REPORT OF THE 

PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION 
President Gerald R. Ford
The President 

The White 

House 

Washington, 

D.C. 

Dear Mr. President: 

It is my pleasure to transmit to you the eighth annual report of The President's 

Committee on Mental Retardation, MR 74: A Friend in Washington. 

The report describes the actions taken by the Committee throughout the calendar year 

1974, in preparation for the forthcoming major report to you and to the people of this 

nation, as part of the Bicentennial celebration. 

As this report indicates, however, PCMR also channeled its efforts toward addressing 

such issues as the energy crisis, inflation, health insurance, and administrative 

manpower, as they affect mentally retarded persons. 

Your encouragement and support, Mr. President, are an inspiration to this 

Committee. We hope that the actions reported in this publication will further the 

continuing progress in the mental retardation field, and will justify the trust you 

have placed in us. 

Faithfully yours, 

Casper W. Weinberger 

Chairman 

(Mrs.) N. Lorraine Beebe 

Vice Chairman 
The President's Committee on 

Mental Retardation has three main 

goals: 

(1) To reduce the occurrence of 

disability from mental retardation; 

(2) To promote humane services 

that will enable retarded persons to achieve their potential 

in the most normal, unrestrictive setting possible; 

(3) To help retarded persons 

achieve the rights of full citizenship and public acceptance. 

The President's Committee on Mental Retardation, Washington, D.C. 20201 

DHEW PUBLICATION NO. (OHD) 75-21010 

June, 1975 

Library of Congress Catalogue No. 67-62450 
FORWARD 

The bureaucratic haze that hovers over 

Washington sometimes tends to obscure the 

view as the States try to get a picture of 

what is happening there. 

On the other hand, Washington's wideangle vision of the rest of the nation can be 

so broad as to miss the details that make up 

the true picture. 

This distorted image on both sides is 

especially applicable in the field of mental 

retardation, since mental retardation programs 

are spread throughout the agencies in 

Washington. 

Is anybody there? Is anybody listening? 

Does anybody care? 

The 21 citizen members of the President's 

Committee on Mental Retardation are 

appointed by the President precisely so that 

somebody will be there, in that focal spot, to 

provide two-way communication between the 

President and the people, Washington and the 

States, consumer and provider of services, 

public and private interests. 

PCMR is there to listen, to watch, to 

advise. And to care. 

For the millions of retarded persons in 

this country, PCMR is a friend in 

Washington. 

This report is a condensed picture of one 

year in the life of PCMR, and how it 

performs its duties as defined in the 

Executive Order. 

Results are not always apparent, nor 

dramatic. PCMR is a catalyst, a connector 

of people and ideas, a stimulator, a planter of 

seeds of progress. The end result is often a 

concerted effort of public and private action, 

gradually taking shape, nursed and 

nurtured until its time has come. PCMR's 

role is usually in the background, unlabeled 

when the final returns are in. That is as it 

should be. 

A sample of how the liaison works; PCMR 

becomes aware, through its contacts, 

correspondence and observation, of a 

problem in the mental retardation field. Key 

people are asked to meet with a PCMR 

task force. The group explores the subject 

from a number of vantage points. 

Then PCMR may ask a staff member or 

consultant to prepare a report on the problem. 

Staff and Committee members may make site 

visits, conduct interviews, read further on the 

situation, then make conclusions, after 

conferring with a variety of experts, to 

supplement the expertise of the Committee 

itself. 

The discussion of the problem and possible 

solutions are incorporated in speeches, 

publications, perhaps radio and TV 

announcements done by PCMR. The 

problem may be discussed in meetings with 

the President, Cabinet members, agency 

officials and legislators. 

Sometimes it takes years for concrete results, 

but gradually, the pieces fall into place. 

A class action suit may be brought —often 

with PCMR publications used

iii 
as exhibits supporting the action. 

A voluntary agency may move in a 

direction suggested by PCMR. 

A new piece of legislation may reflect a 

concept PCMR has promoted. 

A Federal agency may incorporate new 

requirements in its regulations. 

A school board may develop a new 

program, often using PCMR publications to 

lend support and prestige in convincing 

board members. 

Colleges and universities may develop 

new curricula, incorporating a new approach 

to the problem, or use PCMR ideas and 

publications as subjects for lecture or as 

textbooks. 

By this time, the action that PCMR has 

instigated is moving ahead under its own 

steam. But the Committee has simply been 

performing its role as defined by the 

Executive Order from the President: 

...to advise him on what is being done for 

retarded people; 

...to recommend Federal action where 

needed; 

...to promote coordination and cooperation 

among public and private agencies; 

...to stimulate individual and group action; 

...and to promote public understanding of 

mentally retarded people and their 

problems. 

iv 
A FRIENDIN

WASHINGTON 

PCMR's year doesn't begin on January 1, 

nor end on December 31. The time frame is 

geared to what has been started in the past, 

what is current, and what will develop in the 

future, with the Committee attempting to be 

not just ready for what comes, but out ahead 

with new developments. 

Many of the events in this report take 

place midstream in a movement encouraged 

by the Committee many years earlier, and 

just now gathering momentum. Community 

services and deinstitutionalization are an example. 

The legal rights issue, on the other hand, 

may appear to be a fresh flame, setting 

fire to the status quo, burning away old 

concepts and established injustice. In truth, the 

issue has been smouldering for years. The class 

action suits, the individual court cases, 

the voluntary compliance with the law in 

many states to avoid legal action are 

relatively new on the mental retardation 

scene. But they are due to the spontaneous 

combustion of volatile situations. PCMR and 

many other public and private agencies, individual consumer representatives and public 

interest attorneys have been feeding the 

flames of a cleansing justice for close to a 

decade. 

In 1974 there were no spectacular 

breakthroughs in the field of prevention of 

mental retardation, such as the earlier 

development of rubella vaccine, for 

example. But PCMR did co-sponsor a 

conference on early intervention that 

introduced new relationships between the 

developing structure of the human brain and 

the environment, and between parent and child 

and among parent/child/ professional. It is 

such material that opens new horizons and 

cross fertilizes ideas that had previously 

1 
generated questions without answers. Such 

communication opens up new ways of 

thinking about human development. 

YEAR'S 

HIGHLIGHTS 

A great deal of the Committee's activities 

in the past year have been devoted to the 

preparation of a major report to the 

President and to the people, reviewing the 

past, documenting the present, and looking 

to the future as it leads through the last 

quarter of the century to the year 2000. 

The first publication in the report's Century 

of Decision series was in preparation in 

1974. Titled Mental Retardation: The 

Known and the Unknown, it is a fact book 

on mental retardation. 

Preparation of the major report, to be 

completed by the end of 1975, has not 

diverted PCMR's attention from immediate 

problems; rather, as immediate problems 

were dealt with, they were incorporated in 

the material for the report. 

Major Committee activities of 1974, 

accomplished to fulfill long-range needs 

of retarded people and the short-term goal 

of preparation of a major report to the 

President, include: 

1) An analysis of the "state of the art" 

from the beginning of this century, 

with particular emphasis on the past 

decade; 

2) A series of regional forums to hear 

from the people concerning the trends, 

issues, problems and progress in the 

field; 

3) A series of reports from States, 

national and international 

organizations reflecting major 

developments and policy; 

4) A dialogue with Federal agencies and 

Departments; 

5) The assistance of "futurists" in 

forecasting the shape of society in 

the year 2000 as a basis for 

recommending goals related to 

prevention, humane services, full 

citizenship, and public awareness. 

In addition, the Committee cosponsored, 

with the Association for Early Childhood 

Education International, a conference on 

Early Intervention With High-Risk Infants 

and Young Children (see p.31). And 

there was much activity involved in 

planning for the Second Pan American 

Congress on Mental Retardation, to be 

held in Panama in August 1975, and cosponsored by PCMR. 

Each year the Committee meets quarterly, 

but throughout the year there are a great 

many task force meetings, plus numerous 

meetings with representatives of both 

Government and private agencies, attended 

by specific PCMR members, consultants and 

staff. 

While the bulk of Committee work is 

transacted between the quarterly meetings, 

these regularly scheduled plenary sessions 

provide an opportunity to coordinate task 

force actions, as well as offering a forum for 

invited experts to report on the latest developments in a wide range of subjects relating 

to mental retardation. Members then vote on 

action to be taken. 

The Steering Committee meets prior to 

each full Committee meeting. 

Although each Committee meeting is

different from the others, the following 

excerpts from the session of March 29-30, 

1974 are presented as a "sample."

2 
PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION

March 29-30, 1974 

AGENDA 

Friday, March 29 

9:00 a.m. Opening Remarks and Introductions ...............................Mrs. Beebe 

9:10 a.m. Statement by Vice Chairman on Steering Committee 

Activities and Progress ......................................................Mrs. Beebe 

9:30 a.m. Executive Director's Report .............................................Mr. Krause 

Status of Programs on Staff Related Activities 

Budgetary and Fiscal Issues 

10:30 a.m. Discussion on the status of Federal programs 

11:00 a.m. Presentation on the National Health Insurance 

Plans ............................................................................. Dr. Peter Fox 

12:00 noon Lunch 

1:30 p.m. Projected Major Report to the President ...............................Dr. Cobb 

Policy Issues and Proposals 

Primary Reports 

Subsidiary Reports 

Logistics 

Production Timetable 

Budget 

Plans for Distribution and Follow-up 

4:30 p.m. Public Information ...................................................... Mr. Ferrara 

International Activities .........................................................Mrs. Beach 

5:30 p.m. Adjournment 

Evening Work Group Sessions 

Saturday, March 30 

9:00 a.m. NARC's Activities and Projections ....................Mr. Marion P. Smith 

Views on Institutional and Community Living ............Mr. Peter Smith 

10:30 a.m. Policy Position on Deinstitutionalization 

Dr. Richard Scheerenberger 

Dental Care and Preventive Services ..................Dr. Arthur Nowak 

1:00 p.m. Discussion of Future Meetings 

1:30 p.m. Adjournment 

3 
The meeting was preceded by a session on March 

18 with PCMR chairman Caspar Weinberger and 

selected members of the Committee and staff. They 

discussed the projected major report to the President, 

which the Chairman enthusiastically supported, and 

the question of the Executive Order, then pending 

the President's signature. 

On March 28, the day before the first full 

Committee meeting of 1974, the President signed a 

new Executive Order, giving renewed life to the 

Committee, and expanding its role. 

PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL 

RETARDATION 

Executive Order 11776. 

March 28, 1974 

CONTINUING THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION 

AND BROADENING ITS MEMBERSHIP AND 

RESPONSIBILITIES 

The President's Committee on Mental 

Retardation, established by Executive Order No. 

11280 on May 11, 1966, has mobilized national 

planning and carried out basic programs in the field 

of mental retardation. National goals have been 

established to reduce the occurrence of mental 

retardation by one-half before the end of the century 

and to return one-third of the people in mental institutions to useful lives in their communities. The 

achievement of these goals will require the most 

effective possible use of public and private resources. 

Our country has become increasingly aware in 

recent years of the need to assure those who are 

retarded their full status as citizens under the law, 

and of the continuing need to mobilize the support 

of the general public and of specialized professional 

and volunteer groups for mental retardation 

activities. We also know that we must constantly 

evaluate existing programs to determine their adequacy and must continually consider a broad range 

of proposals for new mental retardation activities. 

Now, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority 

vested in me as President of the United States, it is 

hereby ordered as follows: 

SECTION 1. Committee continued and 

responsibilities expanded. The President's 

Committee on Mental Retardation (hereinafter 

referred to as the Committee), with expanded membership and expanded responsibilities, is hereby 

continued in operation. 

SEC. 2. Composition of Committee. 

The Committee shall be composed of the following 

members: 

(1) The Secretary of Health, Education, and 

Welfare, who shall be the Chairman of the 

Committee. 

(2) The Attorney General. 

(3) The Secretary of Labor. 

(4) The Secretary of Housing and Urban 

Development. 

(5) The Director of the Office of Economic 

Opportunity. 

(6) The Director of ACTION. 

(7) Not more than twenty-one other members 

who shall be appointed to the Committee by the 

President. These persons may be employed in either 

the public or the private sectors and may include 

specialists in medicine and other healing arts, 

human development, special education, law, and 

employment problems, as well as members of 

foundations and other private organizations active 

in the mental retardation field. Except, as the 

President may from time to time otherwise direct, 

appointees under this paragraph shall have threeyear terms, except that an appointment made to fill 

a vacancy occurring before the expiration of a term 

shall be made for the balance of the unexpired term. 

SEC. 3. Functions of the Committee. (a) The 

Committee shall provide such advice and assistance 

in the area of mental retardation as the President or 

Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, 

and Welfare may request and particularly shall 

advise with respect to the following areas: 

(1) evaluation of the adequacy of the national 

effort to combat mental retardation; 

(2) identification of the potential of various 

Federal programs for achieving Presidential goals in 

mental retardation;

4 
(3) provision of adequate liaison between 

Federal activities and related activities of State 

and local governments, foundations, and other 

private organizations; and 

(4) development and dissemination of such 

information as will tend to reduce the 

incidence of retardation and ameliorate its 

effects. 

