Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1914-08-28

the child's hand upon her throat, and the child.
all eagerness prepares to initiate her. First she
begins with the sound Of "a" and, while still
uttering 1t. gently closes her lips. but without
interrupting the sound. This action causes the
sound of I'm" to follow "a" and the result is the
word arm" When the little scholar Is made
to understand to what the word applies he is
Sally so delighted that he needs no urging to
repeat 1t and over until he has 1t Just right.
Sometimes the positions may be excellent but
the sounding weak. The teacher will then direct
the child to use his voice. The meaning of this
direction and the way of obeying 1t are taught
In the very beginning of the work by holding
the child's hand upon the teachers throat and
chest while she makes utterance of sound. His
hand is then applied to his own throat and chest
until he has produced similar vibrations. All
the while, Of course. he is watching his teachers
lips. and fhe direction is repeated until he has
learned its meaning
The power to distinguish differences of vibra-
ton by touch Is q very important thing, for It IN
the child's chief guide in modifying his own
voice later-in raising 1t II II IL too deep, or
lowering 1t II It is too shrill Exercises bearing
upon this are conducted with musical instru-
ments such az the guitar and piano, and then
applied to the vibrations as felt In the chest
head and throat. The teacher first strikes low
note and the child. watching. feels the vibration
Then she strikes high note and calls his atten.
upon her throat while she sings low and high
notes alternately. and in time he acquires the
ability to recognize the difference In tone By
touch.
The making Of aspirant sounds requiring the
forcible exhalation of BREATH such % d." II ex.
planned by using feather or lighted candle The
expulsion of breath blows the feather away or
causes the flame Of the candle to flicker The
difference between p" and 3D." which have the
mi lint uo<t ha
illustrated in q similar manner. In the case Of
p" we simply close the lips compress the air
In the mouth and then allow Il to escape IN n
little voiceless puff. But with 3D." while the lIpa
are closed and opened In exactly the same vav
the voice IL brought into use and this lessens tbe
force Of the breath 1t leaves the mouth. Gut
tural sounds like *" and e." being formed At
the back Of the tongue, are dificult to acou,re
but the use Of the mirror is Of particular assist
ance In teaching the child the correct positions
for the sounds Of these letters.
Speech-readng. which is the ability To under.
stand spoken language by watching the speecb
movements on the speakers face. goes side by
side with the teaching Of speech. From the FIRST
hour the child Is taught to watch his teachers
lips and to attach a meaning to all their move
ments, and he learns to interpret spoken Lam
guage with his eyes - the hearing child does
with his carr. without moving the how or vhy
Of II.
The second question-that a. to what speech
does for the deaf children when they are grown
up-is not dihlcult to meet. In the first place it
puts them on q more equal footing with hearing
children both In their social and business life
Very few hearing people care to take the trouble
to learn the sign language, or finger spelling, Just
for the purpose Of conversing with one or two
persons and . system Of written communication
is always slow and laborious For this reason
the deaf child who cannot speak IL always 1t q
great disadvantage when attempting to minGis
with his more fortunate brothers. He must con-
fine his activities largely to that sphere In which
his peculiar form Of communication IL under.
stood, and this sphere II exceedingly small com.
paratively speaking. But with speech at bis COM
mand he finds Thousand avenues of usefulness
and endeavor. of which he formerly knew moth
Ing opened to him.