Understanding Mental Retardation draws on our knowledge of normal development to inform their discussion of various aspects of retardation.

Children living in poverty are more likely to have mental health problems, and their conditions are more likely to be severe. Of the approximately 1.3 million children who were recipients of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) disability benefits in 2013, about 50% were disabled primarily due to a mental disorder. An increase in the number of children who are recipients of SSI benefits due to mental disorders has been observed through several decades of the program beginning in 1985 and continuing through 2010. Nevertheless, less than 1% of children in the United States are recipients of SSI disability benefits for a mental disorder. At the request of the Social Security Administration, Mental Disorders and Disability Among Low-Income Children compares national trends in the number of children with mental disorders with the trends in the number of children receiving benefits from the SSI program, and describes the possible factors that may contribute to any differences between the two groups. This report provides an overview of the current status of the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders, and the levels of impairment in the U.S. population under age 18. The report focuses on 6 mental disorders, chosen due to their prevalence and the severity of disability attributed to those disorders within the SSI disability program: attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder, autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability, learning disabilities, and mood disorders. While this report is not a comprehensive discussion of these disorders, Mental Disorders and Disability Among Low-Income Children provides the best currently available information regarding demographics, diagnosis, treatment, and expectations for the disorder time course - both the natural course and under treatment.

The Director of the innovative Los Angeles Regional Center for the Mentally Retarded explains in easily understood terms the causes, most up-to-date treatment, and modern preventive care now available.

The authors of this book have taken great efforts to present the content in a well structured and organized manner starting from the concept of mental retardation to identification and intervention. The concept of mental retardation, factors, causes and characteristics associated with mental retardation are delineated in detail in the first, and second chapters. Different tests in identification and assessment of general intelligence, adaptive behaviour, specific abilities and deficits are given in the third chapter. The fourth chapter provide the required education and training programmes for different categories of children with mental retardation. In the fifth chapter, the ways and means of developing social competence for mentally retarded are clearly explained in the background of learning theory and developmental theory perspectives. The last chapter focuses on career education, vocational rehabilitation and counseling services. The different career education modesl in special education and instructional approaches are explained apart from the counseling services for parents, peer group and community. Different tests in the assessment of intelligence, adaptive behaviour, specific abilities and deficits and developmental screening aspects of children with their instructions and norms are provided in Appendices.

This book reviews theoretical and empirical work in the developmental approach to mental retardation. Armed with methods derived from the study of typically developing children, developmentalists have recently learned about the mentally retarded child's own development in a variety of areas. These areas now encompass many aspects of cognition, language, social and adaptive functioning, as well as of maladaptive behavior and psychopathology. In addition to a focus on individuals with mental retardation themselves, familial and other "ecological" factors have influenced developmental approaches to mental retardation. Comprised of twenty-seven chapters on various aspects of development, this handbook provides a timely, comprehensive guide to understanding mental retardation and development.