(b) The Committee shall make an annual 

report to the President concerning mental 

retardation. Such additional reports or 

recommendations may be made as the 

President may require or as the Committee 

may deem appropriate. 

SEC 4. Cooperation by other agencies. To

assist the Committee in providing advice to 

the President, Federal departments and 

agencies requested to do so by the Committee 

shall designate liaison officers with the 

Committee. Such officers shall, on request by 

the Committee, and to the extent permitted by 

law, provide it with information on 

department and agency programs which do 

contribute to or which could contribute to 

achievement of the President's goals in the 

field of mental retardation. 

SEC. 5. Administrative arrangements. (a) 

The office of the Secretary of the Department 

of Health, Education, and Welfare shall, to the 

extent permitted by law, provide the Committee with necessary staff, administrative 

services, and facilities. 

(b) Each member of the Committee, except 

any member who then receives other 

compensation from the United States, may 

receive compensation for each day he or she is 

engaged upon the work of the Committee, as 

authorized by law (5 U.S.C. 3109), and may 

also receive travel expenses, including per 

diem in lieu of subsistence, as authorized by 

law (5 U.S.C. 5703) for persons in the 

Government service employed intermittently. 

(c) The Secretary of Health, Education, and 

Welfare shall perform such other functions 

with respect to the Committee as may be 

required by the provisions of the Federal 

Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App. I; 86 

Stat. 770). 

SEC. 6. Construction. Nothing in this order 

shall be construed as subjecting any Federal 

agency, or any function vested by law in, or 

assigned pursuant to law to, any Federal 

agency, to the authority of the Committee or 

as abrogating or restricting any such function 

in any manner. 

SEC. 7., Executive Order No. 11280 of May 

11, 1966, is hereby superseded. 

Richard Nixon

The White House, 

March 28, 1974. 

Circling the President at the signing of Executive Order 11776, continuing and expanding PCMR, were, l. 

to r., PCMR members Ralph Ferrara, Melvin Heckt, Dr. Cecil Jacobson, Robert Collier; former 

PCMR vice-chairman Rep. Clair Burgener, Chairman Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Labor Brennan, ex 

officio member of the Committee; members Dr. Henry Cobb, William B. Robertson, James Juliana, 

Michael Gardner, and Executive Director Fred Krause. 

5 
After full discussion of the 

implications of the new Executive 

Order, the Committee heard a 

presentation by Dr. Peter Fox, 

division of Health Analysis, HEW, 

on the new proposed Health Security 

Act of the Administration. 

One of the principles of the proposal, he said, is that a low-income 

person and a high-income person are 

covered for the same services, but 

the low-income person does not face 

the same level of deductibles and coinsurance. 

Some Committee members expressed concern about how mentally 

retarded persons now under 

Medicaid benefits would fare in the 

plan. 

The Committee then heard a 

report from Marion Smith, President 

of the National Association for 

Retarded Citizens, outlining NARC's 

five-year plan. Following is an 

excerpt. 

MR. MARION SMITH: "From 

painting the images of the future we 

see: 

"One, increased implementation 

of prevention strategies and 

discovery of new forms of 

prevention to significantly reduce the 

incidence of mental retardation. 

"Second, increased applications of 

ameliorative techniques and 

improvements in technology to 

enhance the level of functioning of 

all mentally retarded persons and 

decrease the prevalence of mental 

retardation. 

"Third, all mentally retarded persons being given the opportunity to 

attain or retain their optimum level of 

development. 

"Fourth, all mentally retarded persons living in conditions most 

conducive to their optimum level of 

development. 

"Fifth, mentally retarded persons 

accepted by the public as equal and 

participating members of society. 

And mentally retarded persons in 

control of their own lives to the 

greatest degree compatible with 

individual conformity with cultural 

standards and individual 

happenings." 

In introducing the next speaker, 

PCMR member Louise Ravenel 

said: "Peter Smith singlehandedly 

convinced the thousands of delegates 

at the NARC Convention at 

Anaheim, California, to change the 

name of the National Association for 

Retarded Children to National 

Association for Retarded Citizens. 

"Peter lived for 33 1⁄2 years in an 

institution for retarded people, and is 

now living and working successfully 

in the community. He is a member 

of the Board of the Minnesota ARC. 

His roommate, James Kinney, who 

is also with us, lived in an institution 

for 20 years." 

*MR. PETER SMITH: "I was 

put in an institution in 1936, and in 

that time we were all put together 

like a bunch of animals. 

* Excerpted. 

"We had to march in to the dining 

room, holding hands. And we 

couldn't talk during the meals. If we 

were being punished we had to stand 

up and eat. 

"We ate out of old tin plates, and 

had tin spoons, tin cups. We got milk 

once a day for breakfast for our cereal. We never had any fruit or vegetables. 

"We had a good education. The 

reason most of the patients were 

there wasn't because they were retarded. Maybe they couldn't get 

along on the outside or their parents 

didn't want them. So they shoved 

them in the institution. 

"In 1950, I think it was, NARC 

and the Minnesota Association for 

Retarded Children started improving 

the life of the institution. They cut 

down the population and they started 

to have resident councils. 

"During a resident council 

meeting I said, 'Why do we have to 

be called patients? We're not in the 

hospital. Why can't we be called 

residents? 

"So they voted to change the 

name to residents. 

"If we were caught talking to a girl, 

we were punished. We had to stand 

in the corner. We had to lay on the 

floor with our nose on the floor. 

"And we had to take real cold 

baths when we were doing things 

wrong. We all had to go to bed at the 

same time. We all had to bathe at the 

same time. We all stood naked in the 

bathroom, and sometimes it was so 

cold in there. 

"Now residents change their 

clothes and bathe when they want to. 

At that time we could only change 

our clothes and bedding once a week. 

"We all had a work program. I 

was a work supervisor for a 111-

man dormitory. I'd see the floor was 

clean, the toilets were clean. I took a 

scrub brush between my toes and 

scrubbed toilets just like the rest did. 

"If we were out of hand, we had to 

clean toilets for 12 hours a day. 

"I got ten cents a day for my work. 

6 
"Finally in 1950 I heard that 

there was going to be a new department of rehabilitation and 

recreation. So I talked to my 

technician and asked him if I 

could work for them. So he said, 

'What can you do? You can't do 

anything because you're crippled up.' 

"I said, 'You got to give me a 

chance so I can prove what I can 

do, not what you say I can do.'

"So in September I got the job. I 

answered phones and delivered 

mail. I took the phone off with my 

chin and laid it down, put my ear 

up to it to listen. 

"And I swept. I hold the broom 

under my chin and sweep. 

"One day I was sitting by a 

typewriter, and I said, 'Now, if I 

can learn how to type, maybe I 

will be busier.' So I got me a piece 

of wood about 12 or 13 inches 

long. I held that in my mouth and I 

started pecking on the typewriter. 

I kept it up day after day until I 

learned where the keys were. 

"Now I have a typewriter with a 

little mouthpiece. It has a little 

stick on it with a rubber eraser, and 

I type like that. Nothing to it. 

"In about 1968, a new social 

worker asked me, 'What are you 

doing here?' 

"And I said, 'I'm a patient here. 

I'm a catatonic schizophrenia paranoid.' I was kidding her. I have been 

called that. 

"Well, Mrs. Flanagan told 

me, `You're not mentally retarded. 

You're not mentally ill or 

feebleminded or paranoid.' She 

said, 'You find yourself a good 

friend, and I'm going to see that 

you get out of this institution.' 

"So I told her about Jim and she 

said, 'Okay.' She put us on independent living, which is a building or 

room by itself at the institution. We 

went downtown or any place we 

wanted to. 

"We stayed there for a year, 

and then got out of the institution in 

December of 1969. She told me, 

'You 

find a place to live. I'm not going to 

help you.' 

"We found a rundown place that 

we rented for about a year. Then I 

found a better place and we moved 

and are still living there. We have a 

three-bedroom apartment. Jim does 

the cooking and the housework. 

"For about a week after I got out

it was a difficult time for me. I had 

to meet the bus, learn to get myself 

out of bed, get to work on time. It

was really difficult. But we 

managed it. 

"For a week we didn't wash our 

clothes because we didn't have the 

money. But after we got our first 

checks we started putting money in 

the bank and then we started getting 

better furniture. 

"I'm very proud of being out. 

"I am working at the institution in 

the office and Jim is working in the 

main kitchen as a dishwasher. And 

we get a salary and fringe benefits. 

We joined the union. 

"This is something I fought for 

since I have been there—to join the 

union. 

"There's no problem in the community. People are willing to help the 

handicapped. That's what made me 

proud to be out. There's not all mean 

people in the world. 

"Sometimes I don't even sleep at 

night because I think of the things 

that we should do to improve the institutions, the community homes and 

life for those who can't talk and 

those who can't speak and those who 

don't know what life is. 

"But we cannot close institutions, 

because there are a lot of residents 

who do not want to leave them. Do 

they have a right to stay as well as to 

leave? 

"Some of them that have been out 

say they want to move back. That's 

their constitutional right to go back 

to an institution. 

"So we can't close the institutions. 

We can cut them down but not close 

them." 

Mr. Peter Smith 
James Kinney (1) is greeted 

by PCMR Executive Director 

Fred Krause. Vice Chairman 

Lorraine Beebe and NARC's 

Jim Wilson stand behind 

them in the receiving line at 

an NARC reception held for 

the Committee 

"I didn't get out for the fun of it. I 

got out to show people what I 

could do, not show how retarded I 

am. I want to prove I can make a 

living. 

*MR. JAMES KINNEY: "I have 

been in three institutions, much different than Peter's. One was a 

lockup. You couldn't go outside. We 

didn't have television; all we had 

was phonograph music. 

"My grandmother went to the 

Ohio court to get me out. She got 

me to Fairfield. When I looked at 

Fairfield I almost fainted. They had 

recreation, movies, dances, 

education, school. 

"I know what you guys are doing. 

I never believed in PCMR before, 

but what you are doing is a miracle. 

"Being on the Board of Directors 

of the Minnesota ARC is really 

something else. Thanks much to 

Peter. Not all of it, no. I give me 

"I didn't learn when I first went to thanks for helping him. 

an institution. I found out later my 

mother said I was dumb, I wasn't 

going to learn. I told my mother one 

day, 'I had no chance to learn.' I said, 

'Do you really want to take me to 

school, learn me something? I 

would have went and I would have 

learned.' But cake and ice cream 

were not learning. I had cake and ice 

cream. That's all I saw. 

"I could have had no arms, no 

nothing. So I got something to be

thankful for. 

"When I see it, I'm just ready to 

bawl, but I don't cry. Because I 

think God made us all different. 

"I wish you good luck in the future." 

When the applause died down, 

NARC's Marion Smith asked Peter 

Smith if he would be available to 

testify on behalf of NARC before 

Congressional Committees. He 

agreed to do so. 

"If I had an education book I 

would learn. I wouldn't care if it 

took me a hundred years to learn, I 

would be learning. 

Messrs. Peter Smith and James 

Kinney were made Special 

Advisors to PCMR. 

"Kids now have got it a lot better 

than we had. They got better education than we had. 

* Excerpted. 

8 
Dr. Richard Scheerenberger, President of the 

National Association of Superintendents of 

Public Residential Facilities for the Mentally 

Retarded, then discussed the superintendents' 

policy statement, then in preparation, and later 

published by PCMR. It was prepared as a result 

of a 1973 meeting, held with PCMR's assistance. 

Dr. Scheerenberger talked with Committee 

members and staff about some of the problems in 

institutions. Questions were raised on whether or 

not Federal and State monies are reaching the 

people for whom they are intended. There was 

agreement on the importance of administrative 

training—a subject the Committee has been 

involved in for the past few years. 

After further discussion, the Committee's next 

speaker was Dr. Arthur Nowak, President-elect 

of the Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped. 

His subject was "Dental Health for the Mentally 

Retarded Citizen." 

After describing how dental and gum problems 

develop, Dr. Nowak said that the average child 

on entering school has three decayed teeth. By 

age 15, the average child has 11 teeth that are 

decayed, missing, or filled. 

"Dental Disease," he said, "is the most 

prevalent of all chronic diseases, dental or 

medical. Mentally retarded and other 

handicapped citizens find dental treatment more 

difficult to locate and purchase than any other 

single group of people." 

He pointed out that physical wellbeing is a 

relatively neglected area in the field of retardation. 

The rewards for good behavior, he said, are often 

food and beverages which not only result in 

obesity, dental disease, dermatological problems

and generally poor health, but also have little or 

no nutritional value. 

"Thus, on the one hand," Dr. Nowak continued, 

"we are teaching good behavior. But on the other, 

we continue to contribute to their dehumanization." 

He cited the fact that dental care has a very low 

priority in many if not most facilities. All too 

often dental care means tooth removal, "crisis 

dentistry instead of preventive dentistry." 

