Mental Retardation (part 2), NCBDDD, CDC

What resources are available for people with mental retardation and their families?

CDC does not study education or treatment programs for people with mental retardation, nor does it provide direct services to people with mental retardation or to their families. However, CDC has put together a list of resources for people affected by mental retardation or other developmental disabilities. [Go to the resources list]

How can we improve the health of people with mental retardation?

People with mental retardation can live healthy lives. There are many federal and federally-funded programs that help people learn to live well with mental retardation or other developmental disabilities. CDC has put together a list of some of these efforts. [Read more about health improvement programs]

How can kids learn about mental retardation?

We have created a series of Kids' Quests designed to get kids to think about people with disabilities and some of the issues related to participation in daily activities, health, and accessibility. The Quests were written for children in 4th through 6th grades, but can be modified by teachers or parents for use with children of other ages and abilities. Each Quest takes kids through a series of steps that encourage them to use the Internet to learn about a disability and the effect it has on a child's life.

One of the Kids' Quests is about children who have a hard time learning new things. This includes children who have mental retardation as well as children who have trouble learning for other reasons. [Go to the "learning limitations" Kids' Quest]

Where can I go to learn more about mental retardation?

National Information Center on Children and Youth with Disabilities (NICHCY)
NICHCY provides information on disabilities and disability-related issues for families, teachers, and other professionals. NICHCY has a fact sheet about mental retardation that includes general information on topics such as diagnosis and causes as well as tips for parents and teachers. NICHCY staff will also give information and referrals over the phone (800-695-0285) or by email (nichcy@aed.org).
[In English: General Information about Mental Retardation]
[En Español: El Retraso Mental]

MEDLINEplus: Developmental Disabilities
MEDLINEplus is an online service of the National Library of Medicine. MEDLINEplus is designed to link you to information on specific health topics, including developmental disabilities. Information about mental retardation is included on the Developmental Disabilities page. MEDLINEplus brings together information from many sources and is updated every day. This page includes information on the latest news, general overviews, clinical trials, coping, diagnosis and symptoms, research, specific conditions, law and policy, organizations, children, seniors. Some materials are in Spanish.
[In English: MEDLINEplus Health Information: Developmental Disabilities]
[En Español: MEDLINEplus Información de Salud: Discapacidad de Desarrollo]

National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities (NCBDDD) Publications
NCBDDD staff have written many scientific articles on mental retardation. These articles examine such topics as how common mental retardation is, and factors such as low birth weight or smoking during pregnancy that increase the risk that a child will have mental retardation. You can see a list of these papers (starting in 1990) by using the keyword search on the NCBDDD publications Web page. Choose "mental retardation" in the keyword box on the search page. You can choose whether you want the list to be sorted by author or by date. You can also choose to have the list appear with or without graphics. Click on the Submit button. You will see a list of papers that are about mental retardation. The list will include the complete reference for each paper and a link to an abstract of the paper or to the full text, when available. [Go to NCBDDD publications keyword search page]

This page was last updated August 05, 2004