Work with people who have mental disabilities has been undergoing greater change in recent years than practically any other field in remedial and special needs teaching. As the ability of people with mental disability to learn and develop was recognized, a competence and strengths approach was adopted in the theories and concepts underlying support work for them, and this was supplemented by taking into account the views of those affected and a commitment to strengthen their legal rights. This pocket dictionary provides solid scientific guidance in the face of the rapid developments and upheavals in assistance for the mentally disabled that have taken place in recent years. It includes all of the major key concepts that are important from both the practical and theoretical viewpoints. At the same time, the pocket dictionary tries to indicate the interdisciplinary nature of this specialist field of work by including terms that come not only from the field of remedial and special needs teaching, but also from psychiatry/medicine, psychology, sociology, social policy and social work.

Prof. Georg Theunissen holds the Chair of Education for the Mentally Disabled and Autism at the University of Halle-Wittenberg. Dr. Wolfram Kulig is a research assistant there. Kerstin Schirbort, who hold a teaching diploma, is Educational Director of a residential area for people with learning difficulties and complex disabilities.