Particularly is it an incredible shock when parents learn that their newly born baby suffers from some form of mental retardation such as mongolianism.a

Years ago there were few professional agencies to which parents could turn for counsel and support in doing the most loving and helpful thing for such a retarded child. But today the situation is different, especially in the larger cities. So much has this situation changed that some say that the present could well be “the dawn of a golden age for the retarded.’’

For one thing, among recent reports is one appearing in Psychology Today (April 1975) telling of the trend toward caring for handicapped children as far as possible in close association with average or normal children. Instead of having all such handicapped youngsters kept in institutions by themselves, as has been the custom, more and more of them are being cared for in a way that allows them to associate with average children. This is proving very beneficial.

Improved Methods

Typical of the improved way of dealing with handicapped youngsters is the Washington, D.C., program sponsored by the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare. It takes youngsters from mental institutions and gives them specialized training, at the same time weaning them away gradually from drugs​—something institutions often heavily depend on in dealing with retarded or other mentally ill patients. As a result, many of these youths are able to take their place in regular schools, or to hold down jobs if beyond school age.

Today throughout the United States there are “Infant Development Programs” ready to help retarded youngsters. According to a report, these “infants of any intelligence level can develop and learn if the special training they need is set in motion soon enough.” Even more encouraging is the position taken by the Pacific State Hospital at Pomona, California, “that there is no level at which children are ‘hopeless.’”

It has been learned that most babies are eager to explore their surroundings, and so are able to develop mentally and physically on their own even when their surroundings are not ideal. Retardation, however, can result when the environment is really very bad. The retarded child, on the other hand, must be coaxed along if it is to develop intellectually. In fact, its mother must devote all the time she possibly can to such coaxing. That means talking to the child, entertaining it, encouraging it to be physically active.

Just how to go about this task most effectively requires instruction and training, and this mothers can obtain in many of the larger cities. Some of these services provide professional help; workers spend an hour and a half each week teaching both mother and child right in their own home. Some communities also have provision for letting retarded children stay at such centers for a period of weeks, receiving instruction and training. Those involved in this activity say ‘it is a tragedy to give up on a retarded child and send it to an institution.’

Stressing the importance of physical activity for retarded youngsters is the report made by a committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics. The retarded child needs more physical activity than does the normal child, yet it is likely to get less. Neglect along this line both worsens his mental handicap and harms him physically, resulting in poor coordination and obesity. One private agency in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, encourages mothers to begin teaching their mongoloid infants when they are but five weeks old.

New and Successful Approaches

Another form of treatment that has produced striking results in severely retarded children is what is known as the “BallBird-Stick” method. It is based on the premise that all letters of the alphabet are formed either by a circle (a ball), a triangle (a bird) or a straight line (a stick). By this method psychologists have been able to teach children with an IQ of only twenty or thirty to read and write. And with this mental improvement comes also an improvement in personality.

Typical is the case of one severely retarded eighteen-year-old girl who kept throwing tantrums, had little spontaneous speech and spent most of the day rocking in a rocking chair. As a result of the “BallBird-Stick” method, she now talks freely, rarely has tantrums, no longer spends her day rocking and has developed a sense of humor. In fact, it is the rule that retardees trained by this method, some as old as forty-nine years, greatly improve in personality, manifest an upright rather than a slumped stance, and no longer spend the day rocking in a chair. Moreover, they manifest concern about their appearance, wanting to look presentable. These are all healthy signs. The staffs at such centers report that, while at first these retardees seemed to be “nonpeople”​—as far as communicating with them was concerned—​as a result of such training they now impress others as actually being people.

Another successful approach to the mentally retarded, either due to mongolism or to some type of brain damage, has been by means of music. The originator of this method, Richard Weber of Peoria, Illinois, has used a musical system by means of which many retarded children are learning to play an instrument. One child, whom it was impossible to live with and who seemed unable to learn anything, soon became quite normal by the aid of this system. By means of Weber’s “Musicall” method, as he calls it, hundreds of children, some of whom were severely retarded and had never spoken a word, have been brought to the point where they “learn to learn.” Concerning this method, a director of a retarded-children’s center stated: “Weber’s innovations are destroying a number of stereotyped notions. Since we began using his methods, we see children changing from vegetables into persons.”