Mentally disabled people in Health institutions, United States. Women play musical instruments. Three blind, mentally disabled girls from Mansfield. A deaf, mentally disabled girl from Southbury is given speech therapy as a part of rehabilitation program. The girl has headphones over her ears. Several mentally disabled children in cribs. A woman examines the ears of the toddler with an instrument. According to Dr Francis Martin physical disabilities complicate mental disabilites. Several mentally disabled persons in wheelchairs. Mentally disabled children on a heated floor. Volunteers near children. A mentally disabled toddler plays. Mentally disabled women celebrate. A mentally disabled woman has a doll on her lap. Mentally disabled women in a room. A disabled woman talks to a volunteer. Women pray before eating food in a dining room. A mentally disabled woman does needlework. Another mentally disabled woman with a machine near her head crochets using her feet.
A map of Connecticut, on which Director Bert Schnikel points regional centers such as Hartford, New Haven and the Seaside Regional Center Waterford, on the Long Island Sound. Mr Fred F Finn, Director of Seaside Center points out the importance of family in a mentally disabled person's life. Volunteers take care of children. A volunteer helps a girl to take medicine. The volunteer strokes the face of the child. And the child makes faces. Children play outside on a tractor ride. People get into a car and the car drives away. Mentally disabled children from Mansfield and Southbury come to "Seaside Regional Center for the Mentally Retarded" to prepare for community life. A boy puts on a television and sits down to watch it. A woman hands things to a girl. Volunteers help children to walk. A mentally disabled girl holds a book in her hands. A postcard sent by a normal sibling of a mentally disabled boy. Children play in snow. A boy sits on a seat while a man bends. A mentally disabled boy plays with his brothers. A couple talks about their mentally disabled child while he sits nearby.
Families of mentally disabled children tell how their children have profited from rehabilitation programs. Snow covered land. A woman tells how her mentally disabled child has benefited after going to Mansfield School. A family in a room. The mother tells about the change in the facilities and attitude for the mentally disabled as awareness about mental disability increases. A mentally disabled boy reads from a book.
Volunteers provide education to the mentally disabled children in Connecticut, United States. A map hung on a wall. Narrator mentions that in 1959 the Connecticut Legislature created the "State Office of Mental Retardation." Mr. Bert Schmikel, Head of that office, points at the map and expresses his views about education for the mentally disabled children. Several children around a table. A woman helps them. A child tries to wear shoes. Another child wears a cap. A man helps as some mentally disabled children get off a car. A bespectacled boy with the American Flag. A mentally disabled girl and an African American boy. Two ladders placed horizontally on a table. The ladders are placed side by side in such a way that the rungs of the two ladders do not correspond to each other. A girl walks by placing her feet between the rungs of the ladders. A woman teaches needlework to a boy. A disabled girl fiddles with the zip of the hood of a boy's coat. A man stands nearby.
Education for the mentally handicapped in the United States. A woman evaluates a boy. A mentally disabled girl arranges cubes on a table. An open notebook in front of the girl. A man helps a mentally disabled boy to stack blocks on top of each other. Children and a teacher in a classroom. The teacher writes a math problem on the blackboard. The teacher teaches mathematics to disabled students. She shows a booklet to the students and asks a question. The students raise their hands. Another classroom. A teacher reads from a book. She sits with a girl and helps her to read. Another girl reads incorrectly. The teacher corrects her.
Evaluation and assistance for mentally disabled people. Dr David Zieman talks about learning in the mentally disabled. A mentally disabled child in front of a one way mirror. A woman observes the child through the opposite side of the mirror. The woman pushes a tray towards the child from underneath the mirror. The tray has a circular object and an object in the form of a plus sign. The boy selects an object and pushes the tray towards the woman. A woman and a mentally disabled girl near a machine. The girl pushes a lever on the machine. A man works on a machine. A sign reads 'Meriden Regional Training Center and Shelter Workshop'. A bespectacled man explains something to a group of people. In a room several mentally disabled trainees are prepared to work in the outside world. A woman seated at a table. A man works on a machine. A woman punches a card at a machine and puts the card in a holder. A man follows the same. A meter. Several mentally disabled women work.