Understanding Mental Retardation (Understanding Health and Sickness Series) - Softcover

Ainsworth, M.D. Patricia

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1578066476 ISBN 13: 9781578066476

Publisher: University Press of Mississippi, 2004

Synopsis

What measures can parents and advocates take to insure that people who have mental retardation live full, rewarding lives from infancy to old age?

Understanding Mental Retardation explores a diverse group of disorders from their biological roots to the everyday challenges faced by this special population and their families. With parents and those who care for people who have mental retardation in mind, Patricia Ainsworth and Pamela C. Baker write in a style that is at once accessible, informative, and sympathetic to the concerns of those affected.

The authors provide practical information that will assist families and other advocates in obtaining needed services. They discuss assessment and treatment, education and employment, social and sexual adjustment, as well as regulatory and legal issues.

This book covers the causes of mental retardation, the signs and symptoms of the most common forms of these disorders, and issues of prevention. For the sake of comparison, the book describes basic concepts of normal human development and references the history of Western civilization's responses to those with mental retardation.

Understanding Mental Retardation sheds new light on mental illnesses that can complicate the lives of those with mental retardation, and the way symptoms of mental illness may appear confused or masked in a patient with mental retardation. Along with information on treatments and diagnoses, the book offers contact information for governmental resources, as well as a brief summary of the legal issues pertaining to mental retardation in America.

About this title

Book Description:

A resource for parents, caregivers, and counselors

About the Author:

Patricia Ainsworth is an assistant professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and has a private practice in Ridgeland, Mississippi. She is the author of Understanding Depression (University Press of Mississippi).

About this edition

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1578066476
• ISBN 13: 9781578066476
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216