ABSTRACT
The world of education has been conducting a 'great debate' about the competence of children and the skills of teachers. But mentally handicapped children are still comparative strangers to the world of special education. Few would deny that the transfer of responsibility from health to education authorities in 1971 has been a marked success. The Warnock Report rightly emphasizes that progress in special education depends on teachers who are appropriately trained and equipped with a range of specialist qualifications. Teachers working with mentally handicapped children are faced every day with the task of helping each child to lay these foundations and to build on them. Other children who have made a start in learning their own language still experience difficulties in using language as a tool for communicating and for thinking and will benefit from attempts to help them to become more skilled in doing so.
