The federal definition in The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act states that the category of Mental Retardation includes individuals who (1) exhibit significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning (scores below 70-75 on a standardized test of intelligence) (2) have concurrent deficits in adaptive skills, and (3) manifest conditions during the developmental period (prior to the age of 18), that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Adaptive skills include communication, self-care, home living, social skills, community use, self-direction, health and safety, functional academics, leisure, and work. The following resources will help you explore this topic.

Books Published by Houghton Mifflin Company

• Hunt, N., & Marshall, K. (1999). Exceptional Children and Youth (2^nd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 4.
• Kirk, S.A., Gallagher, J.J. & Anastasiow, N.J. (2000). Educating Exceptional Children (9^th ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company - Chapter 5.
• Lerner, J. (2000). Learning disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, pp. 25, 41, 152.
• Ysseldyke, J.E., Algozzine, B., & Thurlow, M.L. (2000) Critical issues in special education (3^rd ed.). New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, p. 74.

Books Published by Other Companies

• Beirne-Smith, M., Ittenbach, R., & Patton, J. R. (1998). Mental retardation (5^th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice hall.
• Berube, M. (1996). Life as we know it: A father, a family, and an exceptional child. New York: Pantheon Books.
• Drew, C. J., & Hardman, M. L. (1999). Mental retardation: A life cycle approach. New York: Merrill, an imprint of Macmillan.
• Hickson, L., Blackman, L. S., & Reis, E. M. (1995). Mental retardation: Foundations of educational programming. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
• Hilton, A., & Ringlaben, R. (1998). Best and promising practices in developmental disabilities. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
• McLaughlin, P. J., & Wehman, P. (1996). Mental retardation and developmental disabilities. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.
• Polloway, E., & Patton, J. (1996). Strategies for teaching learners with special needs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, an imprint of Macmillan.
• Wehmeyer, M. L., & Patton, J. R. (Eds.) (1999). Mental retardation in the 21st century. Austin, TX: Pro-Ed.

Journals

• American Journal on Mental Retardation
• Education and training in mental retardation and developmental disabilities (CEC)
• Interaction, AAMR
• Mental retardation
• Research in Developmental Disabilities

Fact Sheets

• National Information Center on Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY) Fact Sheet -- http://nichcy.org/pubs/factshe/fs8txt.htm
• The ARC: Q & A Fact Sheets -- http://www.thearcpub.com/cgi-bin/miva?Merchant/merchant.mv+Screen=PROD&Store_Code=arcpub&Product_Code=101-f
• The Down Syndrome WWW page -- http://www.nas.com/downsyn/faq.html
• Fragile X Syndrome (The ARC) -- http://TheArc.org/faqs/fragqa.html

Web site Resources

• American Association on Mental Retardation -- http://www.aamr.org
• The Arc -- http://www.thearc.org/
• Division on Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities (CEC) -- http://www.cec.sped.org/
• The Down Syndrome home page -- http://www.nas.com/downsyn/
• ERIC Clearinghouse on Disabilities and Gifted Education -- http://ericec.org
• The Federal Resource Center for Special Education (mental retardation) -- http://www.dssc.org/frc/index.htm
• Special Education Resources on the Internet (mental retardation)-- http://www.hood.edu/seri/mr.htm
• Special Olympics International Home Page -- http://www.specialolympics.org/

Popular Movies

• Charly (1968). Selmur Pictures
• Of mice and men (1992). MGM/United Artists
• What's eating Gilbert Grape? (1993). Paramount

Videos

• Raymond's Portrait (Down Syndrome) (1997) -- http://www.fanlight.com/catalog/films/267_rp.shtml
• Wild Dream Team (1997). -- http://www.aquariusproductions.com/

Online Resource Documents

• Developmental Disabilities -- http://www.geocities.com/HotSprings/3594/dd.html
• Introduction to mental retardation -- http://www.winona.msus.edu/specialeducation/mIIntro.html
• Life skills for students with mental retardation -- http://ericec.org/faq/mr-lifsk.html
• Mental Retardation - http://ericec.org/digests/e528.html
• Mental retardation index: Volumes 28-36 (AAMR Periodicals) -- http://www.aamr.org/Periodicals/periodicals.html
• Mental retardation and sex education -- http://ericec.org/faq/sex-ed.html
• · Siblings: Brothers and sisters of people who have mental retardation -- http://TheArc.org/faqs/sibling.html
• What is mental retardation? -- http://www.paso.org/about/whatismr.htm