PROSPECTS FOR PREVENTION AND AMELIORATION OF MENTAL-RETARDATION - GUEST EDITORIAL

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 81  (6) , 523-533
Abstract
The view of the President''s Committee on Mental Retardation (1972) that the incidence of mental retardation could be reduced by 50% before the end of the century was critically examined. Only in the minority of cases, where biomedical etiologies were implicated, was this forecast supported by existing trends. The major group of milder cases posed immense difficulties for prevention, and desirable social changes were unlikely to make an immediate impact. That levels of functioning of most retarded persons could be substantially improved was considered. While research gives a clear indication that this is potentially so, such knowledge was rarely applied. Implications for policy and practice were considered.

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