Prospects for prevention and amelioration of mental retardation: a guest editorial.

The view of the President's Committee on Mental Retardation (1972) that the incidence of mental retardation can be reduced by 50 percent before the end of the century was critically examined. We concluded that only in the minority of cases, where biomedical etiologies are implicated, is this forecast support by existing trends. The major group of milder cases pose immense difficulties for prevention, and desirable social changes are unlikely to make an immediate impact. We also considered the argument that levels of functioning of most retarded persons can be substantially improved. While research gives a clear indication that this is potentially so, such knowledge is rarely applied. Implications for policy and practice were considered.