The aim of this book is to provide parents, staff and others involved with mentally handicapped children and adults with up­ to-date basic information and advice in their management. Methods of care, treatment and management of a heterogeneous group of people such as the mentally handicapped must of necessity include many disciplines if they are to be given an adequate service. This book is an attempt to bring the knowledge and experience of many people together. The size of the book could have been increased to include more detail on other aspects of the subject but this might easily have diminished its value as a convenient reference to as wide a readership as possible, both professional and non-professional. The contents deal essentially with the needs of the severely mentally handicapped and should have an application in most parts of the world. Much of the information and advice on services, and on treatment and management, is based on the experience of specialists working in the United Kingdom, this now being standard practice in most parts of the world.