Autism and mental retardation: the planning of a therapeutic environment

Autism and mental retardation are concepts of a different level. The combination of these concepts in the mentally retarded autistic child requires a specific therapeutic environment. This therapeutic environment must take full account of both the child's limited cognitive potentials and the specific needs and limitations on the basis of autism. Such an integrated approach of the mentally retarded autistic child becomes possible when all the symptoms and behaviours of the children are organized in one coherent frame of reference organized according to the main axes of child development (biological, physical, cognitive and socio-emotional). The consequences of these partly dissimilar, divergent needs and limitations of mentally retarded autistic children for the planning of a therapeutic environment are discussed. Special attention is paid to the combined effect of mental retardation and autism on the cognitive development axes.