Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-27
SPEECH AND INTELLECT.
Relation Between the Mind Of a Child
and Utterance.
From the Literary Digest.

From the Literary Digest
That mental aptitude and ability to talk
are very closely related. so that not only
is defective speech usually an Indication OF
inferior intellect, but also that the latter
may be raised in grade by training the for
mer. is asserted by DR.. G. Hudson Makuen
of Philadelphia in paper recently read
before the Association OF Medical Officers
of American Institutions for Idiotic and
Predetermined Persons. Says DR.. Makuen:
Speech bears somewhat the same rela-
ton to the mind that the hammer and saw
bear to the carpenter. 1t is the mind S
most effective and most important tool. 1t
is not only the vehicle In which the prod
ucts of the mind are transferred and de-
livered, but 1t is essential also to the crea-
ton of these products, to their crystalliza-
ton, collection and classification. Thought,
in its highest sense, therefore, cannot exist
independently of speech Hence it is that
IL you deprive a person of speech you de-
prive him at the same time of his most
effective means for mental development,
and ii also follows that if you train and
perfect his speech you must greatly i'm
prove his mentality. In the normal child
mental development and speech develop
ment progress simultaneously. Neither can
be said to precede the other The child
thinks and speaks. If he does not speak
when he thinks we at once suspect that
there is something wrong with the organs
of speech, and if he also fails to make use
OF the other forms of expression, such as
gesture and pantomime, we even doubt his
ability to think"
If there is no outward mechanical OBJ
Stfuction TO speech, and If the hearing is
intact DIR. Makuen says. the character of
the speech Is our best index to the opera
tons or the mind, and the response to
training shown by the speech will be in d.
rect proportion to that of the mind Thus
the study of the speech of the feeble-mInded
becomes valuable aid In the diagnosis
and proSnosis of their condition Defective
speech Is both a physical and mental sign
OF feeoie-mindedness, though 1t may be
cause and not result of the latter To
quote further:
"A child's educability depends more than
anything else upon his desire to be edu-
Gated The desire to speak is inherent in
every normal person, and if this desire is
not gratified, the desire to be educated will
be diminished or biunted. What is the use
OF knowing things if you can not commi1nf-
cate them! The chi d who will not be edu-
Gated will retrograde and become feeble
minded. Being out of harmony with his
environment his moral nature will become
perverted. He will grow destructive and
show other signs of degeneracy and imbe-
cility. He does this because he does not
understand his surroundings and he is not
himself understood by those about him. He
elicits the sympathy of the household and
his every wish Is anticipated and granted
without even the asking. Under these cir
cumstances. of course, education becomes
an lmpoSs1D1l1ty. There is no necessity for
the child to talk, and there is no induce
ment for him to learn to know things. He
Is what we call a spoiled child, and he
differs but little in his actions from the
fmbecile.
Our whole system of education. begin
ming at the cradle. has been developed to
meet the requirements of the normal mind
and is wholly inadequate to the reuuire-'
ments OF the abnormal or feeble mind. 1t
must be remembered also that the mind Is
the product Of a complex physical organ
ism. and that speech itself Is, In part at
least. product Of this same organism
Even the so-called peripheral mechanisms
OF speech. in the developmental period are
under direct control of the cerebral mech
anfsms. and the muscles employed in the
articulation Of speech sounds have been
called the mental muscles. As Max Muller
has said To think is to speak low and to
speak is to think aloud 1t follows, there
fore. that the training of speech should oc-
cupy an important place in the curriculum
of schools for the feeble minded
In the course of his paper DIR. Makuen
described several cases in which he had
successfully treated imbecile children by
training them to speak clearly. Improve
ment in quality of thought and intellect ran
parallel to improvement in language