Environmental postmodernism and rehabilitation of the borderline of mentalretardation

The subculture of developmental disabilities services has embraced ideologi cal perspectives from academia in general and from other service sectors, i ncluding, in recent years, the educational sector. Prevalent ideological an d philosophical perspectives with growing influence within the professional literature and to a lesser degree, the practitioner community, include pos tmodernist and constructionist doctrine. These perspectives influence the d epiction of utility of a wide variety of clinical and programmatic activiti es that typify services and, generally, impact upon decision making by poli cy makers, administrators. and possibly, to an important degree. by manager s who influence events at the point of clinical and service contact. This a rticle discusses the nature and character of these influences and the issue s facing the field, centering on the act of classifying a person with mild mental retardation, as well as uncertainties regarding both the process and consequences of classification. Recommendations are made for an expanded b ut modified role for adaptive behavior assessment in this process. Copyrigh t (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.