"We feel that the time is now right for those 

advocacy groups, agencies, institutions and 

legislative committees to join with dentistry in 

the development of a comprehensive oral health 

maintenance program that will be capable of 

reducing and possibly even eliminating the 

effects of dental disease in the mentally retarded 

citizen," he concluded. 

Dr. Nowak had earlier pointed out that the 

Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped has 

grown from a membership in the late 1960s of 

approximately 80 members to over 400. 

Mr. Marion Smith requested the list of 

members so that NARC could contact them, and 

put them in touch with State and local units to 

establish liaison. 

PCMR member Bob Mallas suggested that Mr. 

Smith supply Dr. Nowak with names of dentists 

who are parents of retarded children, for possible 

recruitment to membership in the Academy. 

Dr. Nowak presented Committee members 

with copies of the Academy's publication 

Campaign of Concern on dentistry for 

handicapped persons. 

And the meeting was adjourned. (Dr. Nowak 

was later made a PCMR Consultant.) 

9 

PCMR 

ACTIVITIES

Outstanding occasions 

for the Committee were 

the meetings with the 

President at the White 

House. The group met 

with President Richard 

Nixon on March 28, 

when he issued the new 

Executive Order (see page 

4) and with President 

Gerald Ford on October 

11, at which time he 

released the following 

statement: 

THE WHITE HOUSE 

STATEMENT 

BY THE PRESIDENT 

Three years ago, America 

committed itself to cutting the 

rate of mental retardation in half 

by the end of the century. That is 

a notable goal, worthy of a great 

nation, and today in meeting with 

the President's Committee on 

Mental Retardation, I have renewed our commitment to that 

goal. 

The problem of mental 

retardation deserves our attention 

not only for the sake of the more 

than six million afflicted 

Americans and their families, but 

for all of us. The majority of retarded citizens can become 

productive members of society. 

There are three important 

points about mental retardation 

that must be understood: 

One, with appropriate training, 

retarded people are capable of 

continuing development in 

normal community settings. 

Primarily through its housing 

agencies, the Federal Government will help retarded adults 

obtain suitable homes. But the 

real help must come from the 

local level. 

Two, corrective measures in 

early childhood can reduce the

severity of a handicap. Young 

children should be screened for 

handicaps and, when found. they 

should be corrected. 

Three, since we know some of the 

causes of mental retardation, we 

know some ways to prevent it. 

Biomedical research may be helpful 

in extending this knowledge. 

At present rates, some four million 

of our children expected to he born 

by the year 2000 will be retarded or 

become retarded. The members of 

the committee have advised me that 

it is realistic to believe that the 

number can be reduced by half, and I 

urge all segments of our society to do 

their part in achieving this objective. 

To attain this goal, every prospective mother should have available to 

her good prenatal care, including the 

most current techniques of fetal diagnosis and genetic counseling where 

necessary. She should know the kind 

of diet which will promote proper 

growth of the fetus. Good care for 

mother and child should continue 

postnatally, with special attention for 

premature infants. Infants and young 

children should be screened at appropriate intervals for hearing, visual 

and other defects which could 

impede their learning ability, so that 

the defects may be corrected before 

the child falls far behind. 

A healthy environment and an adequate, balanced diet are especially im11 
portant throughout the younger years, as is 

vaccination against rubella and other 

diseases. 

Our school systems must be 

strengthened, so that they can provide the 

appropriate education which both the law 

and our conscience say may not be denied 

to retarded or otherwise handicapped 

children. By appropriate education, I mean 

training in academic, vocational and social 

skills which will enable these children to 

live up to their highest potential. And let us 

never underestimate how high that 

potential is. 

In the last few years, great progress has 

been made in winning legal recognition for 

the rights of retarded citizens—not only the 

right to education, but the right not to be 

confined in an institution without 

habilitative treatment, the right to be paid 

for work done, and other rights that belong 

to all citizens. 

I urge employers to consider the very 

real job capabilities of retarded persons and 

to use the U.S. Employment Service to the 

fullest possible extent in hiring retarded 

persons. If we forget stereotypes and look 

at retarded people as people, we will recognize what so many of them have already 

proved—that they can do hundreds of 

different jobs reliably and well. 

There is urgent need to chart a concerted 

effort to minimize the occurrence of 

retardation, and to assure humane services 

and full citizenship for those who are 

retarded. I encourage this Committee to 

pursue to completion its report on the 

directions that effort should take over the 

next quarter century. 

Finally, I call upon all Americans to 

become more familiar with the problems of 

retardation, and the potentials of retarded 

people. With our understanding, they will 

thrive. With our love, they will flower. 

12 
Because of the alarming drop in the 

number of immunizations against 

infectious diseases, the Committee, 

while meeting with the President, requested that the President issue a 

Proclamation calling attention to the fact, 

and encouraging action. The Proclamation 

was coordinated with other national 

immunization efforts that have such 

impact on prevention of mental 

retardation as well as other disabilities. 

THE WHITE HOUSE 

IMMUNIZATION ACTION WEEK, 

1974 

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

A PROCLAMATION 

This Nation has always been committed 

to fostering the health of its people, and 

particularly of its children. 

Immunization against disease has been 

an exciting chapter in that effort. The 

United States can take pride in the 

dedicated research which has produced 

safe and effective vaccines against polio, 

measles, rubella, and other childhood 

diseases. 

Cooperation by the medical profession 

and public health organizations in 

distributing these vaccines to children has 

achieved dramatic reductions in diseases 

which can kill, cripple, or cause birth 

defects, including mental retardation. 

Because of their tragic consequences, we 

dare not let down our guard against a 

RUBELLA IMMUNIZATION 

Age 1-4 years 

Total 14 million 

56.9% 55.6% 59.8% 

1972 1973 1974 

Source: Center for Disease Control, 

Atlanta, Georgia. 

resurgence of these diseases. 

The President's Committee on 

Mental Retardation has brought to my 

attention an alarming decline of 

immunity levels among pre-school 

children. Last year more than 40 percent 

of these children were unprotected 

against either polio, measles, rubella, 

diphtheria, pertussis, or tetanus. On polio, 

for example, the Department of Health, 

Education, and Welfare Center for 

Disease Control reports that 

immunization levels dropped from 79 

percent in 1963 to 60 percent in 1973. 

Our children are America's future. Let 

us make that future a healthy one, for 

their sake and the Nation's sake. 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GERALD R. 

FORD, President of the United States 

of America, do hereby proclaim the 

week beginning October 20, 1974, as 

"Immunization Action Week," and call 

upon all parents, educators, and medical 

personnel to exert renewed efforts during 

this week and throughout the year to 

immunize every American child against 

diseases for which vaccines are available. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have 

hereunto set my hand this twenty first day 

of October, in the year of our Lord 

nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of 

the Independence of the United States 

of America the one hundred ninety-ninth. 

GERALD R. FORD

At the request of Mrs. Gerald Ford, 

PCMR organized and coordinated a 

special Christmas tour of the White House 

for over 1,500 retarded children and 

adults of the D.C. area. The tour was held 

Friday, December 20, at which time the 

White House was resplendent with 

Christmas decorations. 

13 
"I have often felt that the high dropout rates in family planning clinics 

was because some individuals were 

not able to understand the 

educational material. At least some 

were probably mildly mentally 

retarded." 

Naomi Gray 

Naomi Gray Associates 

At San Francisco Forum 

"In our area there are families with 

retarded children, 18 or 19 years 

old, who are not involved in any 

programs, who have never been to 

school because of the lack of 

information. One of the primary 

problems is the language barrier." 

Virginia Lopez 

Community Outreach Worker 

Project Impact 

San Diego, Calif. 

At San Francisco Forum 

"There is a need to meet the client's

needs wherever that may be. The 

institution can no longer be looked 

upon as an institution apart from 

everything else. It has to become a 

resource center to deal with an open 

door policy with problems in the 

community, with training of the 

workers, providing follow-along 

where there's a need, working together with one thing in mind—the 

client's need." 

Dr. Joseph Garneau 

Governor's Executive Budget 

Officer 

The State of Colorado 

At Denver Forum

The Committee's interests cover 

every area of the diverse mental retardation field. Following is an

indication of range of activities and 

the Committee's involvement. 

Many of the items represent 

intermediate stages of a long-term 

commitment in that area. 

ADMINISTRATIVE 

MANPOWER

At the quarterly meeting of the 

Developmental Disabilities 

Advisory Council, PCMR reported 

on the need for trained 

administrators of mental retardation 

programs. The Committee 

submitted a proposal to Chairman 

Weinberger in his double capacity 

as PCMR Chairman and HEW 

Secretary. 

We reviewed with the 

Association of University Programs

in Health Administration the plans 

of its consortium with the 

Association of Mental Health 

Administrators and the American 

Psychiatric Association to develop 

curricula for preparation of administrators of mental health 

programs. 

PCMR members spoke to 

several groups on the need for such 

training of administrators of 

agencies serving mentally retarded 

and developmentally disabled 

persons. 

ADVOCACY 

The Committee sponsored a 

brainstorming and planning session 

on advocacy, attended by officials 

of ten agencies, Governmental and 

voluntary. 

The result was (1) formation of a 

consortium of organizations to

develop a fact-finding, research 

type project to determine what 

advocacy in any of its forms entails 

for retarded people; and (2) initial 

planning for a pilot regional 

conference on advocacy in 1975 in 

Pennsylvania. 

CONSUMER INFORMATION 

We investigated possible models 

for improved consumer information 

systems on mental retardation, 

including: "Closer Look" of the 

Bureau of Education for the 

Handicapped, Council for 

Exceptional Children, United Way 

of America, American Red Cross, 

Consortium on Early Childbearing, 

City Hall Complaint Service of the 

District of Columbia, Planned 

Parenthood World Federation, the 

New Jersey SCOPE system, and 

Computer Assisted Placement 

Service of Medical Datamation. 

Following visits, PCMR 

analyzed the place of consumer

information in present information 

systems, and assisted the 

Information and Resources 

Clearinghouse of Office for Handicapped Individuals in designing the 

scope of a project proposal to 

develop such a system to include 

consumer information. 

In its front-line service to the 

consumer, the PCMR 

correspondence section responded 

to 8,230 written requests for 

assistance, information, 

publications, and/or referrals. Total 

incoming correspondence to 

PCMR topped 12,000 for the year. 

That is an average of close to 50 

requests for some kind of assistance

every working day of 1974. 

14 
PRIMARY REASONS FOR READMISSIONS DURING FY 73-

74 AS REPORTED BY 135 RESIDENTIAL FACILITIES 

Reason n % * 

Community rejection 31 22 

Lack of community services: 70 50

Activity centers & sheltered workshops (12) ( 9) 

Advocacy services ( 1) ( 1)

Behavior management programs (16) (12)

Comprehensive services (23) (17)

Counseling ( 5) ( 4) 

Day care (11) (8)

Education/Training (13) ( 9)

Employment ( 9) ( 6)

Family support ( 2) ( 1)

Follow-along services (39) (28)

Living accommodations (27) (19)

Medical servicesn (21) (15)

Parent training ( 4) ( 3) 

Failure to adjust 64 46

Family: 24 17

Could not adjust (21) (15)

Moved ( 3) ( 2) 

*Exceeds 100% because more than one reason given.

COMMUNITY PLACEMENTS AS 

REPORTED BY 115 RESIDENTIAL 

FACILITIES 

Placement n % 

Independent living 137 1.5 

Work placement 145 1.6

Parent's (or guardian's) home 2448 27.0

Other relative's home 261 2.9

Foster home 1182 13.1

Boarding home 51 .6

Group home 2227 24.6

ICF facility 501 5.5

Rest or convalescent home 248 2.7

Nursing home 1386 15.3

Intensive (nursing) care facility 457 5.2 

Total 9043 100 

DEINSTITUTIONALIZATION 

PCMR convened a meeting of the 

leaders of the National Association of 

Superintendents of Public Residential 

Facilities for the Mentally Retarded to 

develop a position paper on deinstitutionalization and improvement of 

institutions. 

The result was Residential Programming: Position Statements by the 

NASPRF, published by PCMR in 

1974. 

The staff analyzed essential standards 

for Intermediate Care FacilitiesMental Retardation (ICF-MR) regulations, and later participated in a 

review of draft guidelines designed to 

help States apply the ICF-MR standards. 

PCMR arranged with the Mental 

Retardation Division of the American 

Psychological Association to make a 

study of current psychological research 

on deinstitutionalization. 

The Committee initiated inter-departmental cooperation between the 

Department of Justice and HEW for 

suits bearing on quality of service in 

institutions. 

Maine and Florida requested and 

received PCMR assistance in developing deinstitutionalization plans. 

New Neighbors, a monograph on 

community living was published, and 

a casebook on existing community 

residential care alternatives was in 

preparation, to be published in early 

1975. Its title: People Live in Houses. 

There was a continuing effort to influence regulations, policies and practices of the Social Security Administration and the Social and 

Rehabilitation Service of HEW to 

cancel conflicting policies and improve 

program reinforcements so as to 

provide major inducements to retarded 

persons to move to the community 

Source: Current Trends and Status of Public Residential 

Services for the Mentally Retarded. National Association of 

Superintendents of Public Residential Facilities for the 

Mentally Retarded. PCMR, 1974. 

