REPORT RESUMES ED 013 513 EC 000 463 TERMINOLOGY AND CONCERTS IN MENTAL RETARDATION. TC SERIESIN SFECIAL EDUCATION. BY- DAVITZ, JOEL R. AND OTHERS COLUMBIA UNIV., NEW YCF4K, TEACHERS COLLEGE PUB DATE 64 CONTRACT EC-SAE-6460 EDRS FRICE MF-$0.75 HC-1:5.32 137P. DESCRIPTORS- *TERMINOLOGY, *MENTAL RETARDATION,TAXONOMY, *CLASSIFICATION, A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF THE LITERATURE ON MENTAL RETARDATION GROUPED TERMS INTO FIVE CATEGORIES-GENERAL TERMS, ETIOLOGICAL TERMS, TERMS CONCERNED WITHDEGREE Cf RETARDATION, EDUCATIONAL TERMS, AND LEGAL TERMS.FOR EACH GROUP, DISCUSSION SUMMARIZES DEFINITICN,PRESENTS AREAS OF AGREEMENT AND DISAGREEMENT, AND POINTS UP ISSUESAND PROBLEMS. A TABLE FOR EACH GROUP LISTSEQUIVALENT TERMS AND ANALYZES MAJOR TERMS IN SEVEN WAYS-ETIOLOGY,INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING, EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONING, MATURATIONAND SOCIAL COMPETENCE, PSYCHOLOGICAL (FUNCTIONING AND STATUS),PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL (STATUS), AND PROGNOSIS.REFERENCES SUFFLYING THE CONCEPTS USED IN A DEFINITION ARENOTED. THE CONCEPTS CF PSEUDO-FEEBLEMINDEDNESS AND PROBLEMSOf DIAGNOSIS ARE ALSO DISCUSSED. FROM THIS REVIEW CFTHE LITERATURE, A TENTATIVE MULTIDIMENSIONAL SYSTEM FOR THEDEFINITION Cf TERMS IS PRESENTED. USING THIS SYSTEM, A PERSONCAN BE CLASSIFIED ON THE OASIS OF SIX DIMENSIONS-ETIOLCGY,INTELLIGENCE, MATURATION, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIAL STATUS,PHYSICAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS, AND PROGNOSIS. EACHOF THESE SIX DIMENSIONS IS FURTHER DIVIDED SO THAT A PERSONCAN BE CLASSIFIED TO INDICATE GENERAL ABILITY ANDSPECIFIC STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES. THUS A GENERAL SYSTEMFOR DEFINITION IS PRESENTED. FOLLCWUP STUDIES Cf INTELLECTUAL,VOCATIONAL, AND SOCIAL FUNCTIONING OF FEEBLEMINDED PERSONSARE SUMMARIZED IN THE HOPE OF DEVELOPING A CLASSIFICATIONSYSTEM BASED ON ADEQUATE PROGNOSTIC KNOWLEDGE. REFERENCELIST CITES 366 ITEMS. (MY) IN THIS SERIES.. i HELPING THE VISUALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDIN A REGULAR CLASS Anthony J. Pe lone HELPING THE TRAINABLE MENTALLY RETARDED CHILD Bernice B. Baumgartner ADMINISTRATION OF SPECIAL EDUCATION PROGRAMS Leo E. Connor GUIDING THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED COLLEGE STUDENT Herbert Rusalem AN EXPERIMENTAL CURRICULUMFOR YOUNG MENTALLY RETARDED CHILDREN Frances P. Connor Mabel E. Talbot EDUCATION OF HOMEBOUND OR HOSPITALIZED CHILDREN Frances P. Connor TERMINOLOGY AND CONCEPTS IN MENTAL RETARDATION Joel R. Davitz Lois J. Davitz Irving Lorge TC SERIES IN SPECIAL EDUCATION FRANCES P. CONNOR, EDITOR U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION& WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION i THIS DOCUMENT HAS SEEN REPRODUCEDEXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT.POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIALOFFICE OF EDUCATION POSITION OR POLICY. Terminology and Concepts in Mental Retardation JOEL R. DAVITZ Professor of Psychology andEducation Teachers College. ColumbiaUniversity LOIS T. DAVITZ IRVING LORGE Late Professor of Education Teachers College. Columbia University BUREAU OF PUBLICATIONS Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity New York, 1964 The research reported hereinwas performed pursuant to a contract with the United States Office of Education, De- partment of Health, Education, and Welfare, #SAE6460 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-61261 Manufactured in the United States of America Foreword CURRENT INTEREST in mental retardation and the outstanding increase in support for research and training in this field have dictated the publication of the present report, which represents an attempt to summarize, organize, and criticize thewords used to describe various phenomena of mental retardation. Although not designed to answer problems, it does underscore difficulties and should clarify some of the field's confusion, for words and concepts S influence the way one perceives problems and inevitably influence the actions taken. Because so many different kinds of professional people are involved in dealing with mental retardation, and because each of them has a specific background of professional terminology different from other professionals, differences in terminology can lead to a Tower of Babelwith physicians, teachers, administrators, psy- chologists, and social workers each speaking his own brand of jargon. Moreover, not to be overlooked are emotional involvement in the problems, as well as the slippery and negatively tinged con- notative meanings of terms. Also, underlying the specific words used are a number of very complex, subtle assumptions and con- cepts that are rarely made explicit. In fact, within some professional disciplines these concepts are probably never even mentioned, much less discussed or understood. So, unfortunately, words