1 Associate Research Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York 61, New York
One can only agree with Dr. Hersher that "carefully controlled research on mental retardation is relatively rare and that given the support it deserves will contribute to our understanding of retarded children, serve as a stimulus for further research, and help the clinician make judgments on the basis of fact rather than feeling." It is unfortunate that despite such mutuality of interest we cannot agree that the research on the foster-placement of mongoloid infants by Centerwall and Centerwall is carefully controlled and establishes a basis for the making of judgments on "fact rather than feeling." Moreover, we note with regret that Dr. Hersher's comments introduce additional features of methodologic confusion which, if accepted, can only contribute negatively to the development of effective methodology for retrospective research in the area of mental retardation. For these reasons, we take this opportunity to reply to Dr. Hersher's letter.