The Somerset reporter., 1906-03-29
The Education of Deaf Children
ia Maine

lot Tie deal and the hard OF hearing In
Portland This school 10 situated on
Spring street and is comprised Of three
buildings. viz; Bro"nson Hall the
boys dormtory; Taylor Hall, the girls
dormitory and the school Building, all
Of which is known as The Maine school
! for the Deaf "
This school 10 maintained by the state
and any deaf OF hard OF hearing child.
residing in the state, is eligible to fe-
ceiYe its benefits What is meant by
hard Of hearing children is those whore
hearing is 30 impaired as to be unable TO
receive instruction in the Public schools
and With the right kind of training these
pupils progress very rapidly.
Although it is generally recognized
that the absolutely deaf require special
/ training, it is not 80 much a matter Of
! common knowledge that there is a large
class of pupils whose hearing IL 81 de
tectlve as TO make them appear stupid
in the common course of instruction in
the Public schools and their daily rea-
ton To the family. This duilness or
lack OF attention is usually referred to
as stupidity on the part of the pupil,
whereas often, on more careful examl-
nation. there would be observed a real
physical defect is the hearing, winch
ought to receive appropriate treatment
in the way OF special Instruction Here
are the statistics given of recent ex-
animation of the Public schools Of
! Quincy, Massachusetts A total Of
4 304 pupils were examined in all the
grades OF these 500 or IA per cent had
defective hearing and 166 or / per cent
had demonstrabe diseases of the ear
In view of these statistics in one city it
is not unreasonable To suppose that there
must be many unfortuuates in our state
who are not awaiting themselves of the
opportunities of this school Bidieford
has population of 10, las and Saco
9 l22 aud no deaf or hard Of hearing
children are at present in attendance at
the school Lewiston has population
of %, 76l and Auburn L, 95l aud send 5
pupils Bangor with population of
u $50 send only two pupils; while Au-
gusta has population of only L, 763,
yet send nine pupils. 1t must mean thai
there is lack of appreciation of tie need
of education for the children of this
class
This condition of affairs should be
made a subject of public interest by
school committees, physicians, and town
officials or anyone for that matter who
comes in contact with those whose hear
ing is defective; the neglect Of the edit
cation of such children is absolutely
criminal
Then there is that class of children
who have lost their hearing through
sickness, who, if left to themselves lose
their speech entirely. Two pupils Of
the Maine school for the deaf are report
ed as having heard and talked until they
were seven years of age. but when SEN
to school, after five years or more of
total deafness, their speech was com
plelely gone and they were obliged 10
learn how to talk just as a cougenitally
deaf child does.
Miss Z. K. Taylor, the principal of the
school, is one OF those rare women
whose whole life is devoted TO the in
terests of the deaf aud who is uniting
in her devotion TO their needs She has
under her a corps of nine teachers whose
whole aim is to eliminate, as far as
POSSIBLE, the mlsfortunes OF these pu-
pills 10 the initiated a visit to this
school is Il revelation. The good that
can be done for the deaf is almost in
cumprehensible. So many people think
that the deaf have ungovernabIe TEN.
pers, when their apparent rage is only
an attempt to make themselves under
stood Imagine little child born deaf
who does not know even that be has
name or that the objects about him have
names. He comes TO school aud after
few weeks on the preliminary exercises,
such as gymnastics of the mouth and
tongue, he is taught a few simple words
as "a cat, a COW. dog at the same
time he is shown the toy corresponding
Immediately he will make his teacher
understand, in natural signs, that he
has a cat at home and can hardly con
tain himself because he can talk. This
one word means much to him and
quickly he is shown how to jot down
this knowledge and it is with great
deal of pride that be will say over aud
over the words he has learned to speak.
After the word comes the sentence and
so on until, little by little, he has quite
a vocabulary to draw from A teacher
in this line of work must not only have
the best education possible but must be
specially trained, 80 that she may know
just how to teach pupil to procure
sound.
Generally speaking a pupil can give
the elements by imitation aud by the
sense of feeling, but there are cases
when they have 10 be obtained by att
fical means. In tins case the teacher
must know the mechanism Of the sound
she desires and place her pupils tongue
and mouth in the position to produce it
This. as will be seen requires a great
amount of patience and repetition until
the youngster grasps the idea
Anyone interested in a child, who
would come under this class, would do
well To visit the school or write 10 Miss
Taylor. the principal, who is ever ready
t. explain the workings of the school
The industrial as well AS the eduea-
tional side is well worked out Every
week day afternoon. except saturday
the girls are taught dressmskinE, cook
ing, ironing and mendiug, while the
boys are at work in the cabinet shop
and the printing Office.
1t is quite remarkable, considering
the age of these pupils, to see the work
that is turned out. Here we find all
kinds of cabinet work rs well as praeti-
cal carpentry, such as hard wood floors,
sheathing. etc
In the printing office a weekly paper
is gotten out with all the news OF the
school happenings as well as current
events. This paper has quite ercula-
tion and is a credit To the young printers
This year there are 81 pupils enrolled
in the school The graduating class
consists of eight pupils and they are
l., ;rt > al -.