Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-01-17
THE MENTALLY DULL
By H. Addington Bruce

TROM personal observation and the
tenor of letters coming to me, 1t ia
evident that there still are people who
labor under the delusion that because a
child is mentally dull in school he must of
necessity have some innate brain deficiency.
Often, it is unfortunately true, mental
dullness is indeed an indication Of an ir-
remediable brain weakness. But far oftener
it is nothing of the sort. In the great ma
jority of cases it Is the product of conditions
eminently curable especially il promptly as
jcertained.
To enumerate some OF the commoner OF
these conditions, for the benefit Of parents
who may needlessly be tormenting themselves
about their children's mental state, and also
for the benefit of the children themselves
Through helping to secure for them proper
| treatment:
Malnutrition is > frequent carse of mental
dullness And acknowledgements this well
may result from overlooking or wrong
feeding, less than from undertaking.
There are many children stigmatized as
mentally dull who need only to be put on a
sensible diet to improve remarkably in men
| tai power.
Mental dullness may also be synonymous
merely with weak, tired, over-strained eyes.
For many child q visit to good oculfst
has meant prompt increase in ability to
study to advantage.
Similarly other children have had their
wits noticeably .i.arpened through treatment
by an ear specialist. Helped to overcome
unsuspected defects in hearing, their stu
pidity is soon found to have been more seem
| ing than real.
They did not study we'll because they could
not we'll hear what was told them in the
schoolroom. Also because they had to strain
| to hear, their attention was unduly taxed,
their brain fatigued rapidly, they quickly
forgot all they tried to learn.
| Brain fatigue, attention impairment, weak
ness of memory "esult in other cases from
poverty or poisoning of the blood supplied
| to the brain, as re result perhaps of nasal
obstruction, perhaps of infected tonsils or
adenoid growths, perhaps Of dental disease.
These are possibilities which always ought to
| be reckoned with, when 1t Is question OF
dealing with little dullard.
So is the possibility that unfortunate con-
ditions in the home may be responsible for
the dullness.
Children permitted or obliged to sleep in
rooms having little or no ventilation are
| likely to be exceedingly poor scholars. Nor
| is any higher degree of scholarship to be ex-
pected from children allowed to stay up late
at night, taking part in festivities. the fam
| lily life, etc.
Such children are Of necessity in chronic
state of overfatigue handicapping them in
all their school work. The same is true of
those unfortunate children who are set at
exhausting tasks before and after school
hours.
Children have actually been observed to
fall asleep in class, not because they are so
dull that class work fatigues them to exhaus-
ton, but because they have been overworked
outside Of school or been deprived of their
due allowance Of sleep. AS a natural conse-
quence they have not been distinguished for
scholarship.
Thus, in fine, there should never be a
hasty reaching Of the verdict, "This child is
mentally short" Seek first some other expla-
nation of the childc dullness. The chances
are that an adequate one will be forthcom-
| ing.
| Copyright, 1922, by The Associated News
papers.)