New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-16
EDUCATING THE "NEGATIJ E. EAR
TRAINING OF CHILDREN WITH THE AF
FICTION TO BE MADE
SPECIALITY
From The Chicago Tribune.

FROM Inc ChlcasO lIlDune.
The education of the negative" ear is to be made
specia,y in chicago For some ne thre Ea3
am ctcd with this strange trouble received training
but though much attention was paid TO the mega
Instruction carried on-dcyclopng Imperfect speech
and the like-and the work was divided Now, nov
tive" car has decided to devote her Efforts to That
HE di:coyery Of the nature OF the negative car
Is "a comparatively recent one, and was made by
Mis-. Lounsbury through one Of her pupils in deaf
been tranine tho inmates OF the asylum in artlcu-
lotion vitholI. Tho least suspicion that any OF them
were other than they seem, unit! IL was suddenly
Could Near though without apprecaiing the differ
cnt shades Of tone. That sound at all per
ceptiblc disprovcd the supposition that the pupil
deaf mute. Mrs. Lounsbury investigated the
case and discovered the negative" ear which she
calls a sort OF color blindness of the ear, lack
are heard The sense OF appreciation Of the diff
fercn shades of tone Is often so utterly lacking IN
child that. instead OF learning TO speak as other
children do. it constructs from the mPsrfeciIy
terigbc to any one else that ii resembles the glib
behring's OF idiots: Indeed. many cases nave been
lum on no stronge: evidence than this. Still more
often they never learn TO make any sounds NJ all.
and ars turned over to the institutions for deaf
To educate such children as deaf mutes deprves
10 treat them as fecble-mudcd is even worse. But
urtil within "A few years their case was not under
In n California institution for deaf mntes Mrs.
Iounsbury d!scovercG nine children r9rsn,;ssed Of
one. hear oven whisper but they we're utterly
IN Iers,and language. In an Eastern school she
once found a young woman who had spent almost
Nor whole life the institution had learned tho
sign language and lip-readng.. and yet could hear
perfectly Had this fact been discovered early In
life six months or n years. training would have
fitted her enter The public schools and obtain an
educa ton with other children. But she had never
made a sound, and ner parents thought her deaf
and mute.
Among tho pupils afflicted in this way now. recey-
ing instruction IN speech there are two particularly
interesting cases. one is that OF small boy OF
twelve years whose parents thought him an idiot
pud whose language Is so twisted and filled with
substluti OF incorrect sounds that no one who
has noe made & study OF his attempts can under
ala nd ,whai he Yet he Il bright. active and
tnlkatve and thinks he can TAXA common de-
Iusiun among persons 50 troubled. lie mas been
stu;Iyiug now only two weeks. but already MS
snccrh IL becoming better. and one or two words
srokcn I'm every sentence are clearly spoken. Tho
other Is that q a young man. who hnd grown TO
manhood spcnknG language wholly unintelgible
TO others bur without finding out what was the
matter with MIN In a month he has learned 10
talk fnirly well and ~ few months more VIII be
In a position 20 enter upon active business life.
Tho method OF curing the negative" ear is no
less strange than the trouble Itself. II s Of course.
impossible teach the child through words
spoken by others or II would have learned In the
natural manner. Instead the process Is reversed.
Ing It In the positions OF the mouth and tongue. aud