Brief in-patient family intervention in mental retardation

A novel programme of intervention - brief inpatient family intervention - was formulated to impart the training skills to the parents of mentally retarded children to optimise the development of their retarded child. During the period of this study. 106 mentally retarded children with different socio-demographic backgrounds and degrees of handicap participated in this programme, with encouraging results. The individualised management plan, spread over 2 weeks of inpatient stay, included intensive counselling, training of the parents in techniques of multisensory stimulation, speech, motor, and self-help skills training, behaviour modification and medical management, as required. The programme could serve as a suitable model for professionals working with the mentally retarded, to implement with limited resources.