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Replying to:

Hi Dr. Rich,




With the Supreme Court restricting the execution of offenders with mental retardation, it seems that many folks on death row will be claiming retardation as an exculpatory cause.




Do you think that MR can be faked successfully by an offender? It would seem that good tests and better testers would be able to "trap" those would try to malinger on the tests.




For instance, the simple question of asking "are you retarded" would not be answered 'yes' by anyone on the outside. Those folks with MR would either not understand the question or be too embarrassed to admit to it.




Likewise simple skills like telling time or reading a bus schedule would betray themselves by the client making to a testing session on time and making several transfers. (Certainly this would not disprove MR, but it would give the tester a good sense at the level of functioning..)




Anyway, what is your experience with testing for MR in both forensic and nonforensic situations and what kind of advice would you give for detecting malingering on tests?




Thanks




Floyd




PS What years were you at SDSU? Did you know Georg Matt?