Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1882-02-14
Tuesday Morning, Feb. IA, 1882.
DEAF SCHOOL CHILDREN.

Teachers in the public schools often notice
deafness among their pupils, especially when
it is quite desirable that those pupils should
hear something. According to DR.. Samuel
Sexton of New York, there is much more real
deafness among school children than has been
supposed. He recently examined $40 pupils
and found 76 cases of impaired hearing
among them. This was about Is per 100.
Out of the rs only 10 were themselves aware
of on aural defect, and their teachers would
have called but one of them deaf.
One of the leading causes of so much hith-
erto unnoticed deafness among children is,
according to DR.. Sexton, dental irritation.
Its activity is principally observed between
the ages of and II years, during which pc
Rod the development of the permanent teeth
is begun and completed, and the temporary
teeth are replaced by those that will continue
during life. When the wisdom teeth, which
generally appear at the age of Is, are delayed
in their development, extreme irritation of
the delicate structures of the ear often fol-
lows. DR.. Sexton has large collection of
casts of the interior of the mouth which
illustrate his theory. His cabinet presents
one case of special interest, representing the
jaws of an English lad eleven years old. The
teeth of the upper jaw, which is small and
shrunken, have no regularity of setting
while those of the 10 wer are regular and over
lap when the mouth is closed to the extent
of eight or ten lines. Habitual mouth breath
ing has arrested the development of the ear
hryi pka ITyith fha ha
tubes that lead from the throat to the in
terror, and thus trouble that might have
been corrected by early examination has for
life nearly obliterated one of the special
senses and produced lasting deformity of the
face. In addition to its effect upon the hear
ing DIR. Sexton believes that dental irritation
is also prolific cause of the impaired vision
which prevails in the schools.
AS pupils whose hearing is defective learn
less rapidly than those with normal ears the
doctor would place them in classes by them
selves, where they would not be in constant
competition with those possessing a material
advantage over them. On this point he says:
''The rule laid down must, however, be ap-
piled with discrimination, SO that bright pu-
pills, though a little deaf. may not
be mortified by removal to a sepa-
rate class; for while some loss of quickness
in intellectual perception generally accompa-
MES defects of the special senses, such is by
no means an infexible law of mental life, and
the task of discriminating in this respect
must necessarily be exercised with discretion.
Again. impaired hearing usually shows itself
in some loss of distinctness in articulation,
Cor some abnormal popularity in the exercise
of that faculty, ito prevent which more care
is required than is generally given by teach
er in the classroom. This constitutes an
other reason for placing partially deaf pupils
in classes by themselves where they will not
incur the ridieule of their classmates or be
considered as feeble minded on account of
defect that is purely superficial"
It is not very pleasant to be told that the
ears of our school children are as poor as
their eyes and their teeth, but if it is true ave
might as well face it. Perhaps by and by
our school systems" will have attached to
them skilled dentists, oculists and aurists,
who will fix the children so that they can
learn great deal