Beyond diagnosis: issues in recurrent counseling of parents of the mentally retarded

Most of the social work literature on counseling parents of the mentally retarded deals with the initial work around the diagnosis. This paper discusses the nature of problems for which parent counseling may be indicated subsequent to the period of diagnosis. Problem areas fall into four categories: Parent Expectations, Value Dilemmas, Life Transitions and Environmental Transactions. Practice issues are defined and discussed as these relate to the dual world realities faced by the parents, the slowness in learning and developmental progress of the retardate, the uncertainties inherent in the situation, and the pitfalls present in recurrent helping with inevitable crisis as these occur during the lifetime of the parents.