Rehabilitation of the Mentally Retarded

MENTAL RETARDATION is one of our major health, welfare, social, and vocational problems. It is the most common handicapping condition of childhood and an important cause of unemployment among adults. Its implications reach far beyond the usual focus of the physician's practice. Diagnosis, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation involve a number of medical specialties and, in addition, many nonmedical professionals, among them teachers, social workers, rehabilitation therapists, and vocational counselors. The National Council on Rehabilitation, in 1943, defined rehabilitation as the restoration of handicapped persons to the fullest physical, mental, social, vocational, and economic usefulness of which they are capable.1Techniques in rehabilitation have been well-developed in recent years and the field has acquired substantial tradition, particularly since the second World War. Work with the retarded, however, is rather limited, even at this date. There is evidence of increasing professional, public, and governmental interest in retardation.2-4There are plans to