This volume is very much a mental retardation work in the developmental psychopathology line. It endeavors to explain the developmental approach and expand it beyond more conventional notions of sequences and stages in understanding mental retardation.

Preface; 1. The developmental perspective in the field of mental retardation Robert M. Hodapp, Jacob A. Burack and Edward Zigler; 2. Differentiating mental retardation: the two-group approach and beyond Jacob A. Burack; 3. One road or many? Issues in the similar sequence hypothesis Robert M. Hodapp; 4. The similar-structure hypothesis and differential rate of development in mental retardation Peter Munday and Connie Kasari; 5. Neo-environmental perspectives on developmental theory Arnold Sameroff; 6. The role of motivational factors in the functioning of mentally retarded individuals Joseph Merighi, Mark Edison and Edward Zigler; 7. Cultural-familial mental retardation: a developmental perspective on cognitive performance and 'helpless' behavior John R. Weisz; 8. The organization and coherence of developmental processes in infants and children with Down syndrome Dante Cicchetti and Jody Ganiban; 9. Developmental issues in fragile X syndrome Elisabeth Dykens and James Leckman; 10. Deviance and developmental approaches in the study of autism Fred R. Volkmar, Jacob A. Burack and Donald J. Cohen; 11. The issues of multiple pathways in the development of handicapped children Claire B. Kopp and Susan L. Recchia; 12. Summing up and going forward: new directions in the developmental approach to mental retardation Robert M. Hodapp, Jacob A. Burack and Edward Zigler.