What Are Mental Retardation Services?

Mental retardation services are services meant to help people who have mental retardation live, work, and enjoy themselves. Some services are designed solely to help people acquire and train for jobs. Other services help people live alone or with people who share similar handicaps. In addition, some schools offer services to students who have severe disabilities that affect their learning rates. Basically, mental retardation services are put in place to offer support and services, and sometimes such services are government-funded community services.

One kind of service frequently offered to the mentally ill is employment services. The people who operate such services look for the appropriate jobs for the mentally challenged and help train them for work. These workers might remain in contact with both the workplace and their clients to act as a go-between if problems arise. In addition to helping the mentally ill support themselves, being employed is a way to gain self-esteem and make valuable relationships with coworkers. Employment can also be a way of developing mentally.

Retardation services are sometimes designed to help people with everyday activities, like cooking and developing hobbies. Staff work with clients to help them realize their dreams and how to go about tasks in a safe manner. For example, if a client develops an interest in cooking, the service may provide supervision or advice on how to cook while remaining safe. Some clients may require supervision 24/7, and certain mental retardation services can provide this.

Services provided by schools vary widely, but some schools are designed to or are capable of providing for mentally challenged students. They are usually capable of making exceptions that other schools cannot. A drawback of schools that mix students of all intelligent levels, however, is that the mentally retarded students may be labeled slow or stupid by other students. Due to this, some parents try to put their special needs children in schools specifically designed for them.

These services are frequently funded by local or federal governments. People who have mental handicaps are often considered disabled by their country and therefore certain services are made available to them without charge. Still, some mental retardation services are offered by private companies, usually labeled non-profit. These services are essential to maintaining a good-quality of life to people who cannot operate in society without some assistance. Without such services, some special needs people may end up homeless or being taken advantage of by others.