Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-31
become deaf: PLAYING with her were two little

but for the present / am going to have
| them with this little girl. as think that they
Will Il her IN acquiring visible speech. They
are accustomed to talk with their mother who
Is entirely deaf. and hence the movement of
their lips are Very distinct"
II have seen in some of the newspapers" he
went on, 1.-The statement that my wife was
born deaf and dumb. and that taught her to
speak. such is not the case. however NV
wife became deaf since then she has ac-
CURED visible speech. She can understand
what | say when | move my lips in speaking
without uttering the words She understands
speech by the eye. This is what expect to ac-
compsh with this little girl"
THE ARTICULATE METHOD.
perhaps I can give you some idea of the
method of articulate teaching" he suggested,
as he crossed to the opposite side of the
room and stood in front of white polished
surface which served as blackb board Point
ing to series of black characters that resem-
pied n their general appearance Chinese words,
ne SAID: THESE characters are a mod icatiOn
Ol the ph0net alphabet invented by my father.
Inc lines and curves whcn form them represent
the shape of the mouth when the words are
uttered. For instance, take the word Run
which is represented by this character. Now
THAT is formed by the Signs phonet cally repre-
seating those three letters. The characters are
Taught To the chiidrea as can practically de-
monstrate to you" and he paused and turning
near asked If the children could have a lesson.
Spelling A GAME OF ROMPs
The young lady thought that they could but
just then the children had begun fine game
OF hide and seeh, and only one was visible A
murmur of laughter revealed the hiding place of
another from behind the door, and, finally. the
little deaf girl was drawn from beneath the win
dow curtains. screaming with laughter, and all
the rest joined i'll her merriment
a row of tiny chairs were then drawn I'D in
front or the board. and the children. together
with the teacher. formed the class. The inventor
with a pointer in his hand and his kindly face
winning the attention of the restless little ones,
stood IN front OF his Glass; and the singular reci-
tatiOn began. recitation without sound
being uttered is like a RIVER without water but
this Was the kind that was conducted. Mr.. Bell
pointed to one of the characters on the board,
at the same time moving his lips as il he was
speaking the word The first character repre-
srnted the name of child and the
one DESIGNATED readily recognized her
name and assumed an attitude of attention
Then the pointer moved along to another char
acter, and the little girl rose to her feet Fol-
lowing the pointer with her eye. and then
watching the lips of her instructor the little one
began to walk up and down. then ran, and
nnally ran to the door. as she interpreted the
visible speech from the lips of the inventor
In this way the little deaf girl was told to do a
number OF things, and she readily comprehended
what was wanted.
SILENT SCHOOI.-ROOM.
When Mr.. Bell turned to speak to the visitor
the little ones scampered away again to their
play and the lesson was over
AFTER this school has fairly started" he re-
marked, Il n'tintend to have an audible word
spoken in the schOO-rOOm. The teacher will
communicate entirely with the scholars by means
OF visible speech. Even whey they wish play
thing they make use of these bits of card board.
which. as you can see. contain the names OF va
rlous toys and objects. Here. for instance is
one which has the name doll written on it, The
doll itself is similarly labeled and the child by
comparing the two soon becomes familiar with
the written word. Then when they see it on
the board they will at once recognize it,"
''DOes the inability to speak i'm deaf mnte
mean physical incapacity?" inquired the re-
porter. branching off into the general subject
very young children, who are hard of hear
ING or who do not hear at ALL do not naturally
speak, was the reply; and this fact has given
origin to the term deaf mute by which it is
customary to designate a person who is deaf
from childhood. So constant is the association
Ol defective speech with defective hearing in
childhood that if one of your children whom
you had left at home hearing perfectly and talk
ing perfectly, should from some accident. lose
MS hearing, he would also naturally lose his
speech This is so true that even slight i'm
palrmrnt OF hearing is accompanied by q CORE
spending imperfectiOn in speech
my Is this the case?" interrupted the list
ener.
The most ingenious and fallacious arguments
have been advanced in explanation. was the re-
ply. The learned Sibscota. $50 years ago,
argued that the nerves Of the tongue were con-
n"cted with the nerves of the ear, and q defect
in one caused corresponding defect in the
other. Even now the majority of DeoDle believe
that
DEAF CHILDREN ARE DI,MR
on account of defective vocal organs. But why
should children speak alanguage that they never
heard3 We do not, and no one would argue that
our vocal organs were defective because we do
not speak Chinese. It Is fallacy. The vocal
organs of the deaf are as perfect as our own"
why, then, do they not speak," asked the re-
porter.
There Is no reason why they may not all be
taught to speak save our ignorance Of the
mechanism of speech. The difficulties in the
way OF teaching them articulation lie with u.s.
Speech is the mechanical result of certain ad-
JuStments of the vocal organs and if We can
explain to the deaf children the correct ad-
Jutlnent OF the particular organs they possess
they Will speak. The difficulty lies with u.s.
we learn to speak by initiating the sounds we
hear in utter ignorance of the action of the
organs that accompanies the sound"
There has been one faIlacy which has greatly
Impeded progress in the education OF the deaf -
continued Mr.. Bell, land that is the idea that
there could be no reason without speech 1t is
difficult for us TO realize the possibility of train
Oh tnouGht being carried on without words. The
Old theory was that il deaf mute was to be
taught TO think he must first be taughe to speak,
and attempts We're made to do this by Initiating
the miracles OF Christ As you saw In the case of
the little girl. il a child possessed of it's hearing
and speech should suddenly become deaf. little
by little the mothers tongue is forgotten. and
the child becomes a deaf mute. Experience has
shown that the speech is very readily restored
by causing the child to observe the movement of
our own vocal organs"
SPEECH VISIBLE TO THE EYE
"Buthere, again. continued Mr.. Bell. thought
fully. "a new failacy has arisen. namely, that
speech Is a. clearly visible to the eye as it IL au
dible to the ear. When we cOMe to examine
the visibility of the elementary sounds of our
language We shall find that the majority are not
clearly visible to the eye. When the lips are
closed we cannot see what is going on inside the
mouth. For instance, the sounds represented
oy the letters p b. IN, involve a closure of the
lips but while it is impossible for child to say
definitely whether the sound you utter Is o. b. or
m. he knows 1t is one of these three for no other
sounds involve closure Of the lips So with
words. He NAV not be able to tell the precise
word that you utter, but it is possible for him to
REFER IL to a group OF words presenting the same