15 
"Fifteen to twenty percent of an 

agency's time is spent writing and 

rewriting regulations to comply 

with the last announcement in the 

Federal Register of another change 

on the Federal level. If we could 

take that 15-20% and use it to give 

service to the individual, we could 

make a lot of progress." 

Carl D. Rodland 

Director, Div. of Developmental 

Disabilities 

N.D. Dept. of Health 

At Denver Forum 

"If we do not have a spread of high 

quality community residential and 

developmental programs, all we are 

participating in is a dumping operation out of institutions. It will not 

be tolerated by communities 

because they will be looking for an 

excuse not to have these people 

returned to the community." 

Carlyle Storm 

President, Md. ARC 

At Philadelphia Forum

and become more self-sufficient. 

PCMR formed a special ad hoc 

committee to initiate efforts to 

rationalize building codes and

zoning regulations, so that they 

would be protective, but not 

restrictive. 

PCMR assisted in a study done 

by the National Association of 

Superintendents of Public 

Residential Facilities, called 

Current Trends and Status of 

Public Residential Services for 

the Mentally Retarded. It shows 

an 8.9% reduction of institutional 

population between 1970 and 

1974. 

A meeting was held with the 

President of the NASPRF to 

discuss labor-management 

relations in institutions and their 

effect on deinstitutionalization. 

Since union contracts are 

negotiated at State level, 

superintendents of these facilities 

are concerned about their ability 

to handle union problems. The 

group considered as possible 

solutions: training in labor 

relations for superintendents, 

improved orientation of State 

administrators to institutional 

labor problems, and efforts to 

improve legal advocacy of 

individual residents of the 

facilities. 

PCMR participated in a 

Nebraska conference on 

residential care alternatives, acted 

as consultant for Hawaii on 

community residential services, 

and provided technical assistance 

on deinstitutionalization to 

several other States. 

Committee members voted to 

support continuation of the 

requirement that a facility be in 

substantial compliance with 

applicable standards for each part 

of the facility in order for that 

facility to receive accreditation. 

PCMR Executive Director 

conveyed the Committee's 

position to the Accreditation 

Council for Facilities for the 

Mentally Retarded at hearings 

held in Chicago in July. 

The General Accounting Office 

staff met with PCMR staff to 

discuss GAO's proposed study of 

progress of deinstitutionalization 

and its effects on mentally 

retarded persons. 

Arrangements were completed 

for an updating of PCMR's 

Changing Patterns in Residential 

Care, first published in 1969. It 

has had a major impact on 

changes in the mental retardation 

field. 

EDUCATION 

PCMR strongly supported: 

A sustained role of Bureau of 

Education for the Handicapped 

in educational policy 

development; 

Continuation of current effort 

to prepare special education 

teachers, especially in light of 

demands of right to education 

rulings by the courts; 

Continuation by Congress of 

current levels of Federal financial 

support for local and State educational agencies serving 

handicapped children; 

Study, experimentation and 

testing of alternatives prior to any 

changes in program leadership 

and funding for special education. 

There were discussions with 

the Office of Child Development, 

HEW, on the percentage of 

retarded children in Headstart, 

and an analysis of proposed 

Headstart rules governing 

recruitment, enrollment and 

services to handicapped children, 

and special services such as early 

identification of problems and 

intervention. 

PCMR provided an orientation 

to the Committee's role and goals 

to the School Psychologist 

Division of the American 

Psychological Association, 

which is concerned with 

maintaining standards and a 

professional role in new 

programs of early diagnosis and 

assessment of young children 

who may be retarded. 

PCMR staff met with the 

Council of the Great City 

Schools, a coalition of 24 of the 

largest urban school districts in 

the U.S., to discuss educational 

reforms that will ensure quality 

and equality of educational 

opportunities.
"We have all the research available 

that shows that early childhood 

programs are beneficial for handicapped children. Why not recommend 

that every State be allowed to have 

early childhood programs Federally 

funded?" 

Dr. Dan Payne 

Assistant Commissioner 

Program Development and Evaluation 

Dept. of MH/MR, Virginia 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"The new challenge to higher education is to move into the field with 

their training. Medical schools could 

do this too—have the students work 

in programs for retarded people and 

see what is really going on. I would 

hope that higher education would also 

extend its resources and services to 

the workers, including parents and 

many helpers who would benefit from 

help and training." 

Dr. Leo Cain 

President, U. of Calif. 

at Dominguez Hills 

At Denver Forum 

"When we spend money to help a 

handicapped child get an education, 

we are not just spending money; we 

are making an investment. We help 

that child become less dependent... 

A failure to make that investment 

means that we force that child to be 

forever dependent on society, to 

become a ward of the State." 

Hon. Richard S. Schweiker 

Senator from the State of Pennsylvania 

At the Philadelphia Forum 

17 
ESTIMATED NUMBER OF HANDICAPPED CHILDREN SERVED 

AND UNSERVED BY TYPE OF HANDICAP 

 

1974-75 a

SERVED 

(Projected) 

1974-75 

UNSERVED 

TOTAL 

HAND. 

CHILD. 

SERVED & 

UNSERVED b

% 

INCIDENCE 

% 

SERVED 

% 

UNSERVED 

TOTAL AGE 0-19 3,947,000 3,939,000 7,886,000 50% 50% 

TOTAL AGE 6-19 3,687,000 3,062,000 6,699,000 55% 45% 

TOTAL AGE 0-5 260,000 927,000 1,187,000 22% 78% 

SPEECH IMPAIRED 1,850,000 443,000 2,293,000 3.5% 81% 19% 

MENTALLY RETARDED 1,250,000 257,000 1,507,000 2.3% 83% 17% 

LEARNING DISABILITY 235,000 1,731,000 1,966,000 3.0% 12% 88% 

EMOTIONALLY DISTURBED 230,000 1,080,000 1,310,000 2.0% 18% 82% 

CRIPPLED & OTHER 

HEALTH IMPAIRED 235,000 93,000 328,000 .5% 72% 28% 

DEAF 35,000 14,000 49,000 .075% 71% 29% 

HARD OF HEARING 60,000 268,000 328,000 .5% 18% 82% 

VISUALLY HANDICAPPED 39,000 27,000 66,000 .1% 59% 41% 

DEAF-BLIND & OTHER 13,000 27,000 40,000 .06% 33% 67%

MULTI-HANDICAPPED 

a

 Based on estimates from State education agencies for fall and winter, 1974-75. 

b

 Based on estimates from national agencies and organizations and State and local directors of special education. 

Population figures to which incidence rates were applied are from the Bureau of the Census and reflect the 

population as of July 1, 1974. 

Source: U.S. Office of Education/Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, March 1974. 

18 
EMPLOYMENT 

At PCMR's request, there was a meeting with U.S Postal Service 

representatives, concerning 

dismissal of some retarded 

workers because of an 

interpretation of some policy state- ments issued by the Postal Service. 

In many instances, the workers 

were reinstated, through the cooperative efforts of the Postal 

Service and Postal Unions, with 

PCMR attempting to improve 

these lines of communication in 

order to strengthen employment opportunities for retarded persons. When the Employment Division of the U.S. Department of Labor was preparing a new 

interviewing guide to be used by 

employment counselors seeking to 

place retarded individuals, PCMR 

acted as consultant. 

PCMR participated in the annual meeting of the President's Committee on Employment of the 

Handicapped, which emphasized 

on-the-job placement, vocational 

training and employment 

programs. The NARC subcommittee on 

vocational rehabilitation and 

employment met with PCMR to 

determine strategy for joint 

planning and services to the 

retarded adult. 

The Executive Director of 

PCMR was on the advisory panel of the Department of Labor's 

Manpower Administration which 

is developing a handbook on the 

use of the basic skills of mentally retarded workers. 

PCMR representatives also 

served on task forces on definition, 

attitudinal barriers, and job redesign of the Interdepartmental Committee on Handicapped 

Employees. 

ENERGY AND THE 

ECONOMY 

PCMR worked with the Federal 

Energy Office to get them to modify their proposal on fuel 

allocations to safeguard the 

welfare of retarded persons, 

especially those vulnerable to 

heating and transportation shortages. 

The Committee issued a position 

statement on the hazards entailed, 

and coordinated a seven-State 

survey, conducted by voluntary 

advocacy organizations for the 

developmentally disabled, that 

indicated shortages and increasing 

costs of gasoline were the greatest concerns, and suggested means 

19 
"Delivery of service is complicated 

in these western States by Federal 

funding that comes from so many 

departments and so many avenues 

that it requires a paid staff member 

to do nothing but find the money. 

That salary could better go to direct 

service." 

Jane Lane 

First V.P., Wyoming ARC 

At Denver Forum 

"We talk about umbrella agencies, 

but it always rains on the retarded." 

Roland Queene 

Director of Office of Mental 

Retardation, State of Virginia 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"Most of our revenue sharing 

monies, in North Dakota at least, 

have been spent for bricks and 

mortar, not for people programs." 

Miss Claudette Janis 

Rosebud Reservation, S.D. 

At Denver Forum 

whereby facilities could qualify for 

priority allocations. 

Two meetings of national 

voluntary and public organizations 

were convened to assess the fuel 

shortage problem and develop 

strategies for coping with it. 

PCMR also contributed to the 

HEW position paper on the needs for 

special protection of poor and handicapped persons during the energy crisis. 

The Committee and staff prepared 

material for HEW's contribution to 

the President's summit meeting on inflation by analyzing the impact of inflation on mentally retarded persons 

and their serving agencies. 

FEDERAL PROGRAMS 

At PCMR's request, 22 Federal 

agencies and departments submitted 

information on the relationship of 

their work to mentally retarded people. A liaison with each agency has 

been established in regard to minimum occurrence of disability in 

mental retardation, full citizenship, 

humane services and public 

awareness. 

A report to the President on 

Federal activities will be prepared, 

updating the previous PCMR 

publication, Federal Programs for 

the Retarded. 

HOUSING 

PCMR representatives met with 

Housing and Urban Development's 

Assistant Secretary for the Aging and 

Handicapped to explore HUD's 

activities in developing housing and 

group home living for retarded 

persons. 

They also discussed a recent proposal for establishing a national center to study housing for handicapped 

people. 

Under PCMR auspices, an ad hoc 

committee met to study and act on 

codes, standards and zoning related to 

housing for people who are handicapped. 

A staff member addressed the annual AAMD meeting on the costbenefit and cost-effectiveness considerations of such housing, in light of 

fixed financial limits. He stressed 

creative thinking and the use of 

normalization principles. 

A Committee representative 

chaired a session of the National 

Conference on Housing for the 

Handicapped in Houston, and spoke 

to the American 

Planning for the Second PanAmerican Congress on Mental 

Retardation are (l to r) PCMR 

members Ralph Ferrara and 

Marianna Beach; Eloisa Garcia 

de Lorenzo and Rafael Sajon of 

the Inter-American Children's 

Institute, Uruguay; and Dr. Will 

Beth Stephens, PCMR. 

20 
Institute of Architects' second 

regional conference and 

workshop on Designing for the 

Disabled. 

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS 

Several planning sessions 

centered around the Second 

Pan-American Congress on 

Mental Retardation, to be held 

in Panama in August 1975. The 

first such conference was held in 

Puerto Rico ten years ago, as an 

outgrowth of the President's 

Panel on Mental Retardation. 

To plan the Congress, PCMR 

has met with representatives of 

the State Dept., HEW's Office of 

International Affairs, The 

Organization of American States, 

Partners of the Americas, 

Panama and UNESCO, plus the 

cosponsors, who, together with 

PCMR, are the Instituto 

Interamericano del Niño and the 

Instituto Panameño de 

Habilitación Especial. 

In addition, preliminary 

planning was done on programs 

for training personnel in other 

countries, especially in 

developing countries, to work 

with retarded persons. Included 

in these plans is the projection of 

a system of an international 

exchange of information on 

mental retardation. 

PCMR representatives 

participated in the International 

Conference on Special 

Education in Spain, the International League of Societies for 

the Handicapped Symposium on 

Mental Retardation in Brazil, the 

Caribbean Conference on 

Mental Retardation in Barbados, 

and the World Conference on 

Rehabilitation Medicine in 

Mexico City. 

Visitors from Sweden, Poland, 

Korea, England and countries of 

South and Central America met 

with PCMR staff and members 

to discuss their programs and 

exchange ideas. 

