[Vision2020] RE: wake up call

[Tami Stinebaugh]

Hi Donovan,

Thanks for your clarification.  I have only taken a few special ed courses recently, and do not have a substantial background in the area (besides my own personal experiences with my son who has a hearing impairment).  However, I am certain that the class that I took told us we should not use the term "mentally retarded" any longer.  Whether or not the instructor was correct or incorrect, I cannot say.  Maybe it is a fairly new move that takes us away from the term "retarded" which is more and more often used in a derogatory way?  I don't know.  I understand what you are saying about cognitive impairment being a more general term.  That makes sense to me.  I just can tell you what I was taught at the last class.  It was a grad student teaching the course, maybe he was confused, but that was the information he delivered, and I assumed he knew what he was talking about.  Any way, I never said I was offended by the term you used, I just offered up what I have heard about it rec
ently.  Take it or leave it, it makes no difference to me!

Tami Stinebaugh (who is very well aware that Vision 2020 is THE most politically correct forum out there, RIGHT????? wink, wink...)

----- Original Message -----
From: Donovan Arnold <donovanarnold at hotmail.com>
Date: Saturday, February 19, 2005 0:35 am
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] RE: wake up call

> Tami,
> 
> Sorry you are  confused. Almost every professional journal on 
> disabilities 
> and State run site in the country uses the medical term "Mental 
> Retardation".
> 
> Cognitively Impaired is a general term. If is like calling a 
> banana a fruit. 
> It is correct, but the person doesn't know if you are referring to 
> a banana 
> or an apple.
> 
> Cognitively impaired does not mean the person has a low IQ. People 
> with 
> Autism all have cognitive impairments but range in IQ from 35 to 
> genius. 
> Same with people with traumatic head injury. They are cognitively 
> impaired. 
> In effect, everyone has some level of cognitive impairment, so you 
> cannot 
> use that term and communicate anything meaningful in the medical 
> sense.
> If you use that term, medical professionals and support staff have 
> no idea 
> what the capabilities are of the individual and thus will not know 
> what 
> services they may need.  Mental retardation is a medical term used 
> to 
> describe someone who has a low IQ, usually below 70 on the WISC. 
> If you were 
> to read many medical records and IEPs you would find the terms 
> "severely 
> mentally retarded", "Mentally Retarded", "Mildly Retard" and 
> "Profoundly 
> Mentally Retarded" in about 2-3% of the population. This is legal 
> documentation used by doctors, both medical and psychology. 
> Perhaps you are 
> confused with the derogatory term "retard". This is a term used to 
> hurt 
> people, bully a person, and I strongly disagree with this type of 
> behavior.
> I am sorry you are offended by the term and relate it to those 
> that have 
> used a similar term for less than noble purposes.  Nobody should 
> ever call 
> any individual person retarded. People are not a term or a label. 
> But a 
> person can suffer from mental retardation and so doctors and 
> support staff 
> know how to help them when that term is recorded and they can read it.
> 
> The top people in the field of special education also use the 
> term, 
> including Deborah Smith, PhD., from Vanderbilt University.
> 
> Again, if you don't like the term, talk to the DSM-IV and all 
> these 
> professional journals that not only use the term, but often adopt 
> it as part 
> of their title. I only use the term because that is the proper 
> term to use 
> as I am taught in all of my classes and in the professional 
> articles I read. 
> I could use fruit when I mean banana, but you wouldn't know if I 
> meant 
> apple.
> 
> I hope that makes sense to you, If not, talk to a medical doctor 
> or a 
> psychologist.
> 
> Or click on one of these links:
> 
> http://www.aamr.org/
> http://consolidation.mhmr.state.tx.us/
> http://mass.gov/portal/index.jsp?pageID=eohhs2agencylanding&L=4&L0=Home&L1=Government&L2=Departments+and+Divisions&L3=Department+of+Mental+Retardation&sid=Eeohhs2
> http://www.omr.state.ny.us/
> http://www.dmhmrsas.state.va.us/
> http://www.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/jablonski/syndrome_title.html
> http://aamr.allenpress.com/aamronline/?request=get-archive
> http://www.dmr.state.ct.us/
> http://odmrdd.state.oh.us/
> http://kidshealth.org/kid/health_problems/birth_defect/mental_retardation.html
> http://curry.edschool.virginia.edu/sped/projects/ose/categories/mr.html
> http://www.psychiatry.com/mr/
> http://www.councilonmr.org/
> http://www.emedicine.com/neuro/topic605.htm
> http://www.medem.com/medlb/article_detaillb.cfm?article_ID=ZZZ9YQTMBAC&sub_cat=543
> 
> I can get you more, or any information on this subject you like.
> 
> Take Care,
> 
> Donovan J Arnold
> 
> 
> _____________________________________________________
> List services made available by First Step Internet, 
> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.   
>               http://www.fsr.net                       
>          Vision2020 at moscow.com
> ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
>