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Uh huh. He's got plastic. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, put it down now, please. And I would find Harry. All right, see, you have to help. You may remember your first custom made paper bag mask. Perhaps your mother made your 1st 1. And you may have gone through

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these motions with your own child. But the mask making in this classroom is only an excuse. The child behind the mask is learning what for him is a difficult lesson. The teacher is helping him identify his eyes, his nose and his mouth. He's handicapped is medically

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classified as cerebral hyperplasia, arrested development of the brain at birth. The physical signs were unmistakable. His mother knew her child would never grow up very. Our subject, the mentally retarded child, he belongs to anybody who lives in neighborhoods just like yours. His father is a doctor,

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a plumber, a mailman, Here's your neighbor's child, your ministers child, you child, This is Holly Smith, 13 years old. One of 84 Children at the Sequoia School for the mentally retarded in Hayward. She was only four hours old. I was very upset and I wondered why

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it had to happen to me. But I guess I accepted it. I didn't like it, but I accepted it. I accepted her for what she was This year. A 126,000 mothers faced mrs Smith's ordeal. Many of these mothers knew as soon as their babies were born,

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the Children would be mentally retarded. The retarded Children and other families were not identified for months after birth. Others will not be identified for years to come. The specific cause may never be known. It may have been a chemical disorder. Far back in the early cell

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division of the unborn child. A high fever associated with a childhood illness, whooping cough, measles, meningitis, perhaps an injury to the brain before from the high chair. The difficult birth depriving brain tissues of vital oxygen. Many causes can never be accounted for. What? Whatever the cause.

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One cannot understand mental retardation without considering its physical consequences. The mentally retarded are, in many respects, the physically handicapped or passed any playground, stop a minute in any public park. There'll always be a boy climbing on the jungle gym and it should be given to any

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boy to swing through blue air. What you've seen here is a rare achievement. These are retarded Children. Perhaps only one out of 10 can swing on a horizontal bar. These are the brave ones. Others who have learned to distrust their own bodies. We are waiting on

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the ground. Okay, okay. Over 10 billion nerve fibers carry the impulses from brain to muscle to reach for a ball or take a single step. Hundreds of thousands of impulses must make the right connections within a microsecond in these

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Children who can know where the cells went wrong. The child wills it, but the muscles cannot respond. No general rule fits the retarded child. Finding each child's capacity is a task demanding infinite patience. Hope and understanding What one may learn to do with encouragement and practice

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maybe forever beyond possibility for another. All right, one of the baby scribbles. The parents smiled. They see only the promise of development. When the 11 year old scribbles, the parents may see only failure, but the parents love this child as their own. They see themselves in

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her and they measure her effort by their own despair. It's the teacher who can best love the child for herself alone. And it's the teacher who will first see in the chaos of scribble the vague beginnings of pattern. The teacher asks each child draw a picture

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for me. Each week they draw a picture of themselves. Here is Milton. She loves Red Billy who was 12. Can manage a circle. If the teacher helps him, he can make these circles into a face mary can put the eyes and mouth in the proper place.

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Though she's 12, she can't speak carol. Age 11 tries to sign her self portrait. She cannot yet manage the first letter of her name, bobby's favorite color is black. He wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. He hasn't yet learned to run without losing

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his balance. The teacher asked the child. Tell us what you did last night for some of these Children. It's a rare chance to talk to have someone to listen for some. The articulation of a word is an insurmountable task. Only the trained ear can understand them

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crying, crying for other Children. The problem is not with a tongue but with a memory and that secret area of the brain which governs the logical progression of ideas. Where did you go yet to the doctors back home? Did you go to the doctor or did

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you go see your grandmother grandmother? She has a poodle, that Green one. And between it was their boo boos. And she said what? Oh last night and stay there that night. That's nice. Diane. Didn't you go see your grandmother yesterday? I went and what did you

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do there? And she said no. Oh all right. Mhm. Diane. Where did you go yesterday? There are the Children who cannot grasp numbers. Those who can't produce coherent speech. Yeah. And there are Children like these whose minds continually play tricks, reversing right and left. Getting the

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left arm into the left sleeve is a hard thing to do when your mind turns everything around in their daily struggles. These Children are like other handicapped people. They've developed one saving advantage. It is their instinctive recognition of another's needs. The best quality these Children have

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is complete love. Miss Ellie sours. 10 years a teacher of severely retarded Children. They're very sweet natured and they're so grateful for everything you do for them. Now I don't find these Children fighting. They'll even share their own toys much nicer then. Normal Children will share.

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Okay. Mr Yogi being there. Bye bye. No I don't know how I can help. Mhm. Remember when we made that and painted it, I bet at least can tell me what that is. How many of you knew that in the morning when we have conversation time

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And I'll say, well that was very nicely done. They'll all say that's good, jim, that's good. And they'll always let the next child to them. No, they're all proud of what they did. Now, that's a real contribution that they give one another who would like to

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from come up here and point out in the world of the limited child. There exists a quality of friendship. Any of us would cherish. There's no evidence of jealousy here. A selfish act is a rare occurrence. This is truly the innocent world. Okay. And we have

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to find out what's in this bag you have to reach in. I can't pee. Mhm. And you pull something out. Yeah, tell us what it is. I got that. Okay, Jimmy's ready. There's no peeking now. Jimmy. No peeking. What did you get That? Is the engine

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engine. Yes, that's the engine cute. Alright, let's see. And that peaking now, dries clothes some clothes, some tight. Close your eyes tight. What did you get? No, that's not an answer. Look again. What is that? A what? Jimmy. What is that? No, not a dog. What