LEGAL RIGHTS 

The Committee in 1974 

conducted an all-points public 

information campaign on legal 

rights which included: 

(1) A proclamation by the 

President of Legal Rights 

Week; 

(2) A proclamation by 

Governors designating April 

as Legal Rights for Retarded 

Citizens Month; 

(3) Distribution to radio stations 

of public service 

announcements and a 

recorded interview with the 

PCMR Work Group Chairman on Legal Rights; 

(4) Distribution of an 

information kit to 

newspapers and regional and 

State offices of the Association for Retarded Citizens; 

(5) Furnishing information used 

in developing a two-page 

article in U.S. News and 

World Report; 

(6) Publication of Silent 

Minority, a popularly written 

report on PCMR's Legal 

Rights Conference of 1973; 

(7) Released "A Little Slow," a 

film which dramatizes the 

legal rights problems of two 

young adults (Funded by 

BEH) ;* 

(8) Helped edit a definitive book 

on the subject, The Mentally 

Retarded Citizen and the 

Law resulting from the 1973 

Legal Rights Conference.** 

* The film may be borrowed without 

charge from Association-Sterling Films. 

Service will be expedited by writing to its 

nearest exchange rather than PCMR: 

Exchanges: 410 Great Road, Littleton, Mass. 

01460; 600 Grand Ave., Ridgefield, N.J. 

07657; 324 Delaware Ave., Oakmont, Pa. 

15139; 5797 New Peachtree Rd., Atlanta, 

Ga. 30340; 512 Burlington Ave., LaGrange, 

Ill. 60525; 6420 W. Lake St., Minneapolis, 

Minn. 55426; 8615 Directors Row, Dallas. 

Tex. 75247; 915 N.W. 19th Ave., Portland, 

Ore. 97209: 25358 Cypress Ave., Hayward, 

Cal 94544; 7838 San Fernando Rd.. Sun 

Valley, Calif 91532. Prints may also be 

purchased at $58.25 each, from Sales 

Branch. National Audio Visual Center 

(GSA). Washington, DC. 20409. 

** To be published in late summer, 1975. 

For information about availability. write: 

The Free Press 

A Division of MacMillan Publishing Co.,

Inc. New York. N.Y. 10022 

"How good it is for people from 

different countries to work 

together. Then we have a 

different image of what an 

American is, because the image 

at the beginning is United Fruit 

and capital investment, machines and cold technology. We 

develop defenses. And then 

through such meetings as this, 

we see another type of 

American—absolutely different. 

. . . One of the best things I will 

take from here is the knowledge 

that you really care and 

understand." 

Eloisa Garcia de Lorenzo 

Instituto Interamericano del Ninos 

Montevideo, Uruguay 

At PCMR's Early Intervention 

Conference 

"There is a strong need for 

training in this field in our 

country. Most workers in these 

fields are not professionally 

trained and so, most institutions 

are unable to provide competent 

treatment services to the 

retarded." 

Kim, Young Ja 

Director, 

Ministry of Health and Social Affairs 

Republic of Korea 

In a letter to PCMR 

21 
"Here is a dramatic illustration 

of the work of the Committee. 

PCMR's work with the Justice 

Department was of critical 

emotional and intellectual 

importance to this lawsuit's 

being filed within the last 30 

days. To lawyers this is a 

landmark case. PCMR's 

conversations on the subject 

date back to early 1970, and 

from then on there has been 

ongoing work with the staff of 

the Civil Rights Division of the 

Department of Justice." 

Lawrence Kane 

Chairman, PCMR's Legal Rights 

Work Group 

At PCMR Meeting 

PCMR cooperated with the 

Dept. of Justice on the first 

Federal Government suit of its 

kind in the field, brought 

against the State of Maryland 

for deprivation of residents' 

rights in a State mental 

retardation institution. 

Committee representatives 

worked with the HEW 

Assistant Secretary for Human 

Development and the Justice 

Department's Assistant 

Attorney General, Office of 

Civil Rights in the case. 

A report on current court 

action in mental retardation is 

published periodically. Funded 

by PCMR and the Office of 

Child Development, it is titled 

Mental Retardation and the 

Law. 

The Committee also directed 

preparation of a Compendium on Litigation in Legal Rights of 

the Mentally Retarded. 

Additional activity in this 

area includes a concerted effort 

on legal and legislative matters 

with the National Center on 

Law and the Handicapped, 

Mental Health Law Project, 

Dept. of Justice's Office of 

Special Litigation, American 

Bar Association's Commission 

on the Mentally Disabled and 

other legal and legislative 

advocacy groups. 

LEGISLATION 

PCMR prepared an in-depth 

analysis of the 

Administration's Comprehensive Health Insurance 

Proposal, as it relates to 

mentally retarded people, and advised on legislative 

guidelines. 

Staff wrote a position paper 

on the addition of learning 

disabilities to the Federal 

definition of Developmental 

Disabilities, with regard to new 

legislation. 

Information was also 

provided in response to 

Congressional inquiries on the 

supplemental appropriation for 

the education of the 

handicapped. 

The Committee had an active 

role in drafting regulations for patient workers in hospitals 

and institutions, under the Fair 

Labor Standards Act. A suit 

brought by the American Association on Mental Deficiency 

and the National Association 

for Mental Health resulted in a 

court decision requiring the 

Department of Labor to 

enforce minimum wage 

standards for working patients. 

MENTALLY RETARDED 

OFFENDER 

PCMR cosponsored and 

participated in a symposium on 

the retarded offender with the 

University of Oregon Research and Training Center and 

another under multiple 

sponsorship held in South 

Carolina. 

Several meetings to discuss 

resources to serve the retarded 

offender were called by PCMR 

and attended by representatives 

of Office of Youth 

Development, Office of 

Human Development, 

Rehabilitation Services, 

Developmental Disabilities and 

Office for Handicapped 

Individuals. 

Different surveys report that 

from 7 to 32% of the 

population of correctional 

institutions are retarded, and 

that they are given very little 

rehabilitation or training. 

The Committee worked with 

a Florida State University 

project on the retarded 

offender. The project resulted 

in a grant to FSU from the

22 
Law Enforcement Assistance 

Administration for four 

additional regional training 

conferences on the subject. 

PCMR staff has also assisted 

L.E.A.A. in monitoring grants, 

reviewing proposals, and 

advising on developing 

guidelines. 

PCMR staff acted as project 

director for an NARC contract 

to prepare a police training 

curriculum that would help law 

enforcement officers to deal 

appropriately with retarded 

persons. 

In connection with this 

project a meeting was held in 

PCMR's offices with 

representatives of Florida ARC, 

the International Chiefs of 

Police, the Institute for Law 

Enforcement, the National 

Association of State Directors 

of Law Enforcement Training, 

the Police Foundation, and 

Developmental Disabilities 

agencies. 

In an effort to see first-hand 

the environment which spawns 

so many retarded offenders, 

PCMR staff toured a highcrime low-income 

neighborhood with staff of 

LEAA's Juvenile Justice 

Council. 

The Council's South Bronx 

Project plus data collected in 

two other areas could aid in 

developing methods of 

prevention and correction. 

Committee and staff have 

held a series of meetings on the 

retarded offender with key 

people, including one with the 

chairman of the Mental Retardation Committee of the 

National Council of Juvenile 

Court Judges. This committee 

is a direct outgrowth of a 

seminar co-sponsored by 

PCMR several years ago on 

retarded youth and law 

enforcement. 

PREVENTION 

To coordinate prevention 

efforts, PCMR members and 

staff have kept in close touch 

with the National Institute of 

Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of 

Neurological and 

Communicative Disorders and 

Stroke, National Institute of 

Mental Health, Developmental 

Disabilities Division, and other 

government as well as private 

agencies, such as NARC and 

AAMD. 

PCMR's Task Force on 

Minimum Occurrence of 

Disability arranged a 

discussion with the 

President of the American 

Medical Association and 

"Over half of the deliveries in 

the University hospital are of 

young girls less than age 16. 

Anemia and the stress of 

growing and the poor diet of the 

average teenager contribute to 

make her a high-risk patient in 

terms of a high-risk infant." 

George A. Lentz, Jr., M.D. 

Chief, Comprehensive Child Care 

Program, University of Maryland 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"An estimated 50% of 

premature infants have some 

kind of neurological defect, but 

for babies that weigh below 

three pounds, the figure can 

climb to 80%." 

Norman, Kretchmer, M.D. 

Director, NICHD 

At PCMR Meeting 

Technician opens fertilized 

chicken egg in tissue culture 

procedure used in study of 

neuromuscular disease. 

23 
other AMA officials in Chicago to explore 

ways to prevent retardation and to involve 

physicians more closely in these efforts. 

There will be continued cooperation with 

AMA and PCMR. 

Following release of the report of the 

Governor's Conference on Prevention of 

Developmental Disabilities, held in 

California, some Committee members and 

staff met with the Governor and the State 

Council on Developmental Disabilities. 

California has been recognized by the 

Committee for launching what could be a 

pilot State program on prevention. 

At the request of the Secretary of HEW, 

who is PCMR's Chairman, PCMR 

prepared a study on nutrition and mental 

retardation. It points out the 

interrelationship between inadequate 

nourishment and the poor health and 

low performance often found in poverty 

areas, but acknowledges the lack of hard 

scientific data isolating malnutrition as a 

direct cause of retardation. 

PCMR has also consulted with the 

Chairman of the National Academy of 

Sciences' Subcommittee on Nutrition, Brain 

Development and Behavior, who later 

addressed the full Committee on the subject. 

The Director of the National Institute of 

Child Health and Human Development has 

also discussed nutrition and other aspects of 

prevention of retardation with Committee 

and staff. 

PUBLIC INFORMATION 

Innumerable TV, radio, newspaper, and 

magazine interviews with Committee 

members and key staff took place during 

1974, in connection with forums, conferences, 

quarterly PCMR meetings, specific areas of 

interest of the PCMR work groups, and 

timely subjects related to mental retardation. 

A Gallup Poll commissioned by PCMR 

in 1974 found that most Americans 

express accepting attitudes toward retarded 

citizens as neighbors

IMPROVEMENT IN ATTITUDES TOWARD RETARDED PERSONS 

Neighbors 

1970 48% + 

1974 85-95% + 

Employees 

1970 30.4% + 

1974 91.0% + 

Institutionalization 

1970 11.1%—(i.e., most or all should be in) 

1974 1.0%—(i.e., all should be in) 

Causes 

1970 4.2%—(most or all had retarded parents) 

1974 3.0%—(all forms of MR inherited) 

Independence 

1970 24.1% + (most or all can be self-supporting) 

1974 33.0% + (most able to support selves and lead independent lives) 

1970: From CEC Research Monograph, "Public Awareness About Mental Retardation," by Henry Gottwald based 

on national sample of 1,515 subjects. 

1974: From Gallup Report prepared for President's Committee on Mental Retardation. 

24 
and fellow employees, but some 

fear and lack of confidence 

persists. 

PCMR's annual report for 1971, 

Entering the Era of Human 

Ecology, was made into a film by UCLA. A minority business enterprise produced for PCMR eight radio announcements narrated by 

Diahann Carroll and played on 

400 stations specializing in 

programs for black audiences. 

They dealt with prevention of 

mental retardation. 

A series of recorded 

announcements on legal rights, plus an interview with the Task 

Force Chairman were distributed 

to 1500 radio stations. 

PCMR also arranged production and distribution of a 

30- and 60-second message to all TV networks and 850 TV 

stations, designed to promote 

community acceptance. 

The National Council on 

Public Relations, at PCMR's 

suggestion, devoted a session of 

its national meeting to winning community accept-ance for 

persons who are mentally 

restored or retarded. PCMR's 

Public Information Director 

chaired the session. 

Parents Magazine ran an 

article by the PCMR Vice 

Chairperson titled "How All 

Parents Can Help Our Country's 

Mentally Retarded Youngsters." A slide presentation and script on employment of handicapped persons was prepared and 

distributed to TV stations. 

During the Forum held in Philadelphia, the General

Manager and Vice President of 

CBS's WCAU Philadelphia aired 

a series of three editorials 

advocating community 

acceptance of retarded people 

and supporting a class action suit 

then pending in the Federal Court 

of Eastern Pennsylvania to 

establish group homes in 

Montgomery County. PCMR's first film, "A Little 

Slow" was produced (see p. 21). A portable exhibit on mental 

retardation and PCMR's role was 

completed and has been used at 

several meetings. PCMR is also 

preparing a major exhibit for the 

HEW Bicentennial Exhibit in the 

South Portal Building, opening in 

mid 1975. 

After the success of the "All in 

the Family" episode featuring the problems of a young man who 

was retarded, PCMR presented 

the producers an award. The 

suggestion for an episode dealing 

with mental retardation came 

from PCMR. 

Throughout the year, PCMR has periodically published a 

newsletter, the PCMR Message, and the News Clipping Service. 

In addition, the following PCMR 

publications were issued in 1974: 

Residential Programming: 

Position Statements by the 

National Association of 

Superintendents of Public 

Residential Facilities for the 

Mentally Retarded 

MR 73: The Goal Is Freedom 

(annual report) 

Silent Minority (legal rights) 

New Neighbors (community living) 

Mental Retardation Abstracts 

(three volumes) 

Mental Retardation and the 

Law (periodical newsletter) 

In preparation in 1974: 

People Live in Houses 

(Casebook on alternatives to

institutional living) 

MR 74 (annual report) 

What Are We Waiting For? 

