Incidence of Pseudoretardation In a Clinic Population

MANY children of normal intelligence are considered to be mentally retarded because of school failure. There may be language, emotional, perceptual, and/or sensory disorders which interfere with normal learning and give rise to what may be called pseudoretardation. The prognosis depends largely on the promptness and accuracy of diagnosis. It is impossible to overestimate the importance of finding these children early so that appropriate educational techniques can be utilized to prevent the secondary emotional problems caused by inability to learn.

In order to determine the incidence of pseudoretardation in our clinic population, we reviewed the case records of a group of children referred to the Child Study Center * of the University of Oklahoma Medical Center for suspected mental retardation or because of difficulties in school. The Child Study Center serves as an evaluation unit for children with mental retardation and related disorders and is a section of the Department of