The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-09-19

cation of unfortunate children.
eve are preparing to build a large
central building to which all white
cripples and cardiac cases can come
and a similar one for Negroes" says
DR.. Weglein. The deaf classes prob
ably will be accommodated on the sec
ond floor of the central building and
special class rooms with proper equip
ment will be provided in the regular
school buildings for the sight-conser-
walton classes, the classes for amaze
mics and those for speech correction.
"Some of the special mental classes
also can be taken care of in the regu-
lar school buildings and others will be
provided for in separate buildings
scattered throughout the city. In al
most all of these classes a greater
amount of manual instruction is given
han in the ordinary course of study.
This means that material with which
the children can work must be pro-
vided, the kind required differing with
the different types of classes.
"Many children who are not now in
special classes ought to be in them.
Statistics show that a certain pro-
portion of the population does not
conform to the normal, and this pro-
portion is considerably in excess of
that for which we have made provis-
ion in the schools. 1t will be part of
Dr. Wallin's duty to discover who the
children are who need special consid-
Grafton in order that the schools may
take care of them.
Determination of the children who
shall enter special classes is highly
specialized profession. DR.. Wallin, of
course, will not be able to do this
work himself, but he will be supplied
with assistants who are eminently
qualified ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS who
are trained in measuring the mind
so that it will be possible to tell, for
instance, whether the candidate for
special classes is suffering from some
psychopathic ailment, or from eye
strain which proper glasses and the
attendance at sightseeing classes will
relieve. There are 'border-line' cases,
of course, and some in which more
than one of the symptoms is present.
To determine accurately how such
children can be helped most effective
ly is the work of some one who not
only is a highly trained psychologist
but a real humanitarian as we'll"
The humanitarian phase of the
work among handicapped children is
one to which DR.. Wallin is strongly
committed. In a textbook on "Clini-
cal and Abnormal Psychology" of
which he is the author, he says that
while the function of the psyche
clinical examiner is that of an
unprejudiced, dispassionate and
alert observer of human
reagent, he must always be ac-
tuated by a deep, abiding and I'M
selfish interest IN the welfare OF
the unfortunates.
Deep human sympathy is the
indispensable prerequisite of sue
cess in all types of regenerative
Il
ton to students in the clinic
course that they review their
findings in the light of the query,
What would you recommend if
this were your own child?" has
more than once produced a trans
formation in attitude and point
of view that is almost incredible.
Once the child has been directed in
to the special class best adapted to
its needs it is necessary, of course,
that his instruction be given by COM
petent and specially trained teachers.
A number of these already are in the
school service, but with the eXpan-
sion of the work among handicapped
children there will be need of more,
The Johns Hopkins University is pre-
pairing to meet this demand by pre-
senting a training course which stu
dents who have a leaning toward this
type Of work may take. A liking for
work of this character is, perhaps,
even more important in the case of
the teacher than in the case Of the eX-
aminer, for the teacher will have con-
slant calls upon her resourcefulness
from the same individuals, day in and
day out, and only those whose SYM
pathies are bound up with the highest
interests of the unfortunates can
stand the strain and really benefit the
children under their care.
In order to receive the benefits of
the educational facilities the public
schools are providing for "all sorts
and conditions" of children it is OBJ
viously necessary that some kind of
transportation be provided for Grip
Piles and other children who can Meth
er walk nor use the street cars. To
meet this need the school system
some years ago established bus ser
vice of it's own, but the venture did
not prove entirely practical and was
abandoned in favor of the service of
the larme motion cnnnnanies in the citN.