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| Residential Student At Dr. AnnieBesant School enjoying in Garden |
Prevailing Attitudes and Practices in the Field of Mental Retardation
Yes it is true that, many of the present attitude toward the mental retardation is due to earlier misconceptions and negative attitude in the society.
The Problem of Definition
Over the years, there have been many definitions of mental retardation which attempted to differentiate between the intellectually sub-average and those persons having "normal" intelligence, but most of them have been very critical and negative in nature.
Mental deficiency is a state of social incompetence obtaining at maturity or likely to obtain at maturity, resulting from developed mental arrest of constitutional origin; the condition is essentially incurable through treatment and unremediable through training except as a treatment in training instills habits which superficially or temporarily compensate for the limitations of the person so affected while under favorable circumstances and for more or less limited periods of time. (Doll, 1941).
Mental defectiveness represents a condition of mental non development, arrest, deficiency, or deterioration which is very grave and permanent, which dates from early life, and which always effects the intelligence, judgment, or understanding and the capacity for social and economic adjustment (Wallin, 1949).
A mentally defective person is a person who is incapable of managing himself and his affairs, or being taught to do so, and who requires supervision, control, and care for his own welfare and the welfare of the community (Benda, 1954).
Mental retardation refers to a condition of intellectual inadequacy which renders an individual incapable of performing at the level required for acceptable adjustment within his cultural environment (Masland, 1963).
