Although mild retardation is generally assumed to be an inherited trait, socio-cultural factors, such as deprived cultural environment, health-threatening conditions, and school labeling processes exacerbate the problems of the learning disabled child. In this booklet, the causes of mental retardation are considered, and techniques and strategies are recommended for teaching the mildly retarded child in the regular classroom. Suggestions are made for effectively diagnosing individual difficulties and assessing the needs of the student. Teaching strategies are described that have proved effective with mildly retarded children. Case studies are presented illustrating how these strategies were used to develop the potentials inherent in four different learning disabled students. (JD)