Algunos conceptos sobre la clasificación del retardo mental en los Estados Unidos

Abstract

The system most frequently used in the United States for the classification of mental retardation is that of the Manual on terminology and classification in mental retardation of the American Association on Mental Deficiency (AAMD). This system is similar to that of Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (second issue), published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Both manuals define mental retardation similarly: "Mental retardation refers to subaverage general intellectual functioning which originates during the development period and is associated with impairment in adaptative behavior." The definition of the APA avoids the phrase "impairment in adaptative behavior" and uses instead "impairment of either learning and social adjustment or maturation or both."

The diagnosis of mental retardation in the United States has two dimensions: (a) medical classification based on assignment to one of several specified syndromes and (b) the seriousness of the retardation, based on standardized development or intelligence tests. In its approach, the AAMD underlines medical classification; the APA gives priority to the degree of retardation. Both medical classifications give causation a primary role in defining the syndromes and utilize syndromes of a descriptive character only when the etiology is unknown

The first of the two special questions with which this paper will ...(AU)