Mentally Retarded Children: Factors, Diagnosis, Educational Adaptation and Prevention

Abstract

Mental Retardation is a developmental disability that first appears in children under the age of 18. Mental retardation means significantly sub-average general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period that adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term retarded is slowly being replaced by new words like special or challenged. The term developmental delay is popular among caretakers and parents of individuals with mental retardation. Children who have a condition of incomplete or less than normal mental developmental so that they are unable to adjust to day to day living in a normally efficient, useful, productive and harmonious manner are called mentally retarded. They are, hence, in constant need or care, protection, supervision and help. Mental retardation is a serious disability. It creates a lot of learning problems before mentally retarded children. These learning problems create obstacle in other areas of life as well. Thus, total life activities are affected by mental retardation. As part and parcel of the society, every possible step should be taken to relieve mentally retarded children from the bad effects of mental retardation. The present study is an attempt to find out the right paths of the obstacles in the areas of lives of mentally retarded children.