CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE 1992 AAMR DEFINITION - IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL-PSYCHOLOGY

The 1992 definition of mental retardation recently written by the Amer ican Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) represents a radical dep arture from definitions of Heber (1961) and Grossman (1983). Levels of mental retardation (mild, moderate, severe, and profound) have been e liminated and replaced with intensities of needed supports to facilita te an individual's functioning across environments (intermittent, limi ted, extensive, and pervasive). The 1992 definition establishes an upp er IQ cutoff of 75 and requires that two of 10 specified adaptive skil l areas be ''limited'' to establish a diagnosis of mental retardation. The current article critically analyzes this new definition and discu sses several challenges it presents to school psychologists in assessi ng and classifying intelligence, adaptive behavior, and intensities of needed supports. Potential for renewed overrepresentation cases is di scussed in the context of the 1992 AAMR definition.