Preparation and work with people with profound mental handicap, behaviour problems and mental illness

Abstract

Profound mental handicap is associated with low scores on intelligence tests (e.g. IQ score below 19), little, if any, intelligible speech, often in association with sensory, skeletal and physical abnormalities — some 40% of people with profound mental handicaps are either bedridden or semi-ambulatory (Cleland, 1979). There is also a shorter than average life expectancy, largely due to associated physical complications, and a higher rate of institutionalization at an early age than less handicapped people. Various physical problems noted in the literature include spasticity and epilepsy, gynaecological and dental problems, and fecal and urinary incontinence (Cleland, 1979; Heaton-Ward and Willey, 1984).