Assistant Professor, Department of Social Work, Central University of Rajasthan, India.
Online published on 21 January, 2013.
The phenomenon of mental retardation has been known for millennia. It has been observed that phenomenon has a complex nature and not understood by various section of the community such as parents, family, professional etc. There have been a lot of misconceptions and wrong practices seen across the society.Commonly held attitude is that having a mentally retarded child is traumatic. Although the birth of a mentally retarded child usually requires some adjustment on the part of the parents, the reactions attributed to parents may be exaggerated and one still not well understood.
A child with mental retardation shows a condition of incomplete or less than normal mental development. Poor educability, in most of the cases, leads to the problem of social inadequacy and immaturity and the consequent social maladjustment. Both these problems are accompanied by non acceptance or rejection at the hands of his parents and siblings and foster a sense of insecurity in the child. Other factors are feeling of intense guilt in parents and an atmosphere of frustration, conflict and unhappiness in the home. If these parental feelings and attitudes persist, all efforts to improve the functioning of the child with mental retardation will remain useless. It is recognized by the professional that human attention and proper guidance and counselling should be given to the parents to change their attitudes and accept their children with disability.
