Product Description
The expressions "idiot, you idiot, you're an idiot, don't be an idiot," and the like are generally interpreted as momentary insults. But, they are also expressions that represent an old, if unstable, history. Beginning with an examination of the early nineteenth century labeling of mental retardation as "idiocy," to what we call developmental, intellectual, or learning disabilities, Mental Retardation in America chronicles the history of mental retardation, its treatment and labeling, and its representations and ramifications within the changing economic, social, and political context of America.

Mental Retardation in America includes essays with a wide range of authors who approach the problems of retardation from many differing points of view. This work is divided into five sections, each following in chronological order the major changes in the treatment of people classified as retarded. Exploring historical issues, as well as current public policy concerns, Mental Retardation in America covers topics ranging from representations of the mentally disabled as social burdens and social menaces; Freudian inspired ideas of adjustment and adaptation; the relationship between community care and institutional treatment; historical events, such as the Buck v. Bell decision, which upheld the opinion on eugenic sterilization; the evolution of the disability rights movement; and the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Important American History of Mental Retardation
Noll and Trent have edited an excellent collection of diverse primary source documents and original essays on the American history of mental retardation.A book is a first rate volume for specialists, general readers, and students alike.

Great resource
I don't understand why this book has received bad reviews.I found it to be an excellent reader with some real gems, among them Deborah Metzel's "Historical Social Geography" and Katherine Castles' "Nice, Average Americans".The editors have selected a body of historical writing that reflects the evolution of the social perception of developmental disabilities.It's very readable and not overly editorialized.Quite to the contrary, the last few selections suggest "progress" from institutional to community models is much less progressive than some would like to believe.

The book that never stops..
This book is poorly written and has very little historical value.Clearly the author failed to take out his biases for the scope of his argument.I also found it to drone on endlessly.

Explains a Lot!
Asa pre-service special education teacher, I sometimes wonder how our way of treating people who have disabilities came about. This book offers some great answers. This book is incredibly readable, even for the lay reader. I would highly recommend this book to those interested in working with peope who have disabilities or the student of history.

A complete waste of my time.
I purchased this book from Walmart, and needless to say this will be the last book I ever buy online from them ever again. It was extremely boring, and uninformative. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book
This is a great book if you work with the developmentally disabled population and mental health.

DM-ID
Diagnostic Manual-Intellectual Disability (DM-ID): A Clinical Guide for Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability


this book is a MUST HAVE for all clincians. It is important for mental health and disability providers. ... Read more

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Practical and encouraging, this comprehensive guide offers answers to almost every question families and caregivers can ask about the challenges of facing family members who are retarded--from preschool age children to adults--at every stage of their lives. ... Read more

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A Simon & Schuster eBook ... Read more

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New York State Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, Albany. Reference on mental retardation, for psychologists and students. Discusses epidemiology, resources, guidelines for classification, and more. 74 contributors, 73 U.S. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great resource
What a great resource for a counselor to own or for a person who works with the cognitively disabled population. All professionals who work in community counseling should have this since many people who receive Medicaid often have a cognitive disability. Many times after taking a person to a community counselor claim that psychotherapy is not useful to that "population." I believe that they just don't want to invest the time to tailor their methods to meet the clients needs.

The book examines the research on counseling people with disabilities and the review on multi-modal therapy was informative. ... Read more

Product Description
DC-LD is a new classification system providing operationalised diagnostic criteria for psychiatric disorders, intended for use with adults with moderate to profound learning disabilities. It may also be used in conjunction with the ICD-10 and DSM-IV manuals in a complementary way, when working with adults with mild learning disabilities. DC-LD was developed by a working party convened on behalf of the Faculty for the Psychiatry of Learning Disability of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Penrose Society. The work was further informed by a wider consultation group and a piloting exercise. It is only suitable for use by professionals trained in psychiatric diagnosis. The use of DC-LD will hopefully enhance clinical practice and facilitate future research in this area.

Also Available

CANDID: Camberwell Assessment of Need for Adults with Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities - ISBN 1901242994
Madness to Mental Illness: A History of the Royal College of Psychiatrists - ISBN 1904671357

RCPsych Publications is the publishing arm of the Royal College of Psychiatrists (based in London, United Kingdom), which has been promoting excellence in mental health care since 1841. Produced by the same editorial team who publish The British Journal of Psychiatry, they sell books for both psychiatrists and other mental health professionals; and also many written for the general public. Their popular series include the College Seminars Series, the NICE mental health guidelines and the Books Beyond Words series for people with intellectual disabilities.