are used and decisions made with little awareness of their implications. Well recognized are the attempts of the American Association on Mental Deficiency and others to defineand classify terms in this field. As early as 1919 the Association (then the American vi FOREWORD Association for the Studyof the Feebleminded)established a Committee on Clarificationadd Statistics. More recently(1959) it publisheda manual on definition, medicalclassification, be- havioral classification, andstatistical reporting anda glossary. Without doubt, the studyreported herecan be utilized in the continuing search formeans of measuring adaptive behaviorof the mentally retarded. Following the collectionof data for the present study,Pro- fessor Irving Lorge offereda proposal envisioning "codingpro- cedures with geometric codesfor factors suchas etiology, specific disabilities and abilities, andsensory handicaps and a gradedscore for the quantifiable andpseudo-quantifiable factors suchas quo- tients or self help." (WoodsSchools Conference, 1959)He re- quested support fora national clearing house of data forfollow-up on education and vocationalcareers. In the pooling of data, he felt that "the itemsor item clusters indicative of etiologyand/or of functioning level and/orof future performance couldbe identi- fied so that a standardizedminimum list and appraisal batterycould be established for controlpurposes allowing more andmore time for fruitful research." Dr. Lorge's far-reaching planswere to be snuffed out by his untimely death in 1961.However, his colleagues Prof.Joel Davitz and Lois Davitz have completedthe on-going study and skillfully presented a tentative multidimensionalsystem for the definition of terms. This system containsa number of dimensions divided into subcategories representing eitherqualitative or quantitative differ- ences. Suggested are broad categories ofetiology, intelligence, maturation, psychological andsocial status, physical andenviron- mental status, and prognosisthat should prove usefulto both service and research personneland might be instrumental inin- creasing communication of meaningswith some concrete reference. It is certainly an importantstep in a worthwhile direction. FRANCES P. CONNOR Head, Department of SpecialEducation Teachers College, ColumbiaUniversity Contents INTRODUCTION 1 GENERAL TERMS 4 :1 Content Analysis 4 Differentiation Among General Terms 7 Problems and Issues 8 Table I: General Terms 14 ETIOLOGICAL TERMS 18 Content Analysis 19 Problems and Issues 22 Table II: Etiological Terms 24 CLASSIFICATION BY DEGREE Content Analysis 28 Problems and Issues 32 Table III: Terms Concernedwith Level of Retardation 35 EDUCATIONAL TERMS 39 Content Analysis 39 Educational Terms and Classificationby Degree 42 Problems and Issues 42 vii viii CONTENTS A Proposal for Educational Terminology 44 Table IV: Educational Terms 47 LEGAL TERMS 53 Content Analysis 54 Problems and Issues 57 Table V: Factors Included in Definitionsof Termsas Contained in State Laws 58 Table VI: FactorsIncluded in Definitionsof Terms as Contained in the State Regulations 61 Table VII: Factors Included in Definitionsof Terms as Contained in the Regulations of RepresentativeCities65 PSEUDO-FEEBLEMINDEDNESS 67 'Table VIII: Pseudo-Feeblemindedness 71 DIAGNOSTIC CONSIDERATIONS ANDPROBLEMS 73 Table IX: Diagnostic 4 Considerations 75 SOME MAJOR CONCEPTS 77 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 81 A Multidimensional System of Definition 82 Table X: Recommended Basis for DefiningTerms 85 APPENDIX: A REVIEW OF FOLLOW-UPRESEARCH96 Employment 96 Education 98 Supervision 99 Recreation 100 Marriage 100 Health and Institutionalization 100 Social Adjustment 101 IQ 102 Summary and Conclusions 103 BIBLIOGRAPHY 105 Introduction THE PURPOSE of thisreport is to review terminology andconcepts in mental retardation. Resultsof a content analysis of theliterature are presented, and major concepts relatedto classification and diagnosis are reviewed. Problemsand issues in terminologyare discussed and, finally, recommendationsare proposed for the defi- nition and usage of terms. PROCEDURE One hundred and eighty-eightarticles, monographs, and books, in addition to state laws andregulations of ten representativecities, were reviewed, and definitions of suggestedterms and criteria for diagnosis were analyzed forcontent. The analysis consisted of classifying 7.ach bit of informationin a proposed definition into one of seven content categories. Thesecategories, developedon a preliminary review of the literature,were designed to classify the wide range of informationcontained in discussions of etiology, functioning, and prognosis of thementally retarded. Categories of Analysis 1. Etiology includes informationconcerned withcauses of mental retardation. In general,this involves broad distinctionsof etiology, such as familialor acquired, but does not considerspe- cific medical discussions ofcausal factors or detailedmedical classifications