(report on Early Intervention 

Conference) 

Mental Retardation: The 

Known and the Unknown (first 

in Century of Decision series of 

major report of PCMR) 

Mental Retardation: The 

Century of Decision (Tentative 

title of PCMR's major report) 

"Hear that? That's the future. A 

black baby taking the first 

breaths. Singing that old, old 

song of survival. We know that 

tune well, you and me. Make 

sure your child is born with a 

good body and a good mind. Get 

yourself vaccinated against 

German Measles before you get 

pregnant. This is Diahann Carroll 

for the President's Committee on 

Mental Retardation." 

"There are many people like me 

who are in institutions. Today 

my life is so much better. I am 

free because I live in a group 

home. I also have a job that I 

work at fulltime. It's in the 

neighborhood and with a big 

company. They are happy with 

my work and I am happy there. 

Because of the group home there 

are many other people just like 

me who have jobs. And there 

could be more. I am told we 

make excellent, reliable workers. 

Think about that. I am not living 

in an institution. Now I have a 

purpose to my life. I am a happy 

person." 

A resident of Fineson House, 

New York City Association for 

Retarded Children's Group Home 

On 60-second TV spot 

"As we approach the 200th anniversary of our nation's existence, 

let us affirm by our actions that 

we believe our forefathers' 

declaration of the rights of all our 

citizens includes those who 

happen to be retarded." 

N. Lorraine Beebe 

Vice-Chairperson, PCMR 

Parents Magazine 

November, 1974 

25 

RECREATION 

PCMR participated in 

conferences on recreation for the 

handicapped held at the 

University of New Mexico, 

George Washington University in 

D.C., and at the National Forum 

on Meeting Recreation and Park 

Needs of Handicapped People in 

Washington, D.C. 

We have also been working 

with NARC's Recreation 

Committee in determining their 

priorities, which are: Stress use of 

tax-paid recreation; educate the 

public on the need for recreation 

as an essential quality of life; deemphasize segregated programs 

for retarded people; support all 

positive program developments of 

public and private organizations. 

To reach these same goals, plus 

integration of services, PCMR has 

a representative on the Committee 

on Recreation and Leisure for the 

Handicapped of the President's 

Committee on Employment of 

the Handicapped. 

With support from PCMR, 

NARC is conducting six regional 

meetings on development of 

cultural skills for retarded persons. 

PCMR has also been active in 

working with and promoting the 

"Families Play to Grow" program 

of the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. 

Foundation. 

SUPPLEMENTAL 

SECURITY INCOME 

PCMR has been involved in a 

number of meetings and specially 

called conferences to attempt to 

correct the errors affecting 

retarded people who are being 

denied SSI benefits because they 

have been moved to intermediate 

care facilities, nursing homes, or 

community housing, or do not 

appear to fit the stringent eligibility requirements. 

The Committee has 

participated in a series of bimonthly issue review meetings 

with SSI staff on the subject, as 

well as bringing the matter to the 

further attention of voluntary 

agencies. 

"Paul was a resident of Grafton 

State School, which is a State 

institution in North Dakota. Prior 

to his entrance into the Evaluation 

and Training Center he was at 

Grafton for about three years. He 

is in a hospital now as a result of a 

bike/car accident. He presently 

has no funds. The State Social 

Services Department is in a 

precarious position in this case because the client is not on SSI and 

therefore no Medicaid. Who is 

to pay his medical bills? As of 

June 12, '74, he was still 

hospitalized, with further 

surgical needs. He is now in 

debt $200 for room and board 

payments to his landlord." 

Mel Heckt 

PCMR Member 

At PCMR meeting 

27 
"The really important point here 

is that the mentally retarded 

person is a person, and receives 

health care under this plan. It's 

not a matter of whether or not he 

is retarded, but that he is a 

person." 

Allen Menefee 

PCMR Administrative Staff 

At PCMR Meeting 

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE 

AND LIAISON 

One of PCMR's major roles is 

to act as "consultant" to various 

governmental and private 

agencies. In 1974, some of the 

activities involving assistance 

and liaison included: 

Help in planning regional 

Technical Assistance Program to 

aid States in applying 

Intermediate Care Facility 

Standards; 

A series of meetings with 

national voluntary organizations 

to consider critical issues in 

mental retardation; 

Assistance in the preparation of 

the evaluation aspect of 

Developmental Disabilities 

legislation; 

Initiation of HEW-wide goal for 

improvement of institutions and 

reduction of the institutional 

population; 

Offered technical assistance to 

offices of several Governors and 

Congressmen relative to program 

planning, quality assurance, 

standards, etc.; 

Discussed with Office of 

Management and Budget

Federal strategies for dealing 

with mentally retarded people 

through age 21; 

Convened meeting with 

representatives of HEW agencies 

and Department of Defense, with 

each branch of the armed forces 

represented, to examine present 

status and a projection of 

program services for military 

personnel dependents who are 

mentally retarded or have related 

conditions; 

Investigated with Office of.

Child Development plans to deal 

with child abuse, especially as it 

relates to children damaged 

mentally as a result of abuse.

28 
TRANSPORTATION 

PCMR convened a meeting to 

discuss transportation and the 

problems it presents for retarded 

people. Discussion was based on 

a study done by Auburn 

University on the subject. Attending were representatives of 

Department of Transportation, 

several HEW agencies, United 

Cerebral Palsy, NARC and 

Council for Exceptional Children. 

YOUTH AFFAIRS 

The Committee members and 

staff have been working with 

national youth organizations to 

promote programs involving 

mentally retarded children and 

youth. Organizations include: 

Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Boys 

Clubs of America and YouthNARC. 

NON-TRADITIONAL 

APPROACHES 

In keeping with the orientation 

to the future of PCMR's major 

report, the Committee launched a 

new project in 1974, in search of 

innovative techniques for aiding 

retarded individuals. 

Specifically, the project is concerned with non-traditional approaches to the diagnosis, 

treatment, education or training 

of persons who are retarded. A 

PCMR staff member is 

surveying these new concepts to 

determine their relevance and 

applicability to mental 

retardation. 

A few of the areas being 

examined include: 

Biofeedback: Electronic instruments used in coordination with 

the mind to regulate such internal 

functions as heart rate, blood 

pressure and brain waves. 

Suggestology: Subliminal verbal 

instruction . . . potentially effective for teaching retarded persons. 

Acupuncture: Needles in prescribed parts of the body to 

alleviate pain. 

Parapsychology: The investigation of evidence for telepathy, 

clairvoyance, and psychokinesis. 

Kirlian Photography: Photographing otherwise invisible 

energy fields surrounding plants 

and animals . . . being surveyed 

for possible use in diagnosis. 

Drugs: . . . Under review as a 

possible aid in the retention of

learning. 

PCMR has been in contact 

with government agencies that 

are similarly investigating the 

application of these approaches 

to alcoholism and mental illness. 

Committee representatives 

have also been meeting with the 

Technology Utilization Office of 

the National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration to explore 

the application of space 

technology to treatment for developmentally disabled persons. 

NASA PHOTO 

"A lot of our parents are poor, 

and can't afford a car or any kind 

of transportation. We have no 

planes, trains, buses, or 

anything." 

Leonard Talaswaima 

Impact Worker on Hopi Reservation 

At San Francisco Forum 

Infant Respiratory Assist Device. 

The treatment of hyaline membrane 

disease (respiratory distress 

syndrome) by medical researchers 

at the University of Miami is 

being aided by technology used onboard the NASA SKYLAB. The 

respiratory assist device is patterned 

after the lower-body negativepressure system developed for the 

SKYLAB program to control the 

body's distribution in zero gravity.

29 
Down's syndrome children are 

brought into the Experimental 

Education Unit of the Univ. of 

Washington as early as possible for 

training to bring their 

developmental patterns as close to 

"normal" as possible. Presenters: Dr. 

Alice G. Hayden and Valentine 

Dmitried of the Child Development 

and Mental Retardation Center, 

Univ. of Washington, Seattle. 

The infant, toddler and preschool 

research and intervention project mixes handicapped children with 

children developing normally in an 

education program based on 

Piaget's concepts of human 

development. Presenters: Drs. 

Diane and William Bricker, George 

Peabody College for Teachers, The 

John F. Kennedy Center, Nashville, 

Tenn. 

A program of educational 

intervention with high-risk infants is carried out at the Mental 

Retardation Center, Neuropsychiatric Institute, UCLA. 

Presenters: Dr. Arthur H. Parmelee 

and Ethel R. Kass. 

30 
EARLY 

INTERVENTION 

CONFERENCE 

In May of 1974, PCMR held a 

conference on Early Intervention With 

High-Risk Infants and Young Children. 

The major emphasis was the "triad" of 

parents, professionals and the child, 

working together to help the child either 

to avoid handicap or to alleviate it. 

The conference was co-sponsored by 

PCMR and the Association for Early 

Childhood International, with the 

cooperation and support of the National 

Institute of Child Health and Human 

Development, Bureau of Education for 

the Handicapped, Developmental 

Disabilities Division, National Institute 

of Mental Health, Office of Child 

Development, all of HEW. The 

University of North Carolina at Chapel 

Hill was host. 

PCMR is publishing a short version 

of the conference findings in the late 

summer of 1975. NICHD will publish 

the papers presented at the conference in 

the fall of 1975. 

The early intervention program for 

hearing-impaired infants and young 

children emphasizes early detection 

of hearing problems and provides 

intensive training of parents, 

especially in helping their children in 

language and communication skills. 

Presenter: Kathryn B. Horton of Bill 

Wilkerson Hearing and Speech 

Center, Vanderbilt University, School 

of Medicine, Nashville, Tenn. 

31 
The Meeting Street School 

Parent Program for 

Developmental Management provides a 

comprehensive, therapeuticeducational program for 

children from birth to three 

years of age. Presenters: Dr. 

Eric Denhoff and Irma 

Hyman, Meeting Street 

School Project, Providence, 

R.I. 

The Portage Project is a 

model for early childhood 

education, in which parents 

are the teachers, trained 

by a home teacher. The 

Project serves any child 

from birth to school age, 

with any type of 

handicapping condition, in 

the 23 school districts of 

south-central Wisconsin. 

Presenters: Marsha and 

David Shearer of 

Cooperative Educational 

Service Agency #12, 

Portage, Wisc. 

The National Collaborative 

Infant Project involves a consortium of centers serving handicapped infants 

under age two and their 

families, attempting to 

identify and use techniques 

that can be incorporated into 

service models. Presenter: 

Una Haynes, United Cerebral 

Palsy Inc., New York, N.Y. 

32 
From "Early Self Help Skills," a 

manual in the READ Project Series of 

ten such booklets to help parents 

instruct their retarded children at 

home. Presenter: Dr. Bruce L. Baker, 

Read House, Harvard University. 

You will need to find added 

incentives to draw him into the 

teaching session, to make him 

willing to try what you ask. 

YOU WILL NEED REWARDS 

PROGRAM

1. You start the zipper and zip it up to the middle of your child's 

chest. Place his/her left hand on the bottom of the zipper to hold 

it down. Place his right hand on the zipper tab, saying, .Pull up 

your zipper." Place your hands on his and guide him in zipping 

up the rest of the way, saying, "Good, you pulled up your 

zipper," and give him his special treat. 

2. You zip the zipper up to the middle of your 

child's chest. Then, saying, "Pull up your 

zipper," help him to hold the bottom of the 

zipper with his left hand. Remove your 

right hand from his and guide his hand, if 

needed, in pulling up his zipper. Say, "Good 

boy, you zipped it up," and give him his 

special treat. 

3. Have him start pulling up the zipper from a couple of inches 

lower each time he masters a distance. Continue to help him in 

holding down the bottom of the zipper. 

Praise him each time he finishes the zipper. 

When he is able to finish zipping all the way 

from the bottom of the started zipper, start 

to phase out your assistance in holding the 

bottom of the zipper (step 4). 

4. Have him pull the zipper all the way up 

with his right hand, but when he is a few inches from the top, 

remove your left hand from his and say, "Hold on." Have him 

now finish the zipping without your guidance. Praise him and 

give him his special treat. 

5. Remove your left hand from his hand (which holds the bottom 

of the zipper) a couple of inches sooner each time until he can 

do the whole task of zipping—once you have started the 

zipper—without your assistance. The new task is his! 

SUGGESTIOHS, When your child can zip up front top zippers 

without difficulty, begin to work on pant or skirt zippers. Holding 

and Pulling up smaller zippers is more difficult, so it may be 

necessary to start at step 1 again. In any case, give him clear verbal 

directions and lots of praise and special treats for each step he 

masters.

Small Steps 

Scott was in tears. He'd certainly tried to 

get his foot into that pants leg. Only 

yesterday he'd pulled his pants up with a 

broad grin—when mother had started them 

to the knee. But today, she'd just held out 

the pants for his foot. 