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is It might be a bear. Yeah. Bear. Yeah. Okay, you ready? Eric don't peek. Don't be okay. And now yes, you did get some out the surprise bag is a lesson to. The teacher recognizes the special value of introducing something new and unexpected. Oh,

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I think having fun is a very important part of any warning experience. I knew that this would be something that would intrigue them. It would give them something to talk about. This is an experience that we were all able to share. That. They were able to

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talk about this to me and to each other to their teachers long, long after. I no longer have that little car. These youngsters remember the day that he came in the schoolyard. All right. Among five and one half million americans. Medically classified as mentally retarded. They've

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always been with us. But historically we've branded them with ugly names. We've taunted them. We've humiliated them. We've cast them into dungeons and left them to die. Or more recently perhaps we've tried to pretend they didn't exist In every community of 1000 people. 30 are mentally

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retarded. A good many of these will learn to speak. A few others will learn to read and write. The more severely retarded Children are the ones we never see. These are the Children kept behind doors or committed to overcrowded institutions. Only one in 10 is the

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chance to go to a school like Sequoia. These are the lucky ones too often the child kept at home is either overprotected or ignored. These demands are very special ones under any circumstances, he's a heavy burden if he's forced to live in a world he can't

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understand or keep up with. He may become hostile and destructive or he may withdraw completely apathetic and useless. This is blue. You want green. What about you? Susan Green. What about you? Jimmy at the Sequoia school? The world slows down a little. The one gift given

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a mentally retarded child, it's time time to relish those things. He can't understand. The Children you see here are in love with the world. They're doing something they've done many times before. Each time the experience is fresh and new. Get your paper covered a bright, beautiful

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smear of color on the white paper. The smell of paint and the feel of it wet and slippery between the fingers. Mhm. The teacher knows the Children must learn to understand this world in terms of their physical sensations. Hard is different from soft, wet from dry,

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hot from cold. It's a pleasant thing to watch the stream of pretty water and feel the coolness on your arm. The child who can learn to wash his own hands in time. Can learn to care for himself in other ways. That's it. Use your fingertips and

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rub heart, rub it in there. Take your fingertips and scrub your head a little bit hard. Yeah, grab it. It takes many lessons much practice to learn those things that normal teenagers do without any difficulty at all washing grooming, caring for clothes, accomplishing these routine tasks.

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Makes these Children useful to themselves. And to those they live with any child's daily life is enriched by the chance to do something for someone else. These girls who might have been useless even to themselves now have that chance here no less than in the normal

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world. There is dignity in doing something worthwhile. We worked on in the artists and we were working at home. So I would have father and they're helping me in the yard. Almost every home has a one to maintain as flower beds to care

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for weeks to parole. Most of the youngsters are adequate garden help right now for the parent, mm hmm, upside down. Just keep going one direction. That's all. You only go around them twice. You've gone around these about six times more. Cut it down, that's it. Almost

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feeling it, but not quite. And this makes the rosette put it up on the second room. You can help me on this. Yes, I will. It's a useful thing to any home to have a child who can set the table and help in the kitchen with

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preparing the day's meals. Many of these Children never before have cut with a paring knife. Never before held a vegetable peeler with patience and repeated practice. They have earned a place in the daily routine of their own homes with help. They will become as good at

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these tasks as anyone else, but they'll always need help. There should be no illusion about their ability to perform more complicated tasks. Yeah. 78. Can you make the stack have 10 plates in it? Get enough more places to make 10. Yes. Yes. How many more would

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you need? 12? How many more places do you need to make 10? I'd rather. Yeah, I think you have. How many in the sack? And you need? How many We want 10. How many more do we get? Mhm. 10 more. No, Let's count until we get

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to 10 and then stop there. You have how many in the stack now? 8, 8. And this would make nine. And how many more to make 10. Get enough plates to make 10. By every outward appearance. This girl is a normal 13 year old. But somewhere

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a patch of nerve cells has been obliterated surely. And permanently as if by a surgeon's scalpel. For Children like her, even the most ordinary household routine, I will never be automatic. The simple act of washing dishes is really a complex series of smaller tasks. Their achievement

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demands painstaking concentration, Holly Smith. Age 13, he's a retarded child, but in many ways she's happy and useful within the circle of her own family with the younger sister, margie and her twin brothers, tim and mike. She's accepted for what she is. Well, they react pretty

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much like any normal brothers and sisters would they fight and they get along very well. Sometimes that I'd say on the whole, they get along just like normal brothers and sisters. We try to give holly the same love and affection that any parent would give their

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normal child. There really isn't that much difference between loving a a retarded child and loving a normal child. She'll always be at home with us uh huh Because she won't be able to take care of herself in a situation away from home. She'll always need someone

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to look after. I think that she can leave a fairly useful life at home. The way things are going now, my feeling is that these Children must reward their parents tremendously with love and gratitude. The sacrifice of a parent really isn't as great as some normal

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parents would think because they're rewarded with tremendous promotion and that's worth a lot among America's 5.5 million retarded. These are the fortunate ones with the understanding of families like holly's and with the help offered by schools like Sequoia. These Children can have a place in the

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world. This is Gordo. He has almost no language. A few weeks before this picture was taken, he could not form the first letter of his name today. His teacher won't be distressed. The letters are out of place. That's not the important thing. What matters is that

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Gordo has begun to exercise the capacity he does have. This is the chance the school gives him Gordo still can't speak but he has learned to comprehend success for the retarded child. This joy is possible only where there is help and understanding in the hope of

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greater public understanding. We dedicate this film to the parents, the teachers and above all to the Children themselves. Oh all right. But she doesn't have to. Yeah. Yeah. Put it down. Now. You have to leave it until I find where your nose and your eyes are.

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Okay? Alright now let's see. You have to help me. Is that your nose? Is that your?