UC Davis

This article memorializes Henry Leland (1923-2013). Leland was an advocate for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). He was a skilled clinician and developmentalist, and his application of play therapy to affect specific outcomes in children with IDD was far ahead of its time. His legacy is reflected in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.) definition of IDD, in which severity levels are defined by a person's current adaptive capacities rather than their IQ scores. It is reflected in the fact that many states in the country have no institutions at all for persons with IDD because community living and working are now the standard. It is reflected in the social justice actions supporting persons with IDD in prisons and on death row. It is reflected in the empirically supported and widely accepted practices involving service delivery to young children with IDD and their families through use of play strategies.