Mother realized her error—she was 

asking too much of Scott. In moving too 

fast, she had brought him to a standstill! 

She paused and slipped the pants on to just 

above Scott's ankles: 

'Scott. pull up your pants.' 

The grin again. Success for Scott had 

once more come easily. 

Tears, a tantrum, wandering off—these and many 

other problem behaviors are not unusual when you are 

making demands on a child—when you are asking 

him to do something which you have always done for 

him. One way to minimize problem behaviors is to 

keep the task easy. 

You can only be successful as a teacher if your 

child is successful as a learner. The key to this 

success is step-by-step teaching. By gearing your 

demands in teaching to what you know your child can 

do, you naturally allow for continual success. Each 

step requires him to do just slightly more than the one 

before and with each one he is much more capable. 
33 
Listening to participants at the Denver Forum, are (l to r) James Juliana, Dr. Cecil Jacobson, Nan Ulle 

and Dr. Henry Cobb, PCMR members. 
PCMR 

FORUMS 

"What I heard most was that the 

government is not reaching the 

people—in public information 

and dissemination of 

information on how to get 

funding. We seem to be drowning in bureaucratic 'alphabet 

soup'." 

Ralph Ferrara 

PCMR Member 

At Denver Forum 

"I don't think we can 

separate services from the 

environment in which they 

exist." 

James A. Pfiffer 

State Planning and Developmental 

Disabilities Council 

Hawaii 

At San Franciso Forum 

"We now have in Oregon a basic 

system to provide a total delivery 

of needed services to mentally 

retarded people . . . starting at 

birth and going through geriatric 

services. But no amount of 

planning or coordinating is going 

to eliminate the fact that we don't 

have the funds to serve them. It's 

that simple." 

David Isom 

Director of Program Planning 

Oregon 

At San Francisco Forum 

In order to learn first-hand what 

problems exist and what progress 

is being made in the mental 

retardation field throughout the 

country, the Committee has been 

holding a series of forums, in 

cooperation with HEW Regional 

Offices and the area's Associations for Retarded Citizens. 

The information gleaned will 

contribute to the recommendations made in the PCMR major 

report, now in preparation. 

The first in this current series of 

forums was held in Kansas City 

in 1973, covering Kansas, 

Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska 

(See MR 73). 

The 1974 forums were held in 

Philadelphia, Denver and San 

Francisco, covering the HEW 

Regions served by these central 

offices. Altogether, the forums so 

far have covered 23 States, 

Guam, American Samoa and the 

Trust Territories. 

More forums are planned, with 

the next one to be held in Atlanta 

in September, covering Region 

IV. 

Major recurring themes 

throughout all the forums were 

pleas for a better allocation of 

funds, especially revenue sharing 

funds—which were described as 

"going for bricks and mortar instead of for people"; more 

training and involvement of the 

consumer (including people who 

are retarded) in decision-making 

and programs; transportation and 

information. Many also were 

confused and annoyed by the 

bureaucratic complexity surrounding government programs 

that makes them practically 

unintelligible to workers on the 

"front lines." 

Participants expressed frustration over fragmented services 

designed to serve a disability or a 

problem, rather than to serve the 

whole human being, whose needs 

are usually interrelated. 

Among recommendations to 

PCMR from the forums on 

service systems were:

Manage the system of services as 

an orchestration rather than as 

individual segments. The system's 

leadership must be responsive to 

the constituents. 

Disseminate information on 

services more effectively at all 

levels and avoid bureaucratic 

"alphabet codes." 

Multi-level governmental 

agencies must be involved with 

direct services, grants and 

licensing in coordinated efforts, in 

order to streamline techniques and 

develop commonalities in 

programs. 

There should be greater emphasis 

on generic rather than specialized 

services, especially in sparsely 

populated areas. 

Make treatments individually 

appropriate by encouraging 

agencies to use a cross-section of 

services. 

Utilize existing resources and 

manpower in the community. 

Insist on built-in accountability in 

services.

35 
"We have a tendency to label 

people by their uniqueness and 

not by their needs." 

Clarence Evans 

Provider of Residential Services 

Chester Co., Pa. 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"We're moving toward 

revenue sharing, but it's 

certainly not being shared in 

services. We must come to 

multi-based funding and quit 

depending on the State and 

Federal Government for 

everything." 

Jack Middleton 

Director, Mental Hygiene and 

Mental Retardation 

Nevada 

At San Francisco Forum 

"We mustn't continue to try 

to fit children into little 

pigeonholes in order to get 

the necessary funds." 

L. T. McKnight 

Director of Pupil Services 

Southeast Delco School District 

Delaware Co., Delaware 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"With only $85 per capita 

available to provide all health 

services, including 

environmental health, to our 

140,000 people scattered over 

3,000,000 square miles, it is 

difficult to provide optimal 

medical, educational, and 

social services to the average 

citizen, much less to those with 

handicapping conditions. In 

summary, we really don't have 

anything." 

Dr. Masauo Kumangai 

Director, 

Dept. of Health Services 

Trust Territory of the Pacific 

At San Francisco Forum 

Explore and expand attempts to 

develop interstate planning, such 

as Virginia and Tennessee have 

done successfully. 

Develop more effective Federal 

planning, legislation and 

guidelines to provide models of 

service, with flexibility and 

accountability, for application in 

widely different settings. 

Include non-profit, private 

organizations that can construct 

and operate community residential 

programs and facilities. 

Encourage community placement 

when appropriate, but continue to 

utilize hospital services. 

Develop model State zoning laws 

that could be replicated 

nationwide. 

Funding was of great concern 

throughout the forums, with many 

requests for revenue sharing funds 

to be redirected for the use of 

people. 

Forum recommendations on 

funding included:

Stress money for here-and-now 

problems and personal services 

that must be attended to, rather 

than stressing accountability to the 

bureaucracy. 

Explore stabilized funding of 

community services, guaranteeing 

payment for actual costs of 

services. 

Explore use of voucher system to 

meet client needs and modify the 

attitudes of providers of services 

for this system to gain acceptance. 

Sort out categorical funding for 

direct services. 

People want better methods of 

publicizing services and funding; 

they want a system of sharing 

solutions to problems; and they 

want to know how to improve 

public attitudes toward persons 

who are retarded and disabled. 

Forum recommendations on 

dissemination of information 

included: 

Localize information centers to 

aid local acceptance and 

awareness. 

Find better methods of publicizing 

funding available for direct 

services. 

Develop a clearinghouse for 

obtaining and disseminating new 

ideas and methods on a national 

and international basis. 

Compile a glossary of key terms 

and definitions to effect better 

communications within the 

developmental disabilities field. 

Set up a system of sharing 

solutions, so that successful 

programs can be duplicated. 

Investigate the use of satellites to 

disseminate information. 

Design public awareness material 

for specific target groups. 

Although there is a need for more 

exact information on clients, be 

aware of the danger of 

computerized data banks, and of 

how technology can depersonalize 

and threaten client confidentiality. 

Involvement of mentally 

retarded persons and their parents 

also came in for a large share of 

recommendations by the forum 

participants. 

Included in the forums' recommendations on "consumers" 

were: 

Include mentally retarded people 

as much as possible in decision 

making that affects their lives. 

Encourage conferences sponsored 

by retarded persons for 

themselves. 

De-emphasize labels traditionally 

given to children who are retarded. 

Treat each person as an individual. 

For more effective training, 

involve the University Affiliated 

Facilities more directly with the 

community, especially with 

parents and consumers. 

Include input from parents when 

Federal and State bureaucracies 

design programs, so that there will 

be a more humane approach to 

services. 

In defining educational needs, 

there was emphasis on early 

childhood, and changing concepts 

of when the responsibility

36 
"When we ask whether or not 

the delivery system is 

accredited, the ultimate 

criterion really is: What has 

happened to the people who are 

being served?" 

Dr. Henry Cobb 

PCMR Member 

At Denver Forum 

37 
"In the Asian community there is 

a strong cultural stigma against 

abnormalities. Rather than 

seeking help, the families would 

rather hide in a closet—just as 

they did here in America 50 

years ago." 

Reiko Homma True 

Consultant to Asian Community 

MH Service 

Alameda County, California 

At San Francisco Forum 

"A recurring concern that really 

touches on all of the major areas 

discussed here was the plea for 

additional help for parents of 

disabled persons. We are in 

tremendous need for very 

specialized counseling and 

training services for parents. We 

must begin to recognize the 

parents' individual needs, and 

we must begin to deal with the 

family as a family and not as a 

series of individuals." 

Thomas Scheinost 

Director, Div. 

MH/MR 

South Dakota 

At Denver Forum 

"The existing standard tests of 

intelligence are biased against 

black children." 

Dr. Harold Dent 

S.F. Bay Area Assn. of Black 

Psychologists 

At San Francisco Forum 

Representing Indian interests at the Denver 

Forum are (1 to r) Mrs. Gayla Twiss, Pine 

Ridge, S.D., and Mrs. Claudette Janis, Rosebud, 

S.D. 

to educate children begins. Equal 

educational opportunity for all 

children was also high on the list 

of priorities. 

Among the education

recommendations of the forums 

were: 

Introduce legislation to extend the 

responsibility of educational 

systems to infants. 

Expand successful early 

childhood stimulation programs. 

Determine what techniques in 

education are working well. 

Provide adequate resources to 

implement "right to education" 

court decisions. 

Education must be as available to 

mentally retarded and developmentally disabled individuals at 

all age levels as it is to others. 

Forum participants focused on 

better training of both professionals and paraprofessionals as one 

of the solutions to the manpower 

problem. 

Among the forums' recommendations on manpower

were: 

Study specific manpower needs 

so that effective skills and 

competencies can be taught. 

Retrain professionals who are not 

current with modern developmental disabilities treatment 

techniques. 

Sensitize paraprofessionals and 

physicians particularly to the 

problems in the developmental 

disabilities area. 

Train county Public Health nurses 

and county Extension Service 

agents (under Dept. of 

Agriculture) to provide early 

screening, diagnosis and 

evaluation, especially in rural 

areas. 

38 
There was interest in 

providing better and increased 

prevention measures of a wide 

variety. 

Included among the forum 

recommendations for 

prevention were: 

Develop and implement more 

early screening, identification, 

diagnostic and evaluation clinics 

and resources for early 

intervention, particularly in rural 

areas which lack facilities and 

transportation. 

Encourage education for 

parenthood. Develop courses in 

child development for junior and 

senior high school students, 

including experience in community child-care centers. 

Include courses in handicapping 

conditions. 

Teach students the importance of 

good nutrition, and pre- and 

post-natal care, plus knowledge 

of community service systems. 

Educate mothers to nutritional 

needs, especially in densely 

populated, poverty areas, where 

the incidence of mental 

retardation is high. 

Use the Public Health model, 

oriented to prevention, in the 

delivery of services. 

Make available more pre-parent 

counseling, parent counseling 

and genetic counseling. 

The following additional 

recommendations were offered 

by the forums' members: 

Look to the private sector as well 

as to government for vital, 

innovative contributions to the 

field of mental retardation. 

Adopt model programs of citizen 

advocacy more widely. 

Encourage a continuum of 

comprehensive programs of 

basic research, research and 

demonstration, and program 

evaluation research. 

Coordinate programs of the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs and the

Indian Health Service; and settle 

the question of Federal vs. State 

vs. local jurisdictions on Indian 

reservations. 

As 1974 came to a close, the 

bulk of the massive research on 

the material for the projected 

major report to the President and 

to the nation, Century of 

Decision, had been completed. 

The report will be a blueprint for 

progress in the mental 

retardation field. 

As long as babies continue to 

be born handicapped by mental 

retardation, as long as those with 

such a handicap are disabled, as 

long as people who are retarded 

are dehumanized, ignored, 

discriminated against, the 

President's Committee on 

Mental Retardation will have a 

mandate for action. 

Dr. John Meier 

"Jurisdictional problems are 

tremendous. We have to deal 

with the Federal Government's 

Bureau of Indian Affairs and 

Public Health Service/Indian 

Health Service; State, regional, 

county, local and tribal 

jurisdictions. Health services are 

very much geared to acute illness. 

We are very poor in prevention. 

There is an urgent need for 

transportation. Our strength is in 

the parents, and they want to get 

involved, but they are 

handicapped by vast distances 

and lack of transportation." 

Miss Sophie Thompson 

PHS/Indian Health Service 

Navajo Nation, Arizona 

At San Francisco Forum 

"An increasing number of young 

girls are bearing children. 

They're not ready 

physiologically, economically, 

psychologically or emotionally. 

It takes a great deal to be ready 

for this most important task of 

life." 

"We insist that a person have a 

license to drive a car, to run a 

daycare center, to operate a 

restaurant or hotel, to fish or 

hunt—and have no provision for 

basic competence in parenthood. 

Minimum occurrence of 

disability might be minimized 

even further if there were some 

way of controlling or improving 

the competence of mothers and 

fathers." 

