Father J. F. Scherer

Coordination is the process of bringing all necessary resources to bear in the appropriate sequence to accomplish a specific goal. Participants in an endeavor as complex and as diversified as the prevention and treatment of mental retardation must use means of communicating their objects and activities. This must be explicitly provided for - it takes initiative and energy for its accomplishment. If combination is effective, the groundwork for coordination has been founded. If cooperation is to be worthwhile, the participants must have some needs and objectives in common. Through effective cooperation the participants accomplish much more for their pooled energies than if each spends his energy alone.

In the past few years, parents in many parts of the country have organized in an effort to bring about better facilities for training and caring for retarded children. So large a group of vitally interested men and women cannot fail to bring national and international attention to this program. Although the earliest organized group of parents was started in the 1930s the movement did not really get going until after the war. By 1950, there were schools for retarded children. In October 1950, representatives from thirteen states met in Minneapolis to set up the National Association for Retarded Children, a nonprofit, non-sectarian federation of local and state associations. The purpose of this organization is “to promote the general welfare of mentally retarded children at home, in the community, in institutions, and in private, public, and religious schools.” It seeks to increase facilities of all kinds in order to bring about improved services for mentally retarded. Nationally it seeks to further research, to advise and aid parents, to see that existing legislation is understood and utilized, and to serve as a clearinghouse for information on mentally retarded children. The national association has its headquarters at 386 Park Ave., South, New York, N.Y.

On the state level, we have the Atlanta Association for Retarded Children, Inc. This association has its headquarters at 833 Springdale Road, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia. Walter C. Earle, M.D., is the president of the Atlanta association. The Atlanta association has attempted to take advantage of the present, and somewhat extensive, federal legislation designed to benefit the mentally retarded. It was recently awarded a $3,000.00 U.S. public health grant for the purpose of conducting the student’s summer work program. The grant will pay the salaries for ten high school and college students for a week’s orientation program, six weeks as counselors at camp, and three weeks as counselors at the Bobby Dodd workshop. The association also has a $240,000.00 pending grant from the Department of Health, Education and Welfare for an Adult Activity Center.

Our Lady’s Association for Exceptional Children of the Archdiocese of Atlanta was founded in 1963, with sanction and wholehearted encouragement of Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan. The purpose of the association is “to promote a better understanding of the religious, social, and physical welfare of the exceptional child.” The only archdiocesan facility for the exceptional child was founded in 1957 under the name of Our Lady’s Day School. At present the school consists of three well-equipped classrooms staffed by Sister Mary Simeon, and her assistant Miss Lorraine Zak. Father Richard Kieran is spiritual advisor to the children. This year Our Lady’s Association in connection with the Archdiocesan Confraternity of Christian Doctrine will initiate a new program designed to fulfill the spiritual needs of our retarded children of the Archdiocese. Training courses for teachers will be started next fall as well as pilot classes in Immaculate Heart of Mary, St. Thomas More, and Our Lady of Assumption parishes. This is being undertaken through the supervision of Sister Ellen John, S.N.D., of St. Thomas More parish. Sister Robert Therese, G.N.S.H., of Immaculate Heart of Mary parish will conduct a C.C.D. program for exceptional children from June 13 through June 24. This course is open to all exceptional children in the archdiocese.

There are many other associations and institutions for the mentally retarded existing in the state of Georgia. This article affords us only space to mention a few. Worthy of note is the Gracewood Institution in Augusta, Georgia. Gracewood, operated under the Department of Public Health, offers to outpatients and residents, diagnostics and evaluation services. At present, the institution is understaffed and overcrowded; yet superior work is being done.

This article is predicated on a strong conviction that the mentally retarded person should be served with as little dislocation from his normal environment as is consistent with the special character of his needs. Those needs should be met as close to home as possible and in such a way as to maintain his relation with his family and his peers. (At present these needs are not being met.) Whether such possibilities are achieved in practice depends to a great extent on the effectiveness of communication and cooperation of leaders on all levels, federal, state, local and private agencies.