Appearance and mental retardation: some first steps in the development and application of a measure.

A measure of atypical appearance derived from components developed during the course of a study of 22-year-old mentally retarded adults was described. Hypotheses about relationships between mental retardation, biological damage, and appearance were tested and confirmed. Atypical appearance increased with severity of retardation. Mildly retarded young adults who received no mental retardation services after age 16 were more atypical in appearance than were nonretarded peers. Issues relating to the appearance measure and the results were discussed.