Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-02-12
Teaching Deaf Children
By Frederic J. Haskin

I ail the other things that normal girls an,
boys learn. When they leave the schoo
here, these children will be able to tax,
their places, in colleges, offices and il
with people who have all their faculties
1T is not SO long since deaf person WA
always set down AS deaf and dumb. II,
J could not hear, and therefore how could
he bc expected to TALK Sign language
or pad and pencil were his means ol
! communicating with the world Then liz
reading and reproduction of positions %
; lips and teeth To make the sounds were
developed, and now IN this little Kensing-
ton hornc-school and several other pro-
gressive schools for the deaf, the sign
language is barred entirely.
Miss Anna Reinhardt, principal Of the
kcnsington school, saye that the most
important phase Of teaching deaf children
Is to talk to them.
You must talk, talk, and then talk.
to the deaf child, no matter how discour-
| aged or tired you may be. | have repeated
n sentence TO child until 10 had no mean
ing to me. But the child finally got IL.
and that was victory for us both"
UNLIMITED PATIENCE NEEDED.
Consider how difficult il is sometimes
Tor a hearing child TO reproduce certain
sounds, and then think OF the deaf child
who must get them by merely watching
the position of the lips. Naturally this
requires greater patience on the part Of
both teacher and pupil
Miss Reinhardt regards the teaching
! oil deal children as her life work She
/ founded her school eleven years ago, after
she had studied methods Of teaching the
deaf, and had done some teaehing in
| Philadelphia Her school is not in the
least like an ordinary day or boarding
school She believes that to get the best
results with deaf children the school
must be home first of all. The home
atmosphere is what irnpresses the visitor
| most about the Reinhardt school.
The school is large, old-fashioned
country house, with broad porches, and
surrounded by sloping lawns Inside, it is
exactly like the home OF a large family.
There are no school rooms with desks
screwed into the floor. The older children,
OF about eleven or twelve years, have
small movable desks set up IN a living
room ut lesson time, The younger ones
of kindergarten and primary ages are
taught in a cottage annex. This cottage
had TO be added for school rooms and
dormltories when the school grew so
rapidly. There are four teachers and an
assistant for the sixteen children, for deaf
children need a great deal of individual
instruction.
Many of the children who come IN a
school for the deaf have been nisunder-
stood or neglected at home because of
their defect A child normally begins |
to talk at two years, and when speech is |
retarded long after that time the cause /
should be investigated for possible deaf /
ness. Often parents think that a bavy /
who does not talk is only slow in learning, /
and sometimes several years eiapse before /
they really understand that the child |
! g deaf. BY this time the child may have
become habitually irritable or may have
developed terrible temper due To It's
being continually expected To react as a
normal child would.
A child Of this sort placed in a school |
for the deaf at seven or eight years may
not advance so rapidly as a much younger
pupil. Miss Reinhardt has in her school
half a dozen pupils Of from three TO SIX
years, some Of whom talk more plainly
than the older children
In the kindergarten room these smallest
pupils were being Taught to understand
and interpret lip reading as they made
pictures with colored squares of paper.
As sample OF the progress Of this class,
the teacher held one little boy on her
knee and asked him, Show me your nose."
Show me your coat, and so on. speaking
but with ordinary rapidity
The boy In each case pointed TO the object
and repeated nose or "coat,
smiling slI the while, and keeping his
eyes fixed on the teachers face 70 catch
every word Only in one case did he fail
to understand and respond correctly, and
what was when ear and hair were con-
fused. These two words, the teacher
.ya.~ J. 4.
for him TO distinguish.
Some of these deaf children talk in
tones, while others, especially
those deaf from birth speak with out
expression or with queer accent. All
1f them who have had special training
'or three or four years are easily under
stood. As they grow older they seem TO
lose some of the strain noticeable In the
foIces OF the smaller ones, and the effect
s remarkably natural IL" and other
sounds made in the back of the mouth
ire most difficult for the deaf to grasp
md reproduce, but even these are mas
cred after repeated illustra tions and
much preetioe.
APPARENTL I NORMAL CHILDREN.
These children are starting out in life |
Without the ability to hear and with such |
Haflulcdtt III the WAY OF learning 10 Il
peak, and yet when you look in on them |
t lessons, meals, or q game they are |
apparently normal boys end girls. They |
augh and talk. Sometimes they sll talk |
t once Just like any group of happy
chool children Their lessons are much
ess formal than those In regular school,
nd they are encouraged to talk. so long 1
s they do not get too far from the school Il
'ork at hand, or do not forget politeness.
Arithmetic and other lessons are put
n practical basis. Learning TO read is II
,r them matter of being able to enjoy II
lore stories, and their letters from homes II
lost of them are vor& ciolIs readers. The II
ritter was interested to find that when /
ley had spare moment the older ones
IN 10 get books and were soon absorbed /
4 primer stories or fairy tales. III
Music is little more than name to |
lildren totally deaf but sense of |
lythm is taught them by means of the | |
ano. A little upright piano is pushed / |
1t into the middle of room and several | |
lildren stand at the back with their | |
inds against the instrument A teacher / |
ays two chords over and over-frst a /
and then soft one. Through | |
eir unusually sensitive fingers the | |
lildren feel the vibration, and say aS she II
ays, "One, two one, two" acrenting |
e one, just as the pianist has. When II
ohar ~. .abn nd fxxf, / 4