Evening star., 1928-05-01

tIntltlnueQ from rIIst FhBtJ
and sight must be co-ordinated in order
TO recognize the printed word. Both the
visual ard the auditory functions, he
said may be quite normal. but they
fail 10 coordinate i'll the way neeeS-
sary for the child 10 learn to read.
Reading detectives" with such a
handicap that they are delayed one
year or more in school work. he said
constitute about per cent of the school
population. and this is more than dou-
bled under some types of teaching.
A great deal has been accomplished,
he said. by having the children draw
letters and pronounce them az the
same time. thus strengthening the as
sociation between the form and sound,
One girl who had been three years in
school and was not able TO read a
single word now has been treated By
this and similar methods so that she
now Is only one year behind her class
and Is the most accurate. If not the
brightest child In her group.
Three Classes of Disabilities.
When most cases Of predetermined
children are analyzed. he said. the dis
abilities can be divided into three
classes-~those OF speech, Of reading
and of bodily movement. or clumsineSs,
The first two disabilities. Or. Orton
insisted, now can be trained by proper
methods and something has been ac-
complished with the clumsy ones by
having them dance before mirror
where there is no need Of reverse mo-
tions to puzzle them, II 1t can be
shown. he pointed out, that these three
uig sAf ftts a nE Nf 5fN
fcrior mentality can be done away
with, then feeble ~mlndednes itself will
be greatly reduced One boy. he said.
has been brought to him as a hopeless
moron, having an intelligence quotient
OF only IS for his age,
Yet he has found that this child's
deficiencies fall into these three cate
gories. In every one OF which there ap~
parentiy Is possibility for great improve
ment
Following DIR, Sachs criticism of the
present method OF teaching, DIR, Orton
said he had found that II really did
speed up the process of learning to read,
but handicaps rather than helps chill
dren with tendency toward confusion,
lie told OF a recent experiment where a
boy was asked % read four pages from
book and did so with only three or
four errors but when words were
picked at random from those pages and
he was asked to spell them he made Ss
errors, we haven't offered much 20 the
educational psychologist and the school
teacher up To date" he said.
Dr. Frederick Tflney. professor of
neurology OF Columbia University. called
attention TO one theory OF the develop
ment OF speech which holds that words
evolved from the gestures - primitive
man OF pre- rman. Gradually these geS~
lures were transferred 10 the lips and
tongue as it became necessary 60 use
the hands for other purposes THIS, he
said, might explain the success which
had attended the tter-tfaelng method
used by nr Ofton In flNlng the form
and sound of u letter IN their proper
association In the mind, nr, Orton re-.
called cases where persons with their
hands tied were unable t0 talk,
Difficulties Of Pupils,
The child II at critical period
nf life, Df 0rlon said, when II flrst
faces the necessity Oi ee~ordinating
sound and sight IN the manner neces-
sary for reading, and must make Nart-
uua adjustments Amang these Is that
OF the two hemispheres Of the hraiu,
each controlling similar action. but IN
different direction. For instance, he
said, about al per cent of the children
Coming inte ne flAi aEade iFpm klns
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