The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-04-30
Dull Charlie
By M. ADDrroroN HAUCE

Scattered throug hthe land are not q few | pnreDfs who might learn q helpful lesson from the story of little Charlie Crains. Charlie, at the age of eight, was unmistaka- bly a problem child. He had been prob lem child almost from the day he began to go to school. Until then he had got along well enough.
 But. it was only too evident, he could adapt himself neither to the classroom nor the playground He found other children, he complained, "too rough" And he com .plained with equal bitterness that he found his lessons "too hard
 The suspicion grew in his tedcher's mind that little Charlie was mental defective AS he seemed incapable even of learning to read, such suspicion was hardly surpris- ing. This did not mitigate his parents dis tress when he was recommended for a meaico-psy yehological examination. No sig nificant medical findings were made. Charlie. Fit appeared, Mas in excellent physical condi- tion, barring a slight weakness of vision. | 80 slight that 1t could not possibly account for his mental dullness Nor. the psycholog ical testing showed. was the dullness due to &ng inborn weakness of intelligence. q He responded well to all the tests given him, and in fact revealed ability, to think
  Why, then, did Charlie experience such diff culty in his school tasks? To answer this question a searching inquiry was made into the social circumstances of his life.
 Here, somewhat condensed, is the report on what this inquiry revealed
 "The boy was an only child and was somewhat indulged and spoiled at home, and even strangers made much of him on &C., count of his attractive personal appearance. He was always central figure in the chil- dren's entertainments at his church, and had been generally petted.
 "In talking with him, the i'll effects of this became still more apparent He admitted that he had no playmates at school. In school, instead of concentrating on his studies, he was apt to sit and day-dream about play.
 "The chief cause of this boys rnaladjust- ment was all that is implied in the situation of being an only child. His energies were too much drained by the effort to adjust to \ the group, and in wish-fulfillment fantasies concerning the play life which he was denied by his inability to get along with other chill dren"
 Happily for Charlie. his parents were sen- sible enough to take in good spirit the rec concentrations made to them Without abating their natural love for their little boy, they ceased over-loving and over-induls- ing him. No longer did they, permit him to be an object of admiring attention by visitors to the household.
 By kindly discipline they began to im- press on him the virtues of obedience, un- selfishness and constructive effort. Thus they helped him to grow both in eAgerness to learn and in ability for group play. It was not long before he completely cleared himself of the suspicion of duIlness
 And Charlie Craine's experience ia by no means unique All about us are small boys and small girls, too-similarly afflicted as result of parental mismanagement. The measures which saved Charlie would like wise save them. That is the point I would emphasize