Introduction

Psychological research on children with mental and physical handicaps began two hundred years ago. Its major development awaited the maturation of psychology as an empirical science and of social movements for child welfare and education. This book is a record of the research accomplished in the 1980s. While at the end of the 19th century, behavioral research on handicapped children could at best be characterized as pioneering; by the beginning of the 1990s, it had become a vigorous activity with scientists producing hundreds of articles a year. The result has been a level of detail in theory and factual support that was not previously available.

This volume is written for those who know something about psychology and education, but who are unfamiliar with research on children with handicaps. This might include parents of children with handicaps, upper-level undergraduate and graduate students looking for research topics, and professionals in developmental psychology and the education of normal children who wish to familiarize themselves with the recent developments in the study of deviations in behavioral development.