This work emerges from the need to investigate what the diagnostic manuals say about mental retardation, especially with regard to the concept of mental retardation, the criteria for diagnosis and its classification. In the present study, we worked with: Manual Diagnóstico e Estatístico de Transtornos Mentais – DSM-IV (2002); Classificação Internacional das Doenças – CID-10, (OMS, 1993); Classificação Internacional de Funcionalidade, Incapacidade e Saúde – CIF, (OMS, 2003) and Retardo mental: definição, classificação e sistemas de apoio (AAMR, 2002). The theoretical assumptions of systemic thinking served as an analitical tool of the material investigated. It was possible to observe a close connection among the theoretical proposition of the different manuals. Although, there are some differences, theses changes do not amount to produce an epistemological rupture in the ways of conceiving and identifying the phenomenon in question, presenting affiliated to traditional assumptions of scientific thinking. It is undestood that the theoretical and conceptual understanding about the phenomenon of mental retardation have direct implications on the proposition and configurations of pedagogical practices, justifying, thus, this study.
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