Reconsidering the construct of mental retardation: implications of a model of social competence

A historical overview of efforts to integrate social competence into a definition of mental retardation was provided. The existing AAMR definition was criticized for its incorporation of a muddled construct of adaptive behavior, which over-emphasizes psychopathology and underemphasizes social intelligence. A model of general competence was presented, and mental retardation was reconceptualized as a condition characterized by deficits in social, practical, and conceptual intelligence. Although such a conceptualization would be an improvement on the current definition, we argued that a definition of mental retardation based on social competence outcomes (i.e., need for support in playing critical social roles) would be preferable to a definition that is still tied too closely to psychometric criteria.