"Pediatricians have the unpleasant but important responsibility of breaking the news of mental subnormality to the par ents and then discussing with them the problems involved. We fail in our duty when we shirk this responsibility because of lack of time, laziness, ignorance of how to do it, or failure to be informed of the ways in which we can help."
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Blodgett, H.E. : Counselling parents of mentally retarded children . Minn. Med.40: 721, 1957.
2.
Boles, Q.: Personality factors in mothers of cerebral palsied children. Genet. Psychol. Monogr.59: 159, 1959.
3.
Buck, Pearl: The Child Who Never Grew. London, Methuen, 1951.
4.
Drillien, C.M. and Wilkinson, E.M.: Mongolism. When should the parents be told?Brit. Med. J.2: 1306, 1964.
5.
Farber, B.: Effects of a severely mentally retarded child on family integration . Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development24: No. 2, 1959.
6.
Farrell, M.J. : The adverse effects of early institutionalisation of mentally subnormal children. Amer. J. Dis. Child.91: 278, 1956.
7.
Ferguson, T. and Kerr, A.W.: After histories of boys educated in special schools for mentally handicapped children. Scot. Med. J.3: 31, 1958.
8.
Holt, K.S.: The impact of mentally retarded children upon their families. M.D. Thesis . The University of Manchester, 1957 .
9.
Illingworth, R.S.: Some points about the guidance of parents of mentally subnormal children. J. Mental Subnormality8: 3, 1962.
10.
Illingworth, R.S. and Lister, J.: The critical or sensitive period, with special reference to certain feeding problems in infants and children . J. Pediat.65: 839, 1964.
11.
Illingworth, R.S.: Development of the Infant and Young Child, Normal and Abnormal, 3rd Ed. Edinburgh, Livingstone, 1966.
12.
Lorber, J.: The family history of spina bifida cystica. Pediatrics35: 589, 1965.
13.
Ounsted, C.: Psychiatric barriers to learning, and emotional maturity. Spastics Quarterly12: 2, 1963.
14.
Schipper, M.T. : The child with mongolism in the home. Pediatrics24: 132, 1959.
15.
Shere, E. and Kastenbaum, R.: Mother child interaction in cerebral palsy. Genetic Psychol. Monographs73: 255, 1966.
16.
Solomons, G. : What do you tell the parents of a retarded child? Some personal experiences and reflections. Clin. Pediat . 4: 227, 1965.
17.
Tizzard, J. : Residential care of mentally handicapped children . Brit. Med. J.1: 1041, 1960.
18.
Tizzard, J. and Grad, J.C.: The Mentally Handicapped and Their Families. Oxford , Oxford University Press, 1964 .
19.
Waskowitz, C.H.: The parents of retarded children speak for themselves. J. Pediat.54: 320, 1959.
20.
Zwerling, I. : Initial counselling of parents with mentally retarded children. J. Pediat.44: 469, 1959.