Dr. John Meier 

Director, John F. Kennedy 

Child Development Center 

U. of Colorado, Denver 

At San Francisco Forum

39 
"People in the medical profession, 

and even those in psychology and 

social work are very well versed 

on diagnosis and causation, but 

are limited in their knowledge of 

how children learn. Diagnosis is 

excellent; prescription very low." 

Dr. Dan Payne 

Asst. Commissioner 

Program Development and Eval. 

Virginia Dept. of MH/MR 

At Philadelphia Forum 

"Perhaps regionalization is 

working too well; there is little 

consistency in delivery of services 

in child development centers. It 

depends upon the professional 

orientation of the program 

directors." 

Steven Anderson 

Administrative Assistant 

Idaho State School and Hospital 

At San Francisco Forum 

"It's been approximately five 

years since I stood before a group 

talking about mental retardation. 

When I left for Africa five years 

ago I had the feeling that the 

retarded person was being 

fragmented. Now I sense that 

whole groups are talking about 

whole people. We are putting the 

retarded person back together 

again. Together, we can do the 

job. But alone, it will be the 

fragmented person as it started out 

to be." 

George Jones 

Ex-PCMR Member 

At Denver Forum 

40
THE PRESIDENT'S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION 1974 

Ex-Officio Members: 

The Attorney General of the United 

States 

The Secretary of Labor 

The Secretary of Housing and Urban 

Development 

The Director, Office of Economic Opportunity 

The Director, ACTION

Hon. Caspar W. Weinberger 

Washington, D.C. 

Chairman, PCMR; Secretary, 

U.S. Dept. of Health, 

Education, and Welfare. 

Vice Chairman, PCMR 

Previous Experience: Executive 

Director, Michigan Consumers 

Council; State Senator: teacher, 

counselor, Michigan Public 

Schools. 

M.S. Clinical Psychology, 

Univ. of Michigan

Mrs. Marianna Beach 

Hays, Kans. 

Board of Directors: Kans. Assn. 

for Mental Health, Hays Day 

Care Center for Exceptional 

Children, Homer B. Reed 

Adjustment and Training 

Center; Ex-Officio Member: 

Advisory Council on Special 

Education, Kansas State Board 

of Education. 

B. S., Industrial Journalism, 

Kansas State. Univ. 

Dr. Henry VanZandt Cobb 

Chapel Hill, N.C. 

Editor: PCMR's major report 

Previous Experience: Vice 

President, Acting Dean of 

Graduate School, Professor, 

Univ. S.D.; President, International League of Societies 

for the Mentally Handicapped; 

President, NARC; Visiting 

Professor, Psychology and 

Education, Teachers College, 

Columbia Univ. 

Ph.D., Philosophy, Yale Univ. 

Robert A. Collier 

Alexandria, Va. 

Senior Partner, Collier, Shannon, 

Rill and Edwards, Washington, 

D.C. law firm; Chairman of the 

Board, Macmillan Ring-Free 

Oil Co., Inc. 

Previous Experience: Legal 

counsel, U.S. Senate and House 

Committees. 

LL.B, Univ. of Texas 

Frank R. DeLuca ‡ 

Charleroi, Penna. 

Business Manager, Plummers 

and Pipefitters Local 354, 

Latrobe, Pa. 

Previous Experience: President, 

Pa. State Building and 

Construction Trades Council; 

Board of Directors, 

Monongahela Valley Industrial 

Development Commission: 

Chairman, March of Dimes, 

Washington County, Pa. 

41 
Richard J. Elkus 

Woodside, Calif. 

Chairman of the Board, Ampex 

Corp., Redwood City, Calif.; 

Board of Directors, Mercantile 

Credit Co., London, England. 

Previous Experience: Chairman of 

the Board, U. S. Leasing Corp., 

San Francisco; Board of Directors: 

Mental Health Research Institute 

and Children's Health Council, San 

Francisco. 

Ralph J. Ferrara 

Kinnelon, N.J. 

Director, College Development, 

Montclair State College, Upper 

Monclair, N.J. 

Previous Experience: Special Assistant to the Chancellor, N.J. Dept. of 

Higher Education; Director of 

Alumni Affairs, Fairleigh Dickinson 

Univ.; Board of Directors, American 

Institute of Mental Studies, Vineland, 

N.J.; special education teacher, Hoboken Public Schools. 

M.A., Special Education, New 

Jersey State College; Maxwell 

House Graduate Fellow. 

Michael R. Gardner 

Washington, D.C. 

Deputy Assistant Administrator for 

Energy Resource Development, 

FEA; 3rd year student, 

Georgetown Law Center. 

Previous Experience: Michael R. 

Gardner & Assoc., Public 

Relations; Special Assistant to John 

B. Connally; Public Affairs, Office 

of Economic Opportunity. 

B.A. Political History, Georgetown 

Univ. 

Melvin D. Heckt 

Minneapolis, Minn. 

Vice President, Richards, 

Montgomery, Cobb and Bassford, 

Minneapolis law firm; Member, 

Board of Directors and Regional 

Vice President, NARC. 

Previous Experience: President, 

Minnesota and Minneapolis ARC. 

J.D. Univ. of Iowa. 

Dr. Cecil B. Jacobson † 

McLean, Va. 

Director, Reproductive Genetics 

Unit, The George Washington 

Univ. Medical Center. 

Previous Experience: Macy 

Foundation Faculty Fellow in 

Obstetrics, The George 

Washington Univ. 

M.D., The George Washington 

Univ.

James N. Juliana † 

Rockville, Md. 

President James N. Juliana 

Associates, Inc., Washington, 

D.C., management and public 

affairs consultant firm. 

Previous experience: Special 

Agent, FBI; Chief Counsel and 

Minority Counsel, Senate 

Permanent Subcommittee on 

Investigations; Executive Director, 

Civil Aeronautics Board. 

B.S., Washington College, 

Chestertown, Md. 

Lawrence A. Kane, Jr. 

Cincinnati, Ohio 

Partner, Dinsmore, Shohl, Coates 

and Deupree, Cincinnati law firm; 

Member of the Board, National 

Center for Law and the 

Handicapped, Notre Dame, Ind.: 

President and Chairman of the 

Board, Resident Home for the 

Mentally Retarded of Hamilton 

County, Ohio. 

Previous Experience: Cochairman, American Bar Assn., 

Subsection Mental Retardation, 

Law and Ethics. 

J.D.. Notre Dame Law School. 

Arts A. (Bob) MaIlas ‡ 

Austin, Texas 

President, Management Services 

Associates, Inc., and an officer 

and Director of 14 other 

companies. 

Previous Experience: Member, 

National Advisory Board, NARC; 

Member of Board of Trustees, 

Commission on Accreditation of 

Rehabilitation Facilities: Director, 

Goodwill Industries, Austin: 

Founder, Austin Community 

Council; Director, major research 

studies of government programs. 

M.P.A., Wayne University, 

Detroit; Volker Fellow; Advanced 

studies, Univ. of Heidelberg, 

Germany.

42 
Hon. Thomas J. Meskill * 

Hartford, Conn. 

Judge of the U. S. Court of Appeals 

Previous Experience: Governor, 

State of Connecticut: U. S. 

Congressman; President, New 

Britain Council of Social Agencies. 

LL.B., Univ. of Connecticut. 

* Resigned after Judicial 

appointment 

Lloyd E. Rader 

Oklahoma City, Okla. 

Director, Oklahoma Dept. of 

Institutions, Social and 

Rehabilitative Services; Executive 

Council, State Welfare Directors 

and Administrators. 

LL.B., Oklahoma City Univ. 

Mrs. Louise R. Ravenel 

Charleston, S.C. 

Secretary, S.C. Developmental 

Disabilities Council, Chairman of 

Priorities Committee, and 

Chairman of Special 

Subcommittee on Retarded 

Offender; Member, S.C. 

Governor's Committee on Mental 

Health and Mental Retardation; 

Member, NARC Legal Advocacy 

Committee; Member, Advisory 

Committee of Southeastern 

Management Training Project, 

Univ. Alabama; Chairman, S.C. 

Interagency Task Force for the 

Retarded Offender. 

Previous Experience: Member, 

NARC Governmental Affairs 

Committee. 

College of Charleston, S.C. 

William B. Robertson 

Washington, D.C. 

Director, Consumer Affairs Office, 

District of Columbia. 

Previous Experience: Special 

Assistant to Governor of Virginia, 

Linwood Holton, for Minority and 

Consumer Affairs; Assistant 

Director for Programs, Extension 

Div., Va. Polytechnic Institute and 

State U., Blacksburg, Va.; teacher, 

principal, supervisor, Roanoke 

Public Schools. 

MS., Administration, Radford College. 

Kenneth S. Robinson ‡ 

Nashville, Tenn. 

Student, Harvard Univ., Biology 

Previous Experience: President, 

Youth-NARC. 

Dr. Will Beth Stephens † 

Dallas, Texas 

Professor and Program Chairman 

of Special Education, Univ. of 

Texas at Dallas. 

Previous Experience: Professor of 

Special Education, Temple Univ., 

Philadelphia; Professor, Univ. of 

Illinois and Univ. of Texas. 

Ph.D., Educational Psychology, 

Univ. of Texas; Post-doctoral study, 

Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland. 

Margaret B. Ulle † 

Baltimore, Md. 

Member, Maryland Advisory 

Council on Developmental 

Disabilities. 

Previous Experience: Chairman, 

Governmental Affairs Committee, 

NARC; President, Maryland ARC; 

Vice President, NARC Northeast 

Region; Member, President's Task 

Force on the Mentally 

Handicapped. 

A.B., Randolph-Macon Woman's College. 

Dr. Miriam G. Wilson 

Los Angeles, Calif. 

Chief, Genetics Div., Los Angeles 

County-Univ. of Southern 

California Medical Center; 

Professor of Pediatrics, U.S.C. 

School of Medicine; Director, 

Human Cytogenetics Laboratory 

for Training and Research, L.A. 

County-U.S.C. Medical Center; 

Member, State Areawide Developmental Disabilities Program Board 

#10. 

M.D.. Univ. of California, San 

Francisco. 

† Reappointed for three-year term 

‡Term expired Oct. 23, 1974 43
Appointed October 23, 1974 

Dr. Geraldine M. Clark 

Bountiful, Utah 

Director, Office of Child Development, State of Utah. 

Previous Experience: Specialist, 

Programs for the Mentally Retarded, 

Utah State Board of Education; Assistant Coordinator, Interagency 

Coordinating Council for Mental 

Retardation, State of Utah; Chief 

Audiologist, Salt Lake City Schools. 

Ph.D., Educational Psychology, 

Brigham Young Univ. 

Dr. Bill J. Doggett 

Clinton, S.C. 

Superintendent, Whitten Village, 

Clinton, S.C. 

Previous Experience: Deputy 

Commissioner for Mental 

Retardation Services, Texas Dept. 

of Mental Health and Mental 

Retardation; Superintendent: 

Brownwood State Home and 

School for Girls; Statewide 

Reception Center for Girls; Austin 

State School, Travis State School. 

M.Ed., Educational 

Administration, Univ. of Texas; 

Honorary Doctor of Humanities, 

Howard Payne College, 

Brownwood, Tex. 

Dr. Philip U. Martinez 

Albuquerque, N.M. 

Neuro-surgeon 

Previous Experience: 

Neurological surgery, Veterans 

Admin. Hospital, Long Beach, 

Calif.; General surgery, Albert 

Einstein Medical Center, Southern 

Division, Philadelphia, Pa. 

M.D., Univ. of Colorado. 

PCMR STAFF (At publication date)

Office of the Director 

Fred J. Krause 

Executive Director 

Stanley J. Phillips 

Special Assistant 

Gwendolyn R. Coleman 

Program Office 

Allen R. Menefee 

Assistant Director, Program 

Alfred D. Buchmueller 

Bertha F. Kaminker 

Jack McAllister 

Miles Santamour 

Mary Frances Smith 

William H. Wilsnack 

Jacqueline L. Mordecai 

Ruth H. Seymann 

Pierrette Spiegler 

Information Office 

Raymond W. Nathan 

Assistant Director, Communications 

Martin Bouhan 

Mary Z. Gray 

Nancy O. Borders 

Beverly M. Keith 

Mattie A. Smith 

Management Office 

Fay L. Whitcup 

Larry Lane 

Consultants—1974 

Harold S. Barbour, Ed.D. 

Leo F. Cain, Ph.D. 

Julius S. Cohen, Ed.D. 

Louis Z. Cooper, M.D. 

Ross H. Copeland 

Patrick J. Doyle, M.D. 

Maurice Flagg 

Erwin Friedman, Ph.D. 

Dennis E. Haggerty, LL.B. 

Edward L. Johnstone 

Arthur J. Nowak, D.M.D. 

Paul A. Rittmanic, Ph.D. 

George Tarjan, M.D. 

John D. Thompson, M.D. 

Thomas A Tucker

44 
PRESIDENT’S COMMITTEE ON MENTAL RETARDATION 

Washington, D.C. 20201 

OFFICIAL BUSINESS 

POSTAGE AND FEES PAID 

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEW 

391