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This points up the need for having available for the mentally retarded adult, suitable counselling, guidance and therapeutic services. Opinions differ to what extent these services should be part of the vocational training center or sheltered workshop, or as to what extent services of appropriate community agencies should be utilized.

In the latter case there certainly would be need for particularly qualified workers attuned to the needs of the mentally retarded and capable of surmounting fairly extensive language difficulties.

For those who, due either to a too serious lack of ability or to other factors such as physical disability, cannot adjust in a work situation requiring continuous, regular productivity, a different program needs to be established. Such a program neither rules out nor requires a specific work performance, and should provide a maximum of flexibility in order to offer the mentally retarded a haven of security where he will not feel harassed by tasks he cannot tackle and where, nonetheless, there is a constant effort to stimulate him to try for higher achievements.

A still different program, open expressly for adults as well as children, was established two years ago in Delaware by legislative action, under the name "Day Care Centers." This service aims at including even the most severely retarded, and to a considerable extent is a program providing relief for the family of the retarded rather than specific training for the retardate himself.

There is now pending before the United States Congress a plan for amending the Vocational Rehabilitation Act with so-called "independent living" provisions, so as to make possible federal subsidy and guidance for rehabilitation programs which are not vocational in nature.

There is no doubt but that our main concern must be to keep these various services "fluid," so as to permit an easy shifting of an individual from program to program as possibly may be required.

Because our experience with the mentally retarded in work situations is still quite limited, it may be useful to underline a warning that comes to us from one of England's foremost experts in our field, Jack Tizard:

"There is, I believe, a danger that in their enthusiasm for training centers for older defectives of imbecile grade, some supervisors may overlook the physical and mental needs of their charges. Many adult imbeciles are undoubtedly capable of doing useful, paid work throughout a normal adult working week. On the other hand, like other young people, they benefit from taking part in recreations which exercise their bodies and their minds. Unless great care is taken to see that they are not overtaxed during working hours, and that their leisure time is profitably and enjoyably spent, the new freedom which the severely handicapped have won in the welfare state, could easily degenerate into a kind of economic slavery."

There will be little argument with Dr. Tizard's thesis, but there is disagreement as to whether it is more desirable to establish separate recreation facilities for the adult retarded altogether, or whether as much as possible their activities should be integrated into existing community recreation programs.

In some communities attempts are made to bring all activities for the mentally retarded under one roof -- vocational training, sheltered workshop, counselling service, recreation facilities, and so forth. Those who question this plan wonder whether this would not lead to an undesirable isolation of the retarded at a time when our efforts are directed toward community acceptance.

It is probably reasonable to assume that in no community can this be an either/or proposition, and that existing facilities have to be taken into consideration as much as the capacity of the retardate to face the more challenging situation of a general community service.

One other service should be mentioned here, if only because it is unexpected to those who have not kept pace with the rapid developments in this field: Several adult education departments in the public schools have begun to offer evening courses for mental retardates.

In connection with plans for leisure time activities of the retarded, I would like to call your attention to another problem area that brings puzzlement to many parents, the sex life of the young adult and adult retarded. Dr. Henry V. Cobb comments on this as follows:

"The whole problem of sexual experience, marriage and family responsibility for the retarded is of course fraught with controversy. We will only remark here that evidence is accumulating to suggest that this is not frequently a problem with the severely retarded. For those at higher levels of physical and social development, sexual frustration may constitute a real problem and requires a wise and sensible management. The frequency of sexual delinquency is probably not appreciably greater among this group than among the general population at large; it is only viewed with greater apprehension. Training and management may well foster control and sublimation, but we may also entertain the possibility of protected forms of marriage just as we do protected forms of employment."