenge to the Viability of Mild Mental Retardation as a Diagnostic Category

This article examines the concept of mild mental retardation—and the confusion surrounding its etiology, diagnosis, and educational “treatment.” The authors conclude that mild mental retardation, unlike more severe forms of mental retardation—or even specific learning disabilities—should be redefined in contextual terms: a person's relative difficulty in responding to cognitive demands of the environment. It is recommended that the term mental retardation be reserved for the more severe forms currently recognized and that a more descriptive term be adopted that focuses attention on this group of children whose unique characteristics and needs have increasingly gone unrecognized and unserved.