Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1916-01-05
DEFECTIVE CHILD STUDIES.

'S superintendent Allison. of
the Chicago schools. thinks we have
oeen 100 sweeping in our classification
OF below normal children. In conse-
quehce we do injustice to many chill
oreN. for n thing. we brand them
wi'E an adjective OF which some of
'he chlldren n a great many of the
adhl's Know SOM part of the mean
ing. 1T harms the child with himself
10 Know the significance of his tag.
~ takes away some of his opportlni-
ties.
I'm the second place, the treatment
given is not best for that subnormal,
although it is proper for the group.
pIlmarliy, every child . a be-
should be examined. He is retarded.
The question is why is he retarded?
it may be because he is a recently ar
rived foreigner and started late in
his schooling. 1t ma be that the
cause is a mental or a physical defect,
or ~ may be bad environment, or
something else.
Unless the reason for the retarda-
tion is plain. the mentality of the child
should be tested by The Binet-Simon
test or some similar test. Professor
Allison insists that the finding of that
test should not be accepted as final.
L, is to be regarded as evidence.
- IS CNlOCItCG VI l0dCN0rS ana
OF home visitors is to be added and
on the three items decision as to the
classification of tie child and it's phv-
steal, mental n social treatment is
to be based. In this opinion he agrees
with Professor Holmes, of Pennsyl-
vania college, and with Professor
Sidis, of Harvard.
A certain percentage will fall into
Professor Allison's sixth group-the
defective-the noneducable. This
group Includes the morons, the idiots
and imbeciles. While Professor Alli-
son does not treat of this group since
in theory in the Chicago system these
are in institutions, we must not ac-
cept the statement that they are nom
educable or nonrainable too literally.
An ll-year moron must not stop
training at a nine-year development.
Professor Goddard goes so far as to
advocate special work for morons and
other higher grades of feeble minded
ness and training the subjects for
that work.
In the Chicago tests 8 per cent of
n 1855 children were defective and
IL per cent were on a border line be-
tween this group and the group above.
pr. kohn, of h Bridewell, thinks that
this border line group should be care
fully studied and treated, each accord
ing to the decision in the particular
case.
The Binet-Simon test is the best
single test for these border line cases,
but it will mislead if not supplemented
by study of the sociology of the in
dividual and his environment.
Professor Allison makes the follow
ing classifications:
Backward children because of UNI
kindly mental gifts, able to become
economically Independent. This group
will take to training in handicraft
work.
Slowly developing children-natural-
~ slow.
Variants. retarded because of un-
equal OR one sided development OF in
.erests Or powers.
Retardates, because of physical de-
.ects or illness or other removable
cause.
OF the 1866 children examined % per
cent were retardates, 10 per cent vari-
ants, 10 per CEN slow developing. q
per cent backward, as above, and 10
per cent defective or border line. In
his judgment those above the border
tine cases and ONE of the border lines
should be cared for in special rooms
under special teachers. but in close
touch with other school children. The
less they are tagged the better.