The Washington herald., 1915-08-02

1t is great grief to parents to
have a child that is 'backward"-less
developed mentally than other chill
dren of his age. OF course we want
our children to be equal. If not a lit
| tie ahead, of the other children around
US. 1t is a blow to pride to have TO
confess that we-or our children.
which is the same thing-are not up
to the normal standard. And we are
| very apt to aggravate the child $
trouble by letting him both see ana
feel our disappointment
For the comfort of such parents
they should know that experts are
now studying backward children and
we are learning that there is nothing
to be ashamed of, nothing which need
cause US to despair that the ordi-
nary, slow-developed child will not in
time be as well informed as his neigh
bors The important thing for us to
know is that we must not discour-
age him and make his case hopeless
by ridicule or scolding. 1t may be
a comfort, too. to know that some OF
the great men of the world have
taken a late start in heir develop
men. The celebrated DR.. Joseph
Wright. for instance, professor or
comparative philology at the univer,
sity of Oxford. England. was a mill
unable to read and write.
A mother in a New England town
wrote me recently:
Dear Aunt Chatty: I have been
reading the Mothers Club papers in
the newspaper, and l have been made
to feel that maybe you could advise
US about our boy. Joe is fourteen
years old and has gone to school since
he was eight. He is still in the third
ba xr-iI N
read, and he is the worst speller l
ever saw I tell him he can't spell the
and honestly sometimes l thing he
can't He hates school, but l make
him go because l can't bear that any
of our family should be dullards. Is
there anything we can do TO make
him ambitious to learn"
I was interested in this letter par
ticularly because l had been reading
lately about the experiments in psy-
chology in the University of Penn
sylvania which seem to hold a prom
ise of happiness for the parents of
backward children.
The department of psychology under
took to examine a number of children
who had been unable to make the
same progress in school as the others
of the same age. or who were mo-
rally deficient and hard to manage
by the usual methods Parents and
teachers were asked to bring such
children to the clinic and they were
given a physical and mental examina-
ton. Specialists in diseases of the eye,
the ear. the nose, the throat, or in
nervous disorders were engaged to
examine the children and recommend
medical treatment If it was needed
and to confer with parents and teach
ers to find the best way to each
hem.
Many wonderful discoveries were
made; that bad spelling was some
times caused by defective eyesight.
stammering is the result of fright or
a nervous shock. and SO on. Almost
all cases of backward children can be
traced to wrong treatment by the par
ents or wrong teaching in school.
was talking with a physician
about this very subject after l had be-
come interested, and he told me he
had belonged to this class of children
He said he could read quite well when
he started to school. but he was
bashful child and the strange sur
roundings of the schoolroom made
him very uncomfortable. The teacher
it was a small town where every
body knew everybody else-knew he
could read and SO, to show him off.
she called on him the first of the
class. He was frightened at being
thus singled out before SO many
strange children, and could not rise
in his seat. Thinking he was merely
obstinate, she called him out before
the others and struck his hands
smartly with the ruler. He cried so
Historically that he had to be sent