Judgments of educators and child-care personnel about appropriate treatment for mentally retarded or normal, overactive or withdrawn, boys.

Special educators and child-care personnel ranked the appropriateness of various psychological treatments for a boy described either as mentally retarded or of normal intelligence and whose behavior was described either as withdrawn or overactive. The predicted IQ level by behavior interaction was found only for drug treatment, which was ranked as relatively more appropriate for the retarded overactive child (p less than .05). Drug treatment and behavior modification were perceived as more appropriate for the overactive child (p less than .01, .05). Play therapy, family therapy, and no treatment were deemed more appropriate for the withdrawn child (p less than .05). Educators favored behavior modification and school consultation more than did child-care personnel (p less than .05).