Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1885-04-09
DEAF AND DUMB.
[Dr. T. B. Robinson.


progress for the beterment of humanity
nothing shows more beautiful and use
full results than the present methods
of instrueting the Deaf and Dumb.
The modern Observation-Disclosures
children is even beyond the highest
thoughts of by-gone ages. The an
clients did not know how to instruct
such persons and left them to their
miserable fate. They had great phil
osophy with little utility-unfruitful
They considered person without the
power Of hearing could never speak or
learn; in short could not be educated
Egypt with almost 5000 years of high
civilization did not grow wise enough
to impart knowledge to such unfortu-
nate persons. Aristotle, the wisest of
Greeks, who lived in the very birth
place of science and philosophy, de-
clared them incapable of culture and
unfortunately his opinion in this, as in
many other things, was held until the
10th century Culture and progress
went on in Rome for some 1900 years
but none seemed to know how to teach
deaf person how to speak and learn.
Even the Church forgot to spend its
charity on them. The Holy Augustine
said "Those who are born deaf and
dumb could never receive belief, for
belief comes from the preacher and ex-
cept one hears he can never learn to
read or write"
These poor, unfortunate creatures
were thus, through all ages, looked
upon as sign of Gods wrath or as
imbecilss incapable of mental improve
ment.
The first teacher, known, of the
deaf was Pedro de Ponce, a Benedict
inc monk who in 1870 taught four
deaf children the Alphabet, etc. But
many years passed before very much
was done. In 1869 the most import
ant and greatest principle in the in
struction of the deaf was announced.
This emancipation proclamation to the
deaf from the servitude of ignorance
was given to the world by DR.. J K.
Amman, a distinguished Hollandish
physician. The princi pie was simply
that deaf persons could be taught to
speak A child born deaf is net, at
all, necessarily dumb. The only reas-
on it does not speak Is because it is
unable to learn words like ordinary
children. The organs of speech al
most always exist normal, as the lips,
teeth, tongue, palate, vocal cords and
larynx. All that is necessary is to
teach it how to use them to make def
mite sounds or words.
Charles Epees founded the French
school and method of instruction about
ITO. He used definite sigu or GEES
ture language and did no, teach the
child how to speak. He thus had
dictionary of signs.
Over one hundred years after DIR.
Auman had shown that deaf could |
speak, Samuel Heinike of Hamburg,
began to use it was the founder Of the
modern German method of instruction.
In 1875 he taught deaf child of his
friend to speak. He shortly after
wards opened a school for deaf and
dumb in Hamburg. Up to this time
all deaf and dumb instruction was
done by isolated private Individuals
with no particular method except their
own, but wished TO exercise warm
hearted charity for the unfortunate.
The present method of iastruc:ing the
deaf and dumb In Germany is founded
on Heinike's plan and simply instructs
the deaf mute to speak himself as
ordinary persons. He also must learn
to understand what person says by
the motion of the lips, tongue and
teeth. 1t excludes, as far as possible,
all sign or finger speech called in Ger
man Ge6erdeasprdche mother speech) |
1t is done. in the following way :: |
The child is taken in the school at the |
age of six years. At first the teacher
can only teach one deaf and dumb at
a time The instructor places the
child in front of him and with pencil
puts the organs of speech in proper
position to say the letter A. Then
the child says the letter aloud and
repeats it until it can say the same
letter when shown it again. This
slow. tedious, but sure method of
continued repetition must be taught
through the whole alphabet. 1t re-
quires days. weeks and months before
the child has learned to say all the
letters with certainty. After the
alphabet is learned the child begins to
learn to spell words and is shown the
object which the word indicates, as
for example, for the word cow he is
shown either q picture or bust of a
cow-object teaching. Right here
great difficulty arises from the reason
that the child gets no idea of sound
He therefore cannot repeat the same
sound twice the same way. In fact
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