Mental Retardation Term paper

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Mental retardation has been around since the beginning of time, but we are only able to trace it historically back about 200 years ago beginning in the 1700’s through present time. In this paper, I will give the reader more knowledge about mental retardation and how it is still viewed as a social problem today.

Has society really come to understand the disorder that plagues the lives of many or are they still being viewed as the deviant outcast in society? It is important that the term mental retardation be defined before continuing; the Merriam – Webster Collegiate Dictionary states Mental Retardation as being:“ Sub average intellectual ability that is equivalent to or less than an IQ of 70, is present from birth or infancy and is manifested especially by abnormal development by learning difficulties and by problems in social adjustments”.

Prior to the 18th century little was known about mental retardation, no one really knew who these people with special needs were, why they acted like they did and above all they did not know how they should be treated. In the book entitled Mental Retardation by Mary Beirne-Smith, James R. Patton, and Richard Ittenbach, it states that many people in society viewed these people as buffoons, court jesters, and even demons. Also stated in the book entitled Mental Retardation that little service if any was provided to people with special needs, it was protective nature (i.e., providing housing and substance) and was usually offered in monasteries. My research has not uncovered much in the way where adequate training was made available during those times.

Throughout history, different patterns and methods of treatment were developed, but it was still not until the 20th century that retardation became a describable condition.

It was not until the 18th century that a new social attitude was established. That social attitude was one of the Renaissances; it held that all “men,” even those with who were disabled, had rights. It was that attitude that helped society realize they needed to support and assist people with special needs and to stop viewing them as demons and outcast. In the book Mental Retardation it states that the first part of the 19th century was a time of enthusiasm for working with people who had various disabilities, an enthusiasm displayed by a number of people in society. Those people in society were more willing to help the less fortunate people with solid intervention.

In the book entitled Mental Deficiency The Changing Outlook by Alan Clarke and Joseph Berg, it states that the origin of special education occurred in Europe in the early 1800’s. It has been stated in Mental Retardation that special education was dramatically influenced by a man named Jean-Marc Itard (1774-1838). Itard was a medical doctor who was concerned with diseases of the ear and the needs of the deaf. In 1799 Itard became interested in a feral child and moved to and area in Aveyron France. During that same year Itard had an effect on many, it was because of him that another man by the name of Seguin wrote a book entitled Idiocy and Its Treatment by Physiological Methods, which became a major reference work for educating people with retardation in the latter part of the 19th century.

During the...

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