Öz
Mentally handicapped children, when taken into account in terms of self-care needs, family burdens and growing populations around the world, are one of the important groups that need self-care skills to live independently. Self-care theory developed by Orem is one of the most frequently used theories in nursing care. Orem stated that the inadequacies of the individual in meeting the self-care needs cause the need for nursing. In this research, where the nursing care of a 7-year-old child with a mental disability and epilepsy diagnosis is carried out within the scope of Orem's "Self-Care Deficiency Nursing Theory", the child’s most important requirements in health deviations have been determined as; mental retardation, epileptic attacks, nutritional problems, growth and development retardation, social isolation and communication problems. Taking these requirements into account, the nurses should determine the competencies of the mentally handicapped child and his family to meet the self-care needs; and should support the child and the family.