AN INTEGRATIVE CONCEPT TO COPE WITH DEVEL OPMENTAL RETARDATIONS OF 5-YEAR-OLD TO 8-YEAR-OLD CHILDREN

The assessment of developmental retardation, of learning disabilities and their remediation are essential issues of psychosocial care. Depen ding on an Institution's destination, however, interpretation of such problems as well as their therapy may differ considerably. This is due to the diverse standards and specializations of the experts professio nal training and experience, their individual meanings and institution al perspectives. In the first part a review of articles published in t he last twenty years sums up the diagnostical and therapeutical concep ts in the care for children with developmental retardation. The concep ts are evaluated in terms of their practical relevance. In the second part the integrative concept of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Gottingen University is presented. A report of an evalu ation study is added. The complexity of the subject is enhanced and th e need not to look separately at the individual deficits but to consid er the total intra- and interindividual relations.