Problem Based Learning in Mental Retardation (ePub)

Many students and trainees starting their work with people
having mental retardation find it difficult to understand the
similarities and uniqueness with which they present and the
need for good management. There are a variety of service
inputs and models to meet some of the mental health needs of
children, young people and adults with learning disabilities. The
services for such children are provided by specific Learning
Disability psychiatric teams or by challenging behaviour
teams. Generic child health and the voluntary sectors provide
some elements of the service. However, the above mentioned
services do not have a specific remit to look after all the physical
and mental health needs of children and young people with
learning disabilities and that has created a lack of coherence
in service provision. Professionals working with these children,
need a basic understanding of the needs, assessment methods
and management techniques and this book tries to address
those issues.
There is some confusion with the terminology used for this client
group. The Department of Health adopted learning disability
as the term to identify the condition of mental retardation, the
term used in the International Classification of Diseases 10th
edition ICD-10. The Department of Education uses the term
learning difficulty (Education Act 1993) and the American
literature uses learning disability to refer to the ICD-10 term
specific developmental disorders. In this book, in order to
increase consistency we will use the ICD-10 terminology.
The book is aimed to be a basic introductory book focussing on
essential theory and practice of managing learning disability
and mental health issues related to learning disability. The MCQ's
and problem solving way of presentation is designed to avoid
repetition and to help in focussed learning for examinations.