RCPsych publishes in all areas of psychiatry and mental health, including but not limited to:
Clinical psychiatric practice
Intellectual disability
Mental health services for children, adolescents, adults and the elderly
Psychopharmacology
Psychotherapy
Rehabilitation psychiatry
Family mental health
Service provision

RCPsych Publications books can help with the following disorders:
Addictions
Affective disorders
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Bereavement
Borderline personality disorder
Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT)
Dementia
Depression
Eating disorders
Perinatal psychiatric disorder
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
Psychosis
Schizophrenia
Sleep problems
... Read more

Product Description
A book for parents of children with mental retardation, whether or not they have a diagnosed syndrome or condition.It provides a complete introduction to a child's medical, therapeutic, and educational needs and covers topics such as family adjustment, daily care, child development, early intervention, special education, and legal rights.A reading list, a glossary of important terms, and a national listing of disability organizations make this a complete handbook. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A practical and hopeful book for parents
This book is different.It's not the technical, dry or depressing book.
The writing is practical, straightforward and hopeful.It is the best book on special needs/mental retardation I've read so far.I wish I'd read this one first.
This book adresses the initial concerns, testing, the roles of the therapists and even the IEP.The book ends with practical parenting advice and tips.Many of the comments from parents throughout the book hit home and were a breath of fresh air.
This book belongs in the library of a special needs/m.r. parent-and probably their extended family too.

Help for Parents of Children with Mental Retardation
Our Early Intervention Coordinator gave this book to me the week after our daughter was diagnosed with MR.This book is an excellent first resource for parents.It is very readable and easy to understand.You can readonly the areas you are concerned about or cover to cover.In attempting tobe a parent's guide, they include quotes from parents of children with MRthrough each section.I found this so helpful that one night I foundmyself up until 1AM just going through the book and reading what"other parents" had to say.Chapters cover diagnosis, theevaluation process, daily living, legal rights and advocacy.

Afterreading this book, I found that I was more informed and better able to askthe right questions.It also helped me to understand what I was feelingabout the diagnosis.There is even a description of types of MR andcauses, etc.I would recommend it as a first resource for any parent wholearns their child has MR. ... Read more

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An essential tool for parents, seasoned teachers, and other individuals involved in the life of somebody who happens to have mental retardation, this book provides readers with scores of useful resources, including websites, professional organizations, and support groups. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A must-read!
It's a great book.Everyone should read it.We should all learn about this misunderstood segment of our population. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Powerful Words
I had to read this book for a cultural foundations class at Auburn University.This was an amazingly powerful story written in first person. To understand the meaning of social retardation, read these life stories.they put an interesting and sad perspective on the manner in which they aredehumanized for being who they are.I would recommend this book for anyonewho is ging to be teaching or around these wonderful individuals. ... Read more

Product Description
Mental Retardation, now in the third edition, was hailed as a "classic" when it was first published in the 1970's. This edition provides up-to-date material on the major dimensions of mental retardation-its nature, its causes, both biological and psychological, and its management. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must-Read for MR Professionals
Mental Retardation: Nature, Cause and Management is an easy-to-read review of the many issues and concerns related to mental retardation.Educators, mental health providers, residential program staff, health care providers,administrators, policy-makers, and students are offered a wealth ofinformation related to avariety of topics, including: etiology, impact ofMR on individual psychosocial functioning and personality, history andnature of support services for persons with MR, MR & sexuality, anddual diagnosis.

Baroff summarizes the relevant research from a varietyof disciplines ranging from the genetics and biology to linguistics,psychology, and education.He also provides detailed descriptions ofcommon services, programs, and practical dilemmas encountered by personswith MR and the people who care for them.The 50-page bibliography is, initself, an important resource. ... Read more

