Admission patterns, functions, and problems of a large urban screening clinic for the mentally retarded

“All too frequently these people are sent from agency to agency, given either third-rate service or none at all, and rejected so repeatedly that they dare not ask any more.” This quotation suggests that readers who have no particular interest in New York Statistics should not miss Part III, particularly the section entitled “Need for Energetic Advocacy.” In earlier sections the authors describe a clinic in which mentally retarded persons are screened to determine need for admission to state residential schools serving New York City. Other functions of the staff are described—e.g., the searching out and evaluation of community facilities where retardates and their families could go for help.