Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Part I. Issues in the Developmental Approach to Mental Retardation: 1. Developmental approaches to mental retardation Robert M. Hodapp, Jacob A. Burack, and Edward Zigler; 2. The organization and the environment: implications for understanding mental retardation Frances Degan Horowitz and Calliope Haritos; 3. Genetic perspectives on mental retardation Emily Simonoff, Patrick Bolton and Michael Rutter; 4. Towards a neuropsychology of mental retardation Bruce F. Pennington and Loisa Bennetto; 5. Resolving the developmental-difference debate: an evaluation of the triarchic and systems theory models Dianne Bennett-Gates and Edward Zigler; Part II.Cognitive and Linguistic Development: 6. Sensorimotor development and developmental disabilities Carl J. Dunst; 7. Early communication skill acquisition and developmental disorders Peter Mundy and Stephen Sheinkopf; 8. Early language development in children with mental retardation Helen Tager-Flusberg and Kate Sullivan; 9. Emergence of symbolic play: perspectives from typical and atypical development Marjorie Beeghly; 10. Language in mental retardation: associations with and dissociations from general cognition Ann E. Fowler; 11. Modularity in developmental cognitive neuropsychology: evidence from autism and Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome Simon Baron-Cohen; 12. Understanding the development of attention in persons with mental retardation: challenging the myths Grace Iarocci and Jacob A. Burack; 13. The development of strategy use and metacognitive processing in mental retardation: some sources of difficulty James M. Bebko and Helen Luhaorg; Part III. Social and Emotional Development: 14. Social and emotional development in children with mental retardation Connie Kasari and Nirit Bauminger; 15. Outerdirections in individuals with and without mental retardation: a review Jane Bybee and Edward Zigler; 16. Development of the self-concept in children with mental retardation: organismic and contextual factors David W. Evans; 17. Adaptation through the life span Andrea G. Zetlin and Gale M. Morrison; 18. Life course perspectives in mental retardation research: the case of family caregiving Marty Wyngaarden Krauss and Marsha Mailick Seltzer; 19. Development of adaptive behavior in persons with mental retardation Katherine A. Loveland and Belgin Tunali-Kotoski; 20. Maladaptive behavior and dual diagnosis in persons with genetic syndromes Elisabeth M. Dykens; 21. A developmental approach to psychopathology in people with mild mental retardation Marion Glick; Part IV. Environmental Issues: 22. The environment of the child with mental retardation: risk, vulnerabilty and resilience Charles W. Greenbaum and Judith G. Auerbach; 23. Maternal reactions to children with mental retardation Johanna Shapiro, Jan Blacher and Steven R. Lopez; 24. Mother-child interactions and the development of children with mental retardation Kofi Marfo, Cynthia F. Dedrick and Nancy Barbour; 25. Research on siblings of children with mental retardation: contributions of developmental theory and etiology Zolinda Stoneman; 26. Mental retardation: The impact upon the family Patricia Minnes.