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This is a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of mental retardation caused by genes on the X chromosome. Clinical and laboratory data on 130 syndromes are presented in a concise and consistent manner. Each syndrome is defined and information is provided on somatic features, growth and development, neurological signs, cognitive performance, imaging and other laboratory findings, and when possible, the nature and localization of the responsible gene. Craniofacial and other somatic findings are extensively illustrated. A differential matrix accompanies each syndrome description to assist the reader in identifying other X-linked syndromes with overlapping features.As background, the X chromosome and the emergence of the concept of X-linked mental retardation are discussed. X-chromosome maps show the location and mapping limits of the responsible genes. The authors have extensive experience in the clinical and laboratory delineation of X-linked mental retardation. They have described new syndromes, regionally mapped disease loci on the X chromosome, and in several cases isolated the genes responsible for X-linked syndromes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A vital book
This book is necessary to any physician or healht professional who intends to know a little more about X-linked mental retardation. There is , of course, a need for uptodate some chapters, but it is still a nice introduction to this fascinating theme ... Read more

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Describes the home life, physiotherapy, and schooling of two mentally retarded sisters. ... Read more

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During the past few decades the number of studies on motor and physical development in persons with mental retardation has been steadily increasing. This book reflects this growing interest and details not only the groundwork prepared by researchers, but provides indicators for future research. Based on the observations of teachers and caregivers, researchers have found new ways of documenting the significant changes in growth and movement development occurring across the life span of persons with mental retardation. This volume examines these cases from the perspective of the social and physical environment. It also addresses key issues relating to motor development in children with Down's Syndrome and presents a discussion on aspects of health and fitness. ... Read more

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This is the story of theunraveling of a profound medical mystery. It started 70 years ago in Norway,where Mrs Egeland wassearching for a physician who could treat her two young children. At birth,both children appeared to be healthy, but they soon developed signs of severemental retardation. Her search ended when she found Dr. Flling,who determined that the retardation was caused by a new genetic disease, laternamed phenylketonuria (PKU), thatblocks the oxidation of the amino acid phenylalanine. Later, others devised aninexpensive test for PKU and an effective¿ treatment- the low phenylalanine diet.Although these developments came too late to help Mrs. Egeland'schildren, they have helped thousands of other PKU children live normal lives.This is one of the great success stories of modern medicine.There is one painful legacy fromPKU that occurs when a woman who is unaware that she has PKU becomes pregnant.Infants born to such women, estimated to be about 6.5 million, will likely bedamaged in utero,a condition called Maternal PKU. To prevent this damage, these women must betested for PKU and, if positive, go on a low phenylalanine diet before they become pregnant. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

0vercoming A Bad Gene: Discovery & Treatment of PKU
PKU is another inherited disorder which I have really found interesting to read about!In fact I purchased several books in the subject of PKU!At least with PKU, even if it isn't cured,it is treatable provided the steps are taken right away to prevent the severe mental retardation which a PKU child sustains if not put on the special PKU dietary program! It was discovered in 1934 by Dr. Asbjorn Folling who had seen 2 siblings with SEVERE mental retardation in 0slo, Norway!I find it really interesting as to how Dr. Folling made every effort to find out what he could in regards to the youngsters' difficulties!0f course in much later times, other physicians contributed as well!Dawn E. Lowenstein ... Read more

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"A major contribution to the scholarly literature on discrimination and on civil rights and liberties."--Kathleen M. Sullivan, Dean, Stanford Law SchoolEqual Treatment for People with Mental RetardationHaving and Raising ChildrenMartha A. Field and Valerie A. SanchezEngaging in sex, becoming parents, raising children: these are among the most personal decisions we make, and for people with mental retardation, they have been consistently challenged, regulated, and outlawed. This book is a comprehensive study of the American legal doctrines and social policies, past and present, that have governed procreation and parenting by persons with mental retardation. It argues persuasively that persons with retardation should have legal authority to make their own decisions.Despite the progress of the normalization movement, which has moved so many people with mental retardation into the mainstream since the 1960s, negative myths about reproduction and child rearing among this population persist. Martha Field and Valerie Sanchez trace these prejudices to the eugenics movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. They show how misperceptions have led to inconsistent and discriminatory outcomes when third parties seek to make birth control or parenting decisions for people with mental retardation. And they explore the effect of these decisions on those they purport to protect. Detailed, thorough, and just, their book is in effect a sustained argument for reform of the legal practices and social policies it describes. Martha A. Field is Langdell Professor of Law, Harvard University. Valerie A. Sanchez has been Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School, and is an academic practitioner in American civil liberties law and alternative dispute resolution.January 61/8 x 91/4 1 line illus., 6 tables 448 pp. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Inspiring and helpful
This book is fabulous and it is one of a kind. I found it helpful as a guardian often faced with ethical dilemmas about when I should decide and when "my ward" should. But the book is also written for doctors, policymakers, lawyers and judges, and parents -- in fact anyone interested in the assimilation of "the retarded" into the rest of the population.
It is actually fun reading and set up so you can skip the parts less relevant to you.It made me cry a couple of times as well as giving me many ideas -- and increasing my confidence in my judgments.READ IT.It will surely affect you profoundly in one way or another.

