New-York tribune., 1905-02-10
DEFECTIVE CHILDREN.
Hoso One Little Boys Mental De-
UelOpment Vas arrested.

the opportunity or knowing, SAID MRS. fTanhlin
H Hooper. in the conference Defective Chill
dren" at the Brooklyn Institute yesterday was
unusually bright boy In the grades. He lived In
Westfeld Mass. and the custom TO promote
the brightest children out of the public schools into
the model school, taught by the pupils OF the Nor
NAL. He bright enough to win early pro-
motion. At the model school day there a
breach of discipline committed by one of boys,
and there was a lie between them to which had
done the thing. The teacher did not attempt to
handle the matter herself. but sent for the prnci-
pal Of the Normal He became convinced that the
subject Of this story the guilty one and he
took the boy to closet in which the school skele
ton was kept, and shut him up there. The boy
was feeble minded throughout the rest of his life,
although he lived till after forty. had extraordi-
nary mechanical skill. and in the Institution to
which he was sent they still exhibit model OF
ship which he constructed. although he had never
mechanical repairing necessary about the house.
But, curousy enough. he could not mend thing
If his attention called to 1t. He had to notice
its defect himself when he would go and get his
tools and repair it. Another curious of his
character was that throughout his life ne in
terested in hearing the Bible read aloud.
This story emphasizes the theory that any great
fright Is always dangerous to a child's mentality
1t was the old New-England idea that children
should be brought up to be courageous, and the
method OF making them courageous to compel
them to do things they were afraid to do. I we'll
remember how poignant part of my dis
being afraid Of the dark. Actuated by the most
sincere desire for my proper training my parents
insisted on my going upstairs in the dark I shall
never forget the shivering horror whioh attended
each one OF these experiments. It never accom-
phshed what 1t was meant to- I continued TO be
afraid Of the dark until old enough to reason
ABOUT It, might just as well have waited until
that time. and been spared all that misery
i cannot help thinking of a young cousin Of
mine who has been trained very differently. He
mad the same unreasoning fear of the dark and
II was very inconvenent at times. His mother
nrst explained the dark to him. and then used to
stand at one end Of dark hall and encourage him
10 run to the other end and back, never insisting
however Before he seven years old he had
forgotten all about being afraid of the dark.
variations from the normal are sometimes very
subtle and difficult to estimate in childs mind
A certain percentage Of children in the primary
grade when they begin to learn spelling will spell
words backward They get the letters right in
the reversed order and seldom omit one unless it Is
final, silent e. No child who does this is per-
fectly normal, although generally the traing alb
normalities wear away and lost sight Of with
judicious care
/ remember how very curious and ludicrous an
enect 1t once had upon to find a Etti, tot. just
reading and writing words of four letters who had
spelled the word made in this manner. The baby
left off the e and reversed the letters and YOU
can see what this made. But saw this same lido
syncrasy again occasion when il approached
me tragic college professor handed pupils
read r9 ,u Read ga # carefully. said he and What
Il read It carefully, and to my arnazement and
almost horror. I found that everywhere that the
The history Of that boy was an instructive les
to Don out eeq f s 0 aph s ae R
blocks An his life he was pushed in just this way
same way; In college he broke down mentally. and
having reay IL ns nd dGT ge e I cred
table WORK But it was narrow escape We are
cram the heads Of defenceiess ohdren VITA soe
The average child. Caring absoluteiy nothing about
the whole matter, gets through unscatched. but IL
brain b l4Vo DANGER OF 0'eF"0rkins the immature
80 II understand ' that there is far greater number
OF 6efectiys & children in our homes than any one
and life RG and neither are ffss they Bright
enough to keep up with other children Of their
and the parents grieve over them. To any such
Cause chI Cannot learn 1s to read I ThSps very
small thing Restore that mind to health. or start
1 But t., how shall growth be started? II can begin
egted in. AS in the case of the boy scared by the
skeleton who was a mechanical genius. there is
%neh the mind can be interested in and & therefore,
TO be music. and in nine cases OUT OF ten the de-
fective child will be pleased with music and with
a. musical instrument Blind Tom is. of course
"One mother who had heard that I was Interested
never shown interest in but single thing, en-
argued that it could not be the use of the needle
that pleased the girl, otherwise she would nave
liked plain sewing.
1T seemed as If her art, instincts were pleased;
I asked the mother If she had ever tried the child
with water colors. She had never thought of it.
but secured them at and the child took to
them with avidity. The development the
vulnerable point is often abnormal, but through IL
the child Is often educated and at any rate It Is
given a point of contact with the world which
be joy to these lonely little souls, shut off
in the isolation Of abnormalty
'"The most distressing thing about defective chill
The method followed in the schools for defections
is exactly the that should always be followed
with normal children: the outbursts antci-
pated and avoided And while there may be differ
of opinion tc whether normal child should
be punished. certainly there cannot be two
opinions In the of defective children. II
physical punishment is permissible IL is when
the child knows perfectly well why It is given and
why he is considered TO have deserved it. A de-
fccuive child more understand punishment
than he can literature.
"All mental defects emphasized and made
worse by education in the same classes with normal
children. 1t may be good for defective children 10
play and associate with normal children but never
to try to study with them. 1t is now generally ad-
mitted by all educators that they should be edu-
Gated apart
of feeble minded children is the look in their faces
which betrays at q glance the deficiency of the
mind within And it is a very touching and beauti-
full thing 10 know that within two or three hours
after death all that vacancy OF expression which
sometimes makes them repulsive in life fades away
and leaves the face completely normal in its intelli
gence.'