Pottinger, Audrey M.2023-04-042023-04-041993-04CERIS - 180:05 (2)https://hdl.handle.net/2139/55229This paper reports on an exploratory study of 198 children between the ages of 5 to 26 years, primarily attending government schools, who were assessed during the period July 1991 - April 1992 at the Child Assessment and Research in Education (CARE) Centre, Mico College, Jamaica. These children were selected because no physiological or medical explanations, which could have put them at a learning disadvantage, were identified in their social and medical history. One of the main observations made in the study is that poverty and the resulting social and economic deprivation is a determining factor of mental retardation and illiteracy in Jamaica. The profile of the typical illiterate Jamaican child, as identified in the analysis, is a male, with limited exposure and stimulation, from a large household headed by a single parenting figure who is unemployed or self-employed.enilliteracyText