Retarded kids and helmets

Simple question: why do retarded kids made to wear helmets?

D’oh! Why are retarded kids made to wear helmets?

Helmets aren’t for all retarded individuals, only those with self-destructive tendencies or such poor motor skills that they need the additional protection. Most mentally-handicapped children will not need one.

Darn! I had such a witty response for the original question too!

And as for the OP, I’ve never seen one that did.

In addition to Q.E.D.'s answer, are you sure all the “retarded” kids you’re seeing with helmets are in fact “retarded”? It seems to me much more likely that you’d see a kid with Cerebral Palsy or severe epilepsy wearing one, and neither CP nor epilepsy imply retardation.

Are you sure it’s not a pee wee football team you’re seeing?

Canadjun has it right; generally, the only ones who wear helmets are

(a) epileptics whose seizures are common and severe. Knew a girl who was six foot three, and would keel over like a tree when she got hit with a grand mal; she averaged three a month – and that was WITH medication. Hated the helmet, and it was hell keeping it on her.

(b) persons who have self-destructive tendencies. Worst I ever knew was a kid with autism who slapped himself as a self-stimulatory thing. We had a helmet on him that looked like a transparent welder’s mask, because if we didn’t, he’d slap himself, one handed, until the right side of his face puffed up and looked like the Elephant Man.

© retarded individuals with very poor impulse control. Knew a hyper little devil once who didn’t MEAN any harm, but loved rough active games like soccer and football… and his coordination was a joke; he fell down right and left. We had to keep full skateboarding gear on him nearly at all times…

So help me, when I saw the title, I thought the post might be saying that because retarded kids are already damaged, we don’t need to put bike helmets on them! I came in here to argue…uh…never mind.

/end Emily Litella

Sailboat

One other group that requires head protection, are brain injured patients who have a skull flap that remains unattatched.

Mm. Excellent point. I’ve never worked with brain injury patients, and hadn’t thought of that.

You’re not the only one. :smack: