The term mental retardation "refers to substantial limitations in present functioning...characterized by significantly subaverage intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with related limitations in 2 or more ... adaptive skill areas..." An IQ score is required before a label of "mental retardation" can be attached to a child. An IQ score in the range of 75-50 is currently classified as "mild". Students who fall into this category of labeling do not generally exhibit physical and/or behavioral symptoms, as do students whose impairment is greater or worse. Children who are labeled "mildly retarded" do not have academic success in school. Thus, they lose confidence in their ability to learn. This loss of confidence then leads to lack of motivation. Once this vicious cycle begins, students and teachers seem to sink in despair and progress seems non existent.

3. What are the causes of mild mental retardation?

Most children who suffer from mild mental retardation are primarily influenced by their environment. They do not suffer from any apparent organic impairments, yet their academic performance is well below average. Poverty is one of the leading environmental causes for mild retardation. Children in this area of society have very limited educational experiences. Many are exposed to toxins such as lead or other heavy metal which the children may have inhaled or ingested. Others suffer from improper diet - malnutrition - which is absolutely necessary in order for proper development to occur. These children are also products of other types of deprivation, like pre-natal care, medical attention, alcohol and/or drug use, etc...When all of these factors are taken into consideration, it is often determined that these children are "not mildly retarded, but...educationally disadvantaged."

5. What does the "six hour retarded child" mean?

This is a term coined by researched Jane Mercer (1973). In research she completed, Mercer found that the majority of students who are labeled mildly retarded - are only this way at school (6 hours a day). She went on to discover that these children functioned at or above average in the area of life skills. Outside of school, these children were considered "normal" among their families and/or peers. Mercer attributed this to the fact that schools only teach to those who can learn and those who have been exposed. Students who were not enriched at home were left out of the educational experience.

Mercer’s discoveries led to the inclusion of adaptive skills into the evaluation process - before a label of mental retardation is given. This led to a change in definition by the AAMR. As a result, "Mental retardation is a category based on differences in intelligence and adaptive behavior and their effects on learning manifested before the age when individuals are typically expected to assume adult roles..." Today students are not just evaluated, labeled, and placed based on their academic performance - we now attempt to evaluate the WHOLE person!

7. What are the cognitive, social, language, and academic characteristics of students with mild mental retardation?

• COGNITIVE: The cognitive development and learning of students with mild mental retardation must be viewed in terms of what is actually taking place in the classroom where these children spend most of the day. Interactive learning, which requires children to participate through "trial and error", results in academic advancement. Students with mild mental retardation ARE capable of learning - they just learn in a different manner than other students. The majority of teachers have classrooms where students are required to "sit-still-and-learn". This is not an interactive process. Thus, students with mild mental retardation cannot progress.
• SOCIAL: Students with mild mental retardation, especially those identified at an early age, suffer from failure and embarrassment at a time when success and acceptance are so crucial to their social development. They learn from the very beginning of their educational career that they are beneath others academically. This academic failure translates into social failure. Students who are not disabled focus on the inability of these students - what they CANNOT do is the focal point for everyone. (Including the teacher.) Eventually everyone is convinced that students with mild mental retardation are helpless - academically and socially. This failure to succeed leads to a lack of motivation on the part of these students - they’ve failed at everything so far; why should they even try to succeed?
• LANGUAGE: Verbal communication prevails in most classrooms. In order to participate in this communication, language is a MUST. Students with mild mental retardation are generally not verbal. This deficit begins at birth for these children. Language/communication deprivation starts begins at home for these students. IF parents do not talk with their child who is disabled - because they do not think the child can comprehend - then the child assumes that NOT communicating is a way of life. This begins a vicious cycle of not achieving! Parents often assume that their child with mild mental retardation has to be "taught" be a professional. Thus, they do nothing to enhance the child’s learning prior to sending the child to school. At this point, when communication should already be in place, the child enters a whole new world - AND is already at a huge disadvantage! Without a foundation for this required communication, the child begins to falter. This leads to continued failure, and fulfills all previous expectations that a child with mild mental retardation really CAN’T learn.
• ACADEMICS: This seems to be the area where students with mild mental retardation have the MOST trouble. Some of this comes from the fact that they do not receive proper language enhancement prior to formal education. However, it also stems from the type of classrooms we place students with mild mental retardation in! Unfortunately, these students usually end up in classrooms where everyone is expected to learn the same thing, on the same day, in the same way! This type of instruction convinces students and teachers that these children are unable to perform academically. Reading, Math, and Written Language prevail as areas of failure. This results in approximately 43% of students (with MMR) - who graduate from high school - being unable to maintain permanent employment. Thus, they eventually become financial burdens on society. This reflects directly on their educational training! They were not taught how to succeed during their educational career - they were expected to fail. Thus, they did not know how to do anything but FAIL!