Romance & Retardation
While this closely argued and exhaustively researched book focuses on the reproductive legal rights of our retarded adults, its real core is to ask: Why should retarded people be deprived of the same rights the rest of us enjoy simply because they are retarded.
The book punctures the veil of silence around our automatic presumptions about these people that underlies our assumptions of the necessity and goodness of paternalistic regulation.
It does this by honing in on the most emotionally arousing aspect of the question.Asking why our retarded fellow citizens can be prevented from having sex and from having children brings us up against our deepest prejudices.
The book caused me to reconfigure my opinions in these areas in what feels to me a more useful perspective of the lives of these people, some of whom are my patients.I think it is a must read for anyone involved in any aspect of the care of our retarded population.

Controversial and convincing
This book puts forth a compelling thesis: The mentally retarded should have full rights to manage their own sexual and reproductive lives. The idea sounds good, but most people would quail at its full implications. Should a severely retarded 15-year-old be allowed to bear a child? What about situations where parents fear a daughter might suffer from rapein an institution? Should they have the right to have their daughter sterilized? A Harvard law professor, Field does not dodge the hard questions. She addresses them and forces a re-thinking of conventional ideas about who should make decisions for others and why. Field writes with such authority and conviction that at the end you are likely to be persuaded that human rights apply to the retarded in ways you never imagined. Analytical and systematic, the book is rooted in a deep knowledge of the law and a concern for the shaping of social policy. It is a must-read for those who face decisions about the retarded, either within their families or in the public arena. Those concerned with human rightswill also find their minds, and perhaps their causes, expanded when they read this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Since the 1970s, the development of normalization philosophy and the implementation of community care policies have highlighted the nature and treatment of psychiatric and behavior disorders in people with mental retardation and rekindled the interest of scientists, psychiatric practitioners, and service providers. With these changes has grown a substantial body of new research and information on the phenomenology, epidemiology, classification, and clinical features of mental illness and behavior disorders in mentally retarded persons.

In response to this growing interest and awareness, the editors, together with internationally renowned contributors from the United States and Europe, have compiled the first comprehensive handbook of the current theory and practice of mental health treatment and care in mentally retarded children and adults.

Both contemporary and in-depth, this multidisciplinary, multidimensional volume covers all available therapeutic methods, including psychopharmacotherapy, psychotherapy, behavior therapies, cognitive therapy, and the systems approach for all the main diagnostic disorders in people with mental retardation.

Parts I and II present an overview of epidemiology and clinical presentation, including research trends, and therapeutic methods, including psychotherapy, psychopharmacology, behavioral therapies, cognitive and social learning treatments, and working with families and caregivers.

Parts III and IV focus on psychotherapeutic interventions, such as rational emotive group treatment with dually diagnosed adults, pre-therapy for persons with mental retardation who are also psychotic, and systemic therapy, and how to apply these methods to the treatment of specific mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and mood and anxiety disorders.

Parts V and VI discuss how to treat behavior disorders such as aggression/self-aggression (pharmacotherapy and strategic behavioral interventions) and self-injurious behaviors (multimodal contextual approach), including group therapy for sex offenders and a pedagogical approach to behavior problems, and which treatment methods, such as psychodynamically oriented psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, are most effective with children, including developmental-dynamic relationship therapy with more severely mentally retarded children.

Parts VII and VIII provide guidance on mental health services and staff training, including psychiatric treatment in community care and a model for inpatient services for mentally ill persons with mental retardation, and the editors final chapter, which draws together all the various therapeutic approaches described in previous chapters to provide a practical framework for an integrative approach.

Filling a major gap in the literature, this indispensable resource for psychiatrists, psychologists, and educators working with mentally retarded persons is also intended for general practitioners, doctors, social workers, and therapists working in the same or related fields. ... Read more