Educability revisited: curricular implications for the mentally retarded

The greater accommodation of mild and moderately retarded children into regular school settings requires changes in general and special education alike. This article discusses the deficiencies of typical curricular approaches to the education of the retarded and proposes instruction more clearly focused on fundamental cognitive abilities and related learning strategies. The authors suggest the cumulative effect of intensive instruction in learning skills, as opposed to the causal, isolated, or sporadic development of any specific ability. The limits of any curricular method are acknowledged and the study of the ecology of special education is proposed.